Thesis Defense

I am happy to announce that I defended my MA thesis on Monday morning.   Overall, it went well with some lively discussion about my work.  I am happy to be done: the writing process has been difficult and very trying at times.  There are some things about the process, and the constraints of an English program, which I did not forsee.  Graduate school ended up involving a lot of things I did not want it to when I began back in January of 2007. 

It’s become quite clear that I will not be heading towards a PhD, but in some other direction yet to be determined. 

I need to thank again my advisors, Dr. David Tietge and Dr. Liora Brosh for all their help and guidance.  This week I will be doing one last set of revisions and then handing in my work for a final grade.  No matter the outcome or grade I am glad I went through this process, which has given me a number of research paths to undertake in the future. 

Here is a PDF of what I read on Monday.  It is very hard to summarize my ideas in fifteen to twenty minutes, but the general idea is there. 

Upcoming Monmouth Symposium

I am happy to announce my participation in this semester’s graduate symposium for our English program at Monmouth.  This semester I will be taking part in a round table discussion about academic writing and publishing.  It is a great privilege that Dr. Kristin Bluemel will be moderating and my thesis adviser, Dr. David Tietge (no link: ahem), will also be participating. 

I will be sure to arrive early to check out Meghan Kutz’s presentation on orientalism in British travel writing.  I have had the pleasure of speaking to her about her research and it is quite impressive.

Here is the complete schedule:

LITERATURE  MATTERS

Graduate Student Symposium

Monmouth University Department of English

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wilson Hall, Room 106

PROGRAM

10:00 to 11:30 Session 1: Colonial and Post-Colonial Readings

Moderator: Dr. Sejal Sutaria

Veronica Guevara “Cultural Conflict–or Synthesis? Revised Double Consciousness, Engaged Resistance, and Man’s Relationship with Nature, Time, and Humanity in Vahni Capildeo’s ‘No Traveller Returns’”

Meghan Kutz, “Orientalism in 1930s British Travel Writing on China”

Shanna Williams, “Feminism in Indian Literature”

11:30 to 12:30 Roundtable: Writing and Publishing

Moderator: Dr. Kristin Bluemel

Participants: Dr. Sue Starke, Dr. David Tietge, Sara Van Ness, William P. Wend, Kim Rogers

12:30 to 1:30 Lunch

1:30 to 3:00 Session 2: Literature and Composition Today

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Gilmartin

Lisa Pikaard, “Moral Ambiguity in a World in Turmoil: Harry Potter’s Global Implications”

Jenn Ernst, “The Hunter and the Hunted: Drug Use/Abuse and the Failings of the 60s in H. S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”

Jana Phelps, “Amending Writing Composition Instruction to Fulfill the Needs of the Contemporary Student”