From the Student Editors & Faculty
From the Student Project Interns & Editors
The mission of the Understory anthology is to showcase the talent, creativity, and scholarship of undergraduates in English Studies. Submission of creative work is open to all UAA students.Like last year’s edition of Understory, the 2018 edition contains a strong representation of undergraduate research and scholarship across all the emphasis areas in English Studies. They were selected for inclusion by the English faculty.
In our role as the student editors, we selected the works of creative writing and the cover art. Our top goals were to increase the number of submissions and to also increase the quality of those submissions. We reached out across the campus and Understory 2018 showcases nearly twice as many authors. In addition to the stories and poems, Understory 2018 also includes the work of three playwrights and this year, for the first time, we are featuring works of creative nonfiction. Increasing the volume of work also meant increasing the diversity of authors too. We are proud to say that we are presenting twice as many authors of color in this edition than appeared in last year’s edition.
Finally, we are currently in a political climate in which members of the university community are increasingly aware of the value of diversity and we felt strongly that the question of student diversity at UAA should be addressed. To accomplish this, we organized and hosted a public panel discussion entitled "Are Students of Color and the LGBTQ+ Safe At UAA? Our Answers." You will find a transcript of that conversation included as part of this edition. Diversity is more than just a buzzword to us; it is an essential part of UAA’s campus and it is an essential part of our vision for Understory.
Alexandria Bako and Anthony Taylor
From the Faculty Advisors & Project Liaisons
As we review the finishing touches of this year’s edition of Understory: An Annual Anthology of Achievement, we wish to acknowledge and thank our English Department colleagues for their continuing support. Again this year, they have ensured that excellent undergraduate research and scholarship from all of the disciplinary focus areas in English Studies have been presented. Thanks also to the energetic work of our student project interns/editors, who have worked to significantly increase in overall student participation and diversity represented in this year’s edition. The sustainable model we developed last year continues to offer considerable future promise.Professors David Bowie and Ronald Spatz