Meeting in the Middle Conference

Friday April 10

Registration opens at 11:30

12 noon–1:30pm – Gender and Religious Authority

• “Sex and Submission: Heloise’s Rhetoric of Coershion” Sarah Donegan, University of Alberta
• “Protector and Protected: The Complex Standard of Womanhood in the Cantigas de Santa
  Maria” Alexia Creeden, George Washington University
• “Gender and Social Bias in the Fournier Transcripts” Katherine Riggs, University of Maryland, College Park
• “Spiritual Discourse for Andalusi Muslim Women” Ali Ibrahim, UMBC

1:45–3:30pm – Emotion, Lyric, and Music

• “Jasper Heywood: Translation, Morality, and Politics in Senecan Tragedy” Alyssa Hutchings, Lindenwood University
• “Curing Melancholy and Lovesickness explored through early 17th-century English Music” Joshua Rabady, University of Oklahoma
• “Znamenny Chant: Spiritualism Through Notation” David Kudyakov, University of Oklahoma
• “Arrangement of Claudio Monteverdi Eri gia tutta mia” Nathaniel Campion, Albert Fuentes, Elizabeth Galilov, EmiriOhki, and Oliver Panday, UMBC

3:30–4:00 – Coffee break

4:00–5:30 – PLENARY

“Drones, Data, and Deep Delves: Digital Archaeology and the Lost Settlements of Medieval Ireland”
Dr. Victoria McAlister, Towson University

Dinner (on your own)

Saturday April 11

9:00–9:30am – Continental Breakfast

9:30–11:00am – Syncretism, Society, and Material Culture

• “Dante’s Count Ugolino: Filial Cannibalism and the Negation of the Paternal” Avi Dye, Texas State University
• “Negotiating Pre-Modern Belief: Deconstructing ‘Pagan-Christian’ Narratives on the
  Franks and Projecta Caskets” Becca Melin, New York University
• “Franciscan Manuscripts and the Medieval Construction of Global Consciousness” Yunji Li, New York University

11:00am–12:30pm – Charting a Course: Premodern Voyages

• “Forensics and Shipwrecks: The Use of Forensic Anthropology and DNA Testing on
  Human Remains Found in Shipwrecks” Elizabeth Marsh, Towson University
• “Sea Venture: A Look at How Shipwrecks Influence Popular Literature” Rachel VanLeer, Towson University
• “The Legacy of African Ironworkers” Amina Thiam, UMBC

12:30–1:45pm – Lunch (on your own)

1:45–3:15pm – Gender and Power

• “Medieval Masculinity, the Benedictine Reform and Aelfric’s ‘Passion of St. Julian and his
  Wife, Basilissa’” Kieran Mckee, Mercer University
• “Beyond the Body: Queerness, Auctoritee, and Self-Authorship in ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’” Jamie Marshaleck, Lehigh University
• “The Maquillage of Identity: Collaborative Portraiture Between Madame de Pompadour
  and Francois Boucher” Sophia Johnson, Lindenwood University

3:15–3:30 – Coffee break

3:30–5:00 – Artifice and Medievalism

• “Believing in the Grail: Affective Medievalism from Chrétien de Troyes to Dan Brown” Camille Deschapelles, Georgetown University
• “Knights in Arthurian Legends: The Social Life of a Knight’s Armor as Reflection of their
  Quest” Milo Reynoso, University at Albany
• “Magic, Religion, and Science in the World Of BBC Merlin (2008)” Dana Montes, University of Houston-Main

5:00–6:00 – Cocktail Hour

6:00–8:30 – Immersive Medieval Banquet (SOLD OUT)

Sunday April 12

10:00am Field trip to the Walters Museum

UMBC’s new Undergraduate Conference will bring together students from institutions across the country to share and showcase their research in medieval and early modern topics, with a focus on the visual and performing arts and humanities. This builds on past conferences at Longwood University in Virginia that have been discontinued. Those conferences showcased the diversity and richness of these fields, were well-attended, and widely well-received, and so we again invite students and faculty from the many different disciplines in late antique, medieval, Renaissance, and early modern studies to the literal “middle” Atlantic region, where we will again find common ground.

Students may present a 20-minute paper on history, literature, art history, drama, music, philosophy, religion, or any other discipline dealing with the late antiquity through early modern eras. Students may also elect to submit proposals for performance or lecture-recitals up to 45 minutes in length in theater, dance, music, or a combination.

This conference includes a distinguished plenary speaker: Dr. Vicky McAlister, Associate Professor of history at Towson University and Fellow at the National Humanities Center 2021-2022, who specializes in digital investigations of medieval Irish castles and landscape archaeology.

Also part of the conference, with generous funding from UMBC’s Arts+ initiative, will be an immersive Medieval Performance Banquet, free to presenting students.

Please submit abstracts of 250 words, including your name, university, and presentation title to Dr. Kat Tracy at mems@umbc.edu. Deadline for proposals is Jan. 10, 2026.

UMBC is easily accessible via car, train, or air. Nestled adjacent to the intersection of I-95 and I-695, we are conveniently located 10 minutes from Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), which has an Amtrak station.

There are a number of hotels nearby, though none within walking distance.

Econo Lodge Elkridge near Arundel Mills
5895 Bonnie View Ln, Elkridge, MD 21075•(410) 796-1020. $48–$65 per night

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Baltimore West – Catonsville by IHG
5701 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD 21228•(443) 251-2000 $78–$99 per night

Studio 6 Suites Catonsville, MD – Baltimore West
5801 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD 21228•(410) 744-5000 $62–$81

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Baltimore – BWI Airport
890 Elkridge Landing Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090•(410) 859-8400 $69–$114

Wingate by Wyndham Baltimore BWI Airport
829 Elkridge Landing Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090•(410) 850-0600. $57–$77

Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Baltimore BWI Airport
1170 Winterson Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090•(410) 449-4357 $46–$66