Successful Weekend For English Department Thesis Presentations

By Emma O’Grady | Staff Writer

If you are an English Literature of Communications major here at Salve Regina you will know that senior thesis presentations have just passed in a rousing success. On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning this past weekend, all graduating English majors presented their final senior theses at DiStefano Lecture Hall in the Antone Academic Center.

Senior students have been working tirelessly all year on their thesis presentations with varied topics such as analysis of the works of Emily Dickinson and an in depth look into a YouTube series about lesbian sex. Regardless of the topic, each student presented their findings on their subject to their audience of Salve students, community members, staff, and family.

“I thought they all did very well in their presentations, I thought they answered the questions really well,” says Dr. Ramsey, an associate English professor here at Salve Regina. He also says that he is always impressed by the presentations but a few have stood out, with impressive PowerPoints, mixed media, theater presentations, and some without power points at all.

“I learn things with these presentations all the time,” he says, “I find them inspiring.” Dr. Ramsey has even included certain texts in one of his courses after watching a senior thesis a few years ago on the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and female sexuality and gender.

The 28 students who presented have been working for months on their projects, many of which were influenced by modern television, film, and social media topics, including Marissa Guerard’s thesis on “Social Media for Social Change; A Study of Humans of New York’s Documentary Photography”.

“I just came back to it because it was initially the first thing that interested me,” Guerard said about choosing her topic. Of her subject she also said, “I think the page is cool because it shows how social media can be used for good…it makes a case for social media being a positive outlet.”

To future seniors she advises, “Don’t think of it as one huge project, think of it as a bunch of little projects.” Though Guerard felt confident in her presentation she did say, “I was going last so I felt like I was being tortured,” however she also confirmed that she had no regrets and was passionate about her subject.

No doubt many other seniors felt the same way about presenting their topics, and are finally relaxing and celebrating after the success of the presentations.