Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24, 2026

Combs Hall

The Twenty-First Annual William Kemp Symposium

for Students in English and Linguistics

Thursday, April 23rd

SESSION 01

9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

• Foss & Friends: Literature and Beyond                                                           Combs 237

Macy Smothers           “Amelia Opie’s Enduring Intellectual and Moral Legacy in Literature”

Annalisia Worrell       “Swimmers: Dementia as Deconstructed Essay”

Timothy Frazier          “The Shadow, the Trickster, and the Sage: A Jungian Reading of Gun Island”

Moderator: Prof. Foss

SESSION 02

9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

• #Ghosts are Real to Us: Whitman and Dickinson in the Digital Age                          Combs 139

Students will present projects from the digital archives.

Bailey Holt                

Mariele Wassom        

Ada Gill                     

Mohammad Ibrahimi             

Moderator: Prof. Scanlon

SESSION 03

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

• Papers from Language and Culture – Part I                                             Combs 139

Allon Boettcher          “Influence of Interrogatives on Response Alignment Patterns in Spanish-English Bilingual Conversation”

Lena Hansen               “The Language of Liberation: Rhetoric, Rights, and Women’s Activism”

Hannah Holstrom       “The Use of Hedges and Euphemisms in Narratives About Queer Experience”

Sarala Kennedy           “We’re all sinners”: References to Imperfection, Christians, and Non-Believers in Semi-Formal Religious Group Discussion”

Moderator: Prof. Lee

SESSION 04

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

• Papers from Contemporary American Fiction                                         Combs 002

Aaliyah Anderson       “Learning at the End of the World: Station Eleven and Education in a Post-Apocalyptic Setting”

Bailey Holt                “There’s No ‘I’ in Ecosystem: Mythology and Identity in The Overstory”     

Salem Sanders            “Estranged and Entangled: Human Relationships in The Overstory”

Moderator: Prof. Levin

SESSION 05

12:30-1:45 p.m.

• Papers from Language and Culture – Part II                                     Combs 139

Asunta Ross                            “You’re Racist!: Irony in Race-Based Humor Among People of Color”

Alexis Sawchuk                      “Conversational Floor Maintenance in Interviews with International Students”

Marshall Winneberger            “Media Referencing as Influence: Humor and Hierarchy in Everyday Conversation Among College-Aged Adults”

Moderator: Prof. Lee

SESSION 06

2:00-3:15 p.m.

• Presentations from Individual Studies / Internships                                 Combs 139

Allon Boettcher          “Restoring Fluency: An SLP’s Approach to Speech Production with Aphasia”

Ally Miller                  “Identity, Care, and Ethical Representation in Saim Sadiq’s Joyland”

Asunta Ross                “How Does it Feel to Be a Problem?:  Double Consciousness and Language Among Students of Color”

Moderator: Prof. Lorentzen

SESSION 07

3:30-4:45 p.m.

• 3-minute Presentations from Queer Modernism                                       Combs 002

Lee Adams

Emmy Beach

Abby Goff

Emily Helpinstill

Emmy Goggins

Vic Koutsouftikis

Charlie McClurken-Orr

Sarah Moon

Savannah Orrock

Dawn Pfeifle

Kitti Pierce-Moystner

Alexis Sawchuk

Luke Schutter

Luciel Silver

Fiona Stevens

Elsie Stubbs

James Turgeon

Taryn Varley-twyman

Madi Waugh

Moderator: Prof. Haffey

SESSION 08

3:30-4:45 p.m.

●    Presentations from Individual Studies                                                             Combs 139

Mariele Wassom and Daniel Miller               “Form vs. Image: Independent Study in Creative Writing – Fall ‘25”

Bex Colley                                                      “Defining Doric: Linguistic Features and Literary Function in Greek Comedy”

Moderator: Prof. Richards

SPECIAL EVENT 01

5:00-5:45 p.m.                                                                                        

• Special Guest Poet – Chelsea Krieg                                                            Combs 139

Chelsea Krieg (’10) will read from her debut poetry collection, Everything Is Water, and discuss the journey from UMW undergraduate to published author. Free copies of the book will be available for attendees (while supplies last), and a reception/signing will follow. In addition to being a poet, Krieg is also the Administrative Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University.

Friday, April 24th

SESSION 09

10:00-10:50 a.m.

• Presentations from Multigenre Creative Writing                                         Combs 139

Students will read from their own works.

Lee Adams

Emily Bailey

Luke Blair

Blaine Daniel

Alina Jackson

Kenzie Lotz

Juliana Pacheco

Philip Stover

Meaghan Van Dyke

Moderator: Prof. Rafferty

SESSION 10

11:00-11:50 a.m.

• Mini-Poster Presentations from Writing With/About Generative AI (01)         Combs 003

Ariel Goldberg            “AI Chatbots Need Care, Just Like Humans”

Sarah Moon                “Generative AI’s Impact on Creative Writing”

Janiaya Simms            “How Is AI Affecting the Environment”

Merlyn Williams        “The Effects of Generative AI on Infant Development” 

Emilio Mijares            “How Clearly Do Students Understand Institutional Expectations for Ethical AI Use and Citation in Academic Writing” 

Moderator: Prof. Blevins

SESSION 11

12:00-12:50 p.m.

• Readings and Reflections from the Novella Seminar                                        Combs 139

Katherine Kennedy               

Michael Boehmcke                           

Juliette Brookman                

Dana White                                       

Ashanti Thompson    

Evelyne Breed

Moderator: Prof. Miller

SESSION 12

12:00-12:50 p.m.

• Mini-Poster Presentations from Writing With/About Generative AI (02)         Combs 112

Jaseigha Barthell        “Deepfake Technology and Its Impact on Digital Media Trust”

Emmy Goggins           “AI in the Stacks: Evaluating Artificial Intelligence In Public and    Academic Libraries”

Brandon Harvey         “What Impact Does Generative AI Have in Mental Healthcare”

Chloie Meck-Brice     “Generative AI in Advertising”

Maddie Timmons       “Generative AI and Legal Practice”

Sam Wood                  “AI’s Impact on Creative Thinking and Reader Bias”

Carly LePage              “Pharmaceutical Response to AI”

Moderator: Prof. Blevins

SESSION 13

1:00-1:50 p.m.

• ENLI Careers Panel                                                                                           Combs 322

Ally Hamilton                                     “Copyediting”

Lukas Fick                                          “Speech Language Pathology”

Philip Stover                                       “Public Libraries”

Madison Waugh, James Turgeon       “Archives”

Asunta Ross                                        “Media and Communications,” “Technical Writing” 

Moderator: Prof. Mathur

SESSION 14

2:00-2:50 p.m.

• Presentations from Individual Studies                                                             Combs 139

Evelyne Breed                        “A Modern Murder Mystery”

Enya Cea-Lavin                      “Practical Suggestions for Under-Resourced ELL Students and                       Programs”

Moderator: Prof. Scanlon

SESSION 15

2:00-2:50 p.m.

• Literary Adaptations from “The Little Mermaid”

to Twelfth Night and Beyond: A Poster Session                3rd Floor Combs Hallway

Ace Molloy                 “Voice and Pain: Representations of Disability in Adaptations of ‘The                                           Little Mermaid’” 

Hannah Covin             “Sexual and Racial Purity in Adaptations of The Tempest”

Ella Cordle                  “Gender Representation in Twelfth Night, Just One of the Guys, and She’s the Man”

Ally Hamilton             “Building the Mask: Imagined Origins and Racial Identity in William Shakespeare’s Othello and Stew’s Passing Strange”

Mohammad Ibrahimi  “Comedy and the Limits of Ambiguity: Gender Performance in Adaptations of Twelfth Night”

Thomas Jackson         “Utopia to Uniformity: Queer Utopias in Twelfth Night, She’s the Man, and ShakeTok”

Sarah Moon                “There’s no place like someone else’s home: A Postcolonial Analysis of The Tempest and The Wizard of Oz.”

Moderator: Prof. Mathur

SESSION 16

3:00-3:50 p.m.

• Global Women’s Writing                                                                                   Combs 114

Evelyn Dean               “Woman at Point Zero” (paper)

Amber Peregrino        “Woman at Point Zero” (paper)

Kyleigh Tiberio          “Nyasha Sigauke & Sophie Caco: Successful Revolutions” (paper)

Vic Koutsouftikis        “Breathe, Eyes, Memory” (video essay)

Lauren Montgomery   “Nervous Conditions” (video essay)

Ryan Sandson             “Kari” (video essay)

Moderator: Prof. Dasgupta

SPECIAL EVENT 02

4:00-5:00 p.m.

• Sigma Tau Delta (International English Honor Society) Induction              Combs 139

Hosted by Prof. Richards

with the Taddesse Adera Memorial Address, “Why Literature Matters,” by Corley Miller.

The inductees are:

Rebecca Cherian
Kyra Maily Donlon
Ainsley Graf
Alexus Ingram
Kenzie Marie Lotz
Ace Molloy
Laura Elizabeth Rider
Sarah Rudd
Alexandra Schwartz
Jaimi Turgeon
Sarah Tyree-Hermann
Marshall Winneberger

SPECIAL EVENT 03

5:00-7:00 p.m.

• Department Picnic                                                                Jefferson Square