Humanities and Human Sciences Department Hosts Undergraduate Humanities Conference at Point Park Monday, April 12, 2010

On Friday, April 23, the Humanities and Human Sciences Department will be hosting the Undergraduate Humanities Conference at Point Park University from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. in Lawrence Hall. Student panels covering humanities and human sciences topics ranging from global cultural studies to Victorian literature will be the focus. There will also be a buffet dinner, a student awards ceremony and keynote speakers, Rachel Smith, Ph.D. and Lisa Cosgrove, Ph.D.

Smith will discuss novels written after September 11, 2001. Tracing the relationship between politics, aesthetics, and feelings produced by works of literature during this period, Smith's presentation argues that literature exposes the emotional processes that fueled post-September 11th politics while also heightening and augmenting other reactions to the tragedies. Her work encompasses literature, politics, art, and contemporary culture. She is also a musician who teaches Rhetoric at Boston University.

Cosgrove is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director (Mental Health Program) in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at University of Massachusetts Boston. Her focus is on developing counselor training practices that help mental health professionals think critically about and avoid bias in psychiatric diagnosis and addressing conflict of interest issues in clinical research and practice.

This event is open to the public.