Gordon in the News: last updated 03/23/2010
Wenham, MA—From the future of the English language to Shakespeare’s take on race relations, topics for Gordon’s first undergraduate Literatures and Linguistics Colloquium are as diverse as the colleges represented.
Undergraduate students from some 15 colleges across the country—including Penn State, University of Wisconsin at Oshkos, Boston University, Gordon, and Dordt College among others—will present their research in papers and panel discussions, Saturday, March 27, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 pm. In the Ken Olsen Science Center at Gordon College, exit 17 from Route 128.
“Usually when students write a great paper, they get excited about it and their teacher gets excited about it, but it ends there,” says Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner, resident of Beverly, MA, associate professor of German and linguistics at Gordon and co-organizer of the conference. “This conference gives students the opportunity to do something more with these papers.”
The one-day event will host several panels of three to four presentations, which will precede discussions with professors and other students. Other topics will explore how to negotiate the literary imagination in 20th century literature, the role of revelation in creativity, and even Darwin’s influence dramatic endings in literature.
Thuswaldner said dozens of papers were submitted from student across the country, covering a range of ideas, theories, and literary observations.
Alongside Andrea Frankwitz, associate professor and chair of the English department, Andrew Logemann, assistant professor of English, and Graeme Bird, associate professor of Classics and linguistics, Thuswaldner said he and his colleagues saw a need for a conference like this because only a few colleges across the country host anything similar.
“It’s crucial for students to share their work for their development as professionals,” Thuswaldner said. “There are some fascinating topics here and this gives them the confidence they need to present to a crowd and defend their arguments. And with graduate schools becoming more competitive, presenting at an undergraduate conference can give students an advantage. It shows they’re serious.”
For a complete listing of the topics and presentations, visit the Colloquium page. The event is free and open to the public.
Gordon College is a multidenominational Christian college of the liberal arts and sciences on Boston’s North Shore, offering majors in 36 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
