Students are completing advanced undergraduate research through individual studies and gaining valuable opportunities to focus and apply academic knowledge and skills.
Each semester and in summer, the Department of English and Linguistics offers juniors and seniors the opportunity to take individual studies in highly specialized courses that are designed by students in close collaboration with sponsoring faculty.
Professor Janie Lee meets with a student.
Spring 2024
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Haley Gosman, ENGL 491: Technical Writing, Document Design, and Portfolio Development — Dr. Blevins
Jordan Leake, LING 491: Afroasiatic Languages — Dr. Fallon
Arden Jones, HONR 491: The Dragons Are Still Here — Dr. Foss
Zoey Young, WGST 485: Transgender Identity and Theory in Contemporary American Poetry — Dr. Scanlon
Fall 2023
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Grace Strong, ENGL 491: The Presence of Disability in Fantasy — Dr. Foss
Anastasia Zanyuk, ENGL 491: A Creative Exploration of Surrealism — Dr. Bylenok
Trinnity Sistrunk, ENGL 491: Literary Networking — Dr. Levy
Spring 2022
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Jessica Morin, ENGL 491: Grotesque Women in Dorothy Allison’s Works — Dr. Richards
Leigh Hatton, ENGL 491: Public Health in Literature — Dr. McAllister
Hannah Harris, ENGL 491: Entropy in Victorian Literature — Dr. Lorentzen
Alexis Huber, ENGL 491: The Ruins of Memory — Dr. Levy
Effy Edwards, LING 491: Historical Linguistics — Dr. Fallon
Cosmy Pellis, ENGL 491: Writing to the Dead: Archival Exploration and Creative Response– Dr. Bylenok
Katia Savelyeva, HONR 491: Little Women, Little Houses: Gender, Nationhood, and Liminality in Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder — Dr. Scanlon
Fall 2021
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Kira Frazee, ENGL 491: Queer Children’s Literature with Professor Richards
Vanessa Fickes, ENGL 491: O’Connor and Christianity with Professor Richards
Summer Reardon, ENGL 491: Creating a Graphic Novel with Professor Whalen
Michael Campbell, LING 491: Italian Phonology with Professor Fallon
Matthew Nelson, LING 491: History of Latin with Professor Fallon
Spring 2021
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Emma C. Atkinson: Songs of the Fall with Professor Kennedy
Katherine Cavallaro: Revising the Horror Novella with Professor Levy
Rachel Cooper: Literature of Female Athletes with Professor Levin
Desmond Davis: Dystopian Literature and Media with Professor Haffey
Piper Giannini: Creative Writing in 3 Mediums with Professor Whalen
Lauren C. Magee: Fantasy Outlining & Research with Professor Levy
Tamara Omer: Music Culture and Journalism with Professor Subramanian
Sarah J. Sechtman: Novella Revision-Publication with Professor Levy
Alexandra Slaughter: The Pensieve Podcast with Professor Whalen
Emma Snyder: NT-USA: An Interactive Fiction with Professor Whalen
Mary Cheney LING 491 Baby Names Across Generations with Professor Lee
Elizabeth Kelly: Language & Alzheimer’s Disease with Professor Parker
Fall 2020
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors :
Kelly Donaghey: Computing Narratives: Computer-Assisted Fiction Writing with Professor Zach Whalen
Emma Snyder: Dimensions of the DSM with Professor Ray Levy
Rebecca Young: Disability Representation in Children’s Literature and Elementary Education with Professor Chris Foss
Chloe Datner: Gossip and Gender with Professor Janie Lee
Spring 2020
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors in parentheses:
Communication and Digital Studies
Jennifer Hill (COMM 491): Underground Mary Washington (Professor Whalen)
Megan Marzzacco (COMM 491): Digital Writing and Design (Professor Blevins)
Daniel Pan (COMM 491): Barriers to Implementing Educational Technology Tools in Higher Education (Professor Blevins)
English
Jesusina Abankwa (ENGL 491): Ghanaian Folklore (Professor Levy)
Krista Beucler (ENGL 491): Intro to the Publication Industry (Professor Rochelle)
Julia Manuel (ENGL 491): Novella Writing and Revising (Professor Levy)
Isobel Rissing (ENGL 491): Race and Disability in Lit (Professor Tweedy)
Katelyn Wolfgang (ENGL 491): Educational Digital Studies and the Graphic Novel (Professor Whalen)
Claudia Woods (ENGL 491): James Baldwin: Rethinking Race (Professor Tweedy)
Linguistics
Mackenzie King (LING 491): Language and Dyslexia (Professor Parker)
Summer 2019
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors in parentheses:
Kristen “Kit” Lewers ENGL 491: Nature Writing in Yellowstone (Levin)
Spring 2019
Individual Studies, with faculty sponsors in parentheses:
Milen Mehari, COMM 491, Communication and Digital Studies Video Project, (Burtis),
Christopher Ringham, COMM 491, Communication and Digital Studies Design Journal, (Burtis)
Jordan Vernon, COMM 491, Communication and Digital Studies Videogame Culture, (Whalen)
Renee Brittigan, ENGL 491, Fantasy Nobel, (Rochelle)
Elizabeth Byrd, ENGL 491, Cataloging the CLR , (Whalen)
Leise Crandall, ENGL 491, Tennessee Williams: Late Works, (Richards)
Michael Davisson, ENGL 491, Media Archaeology, (Whalen)
Hannah Gautsch, ENGL 491, Queer Caribbean Literatures, (Haffey & Dasgupta)
Rachel Kirkland, ENGL 491, Horror Fiction , (Rochelle)
Olivia Lehman, ENGL 491, Poetics, Politics, and Revolution, (Bylenok)
Maria Joy Lopes, ENGL 491, The Works of C.S. Lewis , (Kennedy)
Milen Mehari, ENGL 491, African Women Literature, (Tweedy)
Ryan Shircliff, ENGL 491, Censorship and Video Games, (Whalen)
Claire Smallwood, ENGL 491, Video Game Creation, (Whalen)
Sarah Stephen, ENGL 491, Flash Fiction, (Rafferty)
Laura Taylor, ENGL 491, Psychological Journalism, (Subramanian)
Madison Winters, ENGL 491, Video Game Creation, (Whalen)
Lindsey Kowaki, LING 491, Institutional Discourse, (Parker)
Spring 2018
ELC Individual Studies, with faculty advisers in parentheses:
Grace Foust, ENGL 491 Jane Austen Fan Fiction (McAllister)
Sophia Geron, ENGL 491 COPLAC: Banned Books (Whalen)
Jennifer Hellier, ENGL 491 The Elite: Start of a Series (Rochelle)
Ester Salguero, ENGL 491 Investigative Journalism (Subramanian)
Karina Schumm, ENGL 491 COPLAC: Banned Books (Whalen)
Sydney Schwaiger, ENGL 491 The Queer Hero (Rochelle)
Kyrstiane Urbaniak, ENGL 491 A Study in the Novella (Pineda)
Abigail Whittington, ENGL 491 COPLAC: Fashion and Identity (Whalen)
Trevor Young, ENGL 491 Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene (LaBreche)
Christina Bloom, LING 491 Dyslexia: Language and Speech (Parker)
Emma Baumgardner, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
Christina Brown, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
Stefanie Chae, COMM 491 Music Video Production (Shaffer)
Erica Chandler, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
Michaela Daye, COMM 491 Leadership Communication (Johnson-Young)
Kelly Emmrich, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
Lindsey McCuistion,COMM 491 Queering It Up: Embracing Diversity in Comics Publishing (Whalen)
Ahad Shahid, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
Olivia Taylor, COMM 491 CDS Video Project (Rao)
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Fall 2017
Individual Studies, with faculty advisers in parentheses:
Elaina Finkelstein, COMM 491 Communication Coordinating (Burtis)
Olivia Jokic Breler, COMM 491 Girl Power, Friend or Foe? (Whalen)
Thomas Lanier, COMM 491 Comics and Culture (Whalen)
Zachary Caldwell, ENGL 491 Shakespeare and Modern American Lit (Mathur)
Emily Daly, ENGL 491 Representations of Sylvia Plath (Scanlon)
Bethany Johansen, ENGL 491 Advanced Screenwriting (Stommel)
Catherine Lambert, ENGL 491 Mansfield and Woolf (Haffey)
Dorian Peele, ENGL 491 Making a Coming Book (Whalen)
Madalyn Rymer, ENGL 491 Dual Narratives in Creative Nonfiction (Rafferty)
Spring 2017
Individual Studies, with faculty advisers in parentheses:
Dominque Giles, “Making Strange: Constructing Identities and Making Our Surroundings (Dr. Whalen)
Hannah Lucia Bratton, “Discourse of Sexual Assault” (Dr. Parker)
Alexander Clegg, “Religion in the Media in Georgia” (Dr. Johnson-Young)
Josh Guidon, “Religion in the Media in Georgia” (Dr. Johnson-Young)
Katherine Barth, “Ecofeminism in Twentieth-Century American Literature: Nature, Culture, and the Feminine Role” (Professor Pineda)
Claire Everett, “Gender and Sexuality in T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf” (Dr. Scanlon)
Ryan Brady, “Sexuality and Religion in American Literature (1927-2003)” (Dr. Richards)
Grant Raycroft, “The Dark Age of Comics” (Dr. Whalen)
Alex Spence, “Digital Creative Writing” (Dr. Whalen)
Jennifer DeSteph, “Morality in Batman Comics” (Dr. Tweedy)
Meredith Fierro, “Introduction to Domain of One’s Own” (Professor Burtis)
Sarah E. Foster, “The Writing Path to Healing” (Dr. Rochelle)
Jennifer Hedgpeth, “Contemporary Holocaust Narratives” (Dr. Tweedy)
Andrew Boswell, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Elizabeth Brantley, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Mary Clark, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Caroline Malec, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Morgan Moncrief, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Jonathon Myers, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Della Brooke Preas, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Amber Stitt, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Paige Voccio, “Console Living Room” (Dr. Whalen)
Greg Willett, “Practicum: Fiction Portfolio” (Professor Pineda)
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Fall 2016
Individual Studies, with faculty advisers in parentheses:
Alexander Clegg, Religion in Media in the Republic of Georgia (Dr. Johnson-Young)
Corey Filiault, Environmental Communication in Action (Dr. Rao)
Stratton Gilmore, Communication in Coaching (Dr. Ohl)
John Guidon, Religion in Media in the Republic of Georgia (Dr. Johnson-Young)
Sharla M. B. Hargis, Technology Portrayed in Horror Films (Dr. Johnson-Young)
David Hart, Tweeting Presidential (Dr. Ohl)
Christa Snyder, Webcomics (Dr. Whalen)
Gunnar Gardner, This Dear Land: Tolkien & England (Dr. Rochelle)
Isabel Sobie, Graphic Memoir (Dr. Whalen)
Mona Ali, Analysis of Aphasics’ Language (Dr. Parker)
Helen Frey, Reconstructing Chinese (Dr. Fallon)
Victoria Triska, Articulation and Phonological Disorder (Dr. Fallon)
Spring 2016
(with faculty advisers in parentheses)
Patrick Boyle Film Promotion Analysis (Dr. Rao)
Caroline Cerand, Social Media Marketing (Dr. Rao)
Ana-Maria Hecton, The Process of Othering (Dr. Ohl)
Jeff Lundberg, Digital Media Productions (Dr. Rao)
Catalina M. Ruiz de Gamboa, Social media & Celebrity (Dr. Rao)
Ray Celeste Tanner, Student Affairs & Social Media (Dr. Rao)
Ryland Willis, Politics & Social Media (Dr. Rao)
Kaitlyn Berube, Pedagogy and Gender (Dr. Lorentzen)
Emily Bostaph, Our Cross to Bear (Dr. Whalen)
Rachel Ewalt, Ecocriticism (Dr. Levin)
Christopher Griffiths, Digital Synthesis (Dr. Whalen)
Juliane Kim, Lord of the Rings:Postcolonial (Dr. Dasgupta)
Miranda Schnackenberg, Victorian Horror Adaptations (Dr. Barrenechea)
Andrea Stegman, Acting in Film History (Dr. Barrenechea)
Joshua Lutz, Proto-Indo-European Language (Dr. Fallon)
Fall 2015
Individual Studies (with faculty advisers in parentheses)
Jason Dunne, “Writing Historical Fantasy” (Professor Warren Rochelle)
Kathryn Hall, “Childhood and/in Literature” (Professor Mara Scanlon)
Kara A. Smith, “Paranormal Fiction” (Professor Warren Rochelle)
Bailey Meeks, “A Study of H.D. and Bisexuality,” ENGL/WGST (Professor Mara Scanlon)
Spring 2015
Individual Studies (with faculty advisers in parentheses)
Christina Pellegrino: Study of Food Marketing (Anand Rao)
Travis MacEwen: Rhetoric of the Ownership of the Dallas Cowboys (Anand Rao)
Courtney Rampey: 20th-Century Dystopian Literature (Kate Haffey)
Margaret Stough: Teaching Through Transmedia (Zach Whalen)
Claire Winkler: Gender in Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Mara Scanlon)
Amandelynn Bethune: Black Women in African-American Literature (Danny Tweedy)
Aubrey Kennedy: Why Ask Students to Write? (Mary Rigsby)
Amanda Halprin: QEP Module Development (Zach Whalen)
James Dawson : QEP Module Development (Zach Whalen)
Stephen Rechter: QEP Module Development (Zach Whalen)
Brittany Brown: QEP Module Development (Zach Whalen)
Lisa Johnson: Gender Representations in Upper Elementary Children’s Literature (Mary Rigsby)
Ciara Peacock: Cinema and Society (Antonio Barrenechea)
Rebecca Moses: Storytelling in Game Development (Zach Whalen)
Mariah Young: Political Speech Writing (Jessy Ohl)
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Fall 2014
The individual studies, with faculty mentors in parentheses, are:
Sara Akbari: True Crime Narratives (Colin Rafferty)
Ciara Peacock: Documentary Filmmaking (Anand Rao)
Glenn Grigsby: Economics in Literature
Matthew Seaver: Morphological Blends (Paul Fallon)
Moira McAvoy: Slang and Queerness (Janie Lee)
Patrick Crosmun, Fictional Race in Fantasy RPGs (Zach Whalen)
Amber May, Crunchtastic: An Audio Drama (Zach Whalen)
Russell Michelson, Authentic Public Speaking (Anand Rao)
Molly Pardoe, Comm Branding Strategy (Anand Rao)
Matthew Seaver, Introduction to Syntax (Zacharski)
Hannah Straton, Creative Writing: Book Proposal (Colin Rafferty)
Leigh Ann Williams, Social Media Activism #Syria (Anand Rao)
Fall 2013
The individual studies, with faculty mentors in parentheses, are:
Kiersten Anderson, “Female Interaction” (Janie Lee)
Jeanne Converse, “ELC Webpage Featured Articles” (Mara Scanlon)
Sarah Cook, “Processes of Writing” (Gwen Hale)
Elisa Fuhrken, “Elizabeth Stuart Phelps” (Mary Rigsby)
Will McCarry, “Masculinity, Maturity, Memoir” (Elizabeth Wade)
Tess McClellan, “Horror Fiction” (Warren Rochelle)
Alison Stevens, “Education in Jane Austen” (Eric Lorentzen)
Eric Turner, “Old English Poetry Translation” (Paul Fallon)
Benjamin Wrightson, “Mobility in Culture” (Zach Whalen)