Upcoming Events and Deadlines
Registration begins for summer and fall 2022 courses. See the full list of offerings here: LINK. Go to MyBlue to register.
On Friday, April 22, 2022, the annual all-day Student Language and Literature Conference will be held in Thomas Hall featuring undergraduate and graduate scholarship in language, literature, and creative writing. Check back for the full program of presentations.
⭐ Student Success ⭐
❇️ Kiley Anderson won 🏆 first place across all UNK colleges and divisions for the oral presentation of her paper “The Poetry and Public Persona of Phillis Wheatley Parker” at the UNK Student Research Day conference (Mentor – Dr. Maria O’Malley).
❇️ Gracie Luebbe won the Diversity Award across all UNK colleges and divisions for her oral presentation on author Tommy Orange, “An Analysis of the Traits Which Form the Identities of Three Women within There There,” at UNK Student Research Day (Mentor – Dr. Janet Graham).
❇️ Elijah Lynch won 🏆 second place across all UNK colleges and divisions in the competition for the Wagner Family Writing Award for his paper “Shadows of Paradise: Dante’s Muse and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” He also gave an oral presentation at the UNK Student Research Day conference (Mentor – Dr. Rebecca Umland).
❇️ Coleman Riggins won 🏆 second place in the Humanities and Fine Arts Division for his poster presentation “Gender Bias in English Academic Writing” (Mentor – Dr. Amanda Sladek). Coleman also presented his project as part of the Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies poster session at the Conference on College Composition and Communication on March 9-12.
❇️ Caitlin Armbrust gave an oral presentation on the authors Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, and Eileen Chang, “Women in Modernist Literature Who Enable the Patriarchy and How it Applies to Women Today,” at UNK Student Research Day (Mentor – Dr. Annarose Steinke).
❇️ Theresa Ascher presented a poster, “Science, Magic, and Religion in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Novels,” at UNK Student Research Day (Mentor –Dr. Rebecca Umland).
❇️ Carolyn Bundi gave an oral presentation on author Zadie Smith and nineteenth-century Scottish-Jamaican writer Mary Seacole, “The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse-Pestilence,” at UNK Student Research Day (Mentor – Dr. Denys Van Renen).
❇️ Christy Thompson gave an oral presentation on author Faye Myenne Ng, “Cultural Materialist Suitcase Made of Bone,” at UNK Graduate Student Research Day (Mentor – Dr. Janet Graham).
❇️ Joshua Wetovick gave an oral presentation, “Making Music in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Arthurian Epic, ‘Idylls of the King,’” at UNK Student Research Day (Mentor – Dr. Rebecca Umland).
❇️ Dr. Amanda Sladek, Assistant Professor of English, received the Graduate College Mentor Award during UNK Research Week.
🏆 Eight high school students in Nebraska received awards for their submissions to the Nebraska Emerging Writing Contest sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, Phi Eta Sigma, the American Democracy Project (ADP), and the Writing Center.
Undergraduate students read and evaluated submissions to choose winners and runners up. The contest asked for entries onthe topic of democracy in the genres of poetry, short story, and essay. Special thank-you to committee chairs, Marcela Sousek, Caroline Stanley, and Cassidy Johnson for their help. For more information, check out the related news story LINK. The winners were:
Poetry First Place ($100): Parker Albers, Cedar Catholic High School, “Division”
Poetry Second Place ($50): Megan Lambert, Boys Town High School, “A Modern Renaissance of American Democracy”
Poetry Third Place ($50): Leo Ha, Grand Island Central Catholic High School, “Democracy is the Power to the People,”
Short Story First Place ($100): Aarya Bhatt, Grand Island Northwest High School, “The Boy”
Short Story Second Place ($50): Joe Messere, Grand Island Central Catholic, “Democracy in Action in my Community,”
Essay First Place ($100): Amelia Kafka, Marian High School, “Democracy through the Eyes of a Fourteen-Year-Old”
Essay Second Place ($50): Maggie Haesler, Mullen High School, “Advantages of a Democracy”
Essay Second Place ($50): Hannah Liske, Grand Island Central Catholic, “What We Hear about Democracy”
⭐ Featured Majors ⭐
This month’s featured student is Storm Remmenga.
Storm Remmenga is an English Secondary Education major who came to UNK as a non-traditional student after graduating from Elwood High School in Elwood, Nebraska, in 2013. She is pursuing her degree while working full-time job as an office assistant in Kearney. She plans to continue her studies by earning a master's degree and eventually a PhD in literature one day.
When I'm not working or studying, I am writing poetry, reading, spending time with my family or going for a long walk. If I had to recommend a book, I'd recommend reading any Sally Rooney novels or anything Ocean Vuong writes. My favorite poems are:
"The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass
"Before Bees" by Marina Hope Wilson
"The Ambition Bird" by Anne Sexton
"Sisters” by Lucille Clifton, specifically when read by Clifton.
*****************
Learn more about opportunities for UNK English majors and minors to
…apply for scholarships HERE 🏫.
…minor in English and/or Humanities HERE 📓
…major in English +Pre-Law HERE ⚖️
…major in English +MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) HERE 📚
…major in English +Music/Theatre/Dance/Art HERE 🎭
…major in English +STEM HERE 🚀
…participate in the Undergraduate Research Fellow program HERE 👩🎓
…present research & creative writing at the department’s annual conference HERE👨🏫
…publish poetry and stories HERE ✍️
…study abroad HERE 🗺️
…work as a tutor at the Learning Commons HERE 💡💻