English major Lana Cook likes it that the University of New Hampshire is large enough in which to meet a diverse group of people but that
the town of Durham has “the small town feeling I grew up with.” Her home is in Sangerville, Maine, three hours north of Durham.
“It is a very working class town, and I think that is how I became interested in class issues,” she explained. Her article was
done as an independent study in conjunction with the Ronald E. McNair fellowship, an undergraduate program that offers opportunities in
research and encourages graduate education for underrepresented groups in doctoral programs. By publishing this article Lana hopes to
share innovative views on class in America: “Class operates in very complex ways, and there is no one definition. I want others to
see how prevalent class issues are once you make your self aware of the world around you.” Research for her “is finding those
little holes in scholarship and filling them with your own insights.” Lana will graduate in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in English and aspires to become an English professor and continue studying issues of class, gender and race. The most important thing she
will leave UNH with is a profound sense of self, “I'm taking with me the experience of growing up and finding out who I am as a
student, both in the classroom and in life.”
Dr. Sarah Sherman, associate professor of English and American Studies, has been at the University of New Hampshire for more than twenty years. Even after all that time, her passion for English and teaching has not diminished: “Writing is a fascinating process. It takes you to places you didn’t expect, and that is something exciting for all of us.” When students come to those unexpected places, Dr. Sherman keeps them on track by providing structure, support and appreciation of their hard work. Her own research interests include nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literature and consumer culture. When Lana’s original mentor left on sabbatical, Dr. Sherman stepped in. She found Lana a pleasure to work with and said, “You see a lot of Lana in the piece. There is a strong sense of social justice but in a thoughtful way that does justice to the text. She gives the complexity of the issue without losing sight of what’s important to her. That’s a hard thing to do.”
Read Lana Cook's research article, Questioning the Lives of Kings: American Class Myths>>
