PRESS KIT

Valley Humanities Review

Department of English
Attn: Laura Eldred
Lebanon Valley College
101 N. College Avenue
Annville, PA 17003
contact-vhr@lvc.edu

www.lvc.edu/vhr
HISTORY

The Valley Humanities Review was created to encourage and support undergraduate research in
the humanities. The journal is housed in the English department at Lebanon Valley College and
funded by a Pleet Initiative Grant. The Pleet Initiative for Student/Faculty Research Across the
Curriculum was funded in early 2008 through a generous gift from David and Lynn Pleet of
Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The three-year initiative provides funds to support joint student/faculty
research projects, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Six projects, involving 35-40
students and 11 faculty members from 2008-2011, are funded under the Pleet Initiative. The
projects will conclude with a campus celebration of undergraduate research at which the results
of the individual projects will be presented by the students involved.

RATIONALE

Though current research on effective teaching talks a great deal about concepts like “active
learning,” “authentic tasks,” and “natural critical learning environments,” teachers in the
humanities may have some difficulty initiating such projects in their classes. In his book, What
the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain describes Professor Charlie Cannon’s project for
architecture students, in which they “work[ed] collaboratively on a large and complex project,
constantly sharing ideas and information from all their fields of study. Everything they learned
was embedded in the pursuit of an intriguing collective goal, something authentic with hands-on
experience” (64). Student Olivia Vidal writes about the learning experience that most influenced
her:

I got to help develop a script and direct, film, and produce my own movie on my own
terms… The teachers provided the needed equipment and instructions, gave us some
encouraging words, and sent us on our way…The satisfaction I got from viewing my first
film exceeded that of passing a test or writing a good essay, because, as Frank Sinatra
sings, "I did it my way." My teachers stepped back and let me learn for myself instead of
holding my hand all the time… I was given the chance to learn how to be independent in
my learning. (“What Students Want from Teachers”)

Allison Zmuda points out that “For students to move beyond lip-syncing someone else's words,
ideas, and solutions, they need the opportunity to struggle with a task that inspires their
performance, that motivates them to do more than just go through the motions of learning and
truly understand what the discipline requires,” and she advocates an “authentic learning
environment” to help students move away from learning as “bad karaoke” (“Springing into
Active Learning”). Along the same lines, Ken Petress argues that active learning “is a process
where students take a dynamic and energetic role in their own education, thereby making the
student a partner in the learning process” and that it “stimulates pride, increases confidence,
stimulates a thirst for broader and deeper understanding in future academic endeavors, and tends
to make learning more fun and personally satisfying” (“What is Meant by ‘Active Learning?’”).
Ideally, in an “active learning” environment, teachers become coaches who help students move
forward in self-motivated research projects.

Though the value of authentic, hands-on experiences seems clearly demonstrated by these
articles, the humanities present unique challenges in producing these experiences for our
students. Our research generally consists of individually produced papers presented at
conferences and published in journals, none of which usually welcome undergraduate
participation. Some professors may ask their students to present their papers to the class, but this
does not extend the scope of student research beyond their course into a broader society where it
could have a larger impact, and this is a major stumbling block for professors who would like to
model membership in a scholarly community for our undergraduates. Students have trouble
taking work produced solely for a grade seriously. When a student writes a paper just for his or
her professor, that paper can be seen as solely a practice exercise for some time in the future
when students will actually “use” those skills. Their work is produced in a vacuum that bears
little resemblance to an exterior world beyond the classroom.

VHR is designed to combat these difficulties in the humanities in two key ways: first, by
providing a place for exemplary undergraduate research in the humanities to be published, and,
second, by modeling participation in a scholarly community for student editors. The journal is to
be a collaborative project between faculty and student editors. The faculty editors will work with
students from each of the humanities’ departments (Art, English, Religion & Philosophy, History,
Foreign Languages) who will serve as student editors of the journal. Each student/faculty pair
will develop selection criteria, read and select work to be published in the journal. The
relationship of the student and the faculty editors is meant to be truly collaborative. Students will
participate in—and have equal control over—all choices made for the journal. Faculty will serve
as advisors, guiding the student editors to develop rigorous selection criteria and helping them to
ask appropriate, probing questions about submissions so that those students can learn what
makes successful and intellectually stimulating work in their field. VHR will thus model
participation in a scholarly community for student participants. As they sort through submissions
and make editorial decisions about the works to include in the Review, they will learn about the
breadth of research in their field and also gain insight into the qualities and strategies that
produce exemplary work in their discipline.

VHR will also fund and promote a research essay contest for LVC undergraduates. Winners of
the essay contest will be published in the spring edition of the journal. Thus, professors in the
humanities will be able to tell their students that truly exemplary work may be published for a
wider audience at the college and beyond. This provides an incentive for students—who may
want to go on to graduate studies, and who would thus find a publication very useful—to take
their work more seriously, and also indicates that there is a reward for exemplary scholarship
beyond the assignation of an “A.” VHR will also conduct an annual competition for the best
high school research which shall also carry a cash prize and publication in the spring edition of
the journal.

As we provide these services for our students, VHR will also increase Lebanon Valley College’s
visibility as a school that supports and encourages student research through the high school and
college students across the country, and internationally, who will submit their work to our journal
and our research competitions. Our goal with all of these projects—the journal, Research Day
Conference, and paper competitions—is to encourage a culture of undergraduate research here
at LVC and in the wider humanities community, not just within the sciences but throughout all
disciplines, where excellent undergraduate work can attain a wider audience and appreciation,
inspiring our students to greater application and imagination in their fields.
Bibliography:

Bain, Eric. What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2004.

Petress, Ken. “What is Meant by ‘Active Learning?’” Education 128.4 (2008): 566-569.

“What Students Want from Teachers.” Educational Leadership 66.3 (2008):48-51.

Zmuda, Allison. “Springing into Active Learning.” Educational Leadership 66.3 (2008): 38-42.
PEOPLE

Laura Eldred, Editor in Chief

Laura G. Eldred is assistant professor of English at LVC, where she

teaches classes in literature, composition, and film. She specializes in the

intersections between contemporary Irish literature and the horror genre, and has
published an article on Patrick McCabe in The New Hibernia Review and chapters on
Martin McDonagh in Martin McDonagh: A Casebook and The Theatre of Martin
McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories. Currently, she is working on a manuscript
entitled A Brutalized Culture: The Horror Genre in Contemporary Irish Literature.

J. Gabriel Scala, Founding Editor and Poetry Editor

Gabriel Scala is an Assistant Professor of English at Lebanon Valley

College where she teaches courses in Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing,
American Literature and Southern Fiction. She has published two collections of
poetry and numerous reviews and articles in both scholarly and creative journals.
Gabriel has served as Managing Editor of Mid-American Review, Assistant Editor of
The Yalobusha Review, and is currently the faculty advisor for Greenblotter,
Lebanon Valley College’s annual literary journal.

Robert Valgenti, Religion and Philosophy Editor

 Robert T. Valgenti is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Lebanon

Valley College. He has studied at the College of the Holy Cross, Oxford University,
Università di Torino, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and DePaul University (Ph.D.
2007). His research interests include 19th and 20th Century Continental
philosophy, hermeneutics, contemporary Italian philosophy, and the philosophy of
food. He is the translator of several essays by Italian philosophers into English, and
is currently completing his translation and critical introduction to Luigi Pareyson’s
Truth and Interpretation. Forthcoming essays include “The Tradition of Tradition in
Philosophical Hermeneutics” in Consequences of Hermeneutics (Northwestern
University Press), “La deduzione ermeneutica” in Tropos, and "Gianni Vattimo's
Recovery of Reason," in Between Nihilism and Politics (SUNY Press). Current
projects include a critical study of the work of Gianni Vattimo, and an introduction to
philosophy through the experience of eating.
Tiffany Hubble, Religion and Philosophy Editor

Tiffany Hubble is a dual major in Philosophy and Political Science. She

has consistently achieved Dean's List status and works at Lebanon Valley College as
a Peer Tutor. Minoring in law and society as well as art and art history, Tiffany plans
to attend law school after graduation.

Grant Taylor, Art and Art History Editor

Grant Taylor is an artist, art historian and film-maker. In his native

Australia, Taylor has directed a documentary, produced short-films, and completed

artist residencies and solo exhibitions. Taylor has recently completed a series of
installations and public art projects that center on local Pennsylvanian themes.
Taylor’s contributions to the discipline of art history include a number of journal
articles on the early history of computer art.

Rachel Eck, Art and Art History Editor

Rachel Eck is a sophomore studying Art and Art History at Lebanon

Valley College. She has gained experience in both artistic and literary spheres by
exhibiting her paintings at professional galleries and by presenting a paper at the
2008 Christianity and Literature Conference held in Bridgewater, Virginia. She is a
recipient of the Vickroy scholarship and the J. Luella K. Dunn scholarship for
academic excellence. She will be working with Dr. Grant Taylor and other
undergraduates on a research project concerning environmental art and the public
space. For the past five years, Rachel has taught summer programs in the housing
projects of Schuylkill County.
Gary Grieve-Carlson, Literature Editor

Gary Grieve-Carlson is Professor of English and Director of General

Education at Lebanon Valley College. He is the editor of Olson’s Prose and the
author of many essays on twentieth-century American literature.

Mark Rosborough, Literature Editor

Mark Rosborough is an undergraduate English Literature major. He

plans to attend grad school upon graduation and further his career in literary
analysis. He is currently working on getting a review of Lucille Clifton's most recent
collection of poetry, Voices, published.

Anthony Gorick, Poetry Editor

Anthony Gorick is majoring in English with a concentration in

communications. He enjoys journalism and creative writing. Anthony has won the
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Higher Education Scholarship two years in a row
and the Hitachi Medical Systems – Robert A. Schlueter Memorial Scholarship for his
essays. He hopes to pursue a career that allows interaction with other individuals
and gives him opportunities to write creative fiction. Anthony is also an aspiring
photographer and desires to publish a photography journal and work with that
artistic medium as well. Later in his life he hopes to create a writing organization
that focuses on cultivating creative writing in students at a young age.
Michael Schroeder, History Editor

Michael J. Schroeder is Assistant Professor of History at Lebanon Valley

College. A Latin Americanist by training and a specialist in Nicaraguan history, Dr.

Schroeder received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan in 1993. In
addition to numerous publications in his area of expertise, Dr. Schroeder is author of
a middle school textbook on Mexican Americans and co-author of a widely used
textbook in 20th century world history. A licensed residential builder in the State of
Michigan, nationally certified massage therapist, sole author and administrator of
the website www.SandinoRebellion.com, and an aficionado of hiking, canoeing,
camping, yoga, and maidenhair ferns, he currently resides in Annville.

Rick Chamberlain, Foreign Languages Editor

Rick Chamberlin teaches courses at all levels in both German and

French. He earned his PhD in German Literature from the University of Michigan in
1997; his areas of research are German and French medieval literature, as well as
literary relations between the 20th-century German literature and culture. He
joined LVC in 2006.
Jared Larson, Foreign Languages Editor At Large

Jared D. Larson, a native of Kansas City, Kansas, was a Visiting

Instructor of Spanish at Lebanon Valley College in 2008-09. A Ph.D. candidate in

International Relations at the University of Delaware, he holds a B.A. in Spanish,
French and Philosophy from Emporia State University (Emporia, Kansas) and an M.A.
in International Relations and International Law from the Universidad Complutense
de Madrid. In addition to having been a Visiting Researcher at the Instituto
Complutense de Estudios Internacionales in 2008, he has also been a Research
Associate at the Instituto Galego de Análise e Documentación Internacional in
Baiona, Galicia (Spain) since 2006. In 2009-10 he will be a Visiting Researcher at
the Centro de Estudos Geográficos at the Universidade de Lisboa, on a Fulbright
scholarship. He speaks English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese and has studied
Basque, Catalan, Galician, Italian and Mandarin.

Kristine Bova, Foreign Languages Editor

Kristine Bova is a student majoring in biology and psychobiology and

minoring in German. Her most recent accomplishment in the Humanities field was
attending the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association Conference at York College,
PA. Since attending the conference, she has been meeting with the director of the
Writing Center and fellow writing center tutors to plan and implement fresh, new
ideas for the improvement of LVC’s own Writing Center. She also has been recently
inducted into the Biology Honors Society and the Social Justice Honors Society at
LVC.
 Valley Humanities Review

Call for Papers

The Valley Humanities Review is currently seeking essays in the humanities

for publication in its Spring 2010 Issue. We seek essays of high quality,
intellectual rigor and originality that challenge or contribute substantially to
ongoing conversations in the humanities. Topics may include but are not
limited to: literature, history, religion, philosophy, art, art history and foreign
languages. VHR is committed to undergraduate research and scholarship in
the field; therefore, we only accept submissions by current or recently
graduated undergraduate students. Our reading period runs from
September 1 to December 1 of each year. All submissions received outside
of these dates will be returned unread. All submissions should adhere to the
Chicago style in formatting, footnoting and bibliography. Essays should be
between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length, be free of errors and have an
original title. Submissions may be emailed to submissions-vhr@lvc.edu.
Please visit www.lvc.edu/vhr for more information.
 Valley Humanities Review

Call for Papers

High School Scholarship Contest

The Valley Humanities Review is pleased to announce its annual High School
Scholarship Contest. We are currently seeking essays in the humanities
written by current high school students that demonstrate high quality,
intellectual rigor and originality. The winner will receive a $500 prize and
publication in the Spring 2010 Issue. Submissions will be accepted from
September 1 to December 1. All submissions should adhere to the Chicago
style in formatting, footnoting and bibliography. Essays should be between
3,000 and 6,000 words in length, be free of errors and have an original title.
Please only one essay per student. All contest submissions should be
emailed to submissions-vhr@lvc.edu as an attachment of either a Word
Document or a pdf. Please list the title of the contest to which you are
submitting in the subject line of your email. All contest entries should be
free of any identifying marks such as names, addresses, or high school
affiliations. Please give contact information in the body of your email. For
more information, please visit www.lvc.edu/vhr.
 Valley Humanities Review

Call for Papers

Lebanon Valley College Scholarship Contest

The Valley Humanities Review is pleased to announce its annual Lebanon

Valley College Scholarship Contest. We are currently seeking essays in the
humanities written by current LVC students that demonstrate high quality,
intellectual rigor and originality. The winner will receive a $500 prize and
publication in the Spring 2010 Issue. Submissions will be accepted from
September 1 to December 1. All submissions should adhere to the Chicago
style in formatting, footnoting and bibliography. Essays should be between
3,000 and 6,000 words in length, be free of errors and have an original title.
Please only one essay per submission. All contest submissions should be
emailed to submissions@lvc.edu/vhr as an attachment of either a Word
Document or a pdf. Please list the title of the contest to which you are
submitting in the subject line of your email. All contest entries should be
free of any identifying marks such as names or addresses. Please give
contact information in the body of your email. For more information, please
visit www.lvc.edu/vhr.
 A JOURNAL FOR THE PUBLICATION OF

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN THE HUMANITIES

Call for Papers

The Valley Humanities Review is currently seeking essays in the humanities
for publication in its Spring 2010 Issue. We seek essays of high quality,
intellectual rigor and originality that challenge or contribute substantially to
ongoing conversations in the humanities. Topics may include but are not
limited to: literature, history, religion, philosophy, art, art history and foreign
languages. VHR is committed to undergraduate research and scholarship in
the field; therefore, we only accept submissions by current or recently
graduated undergraduate students. Our reading period runs from
September 1 to December 1 of each year. All submissions received outside
of these dates will be returned unread. All submissions should adhere to the
Chicago style in formatting, footnoting and bibliography. Essays should be
between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length, be free of errors and have an
original title. Submissions may be emailed to submissions-vhr@lvc.edu.

The Valley Humanities Review also sponsors a $500 scholarship for the best
essay in the humanities written by a current high school student.
Please visit www.lvc.edu/vhr for more
information.