Photo caption (l-r): Beiter, Sykes, Schiffmayer, Grenci, Mitcheltree (not pictured: Chandavarkar)
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Lycoming College hosted students from colleges and universities throughout the region for its third annual Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference. The conference, which is dedicated to furthering the humanities through high-level research, saw six students awarded for their research papers.
Author Zara Chowdhary delivered a keynote address with a reading from her debut memoir, “The Lucky Ones.” Chowdhary, whose book has received praise from NPR, TIME, Esquire, Amazon Book Review, and more, also entertained questions about her moving tale of survival of anti-Muslim violence in India.
A panel of Lycoming College humanities faculty and students selected more than 50 students to present research at the event. Presenters hailed from colleges and universities including Juniata College, Franklin & Marshall College, Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania State University, Lehigh University, and more.
“On behalf of the Humanities Research Center and Lycoming College, I would like to send a heartfelt congratulations to all our presenters for their fantastic research. The quality and breadth of presentations was truly impressive,” said Andrew Leiter, Ph.D., professor of English and director of the College’s Humanities Research Center and of the conference. “Our Lycoming students and faculty had so much fun sharing the day with other student researchers, learning from their work, and celebrating the humanistic values crucial to lives of meaning. Our wonderful keynote speaker Zara Chowdhary noted how inspiring it was to see so many bright undergraduate students from different institutions and with such diverse interests gathered for the conference. We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.”
The following students were selected and awarded for best papers:
Ginger Schiffmayer, Grove City College, won the award for the best paper in the category of History, Archaeology, & Humanities-Focused Social Sciences for “Amidst the Storm: Demonic Fluidity in the Writings of St. Jerome.”
Aryan Chandavarkar, University of Scranton, won the award for the best paper in the category of Philosophy, Ethics, & Religion for “The Qur’an as Muhaymin: How it Engages with Prior Revelations and Beliefs.”
Jude Beiter, Haverford College, won the award for the best paper in the category of Literature, Languages, & Art History for “The Games We Play: Systemization of Male Homosociality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Dylan Sykes, Franklin & Marshall College, won the award for the best paper in the category of Ethnic & Racial Studies for “Album Reviews and Political Projects: Elvis, the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, and Black Lives Matter.”
Ella Grenci, Bucknell University, won the award for the best paper in the category of Women’s & Gender Studies for “Imperial Roman Art and Ideologies in Pre-Fascist Colonial Italy: (D)evolution of the Treatment of Afro-Italian Women.”
Emma Mitcheltree won the award for the best paper by a Lycoming Student for “The Other Side of the Bar: Women Seeking Agency through Tavern Keeping in Colonial America.”
All presenters are invited to submit their research for consideration of publication in the third volume of Lycoming’s humanities research journal. Previous issues of the Mid-Atlantic Humanities Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Research can be found online.
The Lycoming College Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference is a gathering and celebration of the region’s bright minds who are dedicated to furthering the humanities through high-level research. The Humanities Research Center at Lycoming College bolsters educational opportunities for those majoring or minoring in the humanities by supporting joint student-faculty research, internships, guided scholarship, digital humanities, graduate school placement, and fellowships. Select proceedings of the conference are featured in the Mid-Atlantic Humanities Review. More information about the Conference can be found online.