Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium
The second annual Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium (UHRS), sponsored by the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, will be held on March 27, 2026. UHRS provides driven undergraduate researchers an opportunity to share their research with other humanities-focused peers. Presentations cover all topics regarding the humanities and are not bound to a specific field or theme. Additionally, keynote speaker Joanna Dee Das will discuss her most recent book, Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America. UHRS is open to the public, and attendees are welcome to attend specific presentations or the entire symposium.
Event Location:
2026 Symposium Schedule
8:45 AM
9:00 AM
9:10 AM
Breakfast
Welcome
Panel 1: Culture, Identity, and Representation
- Haylii Jo Fuson, “Catherine Littlefield: An American Sleeping Beauty”
- Shelby Reynolds, “Depictions of Food During the Great Depression”
- Allayna Benedict, “You're Not the Indian I Had in Mind: Colonization and Identity”
- Mattie Johnson, “Baptized into Monstrosity"
10:20 AM
Break
10:30 AM
Panel 2: Mapping Histories
- Isabella R. Franco, “Mapping Through War—Lightning Strikes Twice”
- Alisa Bollich, “Patterns Beneath Our Feet: The Mapping Archaeological Site Density”
- Jackson Mitchell, “Our Soviet Allies: American Cartoon Maps and Wartime Memory”
11:30 AM
Lunch
12:00 PM
Keynote
Dr. Joanna Dee Das, “‘You’ve Got a Great Past Ahead of You’: Performing American History in the Missouri Ozarks”
1:00 PM
Break
1:10 PM
Panel 3: Humanity and Technologies
- Evangelos Chrisanthus, “Cross-Bearing: Metaphors for Afflictions in the Macarian Corpus”
- Muskaan Hassan, “From Gene to Patient: Recombinant Insulin and the Ethics of Access”
- James DePoy, Bo Liu, Sofia Kamanev Betancourt, “Improving Chinese Character Writing Accuracy: A Study of Smartphone App Integration in University Chinese Courses”
Keynote Speaker:
Joanna Dee Das
Associate Professor of Dance, Performing Arts Department
Washington University, St. Louis
Joanna Dee Das, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts and a faculty affiliate of American Culture Studies, African and African-American Studies, and History at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work focuses on the cultural and political meanings of live performance in the United States, both historically and today. She is the author of Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora (Oxford, 2017) and Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (Chicago, 2025). She has also published articles in The Conversation, Journal of Urban History, Dance Research Journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, and Theatre History Studies.
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