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Happy Friday! We have two Summer Scholars to introduce today!

First up, we have Lillian Pingle. Lillian is a junior from Waynesboro, Virginia, who is majoring in Sociology and minoring in Religious Studies. She is in the Honors Program, on HrnsPAG, and the president of RC Lutherans. She also has two jobs, one as a tutor at the Roanoke College Writing Center and the other as a Wellness Peer Educator with Student Health and Counseling. She plans to graduate from Roanoke College in December of 2022 and go on to get her Master’s in Religion starting in the Fall of 2023.

Lillian is working with Dr. Trexler on the project “The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: The Whitest Christian Denomination in the United States.” Here is her description of her work: This project examines why the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has the highest percentage of white people of any other Christian denomination in the United States (Lipka 2015). I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with pastors in the Virginia Synod to discuss why they believe that the ELCA is the whitest Christian denomination in the United States, and how they think racial diversity and justice might occur in the denomination. After these interviews, I will survey the laity in those pastors’ congregations to assess lay conceptions of racial justice in the ELCA.

As we begin to start a summer of research, it is time to introduce our Summer Scholars! 

Jennie Costa is a double major in Art History and History. This summer, she is working with Dr. Leslie Warden on the project “Visiting an Ancient Egyptian Oasis: What Ceramic Artifacts from ‘Split Rock’ Can Reveal About Ancient Travelers and the Paths they Chose.” As she explains, many popular accounts of Ancient Egypt focus on the artifacts of the elite, which although interesting, exclude a massive portion of the population. This research, conducted using everyday ceramic artifacts from the North Kharga Oasis Survey, aims to provide insight into the use patterns of the oasis, a sanctuary for travelers. For the Egyptians, the desert was an unforgiving and brutal region, far outside the known and welcoming world of the Nile Valley. The oasis was a crucial stopping point before travelers faced the dangerous conditions of the deshret, and the ‘things’ people left behind at Kharga Oasis provide insight into the function of the site.

Keep an eye out for more introductions of our Summer Scholars!