Murray State University students and faculty present research at Midwest Popular Culture Association conference
By Dr. Carrie Jerrell | Oct 29, 2026
MURRAY, Ky. — Four English majors and their faculty mentor from Murray State University’s Department of English and Philosophy recently traveled to Muncie, Indiana, to present their original academic research at the Midwest Popular Culture Association conference. The group was led by Dr. Andy Black, professor of English, with presentations by undergraduate students Anya Kenney, Tiff Rogers, Sam Tucker and Aleah Urbina.
Despite sharing panels with senior academics, all four students received positive feedback from conference attendees for the rigor of their research and their professionalism.
"In each case, the presenters were on a panel where they were the only undergraduates," said Black. "Panelists and audience members assumed they were graduate students or professors. And in every case, their presentations were praised as sophisticated and engaging."
Anya Kenney, a senior English/Literature major from O’Fallon, Illinois, and Aleah Urbina, a senior English/Literature major from Orange Walk Town, Belize, co-presented “‘Oft hope is born, when all is forlorn:’ Hopecore within the realm of media and art.” What began as a project in Black’s Foundations of Cinema class evolved into a formal research paper that examined the recent social media phenomenon of #hopecore, contrasting darker superhero media like the 2025 Superman film with classic literature such as Emily Dickinson’s poem "Hope is a thing with feathers."
"This was my first conference presentation so I was pretty nervous, but it helped that I was co-presenting with Aleah," said Kenney. "Although pop culture as a topic tends to be looked down upon by a lot of academics, I think it’s still an important thing to talk about and bring scholarship into.”
Urbina added that presenting on a topic they were passionate about helped overcome first-time presentation nerves.
"This experience was the longest road trip I have been on and my first conference ever. I was insanely nervous, but I heard the voices of my past teachers from primary school and sixth form telling me public speaking tips and it helped me lock in.
“Co-presenting with Anya was really fun because #hopecore is something we are very passionate about. We got this idea from a simple comment I made in our Foundations of Cinema class when discussing the film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
Sam Tucker, a senior English/Literature major from Paducah, Kentucky, presented “In search of the superman: Nietzschean philosophy in M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable,” a project stemming from his honors thesis. Inspired by discussions in Black's film and Shakespeare courses, Tucker's research treats Shyamalan's work as a serious meditation on comic book mythology and Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy of power and morality.
"This was my first conference, and I really enjoyed attending other panels (and hearing) in-depth analysis of subjects that I hadn't really known anything about before," Tucker shared.
Tiff Rogers, a senior English Education major from Mayfield, Kentucky, rounded out the student group with her presentation, “Markiplier, Iron Lung, and the audience led campaign that left Hollywood gobsmacked.” Rogers' research analyzed YouTube Let's Play creators and the fan-driven campaign behind the micro-budget film Iron Lung, demonstrating why industry insiders were caught off guard by its success.
“This was my first conference, and I was super excited to go! I enjoyed getting to share elements of pop culture that I interact with regularly with senior academics.”
In addition to mentoring the student team, Black presented his own research titled, “Press X to Shaun: Anxiety and Depression in Video Games,” which examined representations of mental health in interactive digital media.
All four students believed the experience of the conference, and being an English major in general, helps prepare them for the next steps in their career.
“I enjoy being an English major because it gives me the opportunity to write about fun stuff like YouTube and movies,” Rogers continued, “and it supports my goals for after graduation because I'm going to be an English teacher, and it's good for teachers to be able to relate pop culture to learning."
Like Rogers, Urbina plans to share her knowledge with young people.
“I want to take a lot of what I learn here back to Belize and encourage a stronger call for reading among youths. I love being able to see different perspectives and challenging them with new ideas.”
Tucker and Kenney also appreciate how the classes in their major and events like the conference foster deeper and more complex critical thinking, an essential skill for success in all disciplines and career fields.
"What I enjoy most about being an English major is being challenged to think in creative and new ways to analyze a work,” Tucker stated, “which in turn allows me to see the world outside the classroom in new ways and challenge my own thinking. This experience will be helpful as I plan to attend graduate school."
Kenney agrees. “Being an English major is like being presented with a collage of any literature we've read and trying to connect it with the spiderweb threads of thoughts and reactions."
The group's travel and research participation were supported in part by funding from the Murray State Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA). In addition to supporting student research with travel funds and other awards, ORCA and the Murray State University Libraries also sponsor a fall and spring semester Scholars Week, providing students from all majors with an opportunity to showcase their research projects. Scholars Week this fall will be November 16-20 on Murray State’s campus.
For more information about Scholars Week or undergraduate research opportunities, contact ORCA Coordinator, Dr. A.J. Boston, at aboston@murraystate.edu. For more information about the Department of English and Philosophy, visit the department website at murraystate.edu/english or email msu.english@murraystate.edu.