Six English department students will deliver presentations tomorrow at UMBC's Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) during its thirtieth anniversary event. Find their presentation titles, times, and locations in the list below. We hope to see you there!

URCAD will be held Wednesday, April 22, 2026 in the RAC. Access the full URCAD schedule here: urcad.umbc.edu

Also, UMBC BookFest '26 events continue through the week, including two events highlighting the importance of libraries on Thursday, April 23. Visit the BookFest website here to access the full schedule.

English Department Student Presentations at URCAD

Kat Gill | The Case for a Public Internet | Michael Casiano | American Studies/English | RAC 230 | 2:55-3:10 

Phoenix Gordon | Conceptions of Blackness: A Fantastical Re-Imagining of Black Heroism and Villainy | Sharon Tran | English | RAC 106 | 10:00-10:15 

Esther Myers | Homophobia and Queer Repression in Watchmen | Keegan Finberg and Sharon Tran | English | RAC 106 | 1:15-1:30 

Ryan Supplee | Spiritualized Disability and Liminality in The Book of Margery Kempe | Kathryn McKinley | English | RAC 106 | 9:40-9:55 

Maia Turman Cooke | The Language of Decriminalization: Drug Policy Rhetoric and Public Health in 21st Century Canada | Earl Brooks | English | RAC 106 | 11:00-11:15 

Trilece Wilson | Tears Made of Ink | Nicole Pekarske | English | RAC STAGE | 11:15-11:30

Clair Volkening (B.A. 2023; Communication and Technology track; she/her) is a former English major now working as a Technical Writer contractor for the federal government. Access past alumni spotlights here.

At UMBC, I studied English and was a member of the Humanities Scholars Program and the Honors College. In my junior year, I got involved with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life and the Academic Success Center (ASC). Through this work, I realized I was fascinated by the how and why we learn—from the way a tutoring session affected a tutees confidence to how our society perpetuates beliefs via implicit or explicit education. In my senior year, I honed in on this interest through an English Honors Research project with my advisor, Professor MacDougall.

Before graduation, I didn’t know what I wanted my career to look like, I just knew that I really enjoyed engaging others in the writing and learning process. Now, I work as a Technical Writer on a contract with a military training academy. My everyday tasks include working with instructors on their course materials, and I am being exposed to an entirely new area of technical education and methodology. Ultimately, the same question arises regardless of the learning sphere: how and why do we learn? I am grateful to UMBC and my many professors for teaching me to ask that how and why—whether the topic be as small as my own, or my team’s, writing or teaching, or as large as the rhetoric surrounding big-picture societal issues.