Our Crowdfunding Groups
Donations to the DLR will go towards funding two events where Ball State students can have the opportunity to present their work to an academic audience: the Butler Undergraduate Research Conference and Ball State’s own DLR Gala. These events allow students to grow in confidence, present their original ideas, and network with professionals, as well as to celebrate their hard work and achievements. The Gala will be April 15th from 7-9:30pm in the Student Center Ballroom, and all are welcome; no reservations necessary.
Allison Akers is a junior creative writing major with minors in professional writing and marketing. She will be presenting her research on the influence of imitating god in the creation of utopia and dystopia, focusing on the anime series Death Note and the novel Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
Sammy Bredar is a freshman Public Relations major. She has a concentration in Event Planning and Management and a minor in Film Screenwriting. She will be presenting on editing in the DLR.
Katrina Brown is a senior with majors in English literature and sociology. She will be presenting on the historical ways Native American societies have been portrayed as utopias and the continued ramifications of such portrayals.
Rachael Carmichael is a senior English studies major. She will be presenting her research on the fixation of conformity: a perspective of egalitarianism in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series and Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron.
Kirsten Cooper is a senior English studies major. She will be presenting a literary analysis of the film Gattaca and its lasting societal impact.
Fila’Sha Finley is a senior public relations major. She will be presenting on commandeering paradise from others in Stephenie Meyer’s novel, The Host.
Jacob Garrett is a junior history and literature double major with minors in creative writing and political science. He will be presenting on the concept of a capitalist utopia in the episode of Black Mirror “Fifteen Million Merits.”
Marlee Jacocks is a senior English literature major with minors in French, political Science, and philosophy. She will be presenting on women in politics in Ursula Le Guin’s utopian novel The Dispossessed.
Samantha Kubiak is a junior English Literature major. She will be presenting her research on the portrayal of the environment in utopias and dystopias.
Natalie Kuss is a senior English studies major. She will be presenting her research on familial bonds and feminist utopia within The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Maggie Mayer is a junior creative writing major with a double minor in film and screenwriting and professional writing. She will be presenting on how utopian and dystopian themes present themselves in modern media, specifically in the Netflix Original Altered Carbon.
Kylie Poling is a junior English and language arts education major with a concentration in communication and minors in communication studies and linguistics. She will present on a panel of fellow editors about the editorial process.
Ben Sapet is a junior rhetoric and writing major with minors in Creative Writing and Literature. He will present on utopian thought in Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy.
Marisa Sloan is a senior majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and minors in art history and professional writing. She will be presenting her research on the dystopianism of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go in conjunction with the floating world of Edo Japan.
Troi Watts is a senior creative writing major. She will be presenting her research on the functions of war in utopia as seen in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
The Ball State Foundation can enter offline donations into ScaleFunder for this project. Send your check to:
Ball State University Foundation
2800 W. Bethel Avenue
Muncie, IN 47304
Put "English 2701 Digital Literature Review (DLR) crowdfund" on the memo line.
