MSVU English Students Soar at AAUEC 2024

Two weeks ago, on 22-24 March, six MSVU students participated in the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference (AAUEC), which took place at Université de Moncton in New Brunswick this year. Students from over a dozen universities, including the Mount, presented on various topics and on texts ranging from the medieval period to the present. The six MSVU English Department representatives, once again, did a fantastic job with their contributions, presenting well-argued and sophisticated academic essays and well-crafted and poignant creative works: 

Academic  

• Natalie Freeman: Bodies, Bodies, Bodies: Sexualized Mummies and British Futurity in Grant Allen’s “My New Year’s Eve Among the Mummies” 
• Michael Gillis: Masculinity, Militarization, and Machismo in a Porous Translation of “The Battle of Maldon” 
• Emma Henderson: Inventing Desire: Deleuzian Becomings in Nicole Brossard’s Mauve Desert 
• Jenna Ryall: Turning Back the Feet of Time: Time as a Threat to Empire in “The Mummy’s Foot” 

Creative 

• Elizabeth MacKay: Stroking Midnight 
• Georgia Wachter: Philips Mountain  

Our presenters also handled themselves exceptionally well in the question periods, providing answers with poise and asking thoughtful and perceptive questions of their colleagues.  

Congratulations to all six students, and thank you for helping to showcase the talent at the Mount! 

Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference 2021

The AAUEC will be held virtually this year with an online Literary Festival on March 5th and 6th organized by Memorial University in Newfoundland. The Mount will be represented by five students who have been selected to present their creative and critical writing. The conference also features a keynote address on Friday night by author Maria Reva and a creative writing workshop on Saturday. Please download the program for more details and links to all the panels.

This conference is always a unique opportunity for English students from different Atlantic universities to get to know each other and to listen to each other’s work. This year’s virtual conference will make it easy to take some time this weekend to log on for some intellectual stimulation while supporting the following Mount presenters:

Saturday March 6

9:00 -10:30

Panel 1A: Stacey Blackburn, “Triple Consciousness-The Forced, Fractured Black Identity”

Panel 1B: Olivia Landry, “ghost girls never sleep”

10:45-12:15

Panel 2B: Sophia Godsoe, “God of Oblivion”

1:00-2:30

Panel 3A: Darcy Eisan, “‘Smashing China, Smashing ‘Voice’: The Chorus and Polyphony in Atwood and Woolf”

3:00-4:30

Panel 4A:

Jules Sabourin, “Subtler Wings: The Influence of French Symbolists of T.S. Eliot’s Early Poetry”

Julia Hines, “The Reciprocal Relationship and Peculiar Portraitures of Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein”

Download the full program with links to all of the panels here:

aauec_literary_festival_programDownload

AAUEC 2019

 by Sam VanNorden

St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB

St. Thomas University hosted this year’s Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference (AAUEC) March 1-2. Five students represented the Mount––Rebecca Foster, Shawn Hunt, Michelle Russell, April Stevens, Samantha VanNorden––who each presented their respective academic papers or creative pieces. They were accompanied by Dr. Karen Macfarlane, Dr. Nathaniel Street, and English Society Co-President Darcy Eisan. The AAUEC, which was first held at the Mount 38 years ago and, most recently, last year, is a wonderful opportunity for undergraduate students not only to meet fellow English students from other universities, but also to showcase some of their work. The AAUEC runs like any other conference and allows students to see another side of academia outside of the classroom. It also is a great chance for students to learn new discoveries within the field. Above all, attending the AAUEC is a rich learning experience for both presenters and volunteers.

Mount students presented the following papers and creative pieces this year:

April Stevens

“____: Narrative, Perspective, and History” [erasure] by Michelle Russell

“Drowning in a Sorrowful Hall: ‘The Wife’s Lament’ Translated” by Rebecca Foster

“Funeral Play” by April Stevens

“A Poetics of Cartography: A New Narrative Form Found in the Collection of Maps and The Narrative Atlas” by Samantha VanNorden

“A Solitary Journey: An Experience in Translation” by Shawn Hunt

“We’re All Wile E. Coyote: A Psychogeographic Report of IKEA” by Michelle Russell

Shawn Hunt (far left) and Rebecca Foster (far right)

_________

Sam VanNorden is an English Honours student and Co-President of the English Society.

AAUEC 2018 at the Mount

Last weekend, the English Department at Mount Saint Vincent University welcomed students and faculty from eleven universities across the east coast for the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference (AAUEC), which showcases the academic papers and creative works of the region’s top English students. Founded here in 1981, this was the sixth time that the Mount has hosted the conference. Co-organized by Dr. Reina Green and Dr. Diane Piccitto along with conference assistants Katie O’Brien, Hope Tohme, and Sam VanNorden, the AAUEC 2018 was a resounding success!

Mount students at the welcome reception: Hope Tohme, Katie O’Brien, Rebecca Foster, and Courtney Francis

The conference began on Friday, March 2, in Seton Academic Centre with a Welcome Reception, where attendees participated in a lively round of icebreaker bingo – facilitated by English Society co-presidents Katie O’Brien and Hope Tohme – and heard a presentation by Formac Publishing to announce “Write to Win!” – a writing competition aimed at Atlantic Canadians 18-30 years old.

Dr. Diane Piccitto

Welcome reception

The afternoon included the first panel of the conference and was followed by ArtFest, held in the MSVU Art Gallery. Emceed by Alexia Major and Sam VanNordon (co-editors, with other MSVU students, of the Speakman Press), ArtFest featured short stories and poetry of participants and the work of special guests El Jones (MSVU’s Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies and poet and activist) and Chantelle Rideout (writer and MSVU English alumna), as well as a welcome address by Dr. Elizabeth Church (MSVU’s Vice-President Academic and Provost).

Artfest in the Art Gallery

El Jones

Day 2 – Saturday, March 3, was held in the Margaret Norrie McCain Centre, giving visitors a chance to spend time in the only building at a Canadian university to celebrate the achievements of women, highlighted in the Women’s Wall of Honour. The second day included four panels, covering topics such as ethics, bodies, politics, and trauma, and even involved one presenter from the Mount, Michelle Russell, Skyping in from Florida where she is training with the Canadian paddling team.

Dr. Reina Green

Dr. Peter Schwenger

Dr. Susan Drain

Dr. Chris Ferns

Bad Poetry Reading

The afternoon ended in the Atrium with the Bad Poetry Reading, which was first begun by Dr. Chris Ferns (Professor Emeritus) in his days as an undergraduate and then initiated at the Mount in the 1980s, having since become an institution in the English Department. Dr. Ferns selected among the very worst poems written by published authors and emceed the event, charming the audience with his entertaining commentary over the course of the hour. Readers included past and current MSVU English students,  faculty members such as Professors Emeritus Dr. Susan Drain and Dr. Peter Schwenger, who performed memorable renditions of “Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight” and “The Tay Bridge Disaster,” respectively. Afterward, participants and volunteers celebrated the two-day conference with a closing-night banquet and dance party – with DJ extraordinaire Dr. Steven Bruhm (former MSVU English student and professor) in Rosaria’s Multi-Purpose Room.

Some of the Mount student volunteers. Front, left to right: Katie O’Brien, Nicole Martina, Alex Rudderham, Sidney Warren.  Back, left to right: Sarah Vallis, Darcy Eisan, Sam VanNorden, Megan Bruce, Hope Tohme

The conference was marked by a wonderful energy from beginning to end, creating a stimulating inter-university intellectual community for English students and faculty. See our earlier post here for a list of Mount presenters.

We would like to thank the more than 50 presenters who shared their work at the AAUEC 2018 and the faculty who accompanied students as well as our emcees, guest speakers, and DJ. Thank you also to the President’s Office and the Dean of Arts and Science for their very necessary financial support and to MSVU staff (Catering, Conference Services, Art Gallery, IT Services, Facilities, Communications, Marketing, and Recruitment, Research Office, Book Store, Print Shop, and Security). Finally, a very special thank you to our conference assistants, all of our volunteers, Tracy McDonald (English Department Administrative Assistant), as well as the entire English Department for their instrumental involvement and support over the last several months.

AAUEC dance

AAUEC 2018 starts today

Today the Mount welcomes English students from the Atlantic region for the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference. Students will be reading their academic papers and their creative work today and tomorrow and will be able to enjoy other events, such as the Friday ArtFest (with special guests El Jones and Mount alumna Chantelle Rideout) and Saturday’s always-comical Bad Poetry Reading and closing banquet and dance. The full program is available on the AAUEC website.

The University has published a story about the conference and a couple of the student presenters and volunteers, Samantha VanNorden and Alexia Major, which you can read here.

Samantha VanNorden and Alexia Major (from msvu.ca)

MSVU students presenting at the conference:

Rebecca Foster, “Howling for Love: Romance and Eroticism in Poetry by Allen Ginsberg”

Katie O’Brien, “‘It makes a goblin of the sun’: Fallen Women and the Male Gaze in Dante Gabriel’s ‘Jenny’ and Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’”

Michelle Russell,  “Cross-Cultural Dressing: Clothing and Trauma in Fatty Legs and A Stranger at Home”

Kenya Thompson,  “capturing slipping memories”

Hope Tohme, “Sasha Jensen’s Self-Objectification: A Refusal of the Male Gaze in Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight”

Sam VanNorden,  “hanging red”

In addition, a team of student volunteers, including some alumnae, will help to make this event a great weekend for all.

Fall 2017 Convocation

Congratulations to all who graduated on Sunday, November 5th. Fall convocation is always smaller than the spring event but no less important. This year, convocation also included the official installation of Dr. Mary Bluechardt as the new president of the Mount.

Kyle Cross, B.A. Honours

Kyle Cross graduated with a B.A. Honours in English. Kyle is now in the B.Ed. program at the Mount.

Barbara Cochrane, one of the morning Valedictorians, graduated with a B.A. in French and a Writing Minor. She gave a lively address, drawing on her life experiences to give some good advice to the graduates. You can read her profile here. A couple of the English Department’s Writing courses and participation in the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference are some of the highlights of her Writing Minor experiences:

She remembers her courses in creative writing and editing most fondly. In 2012, she received an award from the Department of English for one of her written works, titled “Passed Down.” The piece focuses on obsessive compulsive disorder, combining parts of her grandfather’s diary from World War I, a poem written by her daughter, and her own obsession with counting as she works. She later presented it at an undergraduate English conference at St. Thomas University.  (From the Mount’s online profile)

Above: Barbara Cochrane delivering the valedictory address.  Image from the Mount’s Facebook page.

Our students shine at the Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference

Mount students at the AAUEC 2017

Each year, an English Department faculty committee selects among the best of our students’ work in literature and creative writing for presentation at the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference (AAUEC). This year’s conference was held at the University of PEI last weekend, March 3-5, when faculty and students from around the Atlantic region gathered to listen to and discuss various topics.

The following students were selected for the 2017 conference:

• Katie O’Brien, “The Maternal Abject and ‘Passive Suffering’ as the Real Horror in Rosemary’s Baby”
• Kevin Smith, “A Picture Like a Poem: William Hogarth’s The Harlot’s Progress”
• Hope Tohme, “The Utter Unpredictability of Words: An Analysis of Translation and Transposition as it Pertains to Mary Stuart’s Casket Sonnets”
• Sarah Vallis, “Polite Deference: Queen Elizabeth I’s tempering with gendered bodies and power”
• Karlee Bustelli, “Flight”
• Tuqqaasi Nuqingaq, “The Way the Earth Feels”

Congratulations to all of the English students who did such a great job of representing our department!

 

‘SNO(W) JOKE: The Atlantic Universities Undergraduate English Conference March 2015

Our stalwart students and their fearless faculty ventured to Cape Breton University for the 2015 Undergraduate English Conference. As is their custom, our students took the conference by storm,  greeted with a flurry of enthusiasm and receiving a blizzard of congratulations after each paper and performance.

Unfortunately, the weather meant that the program was collapsed into one day, so that audiences were smaller in each session — but it meant that our travellers slept in their own beds on Saturday night. Other participants were not so lucky, or so wise — but they did all dig themselves out eventually and returned safely to their own universities.

Congratulations to our young scholars and writers:

• Charlotte Kiddell, “Tradition and the Individual Tyrant: The Historical Sense in Titus Andronicus and Richard III.”
• Rebecca Power,  “Breaking Down the Civilized/Uncivilized Binary: The Representation of Oucanasta in Wacousta.”
• Colton Sherman,  “Breaching Boundaries and Taking Back the Pen: An Analysis of Parkour.”
• Hailey Stapleton, “Stripping the Scripts: An Analysis of Script Decay in Medieval Writing.”

• Monica Albert and Alexandrina Hanam, “Let’s make Our Lives Amazing.”
• Alexandrina Hanam, “Into the Deep.”

Thanks to Dr. Macfarlane and Dr. Green, chief cheerleaders.

The Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference

This year’s conference takes place Cape Breton University March 13th -15th, and two of our intrepid faculty and six of our magnificent students will be there. The Mount’s participants include four academic papers and two works of creative writing:

• Charlotte Kiddell, “Tradition and the Individual Tyrant: The Historical Sense in Titus Andronicus and Richard III.”
• Rebecca Power,  “Breaking Down the Civilized/Uncivilized Binary: The Representation of Oucanasta in Wacousta.”
• Colton Sherman,  “Breaching Boundaries and Taking Back the Pen: An Analysis of Parkour.”
• Hailey Stapleton, “Stripping the Scripts: An Analysis of Script Decay in Medieval Writing.”

Creative writers:

• Monica Albert and Alexandrina Hanam, “Let’s make Our Lives Amazing.”
• Alexandrina Hanam, “Into the Deep.

Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference

Several Mount English students have been selected to present their papers or creative writing at this year’s Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference, to be held at Dalhousie University this weekend, March 14-16. According to the preliminary program, our students will be presenting in the following sessions:

Saturday, March 15, 9:00 a.m., McCain 1102
Creative Presentations session
Erin Chapman, “Still Life”

Saturday, March 15, 9:00 a.m., McCain 2016
Materialisms session
Nolan Pike, “As School Girls from Their Books”

Saturday, March 15, 10:30 a.m., McCain 1102
Gender session
Skye Bryden-Blom, “Transgressing Boundaries: Gender Identity and Survival in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games”

Saturday, March 15, 10:30 a.m. McCain 2016
Creative Presentations
Hailey Stapleton, “Roses”

Saturday, March 15, 3:00 p.m., McCain 1198
Impact of Stories on Humanity
Leah Philips, “The Tree Grows Anew: Painting Tolkien’s Tree of Tales”

Sunday, March 16, 10:30 a.m., McCain 2016
Society
Emily Bagnald, “Shoot Straight, Objectification, Dehumanization, and Ethics in The Hunger Games”

The conference welcomes all students and faculty. Registration opens on Friday evening from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the main lobby of the Marion McCain Arts and Social Science Building, 6135 University Avenue. On Friday at 8:00 p.m., writer Lynn Coady will be featured as the keynote speaker, followed by a reception. Registration will also be open on Saturday morning from 8:30-9:00 a.m. before the regular sessions begin. The conference includes a banquet, dance, and a performance by El Jones on Saturday night. This conference is a great opportunity to meet colleagues from other Atlantic universities, to have fun, and to listen to some very interesting ideas.