2020 –2021
Marissa Herzig, “The Women Who Wrote: Political and Cultural Rebellion through Victorian and Edwardian Children’s Literature.”
Advisor: Lori Campbell-Tanner.
Adeline Macioce, “‘No Doubt a Consolation to His Dust’: Ecological Consciousness in Lord Byron’s Works and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.”
Advisor: Amy Murray Twyning.
Committee Members: Mark Best, Troy Boone, and Brenda Whitney.
Cameron Rathfon, “Barbie Girls: Interpreting Barbie Without Interpreting Children.”
Advisors: Amy Murray Twyning.
Reader: Mark Best.
Maxwell Reiver, “Victorian Perceptions of Japan Formed through Encounters with Japanese Theatre.”
Advisors: Julie Beaulieu (GSWS) and Amy Murray Twyning.
2019 – 2020
Adam Bumas, “‘I’m a Fully Realized Creation!’: Bodies of Work and Creative Process in The Adventure Zone and The Lord of the Rings.”
Advisor: Mark Best.
Readers: Lori Campbell-Tanner and Amy Murray Twyning.
Lauren Jordan, “Transatlantic Constructions of Childhood in the Late 19th Century.”
Advisor: Amy Murray Twyning.
Reader: Geoffrey Glover.
Lauren Reese, “Public Health, Victorian Domestic Space, and the Biopolitics of Vaccination Reform in Bleak House and the Lampoons of George Cruikshank.”
Advisor: Amy Murray Twyning.
Reader: Jeff Aziz.
Samantha Watkins, “Empathy Through a Narrative Lens: Methodologies to Facilitate Empathy Development in the High School Literature Classroom.”
Advisor: Geoffrey Glover.
Readers: Hannah Johnson and Amy Murray Twyning.
2018 - 2019
Gabi Keane, "Locating Literature in the Ghost Hoax: An Exploration of 19th-century British Nonfiction."
Advisors: Amy Murray Twyning, David Birnbaum
Allyn Reynolds, "Flann O'Brien: An Exegesis of Satire."
Advisor: Gayle Rogers
Lauren Fabrizio, “Through absence, through change of manners:” Locating Joyce Amidst Debates of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism.”
Advisor: Gayle Rogers
2017 - 2018
Miranda Aristone, "Drawing Conclusions from Illustrations of the Water-Babies: Artistic Selection Meets Natural Selection."
Advisors: Amy Murray Twyning, Jeff Aziz, Courtney Weikle-Mills
Mellissa Pallotti, "Victorian Boys and Their Mothers: Gender Dynamics in Stories about Boys."
Advisors: Amy Murray Twyning, Julian Gill-Petersen
Amanda Spencer, "Redemption and Inheritance, From Bleak House to Great Expectations"
Advisors: Amy Murray Twyning, Jeff Aziz, John Twyning
2016 - 2017
Elizabeth Hoadley, “Discrimination and Modern Paganism: A Study of Religion and Contemporary Social Climate.”
Advisor: Hannah Jonson
2013 - 2014
Ryan Henderson, “’Hell Hath No Limits’: Witchcraft in The Tempest and Doctor Faustus.”
Advisor: Curtis Breight
Julia Cooper, “Beauty and Power: Supernatural Women in ‘Christabel’ and ‘Lamia.’”
Advisors: Jonathan Arac and Uma Satyavolu Rau
Cameron Vass, “Rethinking Education: Exploring Anarchist Pedagogies in Radical Fiction.”
Advisor: Curtis Breight
Daniel Malinowski, "Wha?: Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, Interpersonal Relations, and an Alternative Future."
Advisors: Gayle Rogers and Bill Scott
2012 - 2013
Shannon Knapp: "Representing Rape: Theatrical Dialogue on Lavinia in Titus Andronicus, An Exploration of the Possibilities of Feminist Readings of Lavinia"
Advisors: Susan Harris Smith and Jeff Aziz
Lauren Schmeer: "Female Agency in Twilight, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games: Can Feminist Be Feminine?"
Advisors: Courtney Wiekle-Mills and Lori Campbell
Ashley Werlinich: "'The Beasts of the Earth and the Madness of Men': Dehumanization, Neurodegeneration, and Denial in Moby Dick and Catch-22"
Advisors: Philip Smith and Paul Kameen
2011 - 2012
Geoa Geer: “Victorian Sight: Unique Perceptions in Middlemarch and Jane Eyre”
Advisors: Troy Boone, Amy Murray-Twyning
Jacob Robbins: “‘Can You Feel It?’ Modernist Emotional Resonance Across Jazz and Literature”
Advisors: Ronald Judy, Amy Murray-Twyning
Becca Stern: “From Where did Langland’s Jew Emerge: A Study of Literary and Exegetical Portrayals of the Jew from Late-Antiquity to the Middle Ages”
Advisors: Hannah Johnson, Jeff Aziz
2010 - 2011
Liam Sweeney: “Enlightenment Tragedy”
Advisors: Jonathan Arac, Jeff Aziz
Elaine Short: "Setting as an Agent in Hardy's Fiction"
Advisors: John Twyning, Amy Murray-Twyning
Danielle Grimm: “A Theological Consideration of Resolution in ‘The Endless Ending’ of George MacDonald's Lilith (1895)”
Advisors: Marah Gubar, Lori Campbell
Click to see Student Perspectives on Completing the Senior Thesis in Literature.