Theresa Vaughan, professor of humanities in the University of Central Oklahoma Department of Humanities and Philosophy and assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts, will be the featured speaker at Southwestern College’s annual Honors Convocation Thursday, April 11, at 4 p.m., in the Richardson Performing Arts Center.  There is no admission charge and the public is welcome to attend. 

The title of her presentations is “The Hopefulness That Comes From Knowing Where You Come From.”

Although this is a traditional main campus program, professional studies learners who qualified for the Dean’s Honor Roll for fall 2018 will be recognized on the printed program.

Vaughan holds a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology and French from the University of Michigan, well as a master of arts in folklore and a Ph.D. in folklore with a double minor in anthropology from Indiana University.

Vaughan's research interests currently include medieval folklore and folklife, feminist theory in both folklore and anthropology, foodways, and the history of medicine and folk medicine. She was co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Women's Folklore and Folklife, which won the Elli Köngas-Maranda Prize in Women's Folklore from the Women's Section of the American Folklore Society. She has published articles and reviews in a variety of journals, including the Journal of American Folklore, American Ethnologist, Western Folklore, and AVISTA Forum Journal. Her most recent work is the forthcoming Balancing the Humors: Dietary Recommendations for Women in the Middle Ages.