Spring 2025 Conference Program

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For schedule updates and special requests, please contact Jen Andrella (jandrella@knox.edu) or Ole Forsberg (ojforsberg@knox.edu)
For questions regarding travel and hotel accommodations, please contact Kari Santos (ksantos@knox.edu)

Friday, April 4

3:45 – 4:30pm: Arrival, opening reception with hors d’oeuvres and beverages

Location: Red Room, Seymour Library (Second Floor)

4:30 – 4:50pm: Welcome and Opening Remarks: Michael Schneider and Danielle Fatkin

5:00 – 6:00pm: Keynote presentation: Eric Hayot (Penn State University), “Five Defenses of the Humanities”

6:00 – 6:15 break

6:15 – 7:15: Session A: “Knox College and Henry Hill Correctional Center: the Inside-Out Program.” | Creative Exhibits/Lightning Talks

Location: Abolition Lab, Seymour Library (First Floor)

Leanne Trapedo Sims (Knox College)
Joshua Carlos (Knox College Student)
Santiago De La Garza (Knox College Student)
Aswini Venkatesh (Knox College Student)

Saturday, April 5

8:00 – 8:30 am: Arrival and light breakfast

Location: Trustees Room, Alumni Hall (302)

8:30 – 9:30am: Session B1: “Abolitionist Rhetoric and its Limitations: the Power of Forgiveness”
Roundtable discussion of In Their Hands with filmmaker Dan Protess and Ronnie Carasquillo, moderated by Knox faculty, Leanne Trapedo Sims

Dan Protess, producer and director of the film, explores the life of Ronnie Carrasquillo, who appears destined to die in prison. 47 years after he killed a plainclothes police officer, Carrasquillo’s destiny is in the hands of a parole board whose decision-making is swayed by shifting political sands and an ever-present police union. As Ronnie’s family and attorneys fight for his life, they keep coming back to the same question: “is this any way to decide a man’s fate?” In Their Hands is a documentary about one man’s battle for freedom that pulls back the curtain on the politics of parole.

Watch In Their Hands on PBS.

Leanne Trapedo Sims (Knox College)
Dan Protess (Collaborator)
Ronnie Carasquillo (Collaborator)

9:30 – 9:40am Break

9:40 – 10:40am: Session B2 | Mixed Presentation Panel

Mary Lyons (Knox College), “Curricular Innovation: Alternative Assessment”
Peter Bailley (Knox College), “Historical Context of Campus Map Reveals 19th Century Gender and Neighborhood Relations”
Sheryl Hinman (Knox College), “AI for Equity: How Teachers Can Use AI to Support Diverse Student Needs”

10:40 – 10:50 Break

10:50 – 11:50am: Session B3 | Traditional Paper Panel

Duane Oldfield (Knox College), “Struggles Over Free Speech: From Knox History to Current Controversies”
Santiago Ivan Guerra (Colorado College), “Regional Reconciliation: Situating the Southwest and Colorado College”
Deirdre Mayer Dougherty and Moheb Zidan (Knox College), “The Dilemmas of Archival Coloniality and Knowledge Democratization: Reflections on Research on British Mandate Palestine and Pedagogical Possibilities”

11:50am – 1:00pm: Lunch

1:00 – 2:00pm: Session B4: “Abolitionism, Incarceration, and the Human Body” | Interactive Movement Workshop

Location: Breitborde Dance Studio, Center for Fine Arts (main floor)

Kathleen Ridlon (Knox College)
Jennifer Smith (Knox College)

2:00 – 2:20pm: Break and return to the Trustees Room, Alumni Hall 302

2:20 – 2:50pm: Session B5: “‘That’s my tree’: Visualizing the Grinnell College legacy of Edith Renfrow Smith ’37, DHL ‘19” | Creative Exhibit + Roundtable

Tamara Beauboeuf (Grinnell College)
Valeriya Woodard (Grinnell College Student)

2:50 – 3:00pm Break

3:00 – 4:00pm: Session B6: “Japan Meets Midwest America: Overseas Students, Teachers, & Missionaries 1860s–1920s” | Traditional Paper Panel

Ann Sherif (Oberlin College)
Rosemary Avila (Oberlin College)
Joan Ericson (Colorado College)
Alexix Yuan Cao (Colorado College Student)
Mariko Shigeta Schimmel (Grinnell College)
Suzune Yagi (Grinnell College Student)
Michael Schneider (Knox College)

4:00 – 4:10pm Break

4:10 – 5:20pm: Session B7 | “The Legacy Performance Project” | Lecture and Performance

Location: Kresge Recital Hall

Jennifer Smith (Knox College)
Kathleen Ridlon (Knox College)
Chris Albert (Knox College Student)
Aspen Correa (Knox College Student)
Phyllis-Anne Kuteesa (Knox College Student)
Keegan Stocks-McElligott (Knox College Student)
Sora Yamaga (Knox College Student)

Sunday, April 6

8:00 – 8:30am: Arrival and light breakfast

Location: Trustees Room, Alumni Hall (302)

8:30 – 9:30am: Session C1 | Mixed Presentation Panel

Natsumi Hayashi (Knox College), “The Potential of Combining Digital Humanities and Experiential Learning: Examine the Japanese American History in Chicago Program”
Jessa Dahl (Knox College), “Can Digital Humanities Kill the College Paper?: A Reflection on Alternative Assignments”
Eric Lemmon (Knox College), “Pedagogy and the Podcast: Synthesizing Historical Thinking and Technical Know-How Through “Talking Abolition at Knox” in Digital Audio Production I”
Jen Andrella (Knox College), Ellie Anderson, Josh Carlos, Kyra Kellogg (Knox College Students), “Reflections from the Abolition Lab”

9:30– 9:40am Break

9:40 – 10:30am: Session C2: “Literature, the Archives, and the Black Arts Movement at Knox” | Traditional Paper Panel

Ryan Tracy (Knox College)
Semenya McCord, respondent (Knox College)
Guy McEntarffer (Knox College Student)
Charlene Rugust (Knox College Student)
Tyler Korman (Knox College Student)

10:30 – 10:40am: Break

10:40 – 11:20am: Session C3: “Curricular Innovation in Abolition and the Arts” | Traditional Paper Panel

Gregory Gilbert (Knox College), “Rethinking the Teaching of Art History through Abolitionism”
Alyssa Mathias (Knox College), “Listening for Legacies of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade in a Global Music Class”
Deana Nichols (Knox College), “Theatre and Incarceration: Abolishing the Academic/Practical Divide”

11:20 – 12:30pm Lunch

12:30 – 1:30pm: Session C4: “Digital Humanities and Pedagogical Possibilities of Archives and Institutional Histories in the Undergraduate Classroom” | Roundtable Discussion

Deirdre Mayer Dougherty (Knox College)
Hilary Lehmann (Knox College)
Joseph Taylor (Knox College)

1:40 – 2:20pm: Addendum: “The Future of Abolition and the Lab” | A roundtable and Audience Conversation

Jen Andrella (Knox College)
Anne Thomason (Knox College)
Danielle Fatkin (Knox College)
Michael Schneider (Knox College)