Sigma Tau Delta and Theta Chi

English was the first thing I was sure about when I started college. After taking a few classes and meeting the faculty, I knew that this was the major for me. The English Major at Ursinus is so much more than read a book and have a discussion about it. These classes connect literature to important current events with professors that care and give students the tools to navigate situations outside of the classroom.

The coolest experience happened in my senior year capstone What is a Book? ENGL 440W. As a class, we took a field-trip to the University of Pennsylvania to look at manuscripts dating back to the 8th century. This was such an incredible experience that would not have been possible without this class. Not only did we get to view the books, but we were able to hold and flip through the pages of these works. There is something very incredible about holding a book still in the original velvet cover from the 15th century and some thing very human about knowing that scribes also made funny notes in the margins.

In the Summer of 2022 I had the wonderful opportunity of working alongside English faculty member, Dr. McShane, in crafting a Summer Fellows project. The research project expanded upon ideas formulated in a previous class I had taken with Dr. McShane that fall, Religious Identities in Medieval England. The project titled “But it was in the Bible?: How Medieval Texts Foster Contemporary Antisemitism” traces depictions of the crucifixion in literature/productions and how they have supported and fostered antisemitism and extreme Othering from the Middle Ages to now. It can also be found in the Digital Commons!