Texas A&M International University

TAMIU Hosts 11th Annual International Conference on Romanticism

If there seems to be a little more romance on the border this week, it's probably coming from Texas A&M International University.

For the first time, TAMIU will offer students, faculty, staff and the community an opportunity to attend one of the country's most distinguished conferences exploring Romanticism. This year's 11th International Conference on Romanticism (ICR) entitled "Romantic Border Crossings" begins Thursday evening on October 14 and continues through Saturday, Oct. 16 at TAMIU.

Dr. Jeffrey Cass, TAMIU associate provost and conference director, said the conference will allow leading scholars from around the world to present their most recent work.

Dr. Cass said the community is invited to join the 150-plus participants at the Western Hemispheric Trade Center (WHTC) for all or part of the conference. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

The conference will include presentations by leading scholars, including keynote speakers Jeffrey Cox, professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Colorado, Boulder; and Frederick Burwick, professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Los Angeles.

Cox will discuss "Border Raids: Creating Romantic Cultures" Friday, October 15 from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. in the WHTC, room 116. Burwick will present "Gateway to Heterotopia: The Staging of Elsewhere" Saturday, October 16 from 5 to 6:15 p.m. in the WHTC, room 116.

More than 30 sessions are scheduled on a broad range of topics and authors including Walt Whitman, Mary Shelley, William Wordsworth, Catharine Sedgwick, Felicia Hemans, John Keats, Samuel Coleridge, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott. Other presentations will focus on subjects that traditionally have received less attention at Romanticism conferences such as music and history.

Entertainment will include TAMIU's Mariachi Internacional under the direction of Robert Lopez, music instructor; the University's Flamenco Dance Troupe choreographed by Bede Leyendecker, assistant professor of dance; and TAMIU's Music Ensemble headed by Susan Berdahl, assistant professor of music, and Jennifer Clark-Cahill, assistant professor of music

The ICR is a national organization and presents one of two major conferences in the field of romanticism. According to the organization's mission statement, the ICR "is a learned society that seeks to improve, maintain, and improve teaching, research, and related endeavors in the field of Romanticism studies, and to facilitate communication among scholars and teachers through annual meetings, publications, and other activities, and to do so without favoring particular linguistic, political, or national traditions, or academic disciplines."

For more information about the 11th Annual International Conference on Romanticism, please visit http://www.tamiu.edu/icr/ConfProgram.pdf.