An academic journal titled The Bucknell Humanities Review is currently being developed for publication next semester. Facilitated by Professor of English Greg Clingham and Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities & Asian Thought James Shields, the journal is designed to provide an avenue for undergraduates from different disciplines to showcase their high-quality work. Dante Fresse ’18 and Olivia Kalb ’18 are two students predominantly responsible for the development of the journal. Both Fresse and Kalb are very eager to see the journal come to fruition.

“I’ve always been very interested in publishing,” Kalb said, who is an intern for the University Press. “One day, Greg Clingham, professor at [the University] and Director of the Press, mentioned the idea to start a journal of criticism. I definitely had not thought I could do something like that for my project [for the Press internship], so when he brought this idea to me, I immediately jumped on board.”

Fresse expressed a similar interest when he was contacted about the idea.

“Professor Clingham helped with the last journal published here,” Fresse said. “We wanted the journal to be solely driven by our editors.”

The idea took off once these students were on board.

“[Clingham and I] collected others who we believed would be interested in starting up this journal with us, beginning with the Press’s graduate intern Steven Belskie and another student, Caroline Fassett ’18,” Kalb said.

Since then, these students have amassed a board of editors that consists of other students interested in developing the journal, in addition to adding Shields as another adviser to the project. 

“We’ve recently sent a call for papers, but before then we were focused on setting up guidelines and other such administration needs,” Kalb said.

According to the journal staff, the publication will focus on promoting high-quality articles from different fields.

“The work we accept does have to be high-quality,” Fresse said. “There will be a rigorous analysis of the scholarly works and research studies we receive.”

The journal will consider “historical, critical, and theoretical essays within the arts, humanities, and humanities-oriented social sciences,” Kalb said.

The team is optimistic about their production schedule. Fresse said that the staff is working to have the first journal released by next semester.

“We’re still looking for illustrations for the cover, but we will keep you updated,” Fresse said.

The academic journal serves as a new outlet for students to submit and publish any professional work they’re particularly proud of or passionate about.

“When you write for a class it becomes a job and a lot of the fun of writing and research is missing,” Kalb said. “But this journal provides an opportunity for students to do something because they’re interested, not because they’re told to. I think it’s extremely important to have those outlets and I hope it’s taken advantage of by the students.”