AWARDS:

Arielle Hamadé was honored as a 2026 Top Intern in Virginia by the State Council of Higher Education of Virgina (SCHEV).

Jay Fuchs was honored by 2026 C.E.D.A. National Championships as the Critic of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic Central Region.

Oghenetega Ologbo was honored as a 2026 Top Intern in Virginia by the State Council of Higher Education of Virgina (SCHEV).

Oghenetega Ologbo was honored with the 2026 Engaged Citizen of the Year Award at the Student Organization Awards and Reception, Division of Student Affairs.

Ezekiel Olaniyan was honored with the 2026 Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Student Organization Award for his work with the International Students Association at the Student Organization Awards and Reception, Division of Student Affairs.

Ezekiel Olaniyan was selected to participate in the 64th United Nations Graduate Study Program in Geneva, Switzerland in the summer of 2026. This is the oldest educational program supported by the United Nations.

DaNae Peterson (M’25) was honored with The Graduate School’s 2026 Outstanding Thesis in Education, Social Sciences, and Humanities Award.

Karan Deengar (M’19) was honored with the 2026 General Education Innovation Award at James Madison University.

JMU ALUMNI FEATURE STORIES:

Featured Alumna, Mariam Ismail (M’24) and currently Assistant Professor and Digital Projects Coordinator, Virginia Tech: Graduate Assistants to Digital Scholarship Leaders

Featured Alumna, Sheriden Osei (M’25) Finding her Calling Beyond the Screen: Advocacy in Action.

PRESENTATIONS:

Bates, S. (M’25), Yoder, A., Smith, G. (M’25), Ologbo, O., Dushimirimana, A., and Zaied, R. (M’21). (April, 2026). From panic to podium: Cultivating conference confidence.  CONNECT session panel presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

D’Agostino, P. (April, 2026). An examination of Chris Brown’s extensive history of assault allegations through image repair theory. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

D’Agostino, P. (April 2026). Growth and abscission of an individual opinion. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Dushimirimana, A. (October, 2025) “Will I find home…?” A Fulbright Scholar’s journey of identity and belonging in the U.S. Paper presented at the Fulbright Association 48th Annual Conference “United We Stand,” Miami, Florida

Dushimirimana, D. (November 2025). Addressing stigma and underutilization of mental health services in Rwanda: The role of media and social norms. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Denver CO.

Dushimirimana, A., Morena, L. (M’25), and Alemán, M.W., (April 2026). “I don’t like to be asking for the basics because the basics are something that should already be in existence, right?” Voices of international graduate students’ academic and social experiences at a U.S. university.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA. Top Paper Award in Voices of Diversity Division.

Gunkel, B. (April 2026). Voice of resistance: A rhetorical analysis of personal testimony in the documentary Crip Camp. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.   

Gunkel, B. (April, 2026). Voice of resistance: A rhetorical analysis of personal testimony in the documentary Crip Camp. Poster presented at The Graduate School’s Showcase of Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Kier, B. (April 2026). The great accommodation race. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Martin, R. (April 2026). The ukulele apology: Colleen Ballinger’s image repair in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA

Martin, R. (April 2026). Reweaving stigma. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Olaniyan, E. (April 2026). Image repair identity, and institutional crisis: A Strategic communication analysis of Claudine Gay and Harvard University. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA

Olaniyan, E. (April 2026). Rejected by the algorithm: Mental health consequences for young Black men in job applications in the United States. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern States Communication Association, Birmingham, AL.

Olaniyan, E. (April 2026). When the algorithm says no: How young Black men interpret job rejections in AI-driven hiring systems. Poster presented at The Graduate School’s Showcase of Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Ologbo, O., Meganck, D., & Woo, C.W. (September 2025) Bridging education and community impact to empower future professionals. Engaged Scholarship Consortium International Conference, Roanoke, VA.

Ologbo, O. (November 2025). Domestic violence: A cross-cultural comparison of its impact on the self-esteem and behavioral patterns of women in Nigeria and the U.S. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Denver CO.

Ologbo, O., Kayiganwa, K. M., & alumna JMU Presidential Engagement Fellow Ijeluola, T. (M’25) participated as panelists in the session “African Female Graduate Students in Conversation: Feminist Worldmaking, Survival, and Scholarly Practice” at the African, African American and Diaspora Studies International Conference, Harrisonburg, VA.

Ologbo, O. (April 2026). Agenda in focus: Media’s power through framing. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Ologbo, O. (April, 2026). Scandal and reputation: Astronomer’s Coldplay jumbotron crisis and image repair. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Ologbo, O. (April 2026). Bridging education and community impact to empower future professionals. Poster presented at The Graduate School’s Showcase of Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Rodak, M., Nicholson, E., & Dushimirimana, A. (April 2026). The Re-Emergence of the Debate over Audre Lorde’s “Master’s Tools” Challenge for These Times.  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

Schleyer, A. (April 2026). Deliberation and Argumentation: Civility on Contemporary College Campus. Poster presented at The Graduate School’s Showcase of Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Yoder, A. (March 2026). Fragments of Home. Presented at the 2026 International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative, Virtual Conference.

AWARDS:

Katherine Benson is a recipient of The Office of Sponsored Programs Fellowship, 2025-2026.

Angela Rona Estavillo has been offered and accepted a position in the English Ph.D. program at the University of Connecticut.

Anna Gitchell is a recipient of The Office of Research Development Fellowship, 2025-2026.

Tanner Pratt is a recipient of The Innovation & Impact Fellowship at JMU X-Labs. 

Aiman Rahman is starting my PhD in English (Literary History) at Ohio University in Fall 2026. Also awarded the Earl C. and Margaret S. Shively Scholarship by their English Department. 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

Katherine Benson is a Graduate Assistant for the Celebrating Simms at Rocktown High School Project (Accessibility Coordinator, Outreach, Web, and Event Manager), 2025-2026. 

Dangerfield, Rylee as Sigma Tau Delta vice president, along with fellow officers, collaborated with the JMU English Department to fund Charlie Jane Anders' book talk and visit to JMU for her book, Lessons in Magic and Disaster.

Riley Hollars is a Graduate Assistant at the Furious Flower Poetry Center, 2025-2026.

Riley Hollars has an upcoming internship with The Queer Love Project as poetry editor and will pioneer the addition of poetry to the project. 

Charles Owen is a Graduate Assistant for the Center for Interational Stabilization and Recovery. 

Lucy Saunders will be working with the Honors college for the 2026-2027 academic year, facilitating pedagogical events and student workshops. 

PRESENTATIONS:

Benson, K. (2026). The polished shield: White women’s role in racial violence [Conference presentation]. William & Mary Graduate Symposium, Williamsburg, VA, United States.

Benson, K., & Gitchell, A. (2026). Black soldiers in WWII: Reimagining and restoring history through film [Conference presentation]. AAAD Conference, Harrisonburg, VA, United States.https://arcg.is/v05SS4

Carranza, A. (2025, October 16-18). Origins of the Western Vampire: A Close Reading of Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" as the Foundation of the New Vampire[Conference Presentation]. Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, Spokane, Washington.

Carranza, A. (2026, February 26). Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever and Women as Pawns of Patriarchy[Conference Presentation]. William and Mary Graduate Symposium, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Dangerfield, R. The Ma Rainey Legacy Project. 2026 AAAD Interdisciplinary Conference with Tanner Pratt and Micah Turner

Gitchell, A. M. (2026, February 26-27). Devolving Morality in AMC's The Walking Dead [Conference presentation]. William & Mary Graduate Symposium, Williamsburg, VA, United States.

Gitchell, A. M., & Benson, K. V. (2026, February 11-13). Black Soldiers in WWII: Reimagining & Restoring History through Film [Conference presentation]. 2026 AAAD Conference, Harrisonburg, VA, United States.

Hollars, R.  Annie Turnbo Malone and the Poro Empire: DH Project Analysis. 16th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Interdisciplinary Conference, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA., 11-13 February 2026

Hollars, R. Motherhood as Monstrosity: Grendel’s Mother Transformed Through Dog-Woman. Medieval + Monsters: MAM, MAMA, and IMA Joint Conference with The Newberry Library, Dominican University and Newberry Library, Chicago, IL., 17-18 October, 2025

Owen, C. (2026). The phantom pain: Imperial anxieties of uprootedness and alchemical knowing in Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan” at LABRC’s Sacred Arts 2026 Conference, University of Oxford.

Pratt, T. (2026) The Ma Rainey Legacy Project at African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) Interdisciplinary Conference 2026, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Rahman, A. (2025, November 18–20). Poetics of transgression: Of Borders, Boundaries, and Bodies in The God of Small Things. Paper presented at the Connections and Human Dimensions of Urban Space, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 4th International Conference.

Rahman, A. (2026, February 11–13). How far does the dime go? Visualizing the financial footprint of Black digital and public humanities. Paper presented at the Sanctuary: Sites of Survival and Spontaneity, 16th Annual AAAD Interdisciplinary Conference.

Rahman, A. (2026, March 26–27). The Mycelium of Radical Delights: Ross Gay’s exploration of Black joy. Paper presented at the Radical Hope: Reimagining Justice in Insecure and Precarious Times, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States.

Saunders, Lucy (2026 February) Performative Grief: The Metamorphosis, Bourgeois Respectability, and Caretaker Resentment [Paper Presentation]. William and Mary Graduate Research Symposium.

Turner, M. (2026, February). The Ma Rainey Legacy Project [project presentation]. James Madison University AAAD Conference, Harrisonburg, VA.

Turner, Micah. (2026, February). Eloquence and Repulsion: The Paradox of Frankenstein’s Creature [paper presentation]. William & Mary Graduate Symposium, Charlottesville, VA.

PUBLICATIONS:

Dangerfield, R. designed the marketing and program materials for the 2026 AAAD Interdisciplinary Conference in my role as the publicity and communications graduate assistant for the AAAD office.

Dangerfield, R. completed editorial work for both national (NCTE's English Education) and state (Virginia English Journal and Journal of Virginia Science Education) journals in my role as an editorial assistant for Dr. Melanie Shoffner.

Estavillo, A. R. (2026, April). Tomorrow is here I said tomorrow is waiting. Bryant Literary Review, 27, 81.

Estavillo, A. R. (forthcoming). Droga. Pangyrus.

Pratt, T. “Dancing the Cow.” Iris Literature and Arts Magazine 4(1), 34.

Pratt, T. “Hate Poem.” Iris Literature and Arts Magazine 4(1), 7.