Peeling Back, Katelynn M. Humbles

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

KUCC

Kutztown University Composition Conference

Kutztown University Composition Conference (KUCC)

Theme: “Writing Your Way Home”

Monday, April 14, 2025

Call For Presentations

For many, the most significant place in life is their home. It is where we withdraw and rest. It is where we feel safe and loved. But home is more than just a physical space—it's an idea, a feeling, a crucial part of one’s identity. Writers have spent their careers envisioning different ideas of home, just as we do. We also have the power to shape the kind of home we create for ourselves and others.

This year, …

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire: Female Directors Subverting The Male Gaze, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

The Combahee River Collective’S Influence On Modern Feminism, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

2026 Kutztown University Composition Conference Program, Engtlish Department,Kutztown University Of Pennsylvania

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

The annual KU Composition Conference is sponsored by the Department of English, and includes student presentations from across campus.

Yellowjackets And White Hoods?!: The Mistreatment Of Bipoc Characters, Suki Shepherd

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

In 2021, a psychological horror television series inspired by Lord of the Flies, reimagined as a high school girls' soccer team, was released. The highly skilled team from Wiskayok High School is on the way to the national championship game when their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With both a teenage timeline and an adult timeline, the show switches between the girls' desperate survival and descent to madness in the woods and modern times, where the truth of how they made it out starts to be revealed.

Patriotism, Philia, And Stereotyping During World War Ii: Correspondence Between Black Composers, Selise Phillips, Joi Carr

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The 20th century was a monumental time for Black composers, especially for those in the UK. Rudolph Dunbar was the first black musician to perform at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. During this time, correspondence between him and William Grant Still, a famous black composer based in America, exists. Still’s rhetorical choices in these letters demonstrate the attitudes of these composers, specifically Still, and how these choices reflect the success of Dunbar’s career. Still, whose compositions started gaining traction in the 1930s, often praised Dunbar for his achievements. These letters all take place during World War II and during …

Learning To Be Heard, Hannah Stroh

Research Days

I am one of 8957 people globally born in 2006 with the condition Microtia Atresia which is a deformity of the ear. My research inspiration stems from reading the different stories of other microtians on social media who have very different experiences than me. I dug deep into how the self-esteem and social experiences of individuals with my condition are affected. I related to a lot of my findings, making connections to my own life. I will discuss how social media and parental influence have impacted my life; and the challenges I've faced with my balance and hearing in dance …

Alleviating Multilingual Learners’ Writing Anxiety Through The Creative Nonfiction Literacy Narrative And Ai Use, Thomas Maldonado

Rhetoric and Composition PhD papers

It is typical for First Year Composition (FYC) instructors to begin their courses with a literacy narrative assignment. There are a number of reasons for this. First, a literacy narrative allows students to write about themselves without worrying about diving into deep research to defend a position or to elaborate on an argument. Another reason, literacy narratives offer students the opportunity to reflect on their personal learning journey and write intimately about how they have developed as writers. In most cases, it is fairly easy for some native English speakers to accomplish this assignment. However, multilingual learners find the literacy …

Bridging Libraries And Classrooms: Co-Teaching For Student Success, Joy Urbina, Isabel Baca

Librarian Conference Presentations

An instructional librarian and writing professor describe their collaborative approach to co-teaching. Learn how integrating information literacy with writing instruction strengthens students' critical thinking and research skills and discover practical strategies from this successful cross-disciplinary partnership.

The Sensationalizing Of Presidential Assassinations In Mass Media Throughout American History, Lindsay E. Smith

Undergraduate Theses

This project explores how mass media has shaped the public response to presidential assassinations across American history. By examining the deaths of Abraham Lincoln (1865), James A. Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963), we can trace how evolving media technologies – such as newspapers, yellow journalism, radio broadcasts, and live television coverage – have sensationalized violence, politicized tragedy, and transformed periods of national mourning into mass spectacles. The thesis analyzes reporting methods, narrative framing, and the news industry to show how each has influenced emotional response, political landscapes, and eventual presidential legacy. Ultimately, we find that …

The Two Lives Of Chuck Norris, Ben Pettis

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

“Chuck Norris doesn’t do push-ups. He simply pushes the world down.”

“Chuck Norris counted to infinity – twice.”

“Chuck Norris once strangled someone – with a cordless phone”

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Chuck Norris, the 1980s action star, became a tongue-in-cheek model of toughness and masculinity in viral internet memes known as “Chuck Norris Facts.”

"Transgender Insanity" And Scapegoating: President Donald Trump's Political Rhetoric Regarding Transgender Americans, Savannah Torres

Presentations - 2026

The political rhetoric used by President Donald Trump to refer to transgender Americans results in their scapegoating.

Staging Technological Change: Media Ecology, Cultural Memory, And Fantasy Theme Analysis In The Tesla Cybertruck Unveiling, John Rodgers

Communication Theses

This thesis examines contemporary product launches as communicative events, arguing that they help shape how technological change is publicly interpreted and remembered. Drawing on media ecology and cultural memory, and using Fantasy Theme Analysis as the primary method, the study analyzes Tesla’s 2019 Cybertruck unveiling as a case of symbolic meaning-making at the moment of introduction and in its immediate circulation. The analysis identifies four dominant fantasy themes that organize the launch’s symbolic world and cohere into a rhetorical vision presenting Tesla as a disruptive actor introducing a resilient technology for an already arriving future. It then traces how that …

The Archives Magazine, 2026, Katie Shank, Ronnie Cannon, Amadeus Cigan, Rebekah Ehrhart, Donato Fhunsu, Abby Hrichak, Elsa Last, Joseph Tyler Nadzady, Avery Reel, Noel White

Kutztown University Archives

No abstract provided.

Rhetorical Violence: The Rhetorics Of Women's Counter Political Violence, Kylie Rowland

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Protest is omnipresent, and yet not much is known about the efficacy and impacts of its different rhetorical strategies—particularly so for marginalized populations, whose available means of protest are already limited by both material realities and assumptions that govern who and what can make waves. This bind is further exacerbated by gendered and racialized civility politics that determine which bodies can be disruptive and which already are considered “violent.” To address this gap, I turn toward the under-researched rhetorical potentials of marginalized people’s—specifically women and queer folks’—use of symbolic protest “violence,” which works to strategically make evident the larger ongoing …

Esl 103 - Intermediate English As A Second Language, Maria L. Plochocki

Open Educational Resources

The enclosed is a sample syllabus for an intermediate ESL class, created with Open Educational Resources. It includes essential course information such as a schedule of meetings and assignments, as well as course and institutional policies and resources.

Community Accountability And Covenant At The Unitarian Universalist Congregation Of Atlanta, Serethiel Freeman

Emerging Writers

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta is a multi-faith, covenantal community united by a shared commitment to kindness, respect, and diversity, and it strives to use community accountability mechanisms to address harms that arise from unconscious bias. Currently, UUCA's commitment to diversity is falling short as the congregation struggles to use community accountability to address harm. The covenant is an essential part of the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition, and it has the potential to shape and guide the use of community accountability within a congregation. However, at UUCA, the covenant has not been interwoven into congregational life. This article argues …

Qingming Jie: Across The Horizon, Elby Wang

Emerging Writers

This paper attempts to provide an understanding of an Asian tradition, Qingming Jie, by providing the past, the present, and the future of the tradition. The article explains the origin of Qingming Jie as well as contemporary changes to the tradition and explores how practicing this tradition differs from practicing in the motherland.

Oliver, Sarah Rush

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

In my audio piece, Oliver, I wanted to tell the story of adopting my dog in a way that felt personal but still relatable. Soundwriting is an approach to writing that treats audio as a form of research, storytelling, and communication. It encourages writers to think about how sound shapes narrative, how voice carries meaning, and how small production choices affect the way listeners engage with a piece. This approach let me do something writing alone can’t always achieve: create a more immersive experience, where tone, pacing, and the natural qualities of voice help listeners feel present in the story.

Warrior Bot, Relational Bot, Blameworthy Bot: How A Student Design Team Anthropomorphize Their Combat Robot Creations, Daniel Burton Shank, Frederick F. Sunkpal, Nova Lee Young, Karli Hoerstkamp, David Wright, Merilee A. Krueger, Carleigh J. Davis

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

How do robot designers anthropomorphize their own creations? Because robot designers have the ability to alter the robot, identify as its creator, and understand their robot's internal makeup, their process of anthropomorphism and its outcomes may be different from that of the typical robot user. We investigate this research question in the domain of combat robots, where anthropomorphism is critical to decision-making, communication, and trust in high-stakes, high-emotion combat situations faced by robot-soldier teams. We conducted an in-depth case study of a university's student-led Combat Robotics Design Team over the design, construction, testing, and competition phases for their competitive combat …