Professors and Students Collaborate

Professors and Students Collaborate: Student Independent Study and Research (SISTAR) grant

SISTAR partners Professor Isabel
Larraza and Kara Joseph '11This past summer Kristle Hodges ’10 and English professor Max Westler collaborated on research as part of the Student Independent Study and Research (SISTAR) grant.

Hodges and Westler will be presenting their topic, Exploring African-American Poetry this week, along with three other SISTAR teams. The grant allows a rising senior, or in some cases a junior, to engage in research or a creative activity with a professor during an eight-week summer residency on campus. This opportunity to produce scholarly work helps prepare the student for graduate studies, or a career after college. The faculty member benefits from the opportunity to participate in a high-level learning experience with an advanced student.

Reviewing African-American poetry from a time period after the late 1800s through the Harlem Renaissance, Hodges and Westler looked at a number of historical influences such as dialect, race and racism in America, slavery, jazz, sexuality, and art. Hodges says she chose the topic because of her interest in that area, and because there are no classes taught on the subject.

Hodges approached Westler after having taken his creative writing course. According to Hodges, Westler was eager to participate, admitting that their research would lead to discovery on both ends.“ I knew that this would be great because there would be no solid teacher, nor a single student. We were both students, learning for the purpose of our own understanding, but also to possibly add to the English department.”

Other SISTAR recipients presenting this week include Kara Joseph ’11 and professor Isabel Larraza with their presentation, Innovative Green Research in Chemistry; Mary Gross ’10 and professor Phyllis Kaminski on Women’s Transformative Voices in Higher Education and the Language of Faith; and Stephanie Mitchell ’10 and professor Daniel Party presenting Current Trends in the Art and Business of Latin American Music.

Hodges and Westler will be presenting their work on Tuesday, February 23.