UCHRI Welcomes Sarah Goeppner, Graduate Student Researcher

A Southern California native, I received my BA in English from UCLA in 2018 and am currently pursuing my PhD in English at UC Irvine, where I have taught courses ranging from justice in the medical humanities to race and gender in gothic literature. While here, I have been invited to guest lecture in courses including Shakespeare and English and Medieval Romance, Race, and Gender, which have allowed me to explore my interest in representations of gendered violence and fugitivity in the genre of romance as it spans late Medieval and Early Modern English literature. A first-generation college student, I have found intellectual refuge and an academic community in the UC system, where my investments in humanistic inquiry have been given room to grow. My interest in grants began as an undergraduate with a course on Philanthropy as Civic Engagement at UCLA, where I received the opportunity to submit a grant proposal in collaboration with a team of students and secure $20,000 in funding for Our House, a grief support center providing Spanish language grief counseling and support for Latin American communities in the greater Los Angeles area. While there, I was able to learn about community accountability, public-facing scholarship, and evidence-based practices for addressing gendered stigmas around mourning that disproportionately impact the health and wellbeing of Latin American communities in LA. 

I am happy to join the UCHRI team as a Graduate Student Researcher, where I have been working on launching UCHRI’s Instagram social media page to feature the cutting-edge research and visual artifacts of humanities researchers, artists, and social scientists. In my brief time at UCHRI, I have had the pleasure of helping with groundbreaking events like the recent conference Refuge at Risk: Concepts, Infrastructures, Futures, a historic gathering of international at-risk scholars meeting to discuss the current state of affairs for scholars seeking refuge in the UC system. When I’m not working as a GSR, I research late Medieval and Early Modern romance for my dissertation on virtue ethics in Chaucer and Shakespeare. 

In my free time, I enjoy gardening, cooking, and long walks, but I ultimately hope to fulfill my duty as a Southern Californian and learn how to surf.