KINGSTON, R.I. – January 23, 2007 — “Identities: Individual, Cultural and National” is the title of the 2007 Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference to be held at the University of Rhode Island, Saturday, March 31.
The event will run from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. in the Memorial Union on the Kingston Campus. The keynote talk by Ann Harleman, author of the novel, Bitter Lake, and the short story collections, Happiness and Thoreau’s Laundry, will be at 1 p.m., followed by a book signing from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m.
A faculty member at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, Harleman was awarded Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships, the Berlin Prize in Literature, and the O. Henry and Iowa Short Fiction Awards. She is the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts Fiction Fellow.
The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for the work of graduate students at URI and 30 other national and international schools. Conference presenters represent a broad range of disciplines, including literary studies, writing, history, drama, film and media studies, art and art history, women’s studies, and multicultural and gender studies. Presenters from scientific disciplines are also expected to participate. Individual talks will be 15 minutes long and panel discussions will be 75 minutes.
The event is open to the public. There is a $5 door fee, or $15 with lunch. Reservations for lunch at the conference must be made by March 1. Make payment to the 2007 Graduate Student Conference, Claire Reynolds, English Department, Independence Hall, University of Rhode Island, 60 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI 02881.
The URI Graduate Student Association, URI Alumni Foundation, the College of Arts and Sciences, Center for the Humanities, and the URI Graduate School are sponsoring the event.
For more information, contact Claire Reynolds at 874-9474, 682-2233, or creynolds@mail.uri.edu. Visit the web at
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/eng/english_NEW/Graduate/2007GraduateConference.html.