Grad Student Timiesha Knowles Wins Top Prize for her Research!

Graduate student Timiesha Knowles won the top prize for her research at the WSU Graduate School's 2022 Graduate Research Symposium! Her presentation was titled, "From De Shank to De Whine: The Musical Reflections of Political and Sexual Ideologies," taking Jamaican popular music as a case study. It was met with an enthusiastically positive response from conference attendees and was named the "Ultimate Platform Winner" for a researcher at the university.

Ms. Knowles's project originated in MUH 5300 (Music Research) in the fall 2021 semester. "Her work is top-notch and we're incredibly proud of the way she represented the Department of Music and the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts," said Dr. Joshua S. Duchan, the instructor for the course. "She productively draws on current scholarship in the field as well as her own personal background to offer some really convincing analyses of the ways Jamaican music has changed to reflect the shifting ideologies of post-colonial Jamaican culture."

Looking ahead, Knowles is preparing a new version of her presentation for an upcoming conference hosted by the University of Connecticut's School of Fine Arts in May. She is currently pursuing the Master of Music in Vocal Performance degree in the WSU Department of Music. Congratulations, Timiesha!