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College of Humanities Hosts 9th Annual 3MT Competition

Humanities students competed in the annual 3 Minute Thesis competition on Thursday, where 3 students came away with cash prizes. The first place winner will have the chance to present their three-minute thesis at the university competition on March 11.

3MT logo page

The Dean's office of the College of Humanities hosted the 9th Annual 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition remotely on February 25, where three students were awarded cash prizes for their short presentations on their thesis research.

“The 3 Minute Thesis competition has been around for many years now,” said Leslie Thorne-Murphy, associate dean of the English department. “It started in 2008 at the University of Queensland, and it actually has spread around the world. There are universities worldwide who have asked graduate students to do such a simple task: summarize all of your research in a mere three minutes or less. It's a great challenge.”

Six competitors, who each placed first in their respective programs’ competitions, competed in this college-level event for the first-place prize of $1,000, second-place prize of $750, and third-place prize of $500. The first-place winner will also have the opportunity to present at the 3MT competition at the university level on March 11.

The following students participated in the Humanities 3MT competition:

Shaelee Erickson—English MA
“Too Little Too Late: Trump’s Attempt to Salvage His Reputation (A Rhetorical Analysis)

Chloe Rampton—Linguistics MA
“Of Zoos and Tools: Metaphor in the Language of Incarcerated People and Correctional Officers”

David Dewey Walter—Comparative Studies MA
“(Re)Presentation of Eileen Chang’s Protagonists”

Suzanne Rice—TESOL MA
“Written Feedback Frequency in the Context of Accuracy and Fluency”

Cristina Newell—Portuguese MA
“The Formation of the Diminutive in Brazilian Portuguese”

Chanel Earl—Creative Writing MFA
“Death Kindly Stopped: A Novel about Death and Motherhood”

The first prize award was given to Suzanne Rice, with second and third place prizes awarded to Chanel Earl and Christina Newell, respectively.

Suzanne Rice is an MA student who is graduating this semester with a degree in TESOL. Rice is from Canada and is the mother of three daughters.

Dean J. Scott Miller expressed his congratulations to all participants, stating that the 3MT competition is a great way to prepare graduate students for the real world.

“[When I was a graduate student,] my wife came up with a really wise bit of wisdom. She said, ‘When people ask you what you're writing about, you need to have a two-minute version. That way, you can explain what you're doing to people who don't know anything about Japanese or comparative literature,” Miller said.

“When I heard about the 3MT contest,” continued Miller, “I thought it was brilliant because it trains graduate students early to be able to distill what they're doing in a small three-minute presentation, and that's extremely useful.”

Click here and use the password BhBd8Q#$ to view the competition recording.