Rushton conference features CMLLC undergraduate researchers

The annual Rushton Undergraduate Conference in Language, Literature, and Culture, held this year on Friday, April 1, featured a host of CMLLC undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members. Undergraduate students presented original research on topics from serial killers and epigenetics to interpreting films about the mafia; from fairy tales to French political rhetoric; and from national parks to early Meccan suras.

Graduate students and faculty members volunteered as moderators, helped judge the poster contest, and attended the panels, and lively question-and-answer sessions followed each series of papers.

Over lunch in the student center, keynote speaker Jeanette Pierce from the Detroit Experience Factory regaled the crowd with stories of art, theater, gardens, restaurants, and more to explore in downtown Detroit. CMLLC student Fatima Albrehi took first prize in the poster contest, with a research project on "Communicative Strategies of French vs. American Politicians."

This year's conference was held in the new Student Center and featured 40 undergraduate paper and poster presentations.