A former Memorial University MA student has won the prestigious NAGS ((Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools) Master’s Thesis Award.

Amanda Jernigan’s thesis, titled Wholes and Parts (All Puns Intended):  The Mereological Vision of Richard Outram’s Poetic Sequences, explores how Outram’s formal preoccupation with the poetic sequence reflected – and enacted – a thematic preoccupation with whole-part structures in the world at large. Ms. Jernigan’s perspective is that this approach allows us to see a poem – or for that matter a person – as a whole unto itself, and simultaneously, as part of a larger whole.

The dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Bryn Mawr that administers the award wrote that, “The selection committee was very impressed by this thesis and found it most enjoyable to read.”

The category of both PhD dissertation and master’s thesis changes every year. This year the category for the master’s thesis was humanities.  Given the competition -- the association includes 200 schools throughout eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, including Harvard, Princeton and Cornell -- the award is especially prestigious.  Achieving recognition in such a large field of applicants has significant meaning for Ms. Jernigan.

“There can be a lot of pressure, in the academic world, to relocate to so-called major centres.  I think it’s good to be reminded that good work can be – and is – done everywhere,” she says.

This feeling is echoed by Dr. Noreen Golfman, acting dean of Graduate Studies.

“This is truly an international award and everyone at Memorial should be justifiably proud of Amanda’s accomplishment and of the light it shines on the stellar work being done here,” said Dr. Golfman.

Ms. Jernigan is the first Memorial University student to be honoured with a NAGS award. Having graduated in September 2007, she is currently working as a writer and freelance editor based in St. John’s. She continues to do post-thesis work on Outram’s poetry, work that has been encouraged and supported by her thesis director, Dr. Bradley Clissold.

She will receive her award on April 11 in New York City along with a $1,000 prize.