Humanities Student Reflects on Her Undergraduate Research Journey at Stony Brook

Laci Burton — the URECA researcher of the month for March — is a University Scholar majoring in English with minors in Writing and Rhetoric and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is a participant in the English Department’s Honors Program and has written a senior capstone thesis under the direction of Susan Scheckel, an associate professor in the Department of English, which explores how Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House draws upon the psychoanalytic theory of Dr. Nandor Fodor. She is also working on additional capstone projects under the supervision of Sara Santos, Program in Writing and Rhetoric, and Liz Montegary, an associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Last summer, Burton received URECA support to fund her travel and archival research at the Library of Congress, where she read Shirley Jackson’s unpublished journals, letters and notebooks and made some original findings. She is currently working on a publication of her discoveries and presented her work at the SBU Graduate Conference in February 2024. Later this month, she will be presenting at the national Sigma Tau Delta convention in Pittsburgh, PA, and at the Purdue University Literary, Interdisciplinary, Theory, and Culture Organization Symposium in West Lafayette, IN. Long term, Burton plans to pursue graduate studies in English relating to gender and sexuality studies.  

She shared her advice on how to get involved: “It’s important to make a connection with the faculty around you — other people within the department. You need to make those connections to facilitate your own projects and your own opportunities, because these opportunities might not just be handed to you. But there are opportunities out there. So really seek them out.”

Burtin was the first Stony Brook undergraduate selected for the National Humanities Leadership Council (NHLC) hosted by the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, NC (November 2022-June 2023). In this capacity, she undertook a research project that included a personal interview with Hannah Laycock, an artist inspired by her journey with multiple sclerosis, and culminated in a presentation on disability advocacy research. During this time, she was also active with the Herstory Writers network, where she shared personal narratives of her experience as a disabled person.

On campus, Burton has served on the Dean’s Advisory Council and played a key role in organizing a Humanities Research Day last spring. She is a member of the Department of English Advisory Council and has served as an event coordinator, outreach coordinator and now president of the Alpha Nu Zeta English Honor Society. She is a dedicated senior tutor and global affairs coordinator for the Writing Center and also a teaching assistant.

Read the full interview with URECA Director Karen Kernan.