West Virginia University Libraries’ Instruction Steering Committee has selected Roxanne Rankin and Lauren Volk as 2023 Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars.
“We at WVU Libraries are pleased to recognize Roxanne and Lauren
as Munn Scholars,” Dean of Libraries Karen Diaz said. “They rose to the top of
numerous applicants for their thoroughly researched topics and impressive works
of scholarship.”
The WVU Libraries and the Honors College established the
Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award in 2009 to honor Dr. Robert
F. Munn, dean of Library Services from 1957-1986. The award goes to one or more
students for an outstanding humanities or social sciences thesis based
on research conducted in the WVU Libraries.
Along with a $1,000 award, their names will be added to a
plaque in the Downtown Campus Library and their theses added to the Research Repository @ WVU. Both
papers can be read at researchrepository.wvu.edu/munn.
“The research conducted by Roxanne and Lauren expands our
knowledge of literature, education and their importance in our world,” Honors
College Dean Kenneth Blemings said. “We’re thrilled two of our most talented
students were selected for this award.”
Rankin won for her thesis titled “The Postmodern and the
Personal in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s ‘Aria Da Capo’.”
“‘Aria Da
Capo,’ Edna St. Vincent Millay’s 1919 play, has thus far been largely
ignored in literary criticism,” Rankin wrote. “This essay, through a historical
survey of Millay’s previous critical reception followed by a close reading of
Aria Da Capo, attempts to explain and then bridge this gap in academic
scholarship. A postmodernist reading of the play will then illustrate why
Millay’s work still confounds scholars today and how Aria Da Capo specifically
continues to be relevant more than 100 years after it was first produced.”
The Colorado Springs, Colo. native will graduate with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English in December.
She is considering moving to Pittsburgh after graduation and
would like to pursue a career in publishing but hasn’t decided yet what she
wants to do long term.
“Although I do not yet have concrete plans, I hope to
continue pursuing art and knowledge; I want to help people understand why we
create and what creation enables us to do for other people and for ourselves,”
Rankin said.
Volk, of Cross Lanes, W.Va., won for her thesis titled “Banned or Grand?: Why
Graphic Novels ‘Maus’ and ‘Persepolis’ Belong in the
Classroom.”
“My capstone essay, ‘Banned or Grand?: Why Graphic
Novels ‘Maus’ and ‘Persepolis’ Belong in the
Classroom,’ seeks to research both the objections to oft-banned memoir graphic
novels being incorporated in the secondary school curriculum and the reasons
why these graphic novels should not only be incorporated into the curriculum,
but also why they assist students in developing necessary skills, such as
higher-level critical thinking, a deeper understanding of complicated
historical events, and the analysis of form and structure in literature, rather
than just content,” Volk wrote. “To enhance my research, I connected my main
points to the pedagogical theory of learning transfer.
In May, Volk graduated summa cum laude and as an Honors
Foundations Scholar with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and secondary
education.
This fall, she will begin teaching 8th grade
English/Language Arts at Mountaineer Middle School in Monongalia County. She
plans to pursue a master’s degree in Educational Administration (after gaining
several years of experience in teaching) to eventually become a school
principal.
“I want to be the best teacher I can be and inspire my
students to do their best and climb higher,” Volk said. “In the future, I hope
to become a National Board certified teacher, obtain my master’s and do
everything I can to help my students succeed.”