Several English Department faculty members and students attended the Rachel Carson Conference at Chatham University in Pittsburgh on Oct. 18.
Rachel Carson was an author and environmental activist who is considered a pioneer in the modern environmental movement. She died in 1964.
The theme of the conference was “Write to Resist.”
Spanish major Jennifer Spacht and History/English double-major Reagan Vought presented some of their research at the conference. Other SFU students who attended the conference were Madyn Allison and Alexis Stoppe.
SFU faculty members Lisa Beiswenger, Tim Bintrim, Sydney Beunier-Lucas, Brennan Thomas and John Woznak also presented at the conference.
Spacht’s presentation was on the treatment of immigrants in America. She said her favorite part of the conference was “hearing people speak out about issues in history that we see through literature, art and media that has transcended to today.”
“I was terrified to present because I had never presented like this before,” said Vought. “However, this was a great first conference experience.”
Vought presented information on poet John Dryden’s connection to the long-running television program South Park.
Woznak presented on misanthropy in popular music; Beiswenger discussed banned books in South Korea and the United States; Bintrim spoke about reintroducing pumas in the U.S.; Beunier-Lucas discussed environmental and cultural trauma in Japan; and Thomas discussed police corruption in the film The Changeling.
