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This past summer, Dr. Samantha Dressel (English) and six of her current and former students attended the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association’s (RMMRA) annual conference in Cedar City, Utah. The Wilkinson group each presented papers and attended multiple Shakespeare performances at the festival, including Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, and the rarely performed Henry VIII.

The event, co-organized by the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Wooden O scholarly organization, explores learning in global Medieval and Renaissance studies through text and performances.

“The students who presented built on work written for three of my classes: “Beyond Shakespeare: Renaissance Drama”; “Premodern Disease and Disability”; and “Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Romances,” said Dr. Dressel (who presented her own paper, titled, “Revenge Realness: Spectacle, Metatheater, and Power”).

Dr. Dressel was thrilled to see her students bringing their work to the next level and being recognized as peers in a community of scholars, engaging far beyond the confines of their formal curriculum.

“This was my first experience in a more professional academic environment. Being able to bridge the space between my undergraduate career and a more professional application of my research not only bolstered my confidence in my work, but also in my ability to engage with the broader literary community,” said Jubilee Finnegan (‘24 English) who presented their paper, “The Mystification of Gender Affirmation: Galathea, Gender, and Fantasy” at the conference.

Through this experience, Kristen Venegas (‘23 English MA) expressed how the conference structure helped her see academia from a professional standpoint.

“I enjoyed the idea of pursuing a topic of my choosing but also having a fixed deadline that enabled me to complete it versus having an idea halfway through and never following up,” she said. Venegas presented her paper, “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Melancholy: Tribute to Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy.”

The students were able to see the ways that their coursework related to the larger community of scholars. One keynote speaker, Cameron Hunt McNabb, who edited The Medieval Disability Sourcebook, which Dr. Dressel assigned in one of her courses, took the time to sit and talk with Chapman’s students. Samantha Cottle (‘24 English, ‘26 English MA ) described getting to meet and chat with her as “surreal.” Cottle presented her paper, “The Deformed Woman.”

A number of the student papers engaged with gender and sexuality, closely interacting with the other keynote speaker Vanessa Corredera (Professor of English at Andrews University in Michigan) whose presentation dealt with the intersections of race and sexuality in performances of Romeo and Juliet. Students were able to see intersections between their own work.

“Having these sudden personal realizations where I noticed the intersection between my work and others’ work was an exciting and unexpected part of the process. While all our topics were quite distinct, little points of overlap emerged and provoked some fascinating conversation,” said Finnegan.

Matthew Lemas (‘24 English and Creative Writing MA/MFA) presented “Leontes’ Anger, Delusion, and Aversion: A Buddhist Conception of The Winter’s Tale” and describes his conference experience to be one of the most socially engaging aspects of academia, turning the relatively individual act of producing and consuming scholarship into a communal activity.

“[I] met a diversity of scholars across the United States that I would have never [encountered]. My favorite moments were the unplanned kind—the Q and A’s post-panel that would extend into hour-long hallway conversation; the paper on a subject you’ve never heard of, nor a book you’ve ever read, coming to fascinate you the most. Ultimately, conferences [such as this one] allow students and junior scholars to gain a necessary foothold in the often difficult-to-navigate world of academia,” he said.

In addition to the students already mentioned, Sawyer Kelly (‘23 English and Communication, ‘24 English MA ) presented “Whatever Helps It Get Close to You: The Politics of Proximity and Relational Embodiment in The Changeling and It Follows” and Bailey Smith (‘21 English, Graphic Design minor) attended the conference as a preface to her starting a graduate program for a Masters in Library Science with a focus on archives and early books at UCLA this fall.

“I was thrilled that [this conference] is such a welcoming organization and that so many students were able to bring their work up to a professional standard over the summer. I hope that more students are able to attend with me again in future years,” said Dr. Dressel.

Pictured in the header: Left to right: Bailey Smith (‘21 English, Graphic Design minor), Dr. Samantha Dressel (English), Matt Lemas (‘24 English and Creative Writing MA/MFA), and Sawyer Kelly (‘23 English and Communication, ‘24 English MA ).