Young Harris College Honors Program to Host “Standup Comedy as Social Discourse” Colloquium

Tuesday, November 22, 2016
General College
Lectures & Readings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Maddy Elledge
(706) 379-5319, melledge@yhc.edu

Young Harris College Honors Program to Host “Standup Comedy as Social Discourse” Colloquium

YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – The Young Harris College Honors Program will present a special colloquium entitled “Standup Comedy as Social Discourse” on Monday, Nov. 28, with student panels beginning at 11 a.m. and lasting through 5:15 p.m. in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning on the YHC campus. Afterwards, keynote speaker Rebecca Krefting will present “Dueling Discourses: The Female Comic’s Double-Bind in the New Media Age” at 7 p.m. in the Wilson Lecture Hall of the Goolsby Center. The event is free and open to the public. 

“My students have worked all semester to think critically about the ways comedians contribute to the broader cultural conversation,” said Assistant Professor of English and Director of Rhetorica and the Writing Center Dr. Champion. “We will spend an entire day sharing ideas, processing issues, and considering next steps.”

Students presenting at the conference have spent the entire semester in Dr. Champion’s honors course. Students presenting include senior history major Jessica Kirby, of Martin, Ga., sophomore English major Alex Lemus-Gomez, of Young Harris, Ga., junior business and public policy major Maddie Barnes, of Blairsville, Ga., freshman biology major Kristen Corliss, of Mableton, Ga., sophomore undeclared major Anna Dyer, of Beaufort, S.C., junior interdisciplinary studies major Lauren James, of Griffin, Ga., junior theatre major Blake Wilson, of Talking Rock, Ga., sophomore business and public policy major Emily Cook, of Brasstown, N.C., sophomore art major Lewis Crawford, of Spring Hill, Tenn., senior psychology major Nicole Wasko, of Blairsville, Ga., junior mathematics majors Reece Brooks, of Lawrenceville, Ga., Lohan Lizin, of Rome, Ga., junior communication studies majors Maggie Sproston, of Athens, Ga., and Laura Howell, of Canton, Ga.

After the line-up of student papers, leading scholar and standup comic Rebecca Krefting will offer the keynote address. “I am particularly excited about this event because it allows our best and brightest students the opportunity to engage critically with the foremost scholar in standup comedy studies, Rebecca Krefting,” said Dr. Champion.

Krefting earned a B.A. in English and psychology at the University of Alabama, Huntsville and her M.A. in women’s studies at Ohio State University. She completed her doctorate in American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research specializations are studies in humor and laughter; social identities; studies of visual and popular culture; identity and difference; women’s history; theatre and performance; preppers and post-apocalyptic cultural texts; and pedagogical studies. Her research has been presented nationally and internationally. She is currently a professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Beach, N.Y.

“This event truly is a celebration of critical engagement with our current moment,” said Dr. Champion. “More simply, I see this colloquium as an example of the kinds of things YHC can do to continue to shape and build its academic identity.”

About Young Harris College
Young Harris College is a private, baccalaureate degree-granting college located in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia. Founded in 1886 and historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Young Harris College educates, inspires and empowers students through the highest quality liberal arts education. The College currently has more than 1,100 students across five divisions—Education, Fine Arts, Humanities, Mathematics and Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The historic campus in Young Harris, Ga., has completed major campus improvements to accommodate the College’s growth. Recent LEED-certified campus improvements include the 121,000-square-foot Rollins Campus Center, new residence facilities, and a 57,000-square-foot recreation and fitness center. The College is an active member of NCAA Division II and remains a fierce competitor in the prestigious Peach Belt Conference. YHC is among fewer than 300 colleges and universities nationwide named to the 2016-2017 list of Colleges of Distinction and is listed as a “Best National Liberal Arts College” by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit yhc.edu.

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