The Concordian

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A Concord University student won a national prize at this year’s Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference in Athens, Ohio.

Lorien Anderson, a senior majoring in English with emphasis in literature, won the M. Rick Smith Memorial Undergraduate Student Essay Prize.

Her essay was entitled “Psychoanalysis and Point of View in Zeffirelli’s Hamlet” and it focused on how director Franco Zeffirelli used a psychoanalytical approach when making his 1990 version of Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson. This was the first paper Anderson had ever submitted to OVSC.

“I’m very grateful!” Anderson said. “It was an honor just to be able to participate in something like this, since usually it’s something you don’t get to do until at least graduate school.”

Jeff Yeager, Student Government Association President, also attended the conference, along with Anderson and Dr. Gabriel Rieger.

“Jeff and I both learned a lot from this, and I think we’d both like to thank Dr. Rieger in the English department for all the work he did with us on our papers. If not for him we wouldn’t have even known about the conference, much less had the confidence to submit our papers,” Anderson said.

Yeager said Concord was very well represented by Lorien and her winning the national competition. “I feel that this illustrates that Concord can compete academically with the best schools in not only this state but also in this country as a whole.”

Dr. Rieger says this conference is an annual, regional Shakespeare conference held at various colleges and universities in the Ohio Valley. This year it was held from October 22-24 and the conference topic was Shakespeare on Screen: 1899-2009.

“I’ve actually been attending the Ohio Valley Shakespeare conference since I started my Ph.D. program in the year 2000,” Rieger said. “The competition for the undergraduate Smith prize was very intense this year. Ms. Anderson has reason to be very proud, and the university has reason to be proud of her.”

“I’m extremely proud that a Concord student won this year’s prize. Undergraduates from much larger and more famous programs submit essays for this competition, and Ms. Anderson’s achievement speaks very well of the quality of Concord University’s English program, as well as the quality of our students.”

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