English Department Undergraduates Receive Peak Fellowships

Elizabeth Russell, Ella Stott, and Eden Marroquin, English Department undergraduates, received the Peak Fellowship to support their summer research and creative work.

Elizabeth’s summer work with faculty mentor Associate Professor Ben Gunsberg will be researching suicidal contagion in popular media. Suicidal contagion, a phenomenon from the British Romantic period, was the idea that suicide was literally contagious and could be contracted if read about. Because of this, news reports of people dying by suicide began to be censored.

“Of course, we understand today that suicide is not contagious. Suicidal contagion as a culturally and socially held belief, however, still has power,” Elizabeth says. “My research will concentrate on how suicidal contagion as a non-scientific yet socially real phenomenon operates in popular media, including a suite of movies, TV shows, comics, etc. I will also be reviewing the literature on suicidal contagion to hopefully develop criteria for representing suicide in creative media without defaulting to censorship—because suicide is real, and we should not pretend it is not—but also without perpetuating suicidal contagion. Basically, my research question in simple terms is this: How can we represent suicide in popular media safely?”

This summer, Ella will be conducting research on the craft of trauma and abuse in memoirs with faculty mentor Professor Jennifer Sinor. As a result of this work, she will finish the second half of her memoir that explores themes of religious and partner abuse, as well as sexuality, body image, and gender.

“My research will ultimately inform my own creative work that has been the focus of my undergraduate education. In learning about the different voices, structures, styles, and other craft choices in memories that discuss similar topics to mine, I am building the writing tools I can use to tell my story and help others who have gone through similar experiences feel seen,” Ella comments.

In addition to researching, Ella will be attending the American University in Paris’ creative writing workshop to continue refining her writing and to learn from new perspectives. “I have already learned so much about different writing techniques from my time at USU. I’m excited to learn more about how different perspectives, both that of professors and peers, craft trauma and personal narratives,” she says. “More than anything, I’m looking forward to having time this summer just to write.”

Working with faculty mentor Professor Shane Graham, Eden will be continuing a research project about African American writers and their role in the Cold War and foreign diplomacy. The project originally focused on Langston Hughes and his correspondence with the U.S. State Department and his role in the cultural Cold War, but it has extended to other African American writers like James Baldwin.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to have a second opportunity to work on this project,” Eden says. “The Peak allows us to spend a lot more time researching in the National Government Archives as well as Howard University’s archives, so I’ll get a lot more experience doing that.”

In addition to her research, Eden will be attending the Rutgers English Diversity Institute this summer. Its competitive one-week program, designed for advanced college students and recent graduates, hosts students whose cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds may contribute to diversity in English and American literary studies.

“I’m excited about being a part of it this year because I feel like it allows me to spend time with students and faculty from diverse and different ethnic backgrounds. While my time at Utah State has been invaluable and the English Department staff has been amazing, there are just things that I’m not getting from an almost all-white faculty and student body that REDI has to offer,” Eden reflects. “Additionally, the program is designed for students who want to pursue a Master’s or PhD in literary studies, which will come in handy as I enter my last year of undergrad.”

Elizabeth, Ella, and Eden all reflected on what receiving the Peak Fellowship means to them and their research.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to receive the Peak Fellowship and use its resources to further my research. Its funding will enable me to devote more conscious, deliberate time to my investigation of suicidal contagion,” Elizabeth comments. “The fellowship will also enable me to network with other researchers. This research topic is near and dear to my heart, so I appreciate being given an opportunity to move forward with it.”

For Ella, receiving the Peak helped validate the importance of her project. “While I have been working on this manuscript since high school and I would’ve continued to work on it over the summer regardless of the funding, it’s so incredibly meaningful to me that my work has been recognized as relevant, important, and worthwhile,” she reflects. “I can’t express how grateful I am to have received this funding. For me in my writing, the biggest roadblock is time. If I don’t have enough time, my writing isn’t going to be good if it gets done at all. With this funding, I’ll focus a lot more on my writing rather than work to give the project the dedicated time I believe it deserves.”

“It’s a super competitive fellowship, and I was honestly preparing myself to not receive it, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was named a recipient,” Eden comments. “Dr. Graham and I are hoping for a co-publication to come out of the project, and because I’ve gotten the funding to pick this project back up, we can spend a lot more time researching.”

Congratulations, Elizabeth, Ella, and Eden!