welcome back!

Fellow Humanities Graduate Students,
 
As president of the HGSA, it is my privilege to welcome you to what I am sure will be a wonderful year. My fellow officers and I are honored to be in a position to advocate for Humanities graduate students as well as to work to improve the opportunities we have to grow together as scholars. We have a lot to look forward to this year so keep an eye out for our monthly newsletter where you’ll hear more about upcoming Research Forums, Professional Development Workshops, Valhalla Socials, our annual conference, and ways for you to get involved. As always, I hope that you’ll feel free to contact us with any concerns or suggestions you may have. We’re always looking for ways to improve Humanities graduate student life at Rice and can’t hope to do so effectively without your help. I wish you the best of luck over the coming year and look forward to getting to know you all.
 
Best,
Maria R. Montalvo
HGSA President

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recent accomplishments

• Hannah Biggs, English: Hannah completed archival research in Yorkshire and participated in the International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society Conference in Dublin, the Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, and the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature’s Annual Symposium. She received several funding awards for these conference and research trips.  
   
• Rainer Ebert, Philosophy: Rainer published a review of of Alasdair Cochrane’s Animal Rights Without Liberation in The Journal of Animal Ethics. He also has had four op/eds published in a variety of international publications this summer, including the Dhaka Tribune and the Schwaebische Post. Rainer received an HRC Travel Grant to give a paper at the La Liberation animale, quarante ans plus tard conference in Rennes, France.
   
• Abby Goode, English: Abby was awarded one of only ten Woodrow Wilson National Dissertation Fellowships in Women’s Studies, the only national program to support doctoral work on women’s and gendered issues.
   
• Caitlin Huber, Art History: Caitlin pursued archival research on the antebellum, Battle-Friedman House in Tuscaloosa, AL for which she will give a presentation at Tuscaloosa’s Preservation Society.
   
• Aundrea Matthews, Religious Studies: Aundrea was elected Vice President of the Buffalo Soldiers Association at West Point. Over the summer, she curated two exhibitions, one for the Inaugural Missouri City Juneteenth Celebration Foundation and one on Texas Quilting for Lone Star College’s North Harris Campus’ Celebrating 150 years of Juneteenth. In addition, Aundrea gave a paper entitled “Quilts as Source Material for STEAM education,” based on her dissertation research, at the PIME-STEAM event hosted at the Institute for Hispanic Culture. As a result, PIME, a group of MIT graduates and engineers in Houston who host community events to promote STEAM education, have integrated quilts into their programming.
   
• Don Oxtoby, Philosophy: Don received departmental and HRC funding to give a paper entitled “Hearing Where Things Are and Perceived Boundaries” at the American Philosophical Association in Vancouver this spring.
   
• Mallory Pladus, English: Mallory’s essay, “Gender Constructivism and Strategic Essentialism in Refuge,” will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment).
   
• Erika Rendon, History: Erika had an article accepted for publication in the Fall edition of Journal of South Texas. Her work is titled “Through the Eyes of Charro Days: Borderlands, Celebrations and the Twin-Cities of Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.” 
   
• Kyle Sweeney, Art History: Kyle was awarded a Grant for Innovation in Community Building and Professionalization from the Medieval Academy of America to help host the 15th annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies at Rice (Feb. 18-20, 2016).

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conferences & lectures

• Modalities: English Graduate Symposium, Sept. 18-19, 2015 [English] http://modalities2015.com/index.html
   
• SLSA Conference with 3CT, Nov. 12-15, 2015 [Interdisciplinary] http://litsciarts.org/slsa15/
   
• Spiritual But Not Religious Conference, Mar. 18-20, 2016 [Religious Studies]
   
• CSWGS Annual Graduate Symposium, Apr. 15, 2016 [CSWGS] http://cswgs.rice.edu/Events.aspx?EventRecord=26298