Welcome to the 2021 research and creative works symposium, Revere, Revise, Reimagine. Today’s event showcases the academic and artistic exploration and discoveries of faculty and students across interdisciplinary programs at Saint Mary’s College.

The event will begin with a welcoming address in the Little Theatre of Moreau Center for the Arts. Session One includes simultaneous performing and visual arts demonstrations throughout the Center, showcasing music, dance, and theatre, along with art exhibits by students and faculty members.

For Session Two, guests will travel to Spes Unica for a series of student and faculty research presentations, readings, and interactive panel discussions.

Session Three offers a dynamic student poster display and presentation in Angela Athletic & Wellness Complex. Saint Mary's scholars and grant award-winning teams will present and discuss their work in a lively atmosphere to engage and inspire guests. New this year—a performance by the Program in Dance called Welcome Home will culminate the event.

We know you will enjoy this year’s action-packed symposium!


SESSION ONE    1 – 2 p.m.

Focus on the Creative and Performing Arts

Moreau Center for the Arts

Surrounded by the type of inspiration and perspective that only the creative and performing arts can provide, this session highlights the creative work of students and faculty. Fruit and petit fours, cold and caffeinated beverages served on the portico.

Choose from the following simultaneous presentations within the Moreau Center for the Arts.

Showcase of Creative Research

Little Theatre

“Sleeping Beauty Waltz” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

“Libertango” by Astor Piazzolla
Piano: Professor Geena Kam and Professor You Min Lee

“At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line, music by Marvin Hamlisch
Choreographer: Professor Michele Foust
Dancers: Elisabeth Lasecki (ND ’21, ’24), Meara Mahoney ’22, Grace Maxwell ’24, Elyse Paul ’20 (ND ’21), Elena Sarmiento ’23, Olivia Traxler ’24
Vocalists: Julia Zusi ’24, Andrea Lindback ’23, Maeve Kearney ’24

Comments on Creative Research
Professor Zae Munn

"Lo Spazzacamino" by Giuseppe Verdi
Soprano: Georgia Sigler ’24
Piano: Professor You Min Lee

Comment on Creative Research
Professor Michaela Duffy

“She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress, music by Sara Bareilles
Choreographers and Dancers: Elyse Paul ’20 (ND ’21), Elena Sarmiento ’23
Vocalist: Erin Moran ’15 4 Showcase of Creative Research (continued)

"Will There Really Be a Morning?" by Richard Hundley
Soprano: Marina Staiger ’22
Piano: Professor You Min Lee

Comment on Creative Research
Professor Michele Foust

"The Bells of Saint Mary’s"
Recorded Music: The Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir, directed by Professor Nancy Menk
Choreography: Professor Michele Foust
Dancers: Elisabeth Lasecki (ND ’21, ’24), Meara Mahoney ’22, Grace Maxwell ’24, Elyse Paul ’20 (ND ’21), Elena Sarmiento ’23, Olivia Traxler ’24

Support for presentations in the Showcase of Creative Research provided by:
Costume Design: Professor Melissa Bialko
Setting and Projection Design: Professor Michaela Duffy
Music Direction: Professor Alissa Plenzler
Stage Direction: Professor Mark Abram-Copenhaver

Showcase performances supported by the Margaret M. Hill Endowed Visiting Artist Series.

Music in the Galleries

Moreau Galleries

Meditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet
Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 by Sergei Rachmaninoff Violin: Mohra Anderson ’22

Fantasie for Solo Violin No. 4 by Georg Philipp Telemann
3. Allegro

Ricercar No. 1 by Domenico Gabrielli

Sonata for Violin Op. 5, No. 6 by Arcangelo Corelli
3. Allegro

Fantasie for Solo Violin No. 12 by Georg Philipp Telemann
1. Moderato

Passacaglia for Solo Violin by Heinrich Biber
Viola: Professor Rose Wollman

Direct From the Stage

Miller Arcade

The Mad Hatter Scene, from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Adapted for the stage by Professor Mark Abram-Copenhaver
Actors: Abigail Pinnow ’22 (Alice), Hannah Yeager ’23 (March Hare), Fiona Connelly ’23 (Mad Hatter), Mimi Panzica ’24 (Dormouse)

Faculty and Students’ Visual Arts Exhibits

Hammes Gallery

Growing Color / Pandemic Gardens
Sabbatical exhibition by Professor Julie Tourtillotte

Little Theatre Gallery

Nascent Channels
An exhibition by Omaha-based artist Susan Knight ’68

Moreau 232

Videotaped interview with artist Susan Knight ’68

Moreau 233

Display of drawings by students in ART 101, Drawing I

Moreau 239 Hallway

Slideshow and video display of student artwork


SESSION TWO   2:15 - 3:55 p.m.

Research Panels and Discussions

Spes Unica Hall

Probing deeper into their process and topics, panelists will present and discuss all aspects of their research, what led to the projects they chose, and their completion. You’re invited to ask questions and learn more about researchers’ findings and work.

Choose from simultaneous presentations within the following classrooms: 

2:15 – 3 p.m.

Room 134

Re-reading in the Wake of Trauma
Wade in the Water: African American Spiritual and Coping in Virginia During the 1860s
Healy Keenan ’21
Reading Junot Diaz After #MeToo
Professor Ann Marie Short
Writing the Pandemic in Poetry
Professor Rebecca Lehman

Room 140

Rethinking the Status Quo
Redistricting in Indiana: How the 2021 Lines Were Drawn and What Comes Next
Professor Ranjan Rohatgi
Making Room at the Table: The Case Against a Value-free Ideal in Food Waste Measurement
Professor Sally Geislar

Room 145

Retrieving Spiritual Lessons from Three Catholic Women Mystics
Angela of Foligro: One of the Greatest but Least Known Medieval Mystics!
Professor Daniel P. Horan, OFM
Art and Attention in the Theology of Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC
Professor Molly Gower
Was Mother Teresa Depressed? A Lesson on Christian Mental Health Stigma
Professor Jessica Coblentz

Room 239

Rediscovering Our World
The Scale of Change: Limb Bone Shape Evolution in Cryptodiran Turtles
Professor Vanessa Young
Application of Deep Learning in Stellar Physics
Professor Marwan Gebran 

3:10 - 3:55 p.m.

Room 134

Revisiting the Medieval and Early Modern Periods
Labyrinths and Local Travel in Early Modern England
Professor Laura Williamson Ambrose
Digitizing Saint Mary’s College’s Medieval Manuscripts through the Peripheral Manuscripts Project
Professor Sarah Noonan
Written on the Walls: A Visual Examination of Courtly Love in Medieval Romance
Mary Coleman ’20

Room 140

Rethinking Our Bodies
The Effect of Sex-specific Androgens on Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Pathogenesis through Histone Acetylation
Kalyn Borger ’23
The Effects of Prepartum Stress on Physiologic Corticosterone Levels and Depressive-like Behaviors: A Rodent Model of Intergenerational Trauma
Professor Terri Aubele Futch and Nola Wallace ’21

Room 145

Reimagining through Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction
Flash and Micros: A Creative Reading by Students and Faculty
Professor Lisa Renfro, Anna Keller ’22, Lexi Kilcoin ’23, Jaden Daher ’23, Delaney Stacey ’23
Poetry Reading: Under-Story
Professor Eva Hooker ’63, CSC

Room 239

Remembrance and Recovery in the Wake of National Crisis
Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC, and the Rhetoric of Women’s Education: An Invitation to Dialogic Education
Professor Susan Mancino
Myth and Accountability: The Negotiation of Rhetorical Tensions in the Korean War Veterans Memorial
Professor Michael Kramer
On the Proper Use of Walls
Professor Patti Sayre


SESSION THREE   4 – 5 p.m.

Poster Session and Dance Performances

Angela Athletic & Wellness Complex

As the most dynamic part of the symposium, the poster session engages participants in both the research our students and faculty have completed, and the discoveries they have made in their fields. Dance performances bring energy and inspiration to the event. Light refreshments available.

Poster Session

Fieldhouse

Post-Truths and Retractions: Transforming White Nationalist’s Beliefs
Professor Susan M. Alexander, Professor Andrea O’Rear

Exploring the Impact of Translator Support in LSVT LOUD Intervention for a Non-English Speaker
Emma Ault ’21,’23, Annalisa Layman, Rebecca Shultz ’18, Professor Karin Thomas

The Black Woman Experience in Predominantly White Institutions
Ambrosia Bell ’22

What did you say? Adult and Child Ability to Recognize Words in Noise
Cassandra Birkmeier ’22, Kaylee Jensen ’24, Professor Carla Youngdahl

Adiabatic Capacitive Logic
Abigail Brown ’23, Professor Rene Celis-Cordova, Professor Alexei O. Orlov, Professor Gregory L. Snider

Variations in Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) Alarm Calls in Response to Varying Threat Levels
(Marjorie Neuhoff Summer Science Research Community grant) Valerie Eddington ’22, Hannah Nichols ’22, Adrienne Calistri-Yeh, Professor Vanessa Young, Professor Laura Kloepper

Srebrenica Genocide: The Serbian Memory (1992-1995)
Katerina Flynn ’22 10

A Study of Perceived Challenges Impacting School-Based Speech-Language Pathologist Collaborative Practice
Rileigh Geelan ’22, Professor Kimberly A. Boynton

Women and the Spiritualist Movement: Analyzing the Nuance between Agency and Deceit (1870-1890)
Kaley Gresham ’22

Coloring Games on Graphs
(Sister Miriam Cooney ’51, CSC, Ph.D. Endowed Grant for Undergraduate Student Research in Mathematics) Anna Heger ’23, Professor Ranjan Rohatgi, Professor Ryan Solava

An Examination of Transgender Incarceration
Mia Hivick ’22

Expression and Purification of SUMO-YME1L Protease
(Marjorie Neuhoff Summer Science Research Community grant) Abigail Houser ’23, Aisling Hanly ’24, Professor Jennifer Fishovitz

Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church: Should the Church Leadership Look at Women’s Ordination as a Possible “Solution” for this Crisis?
Lexi Kilcoin ’23

Intelligibility Improvement with Concrete and Abstract Auditory Cues
Professor Hyun Seung Kim, Rielly Grooms ’22, Katherine Haseley ’21, ’24, Frida Rodriguez ’21, Caitlyn McKevitt ’21, Alexandria Leonardo ’21

A Solution for the Antibiotic-Resistance Crisis? Examining the Antibacterial Efficacy of Curcumin in Various Surfactant Systems
(Marjorie Neuhoff Summer Science Research Community grant) Grace Gulowski ’22, Brooke Montgomery ’23, Professor Reena Lamichhane-Khadka

Art History Survey Information; A Trip Around the World
Brianna Markley ’24, Rachel Tapealava-Boulger ’24

Expression and Purification of the N-Terminal Domain of the Copper Transport Protein for NMR Analysis
Ana Martinez ’21, Professor Kathryn Haas, Professor Jennifer Fishovitz

Identifying Degradation Products of Ampicillin Cloxacillin via Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry
Hailey Meyer ’23, Katherine O’Connell ’23, Professor Christopher Dunlap, Professor T.L.O. Barstis 11

Controlling Gold Nanostructure Dimensions Using Etching Solutions
Hailey Meyer ’23, Robert Neal, Professor Robert Hughes, Professor Svetlana Neretina

Detecting the Presence of Clavulanate Degradation Products by Mass Spectrometry to Determine the Quality of Antibiotics
Margaret Milligan ’22, Professor Christopher Dunlap, Professor T.L.O. Barstis

Do Squirrel Moms Have Longer Tails? Tail Length in Male Versus Female Fox Squirrels (Sciurus niger)
(Marjorie Neuhoff Summer Science Research Community grant) Hannah Nichols ’22, Shaylee Smith ’21, Valerie Eddington ’22, Adrienne Calistri-Yeh, Professor Laura Kloepper, Professor Vanessa Young

Aime
Lili Payne ’22

Administrative Burden in Federal Research Grant Management
Professor Jessica Schiller

Living History Cyanotypes
Hannah Toepp ’22

Suffragist Media Manipulation (1900-1920)
Winnie Tomsheck ’22

Climatic Effects on Plumage Coloration in North American Thrashers (Toxostoma)
Campbell Washer ’22, Professor Joel Ralston

Nurse Educators' Perceptions of Teaching Patient-Centered Gender-Affirming Care to Undergraduate Students
2020 NEH SISTAR recipients
Grace Zablocki ’21, Professor Cibele Webb

Virtual Exchange - Global Intercultural Dialogues
Professor Alice Yang, Shayla O'Connor ’21

Dance Performance

Angela Dance Studio #1

The Saint Mary’s College Program in Dance presents Welcome Home, a collection of dances that include works from Moving History: A Journey in Dance (Dance Ensemble Workshop concert), Hope Springs (Program in Theatre production), DANC course combinations, and improvisations.
Choreographers: Professor Michele Foust, Elyse Paul ’20 (ND ’21), Elena Sarmiento ’23
Dancers: Elisabeth Lasecki (ND ’21, ’24), Meara Mahoney ’22, Grace Maxwell ’24, Elyse Paul ’20 (ND ’21), Elena Sarmiento ’23, Olivia Traxler ’24