Four students present at WV Literary Symposium

Four English majors will present papers at the West Virginia Undergraduate Literary Symposium, Dr. Angela Schwer, Chair of the Department of Language and Literature announced. K. Rae Hill, Bailey D. McInturff, Nita M. Richards, and Sophia A. Shumway will read essays they wrote last year at the Symposium at Shepherd University on March 23.

Schwer added, “We are honored to have our students participate in this academic symposium. They represent some of our students’ finest work, and they will benefit from sharing their work with other students in West Virginia.”

Hill, a senior from Walker, West Virginia wrote “The One Time Love Determines Sex” for Dr. Matthew Hokom’s class, World Literature I.

McInturff wrote “You Are Not Your Own; Familial Influence in Song of Solomon” for American Novel with Dr. Nathan C. Myers.  She is a junior from Beckley, West Virginia.

A senior from Idamay, West Virginia, Richards will read “Elements of Renaissance Humanism in The Merchant of Venice.” Shumway will present “Ancient Greek Masculinity in Modern-Day Man.  She is junior from Philippi majoring in Political Science.

Hill, McInturff, and Shumway are members of the University’s Honors Program. Hill and Richards are members of Sigma Tau Delta, the national English honorary.

Dr. James Matthew in the Department of Language and Literature noted, “It is gratifying to see our best students’ work being recognized on a larger stage.”

The West Virginia Undergraduate Literary Symposium began at West Virginia University in 1991. Fairmont State University has hosted the Symposium twice. In 2015, Angela Schwer organized the Symposium. Drs. James Matthews, Nathan Myers, and Sarah Rude were the symposium organizers in 2018.

Rae Hill

Bailey McInturff

K. Rae HillBailey D. McInturffNita M. RichardsSophia A. Shumway