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View the 2024 Conference Program Schedule

Call for Papers and Creative Projects

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our 13th Annual Student Conference. 

Instructor Contributions

Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats.

Student Contributions

Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Kristen Radtke’s Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches. Submissions may include, but are not restricted to:

• visual art
• musical performances
• skits or dramatic performances
• poetry readings
• creative pieces
• academic writing
• dance

How and When to Submit

To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or roundtable discussion, email an abstract with "OBOM PROPOSAL" in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2024.

What to Include

Student submissions should include:

• name of the presenter(s)
• title of your paper or project
• type of presentation: paper or other creative format
• brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach (200-250 words)
• faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already-formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. We’re also open to other possibilities: poster sessions, larger roundtables with more students on a single panel, and so on. Pitch us what you think would work for you!

Possible Topics

• Loneliness
• Isolation
• Urban/rural/suburban spaces
• Comics
• Laughter and community
• Cowboy myth and masculinity
• Loneliness and violence
• Mixed-media art
• Art as communication
• Creative non-fiction as a genre
• Mental illness
• Existentialism
• Family histories
• Ideology, interpellation, social construction of behaviors
• Social control hypothesis
• Gender and loneliness
• LGBTQIA+ identities and loneliness
• American mass shootings, gun culture, gun rights & regulations
• Internet culture, “digital natives,” technology across generational differences
• Rise of social media
• Effects of social media on people
• Surveillance, internet privacy issues (cookies, advertising, government surveillance) 
• Different disciplinary approaches to loneliness: 
  • Evolutionary biology     
  • Neurology 
  • Anthropology 
  • Psychology 
  • Sociology 
  • Philosophy 
  • Literature 
  • Gender and Women’s Studies 
  • History
  • Music
  • Art 

Call for Papers and Creative Projects

April 19, 2023

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our 12th Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

• visual art
• musical performances
• skits or dramatic performances
• poetry readings
• creative pieces
• academic writing

To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or roundtable discussion, email an abstract to OBOM@ric.edu with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is April 1.

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already-formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. We’re also open to other possibilities: poster sessions, larger roundtables with more students on a single panel, and so on. Pitch us what you think would work for you!

Possible Topics

• Black history and culture
• “P���������Բ�”
• race, racism, colorism
• trans-racial issues
• Black women in America
• gender roles, constructions of gender, gender performativity
• domestic violence
• transgender identities
• cissexism
• LGBTQIA+ identities
• intersectional approaches to literature, arts, and culture
• twins
• Black Lives Matter
• anti-racist pedagogy
• race and representation in fiction
• gender and representation in fiction
• related works like the novel Passing by Nils Larsen, or the film Passing directed by Rebecca Hall

Submissions

Student Submission Requirements

• name of the presenter(s)
• title of your paper or project
• type of presentation: paper or other creative format
• brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach (200-250 words)
• faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submission Requirements

• name of the faculty facilitator
• title of the panel
• names of the student presenters
• type of presentation: panel or creative format
• brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• title of the course in which students have researched this topic

The Open Books - Open Minds Committee invites the campus community to join us for Student Presentations and Open Discussion on Tommy Orange’s There There

Join us as students present their research and creative projects inspired by Tommy Orange’s There There, followed by Q & A and open discussion. All are welcome: this event is free and open to the public.

Friday, April 16, 2021
10:00 - 11:50 a.m. on Zoom

Other Programming

Student-Led Discussion
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. on Zoom
All are welcome to join OBOM mentors for a student-led discussion of Tommy Orange’s There There!
Watch your email for the Zoom link and password.

Faculty Roundtable Discussion: Strategies for Teaching Tommy Orange’s There There!
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. on Zoom
Join us for presentations, Q & A, and lively conversation!
Watch your email for the Zoom link and password

Summer Reading Group
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. on Zoom
All are welcome to join the conversation about Tommy Orange’s There There!
Watch your email for the Zoom link and password.

Open Books – Open Minds is pleased to announce the 2020 Student Conference Writing and Multimedia Award Winners!

Research Papers
1st Place: Jameson Pommenville, “Protect the Trees”
Honorable Mention: Marissa Menard, “Killing Trees Is Killing Us”
Honorable Mention: Julianne Svoboda, “Trees Create Music”

Creative Nonfiction
1st Place: Brenda McClain, “College Graduation and Welfare Recidivism” - McNair Scholar

Multimedia
Lab Girl Presentation
English 120 students:
Jocelyn Azulay
Brittany Chito
Sokkim Ho
Alison Lei

Poster Award
First-Year Writing Honors students:
Haya Abaherah
Abdullah S. Ahmad
Nailea Estrada
Marissa Menard
Jameson Pommenville
Lance A. Preston, Jr.
Hannah Simonds
Julianne Svoboda

The Ninth Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference Goes Online!

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program invites students to submit papers and creative projects to be featured on our website. We are seeking submissions in a range of formats and media on any topic inspired by Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl:

Visual art / Musical performances / Skits or dramatic performances / Poetry readings / Creative pieces / Academic writing

Awards will be given in these categories:

• Research papers
• Creative writing
• Innovative visual/audio media

Deadline for submissions to be considered for awards: April 20, 2020.

Email submissions or inquiries to aduneer@ric.edu or bhawk@ric.edu.

Possible topics:

• Ecocriticism
• Global Warming / Climate Change
• Earth Day
• Environmental Activism / Youth Climate Activism
• Why should we care about trees?
• Trees as literary subjects: poetry, stories, songs
• Ecosystems and aesthetics
• Women and other underrepresented groups in science and academia
• Mentorship in science
• Work and motherhood
• Creative approaches to research and writing
• Literary influences and references in Lab Girl (David Copperfield, Antigone, Finnegan’s Wake, Jean Genet)
• Rhetorical strategies in memoir
• Self-writing and Nature
• Nature Writing (Thoreau’s Walden)
• Interdisciplinary and/or disciplinary specific approaches to creative and critical thinking
• Science Writing
• The Personal in the Professional: Navigation of personal, professional, and political spheres in real life and/or in writing
• Money in Science: Grant writing and finding other sources of funding for research
• Mental health and Success (personal and professional) as related to work, family, parenting, and/or creativity
• Diversity and/or collaboration in the sciences and humanities
• Cultural and ethical implications of science
• Laboratories and other Sacred Spaces

Other Programming

Roundtable Discussion: ΢��Ȧ “Lab Girls” from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Gaige 200
12:30 - 2:00 p.m.

Summer Reading Group
All are welcome to join the conversations about Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl:
Monday, June 17, 2019, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., in Craig-Lee 204
Wednesday, July 10, 2019, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., in Craig-Lee 154

Open Books - Open Minds Roundtable Discussion: Strategies for Teaching Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl
September 18, 2019, Wednesday free period 12:30-2:00pm,  Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, Adams 406
Presentation by ΢��Ȧ professors representing a variety of academic disciplines.
Instructors, student mentors, and all other interested parties are welcome!

Call for Papers & Panels

The Eighth Annual Open Books – Open Minds Student Conference

Borders and Portals
April 12, 2019
Panels and roundtables: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Lunch and Keynote Lecture by photographer Thierry Cohen

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Eighth Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

We especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to create fun ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities

To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or roundtable discussion, email an abstract to aduneer@ric.edu or bhawk@ric.edu with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is March 22.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already-formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome!

Possible topics for conference presentations and roundtables:

War/ Refugees & Immigration / Borders / Exile, Loss, & Dislocation / Self & Other / Human Rights International Relations / Storytelling & Social Activism / Gender and Sexuality / World Literature & History Islam / Globalization /Racial, ethnic, national & class identities / Nativism / Creative Writing & Culture Magical Realism / Ethics & Law / Apocalypse / Self-Determination / Rebuilding / Mohsin Hamid: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, Discontent and Its Civilizations

PAPER TOPIC 1: BORDERS, PORTALS, OR FRAMES

Begin with a textual example of borders, portals, or frames in in Exit West. Consider the physical, metaphorical, and conceptual meanings in your example and the ways in which these spaces evoke the “real” world beyond the text. Here are a few ideas for borders, frames, or portals:

Doors, windows, closets, rooftops, alleys, phones/computers, cyberspace (social media), geography/the landscape (islands, mountains, desert), photographs, surveillance drones, telescopes, houses/tents/apartments, restaurants…

Choose a point of connection that you see between the image or scene in the text and a real world association. Begin with a “burning question” and then do a little research on your topic. Here are just a few examples (but the possibilities are unlimited):

• Why, for example, would Filipinas go to Japan or would a Brazilian artist go to Amsterdam?
• Why do you think Saeed and Nadia first find themselves on a Greek island? Is there any particular significance in the specific location of Mykonos?
• What is known about the way “coyotes” operate on the U.S. – Mexican border? What similarities do you see between these operatives and the “agents” who Saeed and Nadia pay to help them leave their country?
• What political or cultural pressures would motivate migration or shape “nativist” responses toward immigrants in one of these specific locations?
• What are some of the positive and negative effects of social media and surveillance for mobilizing or controlling migrants?
• What is the relationship between photography, time, and memory? How does the narrator’s observation, “We are all migrants through time” (209) relate to the “images by a French photographer [Thierry Cohen] of famous cities at night” (56)?
• In what ways does the novel challenge the boxes society puts people in—stereotypes of gender, sexuality, religion, or cultural identity?

PAPER TOPIC 2: YOUR FAMILY STORY OF MIGRATION

That the city of Saeed’s and Nadia’s birth is unnamed opens the possibilities that it could be anywhere in the world. What circumstances that lead Saeed and Nadia to flee seem common to migrants around the globe? Does their story resonate with your own family’s story of migration? Tell a story of migration—your own experience; a story you have heard from cousins, uncles, aunts, or grandparents; or family lore that you have heard about family members who migrated a century or more ago. Do a little research to find out about the historical and political circumstances of that migration. If possible, interview a family member. What was going on in the world at the time? Do you know what motivated your relatives to leave their homeland? What was the immigration policy of the U.S. (or a different country) toward your family’s or your ancestors’ national or ethnic group? In what ways do members of your family seem fiercely independent like Nadia, and in what ways do they try to remain connected to their homeland like Saeed?

PAPER TOPIC 3: CREATIVE RETELLING OR DEPICTION (with an analytical interpretation essay)

Retell a scene, vignette, or plotline from Exit West stories from an alternate perspective in any way you like: as a story, a poem, a one-act play, a scene of a graphic novel, a ballad (i.e., a story put to music), a piece of visual art (on paper or computer generated), a short film, or other imaginative medium. The creative project must be accompanied by an interpretive essay, in which you explain why you chose this particular genre or artistic medium, and what you want the reader/listener/viewer to notice about your work of art. What particular detail, motif, or issue from the original work do you highlight in your creative piece?

Other Programming

Summer Reading Group
Please Join us for the OBOM summer book club! Featuring Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Wednesday July 11, 11 a.m., Gaige 302
Tuesday, July 17, 4 p.m., Gaige 206

Call for Papers

The Seventh Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Topic: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me
Friday, April 13, 2018 Papers and Roundtables: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM, GAIGE HALL
Keynote Lecture: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, GAIGE 100
Lunch: 12:15-1:15 PM, GAIGE 200

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Seventh Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

We especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to design creative ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities!

OBOM also invites students to present projects at the College-Wide Poster Session, sponsored by the Center for Research and Creative Activity (CRCA): Monday, April 23, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, in the Murray Center. To submit a poster, register by March 31.

To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or roundtable discussion, email a 250-word abstract to bhawk@ric.edu with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is March 23. Please include the following with your proposal:

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome!

Other Programming

Spring Film Series
13th, directed by Ava DuVernay (2016)
Wednesday, February 14, 2 - 4 p.m., Faculty Center Classroom (Donovan)
Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay (2014)
Wednesday, March 28, 2 - 4:30 p.m., Gaige Hall 200

Call for Papers

΢��Ȧ Presents the Sixth Annual Open Books - Open Minds student Conference

Topic: Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Panels, posters, and roundtables: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, ADAMS LIBRARY
Lunch and Keynote Lecture: 12:30 – 2:00 PM, STUDENT UNION BALLROOM

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Sixth Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

We especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to create fun ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities!

This year OBOM is partnering with the Center for Research and Creative Activity (CRCA) so that the Student Conference will coincide with presentations of student projects at the College-Wide Poster Session in Adams Library

To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, or roundtable discussion, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is March 31. Please include the following with your proposal:

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome

Other Programming

Open Books – Open Minds Lecture
“Margaret Atwood and Environmental Dystopia: When Technology Goes Wrong”
Dr. Pamela Bedore
Monday, April 17, 10:00-11:50 a.m.
Donovan Dining Faculty Center South
Dr. Pamela Bedore is associate professor of English at the University of Connecticut. She has published widely on science fiction, detective fiction, and cultural theory, and has most recently authored The Great Courses lecture series “Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature.”

Film Series

Writing Award Recipients

First Place: Makara Keo, The Faceless Man: Loss of Identity in the Canefields
Second Place: Zackary Heon, Fukú Americanus: A Geopolitical and (Neo)Colonial Curse
Third Place: Jessica Simpson, Gender in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Honorable Mention: Brian Gould, Radical Nerd Trilingualis
Honorable Mention: Rachel Plunkett, Not a Bad Guy: Sexism in Junot Diaz’s This is How You Lose Her

΢��Ȧ Presents The Fifth Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Topic: Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Fifth Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to this year’s common book, Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

We especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to create fun ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities!

To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. We request submissions of proposals generated in fall coursework by January 22. The spring deadline for submissions is March 17.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome.

Writing Award Recipients

First Place: Lauren McDonough, Playing the Way to Equality in the Civil Rights, Feminism, and LGBTQ Movements

Second Place: Remson DeJoseph,My Soul Has Sung Deep Like the Rivers: How the Abolition of Slavery Birthed Generations of Music

Third Place: Max St. George, Music vs. Noise: Philosophical and Aesthetic Perspectives

Call for Papers

΢��Ȧ Presents The Fourth Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Music and the Brain
Friday, April 10, 2015

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Fourth Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to Music and the Brain, a conference theme inspired by the common book, Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

We especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to create fun ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities!

To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. We request submissions of proposals generated in fall coursework by January 8. The spring deadline for submissions is March 19.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome.

Writing Award Recipients

First Place: Jessica Mandeville, Poe, Melville, and Whiteness
Second Place: Cameron Osteen, Paintings and the Biodome: Simulacra and Simulation in PYM
Third Place: Patrick Pride, Tsalal: the 19th-Century American Nightmare

Poster and Multimedia Exhibit Award Recipients

Individual Poster Award: Gabriel Morrison, The Empty Gallery
Group Poster Award: Identity in America project created in FYS: Talkies and More

Call for Papers

΢��Ȧ Presents The Third Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Imagination and Exploration
Friday, April 11, 2014

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, roundtable, or other creative proposals to be presented at our Third Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit proposals. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or innovative formats. We invite students to share their writing, research, and creative projects on any topic related to Imagination and Exploration, a conference theme that opens a world of possible approaches, including, but not limited to, those inspired by the common book, Mat Johnson’s PYM. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches.

This year we especially invite FYS and FYW students and faculty to use their imaginations to create fun ways to present their work—through posters or other visual displays, skits or dramatic performances, poetry readings, videos, interactive roundtable discussions or paper panels. Explore the possibilities!

To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. We request submissions of proposals generated in fall coursework by January 9. The spring deadline for submissions is March 20.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome.

Writing Award Recipients

First Place: Dawn Danella, Night Doctors: Exhuming the Truth
Second Place: Philip Goldman, Trusting the Reliable Narrator: Narratological and Lacanian and Perspectives on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Third Place: Matthew Leo, Henrietta Lacks: Copyright 2010

Call for Papers

΢��Ȧ Presents The Second Annual Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Topic: Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Friday, April 12, 2013

΢��Ȧ’s Open Books – Open Minds Program is calling for paper, panel, and roundtable proposals to be presented at our Second Annual Student Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit a paper proposal. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student panels or roundtables. Topics should be related to the 2012-2013 book selection, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, or inspired by issues raised in the book. We welcome submissions from any academic discipline as well as interdisciplinary approaches. We also welcome proposals of creative formats.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Genetics on an individual and macro level;
• “HeLa” cells in medical research;
• Bioethics;
• Race, class, gender and health care;
• Minorities/women and medical experimentation;
• Money, science, and medicine;
• Ethics of biography or journalism;
• Representing race or disease in science, literature, art;
• Genetics in speculative literature or science fiction;
• And any number of approaches from disciplines in the sciences, nursing, humanities, education, finance, and marketing.
• Teaching The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or related issues in the college or high school classroom
• For more ideas for research, see the Adams Library LibGuide:

To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line. We request submissions of proposals generated in fall coursework by Friday, December 7. The spring deadline for submissions is March 25.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course

Undergraduate papers will be allotted 10-12 minutes each (time for approximately 1000-1250 words or four-five pages, double-spaced); graduate student papers will be allotted 15 minutes. We will accept proposals for already formed panels (one hour per session) or for individual papers, which we will group by topic. Inquiries about presentation ideas are welcome.

Call for Papers & Roundtables

The Inaugural Open Books - Open Minds Student Conference

Topic: Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine and/or the Japanese-American Internment
Friday, March 30, 2012

All ΢��Ȧ undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to submit a paper proposal. Instructors are encouraged to submit collaborative proposals for student roundtables. Possible research topics related to the Japanese-American internment, in dialogue with the 2011-2012 book selection, When the Emperor Was Divine:

To submit a proposal, email a 250-word abstract to aduneer@ric.edu, with OBOM PROPOSAL in the subject line, by March 5, 2012. Papers will be allotted 10 minutes each (time for approximately 1000 words or four pages, double-spaced). Panels will be scheduled between 9:00am and 3:00pm in Alger Hall.

Please include the following with your proposal:

Student Submissions

• The name of the presenter(s)
• The title of your paper or project
• Type of presentation: paper or creative format
• A 200-250 word abstract (a brief description that concisely identifies your topic and approach)
• A faculty sponsor (or the name of the professor and the course in which you did the research)

Faculty Submissions

• The name of the faculty facilitator
• The names of the student presenters
• The title of the course in which students have researched this topic
• Type of presentation: panel or creative format
• A brief description of the proposed presentation (200-250 words)
• The title of the course