#59: Performing Gendered Speech with Joray Foster-Wexler ’23, Linguistics

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Joray tells us about the joy of digging into academic papers in their fall semester, and the fun of using the software in the linguistics lab to analyze the trove of interviews they were working with. There was also a kitten.

We’d also like to welcome Avis Corea ’27 to the team. Avis is our new student producer on the podcast, and this is the first episode she’s produced for us. Welcome, Avis!

Reed community members can read Joray’s thesis, “Linguistic Erasure Hertz; a post-binary discussion of F0 performance in read speech,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

Thesis Mini #1

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Busy thesis desk in the Reed library covered in books and papers.
Shared library thesis desk from 2016. Photo by Nate Martin.

Producer and current senior, Juno Kerelis, talks about organization, and how being responsible for writing a year-long thesis differs from more structured, assignment-driven courses. Juno talks to other thesising seniors about how they’re dealing with organization as well.

#58: Snowbirds in South Beach with Isaac Walton ’24, Anthropology

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Isaac graduated in fall 2023 as a spring/fall grad in the anthropology department. His thesis was titled “Aging in The Sun: An exploration of the Jewish Retirement Community in South Beach, Florida,” and his work focused on how this community in Florida appeared and disappeared. He also talks about how he found anthropology, found his topic, and found Reed (he’s from Australia).

Reed community members can read Isaac’s thesis, “Aging in The Sun: An exploration of the Jewish Retirement Community in South Beach, Florida,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#57: Title IX Perceptions with Francesca Tangherlini ’22, Sociology

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Francesca smiling and standing in front of a bunch of greenery.

We’re excited to welcome Francesca back to the podcast! Francesca was our first student producer, named the podcast, and was integral as we were still figuring out what we were going to be and how we were going to do it. The voice of this podcast is largely Francesca’s voice (along with the voices of all the alumni we’ve interviewed) and it would have been something entirely different without her. Thanks Frank! (Francesca went by Frank back when she was working for the podcast.)

Francesca’s thesis examined Title IX implementations and student perceptions of these implementations at the level of the liberal arts college. Check out the episode to hear about institutional review boards, and why you should put your thesis into the library thesis template well before it’s due.

Reed community members can read Francesca’s thesis, “The Small Liberal Arts Experience: Title IX and Student Perceptions of Sexual Misconduct,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#56: Breaking Ancient DNA with David Rothfels ’23, Chemistry/Classics

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David studied archaeometry at Reed through an ad hoc major in the chemistry and classics departments (classics at Reed is now known as Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies). He was introduced to archaeometry, the application of scientific methods and technology to archaeological study, by a research mentor after his sophomore year, and then went about petitioning to form his ad hoc program at Reed (it’s not an easy process).

Reed community members can read David’s thesis, “Hoping to Smash DNA with Rocks and Pickaxes,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.