HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 26, 2015 – Mollie McKinley, a junior English major at High Point University, recently presented her research on 17th century writer Katherine Philips at the University of South Florida’s English Graduate Student Association Fall Colloquium.
At this competitive conference usually reserved for graduate students’ work, McKinley presented an excerpt from her paper discussing Philips’ “proto-feminist” poetry and the ways it challenged the traditional ideas about spirituality, the soul-body relationship and poetic identity.
Dr. Laura Alexander, assistant professor of English, assisted McKinley with submitting her research and says she is not surprised her student was invited to such a selective conference.
“Mollie is a shining star in the English department at HPU,” Alexander says. “It is a great honor for her to be invited – even as a junior – to speak at a competitive colloquium for English graduate students that receives hundreds of applicants nationally for a handful of presentations. Her research and writing on early English women writers reflects current trends in the field, and she has taken every opportunity to read and study these challenging early periods and poetic forms.”
McKinley, who is from Clarksburg, West Virginia, and is also studying communications as well as women and gender studies at HPU, says she looks forward to continuing her research into Philips’ writing as well as other British literary works from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Last year, she won the prestigious George Barthalmus Undergraduate Research Grant for her study of Mary Wroth’s 17th century sonnets. She will present that work at the upcoming State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium on Nov. 14 on HPU’s campus.
“Proto-femininity and its developing stages in the years after Katherine Philips are among my favorite topics to research and write about,” McKinley says. “I am so thankful to Dr. Alexander for giving me countless presentation speaking tips. This experience has given me the boost I needed to be confident in my research and to present it clearly to any audience.”