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Lehigh Carbon Community College

Caitlan Sumner ’11

By Madelyn Montgomery

Caitlan Sumner ’11 is making Reinhardt University proud as she has just completed her first year of her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama studying 20th Century American Literature.

Sumner, a summa cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English, was the student speaker for the 2011 commencement. She was a member of both Phi Alpha Theta and Sigma Tau Delta, and was involved on campus as a resident assistant and an admissions Captain.

Her research focuses on Marianne Moore’s work, and she is also taking courses in the department of gender and race studies in pursuit of a women’s studies certificate.

“The relationships I developed with my professors, the staff at Reinhardt, and most importantly, my fellow students, allowed me to learn the importance of networking,” said Sumner.

Sumner will be presenting research focusing on Boston marriage as a site of women’s activism in Henry James’s “The Bostonians” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association in November. Upon graduation, she plans on teaching college-level American Literature.