USD to host Spanish Undergraduate Research Conference March 21
Organized by the Spanish programs at USD, the University of Sioux Falls and Briar Cliff University, the SUR Conference, which is sponsored by the USD College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of Diversity at USD, will provide students a forum to share their research interests in Spanish with undergraduate students of seven universities. Papers will be presented in Spanish using various disciplines of the Spanish-speaking world, including the indigenous cultures of Latin America, Hispanic literature, colonial history of Latin America, social issues, immigration, art and religion.
“This is a great opportunity for our students to be active participants in a conference and to share their intellectual interests, to meet other students and professors, and to network,” stated Ángela Helmer, Ph.D., assistant professor of Spanish at USD. “It's also a great platform for them to showcase, in Spanish, their research interests and their accomplishments as Spanish majors.”
In addition to paper presentations and shared research information, the SUR Conference includes a 4 p.m. lecture, “Making Writing Real,” by Harriet Turner, the Harold E. Spencer Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Turner’s lecture will focus on fiction writing and its persuasion of the liveliness and truth of what is only imagined. Her examples include “Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James; “La Regenta” by Leopoldo Alas and “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd.
For more information about the SUR Conference, visit www.usd.edu/languages. A photo of Helmer is also available for download at www.usd.edu/press/news/images/releases/Angela_Helmer.jpg.