"Transferring to MCLA was one of the greatest decisions I ever made. Being able to learn from and connect with the faculty and staff equipped me with greater networking capabilities/skills and the opportunity to use them outside of the institution, preparing me for the road ahead. Taking part and engaging in different clubs and organizations on campus helped to shape and guide me for countless opportunities."
Brandon Pender ’07 Research Analyst, Office of State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley ’76
Commonwealth Scholar Presentation
In his public presentation, Bryan Mangano, '05, outlines the argument of his thesis prior to answering questions about his work from the panel of faculty examiners.
Bryan's capstone project, a thesis entitled, "Forming New Wholes: Spatial Form in Joyce's Ulysses," argues that the aesthetic concerns giving shape to Joyce's novel are best understood by considering them as a spatial, synchronic form that contains the temporal, dramatic processes of the novel much like Dublin, as a spatial form, contains all of the events, places, and even memories that the characters experience during their day-long journey through the city.
In making his case, Bryan engaged the critical literature on theories of the novel with particular attention to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. He criticized claims that Joyce's novel is an an example of open or unconstrained "heteroglossia," and in his last chapter, Bryan developed the argument that
The faculty panel engaged Mangano in discussion and questions regarding his thesis. The panel members were, l. to r., Profs. David Langston, Ben Jacques, Stephen Tifft, and Mark Miller. Prof. Tifft was the outside examiner from the English Dept. at Williams College. Each Commonwealth presentation tries to include at least one outside examiner to participate in questioning the candidate.
Prof. Miller poses a question to Mangano
This portion of the attentive audience includes the three students who will be working on Commonwealth Honors projects in 2005-2006: Rachel Dayton, Ithai Larsen, and Melinda Sheehan.
