The second Western Pennsylvania Undergraduate Literatures Conference will give you the opportunity to present a version of one of your best papers and to hear presentations by your peers from UPJ and other colleges. Papers will examine literature in English, French, or Spanish or overlaps between literature and other humanities disciplines as well as the literature of science.
It will be held on March 25, 2017 from 9:00am-6:00pm in the Living Learning Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
Our theme, “Diversity” offers a wide range of possibilities for paper topics that address diversity as a social issue as well as wider ways of thinking about that concept. We aim to promote the concept of civil discourse across differences of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. We also promote more abstract considerations of the term “diversity,” to include, for example, biodiversity and the multiplicity of disciplinary perspectives in the university.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Ed McCord, exemplifies this multi-stranded approach in his book The Value of Species. We will provide morning refreshments and lunch.
To take part, send a 300-word proposal to anr12@pitt.edu by February 28, 2017. Your proposal should briefly describe the main argument that your paper will make. Your professor will be glad to read your proposal and make suggestions for how you can improve it, and also to read a draft of your paper later on. If your proposal is accepted, on the day of the conference you will read a 15-minute version of your paper as part of a panel of three presenters. Throughout the day you will be able to attend panels and share ideas with other students from around the region, engaging in real dialog about your ideas.