RS Grad Students Hold Conference Online
Every year in the spring semester, the Romance Studies graduate students organize a conference around a theme pertinent to the study of literature. This year, impacts of Covid-19 forced them to move the conference from an in-person format to a virtual one on short-notice.
Kelly Keenan, the lead organizer of the conference, tells us about about this experience:
“This year’s graduate student conference theme was Seeking Voices / Seeking Silences. Turning to the internet as a platform to share our research within the current boundaries of social distancing certainly brought new meaning to this theme.
The transition to the online conference proved to be quite a success. Our ten panelists, including our two international panelists, were able to join us virtually for the day’s presentations. The online format did not hinder the thought-provoking conversations that arise each year at our conference, and each panel was followed by an engaging question and answer period. Furthermore, our panelists were able to invite colleagues to the virtual conference, which led to an impressive turn out.
Overall, we are very happy that we were able to host our annual conference and provide a platform for graduate students in the community to network and share ideas with one another. We are looking forward to future successful conferences.”