Ouachita alumna Lori Leavell to speak on campus Feb. 8
February 04, 2013 - Rachel Gregory
Dr. Lori Leavell, a 2000 Ouachita Baptist University graduate and currently an assistant
professor of English at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, will return
to Ouachita on Friday, Feb. 8, to present her research about 18th century American print culture and to share personal reflections about earning a
doctorate in English.
Leavell’s first talk, which will begin at 2 p.m., is titled “What Archives Reveal
about Antebellum White Readerships of African American Texts.” Her second presentation
will start at 4 p.m. and is titled, “Considerations for Pursuing Graduate Study in
English.” Both presentations will be held in Lile Hall, room 200.
The extensive research Leavell will draw on for her first talk focuses specifically
on interactions between people and literature during the antebellum period, addressing
such questions as: Who read what? How did it affect them? Which books were banned
and why? How was literature in the South regulated for political and cultural reasons?
How did new mass production technologies before the Civil War spread ideas found in
the antebellum period?
“The second talk will be more about how you can get into a good grad school, how you
can thrive,” said Dr. Doug Sonheim, the Clarence and Bennie Sue Anthony Professor
of Bible and Humanities at Ouachita and chair of the Department of English and Modern
Foreign Languages. “And she really did thrive, so she knows what she’s talking about.”
Describing Leavell’s continuing education as a process of discovery, Sonheim said
her passion for the field of English led her to pursue both master’s degree and doctorate.
Her address on the issue will advise students about applying for, entering, financing
and succeeding in grad school.
Leavell earned her Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Arkansas
and her Ph.D. in English from Emory University. This is her fifth presentation at
Ouachita and one of many prestigious presentations shehas made across the nation.
The Library Company of Philadelphia, the Northeast Modern Language Association and
Emory University have all invited Leavell to present research within the last three
years. She has also spoken at national conferences in Boston, San Francisco and Los
Angeles.
She has designed and taught writing and composition courses, as well as courses in
African, African American, American and World literature. Leavell has held teaching
assistantships at Emory University and Karolinen Gymnasium in Frankenthal, Germany.
She has been published in the Southern Literary Journal, A Journal of the American Renaissance and the Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics: Censorship, Revolution, and Writing. Her most recent honor, in the summer of 2012, was the Lillian Gary Taylor Visiting
Fellowship in American Literature sponsored by the Mary and David Harrison Institute
for American History, Literature and Culture at the University of Virginia Library.
For more information, contact Dr. Doug Sonheim at [email protected] or (870) 245-5554.
By Rachel Gregory
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