English Professor Contributed Chapter in Book on Undergraduate Research

Dr. Bethany Hicok, Westminster College associate professor of English, contributed a chapter in Reading, Writing, & Research: Undergraduate Students as Scholars in Literary Studies, edited by Laura L. Behling.

Hicok's chapter, "Inviting Our Students to Join the Scholarly Conversation," was first presented as a paper at the Modern Language Association in Dec. 2007. Papers from Hicok's panel were selected for publication in this special volume by the Council on Undergraduate Research, an organization that promotes research among students and faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions like Westminster.

"This is about the Westminster College English program and how Westminster, in general, promotes scholarly work among our undergraduates," Hicok said. "Westminster's English program envisions its undergraduates as scholars from the beginning by placing scholarly conversation, rather than content, at the center of its curriculum."

The cover of the book was designed by Julie Tvaruzek, a 2008 Westminster graduate in English, who also designed the cover for Hicok's book Degrees of Freedom: American Women Poets and the Women's College, 1905-1955.

Tvaruzek's undergraduate work is cited in Hicok's chapter: "I consider this a type of undergraduate research because Julie read the whole manuscript before she designed the cover, and the visual design she came up with creatively responded to the work itself...She is truly the model of the scholar as innovator, who, in conversation with the text, transforms it into something new."

"Bethany first began presentations on undergraduate research collaboration in the humanities for a Westminster faculty workshop in 2004," according to Dr. Sandra Webster, Westminster professor of psychology and faculty development officer. "She continues to be a leader in the area by presenting a model that has the student as both an independent researcher and a collaborator on faculty-initiated research."

Hicok, who joined the Westminster faculty in 2001, earned an undergraduate degree from Russell Sage College and master's and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.

Contact Hicok at (724) 946-6349 or e-mail hicokbf@westminster.edu for more information. 

Dr. Bethany Hicok