2024 archive

Session 1 | 9:00 – 10:15 a.m. (EDT)

Panel A: Retelling and Reclaiming Narratives (Moderator: Dr. Heidi Williams, Tennessee State University)

• Hannah Squires, Florida State University (FL): Female Perspective Portrayal in Barker's The Silence of the Girls

• Joyce Bun, Florida State University (FL): Thomas Builds-the-Fire is a Story; His Narratives and Words Becomes the Native American Identity and Survival 

• Anna Rinaggio, Berry College (GA): Naming, Identity, and Power in African American Literature

• Vy Bui, Northwestern State University of Louisiana (LA): In Aubrey's Mind: An Animated Un-Essay on Woodson's Red at the Bone

Panel B: How We Read, Speak, and Teach (Moderator: Dr. Jennifer Gilstrap, Piedmont University)

• Anna Rundbaken, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): Understanding the Ban: How Banned Books Can Provide Critical Thinking Skills for Students

• Christopher Doney, Northwestern State University of Louisiana (LA): Linguistic Colonialism or Passport to Global Opportunity: Perceptions of the English Language in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

• Tiffany Nolde, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA) alumni | Texas A&M University Commerce: To Read or Not to Read: The Question BookTok Answers

Session 2 | 10:30 – 11:45 a.m. (EDT)

Panel A: Identities Illustrated through Creative Writing (Moderator: Dr. Jessica Walker, University of North Georgia, Gainesville)

• Malina Rusu, UT Dallas (TX) alumni | University College London: "OMNIA PRO MATRIA"

• Ashe Cendere, Florida State University (FL): "Psychiatric Musings"

• Sydney Michaud, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): "Ghost of You"

• Julia Stephens, Florida State University (FL): "The Hallowed Head"

Panel B: Analyzing Film and Music (Moderator: Dr. Shannon Gilstrap, University of North Georgia, Gainesville)

• Sydney Goodfield, Florida State University (FL): Kiss Kiss Cutpurse: The Androgynous Protagonist and Class

• Katie LaCoco, Kennesaw State University (GA): Community through Music in the Vietnam War

• Saif Zalmiyar, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personal Disorder Depicted in The Sopranos

Session 3 | 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. (EDT)

Panel A: Gender Studies in Drama and Fiction (Moderator: Dr. Leverett Butts, University of North Georgia, Gainesville)

• Jim Case, Northwestern State University of Louisiana (LA): Languages of Resistance: A Re-description of a Second-Class Citizen

• Theodore Lopata, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA) Nature's Infidel and Industry's Thrall: Social Commentaries in Orlando's Narrative Structure

• Lauren Polson, Florida State University (FL): Reclaiming the Muse: Embodying and Commodifying the Erotic in Landon's Sappho

Panel B: American and British Short Stories (Moderator: William Saccavino, University of North Georgia, Gainesville alumni)

• Alex Ivy, Florida State University (FL): The Effects of Modernism on Contemporary Short Stories

• Arista Elderkin, Berry College (GA): "I'm the only man alive knows Hazel": Gender Dynamics in Eudora Welty's "The Wide Net"

• Sierra Marando, Florida State University (FL): Bullet in the Burnout: Anders' Secret Death Wish

Lunch break 1:15 – 1:45 p.m. (EDT)

Stick around in the main room for a brief message from Sigma Tau Delta Southern Region Student Leaders at the beginning of this short lunch break.

Session 4 | 1:45 – 3:00 p.m. (EDT)

Panel A: Animals and Landscape: Ecocriticism in American and British Literature (Moderator: Dr. J. Ereck Jarvis, Northwestern State University of Louisiana)

• Matthew Moon, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): The Nature of Grief: An Ecocritical Reading of Tennyson's "In Memoriam"

• Angela Saldivar, Northwestern State University of Louisiana (LA): Decentering Anthropocentrism: An Exploration of Animal and Disability Studies in Sewell's Black Beauty

• Michaela Smith, Georgia Southern University (GA): Impoverished Nature: Ecofeminism in Cormac McCarthy's The Orchard Keeper

Panel B: Exploring the Gaze: Male and Female Voices in Gothic Media (Moderator: Dr. Anita Turlington, University of North Georgia, Gainesville/independent scholar)

• Lauren Bachman, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): Look Not upon Your Demise: War's Reinforcement of the Male Gaze in Dragon Age: Origins

• Aubrey Tangen, Florida State University (FL): Female Terror in the Southern Gothic Genre through Masculine and Feminine Perceptions"

• Sophia Jockell, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA): Gossip Girl? No, Gossip Guy: Spilling Tea in the Victorian Era

Session 5 | 3:15 – 4:30 p.m.  (EDT)

Panel A: Dystopian Futures (Moderator: Michaela Smith, Georgia Southern University)

• Victoria Severiche, Berry College (GA): Forced to Live in the Reality of Area X

• Alex Moran, Florida State University (FL): "When Any Civilization is Dust and Ashes, Art is All That Is Left Over" Art in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake

• Will Saccavino, University of North Georgia, Gainesville (GA) alumni: Literal Consumerism: Barthesian Mythology in Tender is the Flesh