CONCEPT Celebrates Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Scholarship

VILLANOVA, Pa. - This spring, graduate students, faculty and staff in the Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences celebrated the launch of 47^th edition of CONCEPT, the interdisciplinary scholarly journal of CLAS graduate students. The CONCEPT Graduate Research Prize was awarded to graduate English student Sarah Gregory '24 MA for her paper, "In a Mirror Clearly: Narrative-based Interventional and Restorative Possibilities in There There."

Gregory, who will enter the PhD program at the University of Delaware in the fall, appreciated the opportunity to engage with others other than her professors through the CONCEPT experience. “It was nice to engage with other disciplines, peers, faculty editors on some feedback and be able to look at my writing from another angle,” she said. “That was extremely valuable.”

CLAS Graduate Studies Dean Emory Woodard, PhD, hosted the CONCEPT Recognition Ceremony on April 19, which featured a discussion with Faculty Managing Editor John Kurtz, PhD, and other faculty editors, as well as student authors, editors and peer reviewers about all areas of the CONCEPT process. The ceremony took place in the Connelly Cinema, followed by a cocktail reception in the Grad Center Student Lounge.

CONCEPT author and current Human Resource Development student Paige Matzerath, who is also the CLAS Assistant Director of Professional Development, talked about her research in the HRD Corner blog. In work, she explored the values of Generation Z and how those values influence their fit in the traditional working world.

The 2024 issue of CONCEPT includes papers from graduate students in English, Education, History, Human Resource Development, Political Science and Psychology. The journal seeks to honor and highlight not only exemplary papers within their respective disciplines but also scholarship with wide interdisciplinary appeal. It is published in partnership with the Office of Graduate Studies and Falvey Memorial Library.
 

CONCEPT 2024

Papers appearing in the print and online editions:

Graduate Research Prize Essay
Sarah Gregory, English
In a Mirror Clearly: Narrative-based Interventional and Restorative Possibilities in There There
 

Angela Lopez-Egea I Vives, Theology
Mary Magdalene: Sexism and Feminism in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ

Andrew Portas, Political Science,
‘So I Declare It!’: Pelican Island, Theodore Roosevelt, and Executive Decision Theory

Ryan Snyder, History
Sacralizing the Cold War: The Lived Religion of President Eisenhower’s Pastor

Anastasiia K. Tompkins, Psychology
Beyond Entertainment: Exploring the Intricacies of True Crime Fascination

Eva Wynn, English
Individual Success is Not Liberation: A Critique of #GIRLBOSS and Neoliberal Feminisms
 

Papers appearing in the online edition:

Oladimeji Fatoki, Education
A Report on Pennsylvania Homeschool Policy

Megan Hayes, English
Race, Power, and Sexual Violence in Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress

Paige Matzerath, Human Resource Development
Retaining Generation Z in the Workforce

Jaxon Parker, English
Commodifying Authenticity in The Talented Mr. Ripley

Iuri Macedo Piovezan, Political Science
Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Push for the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Adam Riekstins, English
Lost Paragraph in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue

CONCEPT Editorial Board

Managing Editor
John E. Kurtz, Psychology

Editorial Assistant
Emily Pintarelli, Psychology

Faculty Editors
Paul Bernhardt, Applied Statistics and Data Science
Sarah Faggioli, Augustine and Culture Program
Bess Rowen, Theatre
Erica Slotter, Psychology

Graduate Student Editors
Tertia Gillett, Philosophy
Sherry Meyer, Communication
Tia Nicolas, Psychology
Adam Riekstins, English
J. Matthew Villanueva, English

Peer Reviewers
Ranya Al-Khayyat, Psychology
Sophie Althaus, Psychology
Luis Berrios-Hayden, Geography and Environment
Sydney Curran, Theatre
Harris Drachman, Psychology
Samantha Goldman, Psychology
Emi Hathcock, Psychology
Ryan Henderson, Psychology
Erica James, Liberal Studies
Tyra Johnson, Human Resources Development
Mariah Lees, Psychology
Dane Litchfield, Theology
Anne Minicozzi, Theology
Madison Palladino, Psychology
Iuri Piovezan, Political Science
Ana Tompkins, Psychology
Cody Triplett, Psychology