The History Department at Mount Saint Vincent University is set to host the 5th Annual Atlantic University Undergraduate History and Classics Conference (AUUHCC) this year. More than thirty students from eight universities will attend this event, which will run from March 4 to 6 and will be held in the Seton Academic Centre.
Each year, the conference brings together students across the Atlantic Provinces to participate in panels discussing various aspects of history and culture. Elton Menard, Chair of the Organizing Committee and participant in the 2010 AUUHCC at St. Thomas University, says the conference is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate students in history and classics to present papers and works in progress to their peers. Other members of this year’s committee include Mount students Crystal Primeau, Estelle Lalonde, Danielle Pittman, and Candice Falkenham.
Elton indicates that his involvement with this year’s conference stems from the encouragement of the faculty in the History Department to embrace historical research. “The conference offers participants a forum to share their research and take part in friendly scholarly debate with their peers from other institutions,” says Elton. “It also offers the chance to use written, oral and personal skills gained throughout our academic careers. For students wishing to pursue a future in academia, this conference will give them a taste of what’s in store.”
Students attending the conference will experience firsthand what the study of history entails and how historians wrestle with important social, cultural, political, and economic phenomena that might seem theoretical, but have resounding impacts on our present day lives.
The papers that will be presented cover a wide variety of topics, such as Canadian gender issues, automotive culture, Halifax and Dartmouth during the Second World War, social deviancy and the European ‘Witch Craze’, Mi’kmaq art practice, consumerism, art signatures and forgeries, and racial representations.
“The Mount’s commitment to higher learning is what makes it a great venue for this year’s AUUHCC,” concludes Elton. “By hosting this year’s AUUHCC, the Mount community demonstrates how much it values the success of its undergraduates, as well as the quality behind the research and perspectives developed in our classrooms.”
All students and faculty are welcome to attend the conference. For a full list of events, please contact auuhcc2011@msvu.ca.