Six Sage Students to Present at Northeastern Regional Honors Council Conference

Sage is co-host of conference, to be held in Albany, April 2-5, 2020

Six Russell Sage College students will present research or creative work at the 2020 Northeast Regional Honors Council Conference. Russell Sage College is a regional co-host of the 2020 conference, which will be held April 2-5, at the Hilton Albany, 40 Lodge Street. The conference annually attracts approximately 400 students from nearly 200 member colleges and universities.

Meet the Presenters from Russell Sage

Kathryn Ashworth ’20 (English and Childhood Education double major)

Kathryn’s poster presentation, “Entrapment, Disability and the British Country Estate,” examines how disability was perceived and represented in the Victorian period, and what social service options or treatments were available for the disabled compared to today. She also exposes how family members avoided social stigmas by hiding disabled relatives rather than integrating them into family life. Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of English Tonya Moutray, Ph.D.

Xavier Aleman ’20 (Theatre and English double major)

Xavier’s play, Impressions: A Self-Portrait, was written in a capstone Honors seminar he took with Associate Professor of Theatre David Baecker, MFA. The play explores the place of the millennial artist in contemporary society and the intersections between mental health and the artistic temperament. At the honors conference, Xavier will share excerpts of his work and discuss his artistic process in a presentation titled, “A Theatrical Look into the Mind of an Artist for Millennials.”

Abigayle Greier ’22 (Health Sciences major)

Abigayle’s poster, “The Lost Stories of Civil War Musicians,” brings light to the unknown musicians who brought attention to the Civil War and exposed its inhumanities. Her research came out of an Honors seminar, War Stories, taught by Associate Professor of English and Modern Languages Elizabethe Kelley, Ph.D. Abigayle’s poster presentation will expose new audiences to the work and lives of diverse musicians during this crucial period in our nation’s history.

Asiyah Moore ’21 (Nursing major)

Asiyah will present “African Americans and A Culture of Resistance,” which she worked on in an Honors seminar with Professor of History & Society Andor Skotnes, Ph.D. Her paper examines the means by which African Americans have succeeded in accomplishing Civil Rights gains, speaking truth to power in an effort to obtain equality. Her work repositions the historical trajectory of African American Civil Rights in the U.S. as one of progress through resistance.

Chloe Bliss Snyder ’20 (English major)

Chloe will present her new collection of poems that she wrote in an Honors seminar with Lecturer in English Matthew Klane, MFA. Inspired by William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Chloe’s poems explore the dramatic interplay between opposites and how they inform and illuminate one another. At her conference presentation, titled “A Book of Poems Inspired by the Analysis of William Blake’s Poetry,” she will present some of her work and discuss her artistic process.

Joanne Tavolaro ’20 (Applied Biology major)

Joanne’s research, “The Silent Killer: How Water Contamination Affects Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa,” explores her collaboration on a new water purification method utilizing plastic bottles and sunlight. Under the mentorship of Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Emilly Obuya, Ph.D., Joanne and her classmates postulated that the method could be utilized in African communities, including Kenya, where Professor Obuya led a group of students in the implementation process. Joanne will talk about the results of that work, as well as discuss the dire need for water sanitation methods in sub-Saharan Africa, research she completed in Russell Sage College’s general education program.