College Students from Across the Country Attend Gordon’s Second Annual Colloquium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2011

MEDIA CONTACT
Jo Kadlecek
Office of College Communications
978.867.4752
[email protected]

WENHAM, MA—The Latin word “Colloquium” means “speaking together,” and Gordon College’s second annual Literatures and Linguistics Undergraduate Colloquium will hold true to its definition.

Some 20 undergraduate students from around the country have been invited to speak on papers they have written about related topics on Saturday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Ken Olsen Science Center at Gordon (Exit 17 from Route 128N). Presenters hail from a variety of different undergraduate schools including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cornell, Gordon, and Dordt College.

“Students do a lot of reading and writing and studying, but they don’t have as many opportunities to share and discuss their work in a public setting,” says Dr. Graeme Bird, associate professor of Linguistics and Classics at Gordon and organizer of this year’s conference. “As students give accounts of their research and engage in valuable discussion with their astute peers, we hope participants will be inspired, challenged, and more prepared for graduate school and other future endeavors.”

The one-day event features student presentations followed by student and faculty discussion. Topics range from a case study of linguistic politeness in a religious context to an analysis of Picasso’s Guernica and Paul Eluard’s The Victory of Guernica. Other presentations will include research about writing strategies, grammar, feminism, and an analysis of “Ithaca” (from James Joyce’s Ulysses), all from a literature and linguistics viewpoint.

Bird is coordinating the event along with Andrew Logemann, assistant professor of English, Gregory Thuswaldner, cochair of the Department of Languages and Linguistics, and Emmanuelle Vanborre, assistant professor of French. Bird says that he and his colleagues are looking forward to another year of rich conversation led by students.

“We are thrilled to say our Colloquium will essentially be student-run. Literature and linguistics students will act as moderators of the event, introducing student presenters and aiding in the lively discussion of the presentations themselves,” says Bird. “Our participants take pride in their work, and we expect more thought-provoking discussion this year. Our goal is that student initiative will continue to inspire active discussion in the literature and linguistics fields now and in the future.”

For a complete listing of the topics and presentations, visit the Colloquium page. The event is free and open to the public.

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Gordon College is a multidenominational Christian college of the liberal arts and sciences on Boston’s North Shore, offering majors in 38 fields with graduate programs in education and music education. Gordon is nationally recognized for excellence in academics and in character building, and ranks as one of the nation’s top Christian colleges. www.gordon.edu

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