Undergraduate Dakota Mecham Wins Research Award  

English Teaching emphasis Dakota Mecham won the Individual Research prize (first place) at the Student Research Symposium in Vernal, Utah, for her presentation titled, “Tabula Rasa and Frankenstein’s Monster.” Dakota’s presentation was based on an essay she wrote for Professor Alan Blackstock’s Nineteenth Century British Literature class. She subsequently revised the essay and submitted it for presentation at the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society Convention in St. Louis this past April. Dakota was a part of the USU contingency consisting of 14 other students and their two advisors, Associate Professor Michaelann Nelson and Professor Christine Cooper-Rompato. Dakota competed with students from all disciplines at the symposium.  

Dakota encourages other students to engage in student research, especially our statewide students: “There are statewide programs begging to give you money for research, and the process is so much easier than I initially thought. I appreciate as a statewide student that I can stay in my hometown, while still getting a lot of the same opportunities and funding that the main campus gets. The support I have received from USU makes me want to continue researching to further my education.”