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Six Lafayette students presented their work at the 13th annual Undergraduate Conference in Women’s Studies Saturday, March 31 at DeSalesUniversity.
The group is among 21 students from institutions in the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC) selected by professors to present academic papers and original creative works. Other institutions included: AlbrightCollege, CedarCrestCollege, LehighUniversity, MoravianCollege, and MuhlenbergCollege.
Carolynn Van Dyke, March Professor of English and coordinator of Women’s Studies, accompanied the students to the conference and served as a moderator for one of the panels.
Conference topics included themes related to women’s health and sexuality, feminist activism, religion and politics, women as artists, and women in times of crisis.
Rachel Gallagher ’07 (Allentown, Pa.), who developed her own major in equality and justice; Miranda Dolan ’07(Pitman, N.J.), an anthropology and sociology major; and Danielle Bero ’07(Astoria, N.Y.), who created her own major of creative mediums and social justice, presented the conference’s featured panel.
Their paper, “Supporting Low-Income and Teenaged Single Mothers: Service Learning and Feminist Activism,” came about from the Single Motherhood in the Contemporary U.S. taught by Deborah Byrd, associate professor of English.
Psychology major Lia Mandaglio ’08(Annandale, N.J.) presented her research, “Differing Feminist Perspectives on 19th Century Women’s Progress, Purity and Power,” from another course taught by Byrd.
Marquis Scholar and English major Rachel Heron ’09 (Downingtown, Pa.) discussed work she did during a course with Alix Ohlin, assistant professor of English, entitled “Deserted Island: A Cultural Critique of the Isolating Effect of Romance Novels on Adolescent Women.”
Psychology major Alexandra Minieri ’07 (East Brunswick, N.J.) presented the results of her honors thesis, “Perceptions of Rape Justifiability: The Effects Of the Cost of a Date, Who Pays, and Participant Gender.” Susan Basow, Dana Professor of Psychology, served as her honors adviser.
The conference was sponsored by the Women’s Studies Coalition of LVAIC. The coalition, established in 1986, works to enhance the presence of Women’s Studies programs on LVAIC campuses. It also sponsors a faculty development workshop in the fall.