Keynotes are free and open to SBU community and the public

With the generous support of the John A. ’63 and Janett Tucker Gibbons Endowment, St. Bonaventure University’s English Department is hosting an on-campus, in-person academic conference on the theme of Empathy & Storytelling. The conference will be held on Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21.

The keynote speakers are Dr. Sophia Cantave, independent scholar, and Dr. Christine Cusick, professor of English at Seton Hill University and a St. Bonaventure alumna (1997).

Cantave will speak on “Storytelling in the Void: In-credible Narrators and the Illusion of Narrative Control on the Internet” at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20. Cusick’s presentation, “In the shelter of each other: Narrative, Listening, and a Discipline of Hope,” will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21.

Both keynote presentations will be held in the Robert R. Jones Room of the Doyle Conference Center. The keynotes are free and open to the SBU community and the public, with no registration required.

Other speakers at the conference include 30 faculty members and graduate students from colleges and universities across the region. St. Bonaventure faculty members among the presenters are Dr. Alva V. Cellini, professor of World Languages and Cultural Studies; Dr. Russell Woodruff, associate professor of Philosophy; Donald Gilliland, associate professor of Journalism; and adjunct instructor H.R. “Hannah” Gordon, ’16. Thirteen SBU undergraduates will also present their research on literature and empathy.

Conference information can be found at www.sbu.edu/empathy.

For more information, email empathy@sbu.edu.