Now Corey Olsen delivers the 2025 State of the University Address, to discuss the exciting future of Signum University!

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This episode contains my conversation with Stacy Aannestad about her novel: Flight: the Den-Aronel Chronicles in the Signum University Collaboratory. I also report on two new works that have entered the fiction sector since the last episode.

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This recording from September 1, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Bronwyn Rivera on Monday, September 1, 2025 at 11 am ET.

From psychology to film theory, ecocriticism to posthumanism, anime studies have flourished as scholars investigate the medium through a variety of interdisciplinary lenses. In particular, academics are examining relationships between pilgrimage and tourism to anime/anime-adjacent sites, how anime plotlines reflect or reject narrative archetypes, or how specific anime subgenres lend themselves to telling stories of recovery and change. However, texts related to the study of pilgrimage within anime are limited in scope. As such, pilgrimage structures are typically paired with anime-related tourism rather than investigating how anime reflects the motives, processes, and outcomes of pilgrimage. Using Kyoto Animation’s 2018 series Violet Evergarden (ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン) as a case study, this thesis aims to bridge the gap and demonstrate how an anime can function as a pilgrimage narrative. Based on Laing and Frost’s three-stage model, the thesis is divided into three main categories: Departure, Transformation, and Return. Within these categories are smaller sections that examine the literal, emotional, and spiritual facets of pilgrimage found throughout Violet Evergarden. Additionally, this thesis provides insight into components of Japanese culture and literary devices, specifically ningyō (“doll”) culture and iyashikei (lit. “healing type”), both of which contribute to a deeper understanding of who Violet is as a protagonist and the journey she takes from ex-child soldier to Auto Memories Doll.

About the Presenter:

Bronwyn Rivera lives with her family, a cat, a dog, and a host of livestock on their small homestead in Pennsylvania. She received her BSc in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Library Science, but chose to pursue her love for writing and literature at the Master’s level through Signum University. Along the way, she discovered a passion for East Asian languages, media, and popular culture, which ultimately influenced her thesis topic. Bronwyn works as a Research/Teaching Assistant, volunteers as Signum’s Library Research Student Aide, and enjoys multiple hobbies, including reading, baking, and getting lost in (J)RPGs.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

Registration for Fall 2025 is open until September 5th! To view a list of our upcoming MA courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/upcoming-courses/

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

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This recording from August 6, 2025

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Sarah Shahan Polo on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 1pm ET.

This thesis explores the complex relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the literary and cultural movements of modernism and postmodern counterculture. Though Tolkien personally distanced himself from modernist and postmodern ideologies, his work nevertheless reflects and resonates with themes central to both movements. By analyzing scholarly perspectives and cultural responses, this study argues that The Lord of the Rings bridges ancient literary traditions with modern sensibilities—addressing war trauma, the nature of evil, identity, environmentalism, and evolving concepts of heroism. Special attention is given to the novel’s adoption by the American counterculture of the 1960s and 70s, which found in Tolkien’s world a mythic yet morally complex narrative emblematic of their own anti-war, environmentalist, and anti-establishment values. While Tolkien intended to write a myth that might nourish the soil and roots of England, his work’s reception by modern and postmodern audiences reveals its enduring relevance. Ultimately, The Lord of the Rings transcends its time to become not merely a myth for England, but a myth for mankind.

About the Presenter:

Sarah Polo has a deep fascination with the humanities, from fine art to dance to literature. She enjoys nitpicking at language, studying history, reading everything, and writing, which ultimately prompted her to pursue an education in English, finding particular solace in mythology and medievalism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in teaching and linguistics, Master of Arts degree in English Language and Literature, and a minor degree in Old Testament Biblical Studies from Azusa Pacific University. In 2020, she joined Signum University to expand her knowledge of language and literature particularly in Tolkien Studies. She also has articles published in journals including Mallorn, The Cambridge Tolkien Society Journal, and The West Wind, as well as a children’s book called The Purple Ballet Tree. Additionally, she has been an educator for ten years, both as a ballet instructor and English teacher. She is an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University and owns a literature and language school called Page Turners Academy for young students. Working with students brings her great joy, and she hopes to cultivate a deep love for stories and language in them as they grow. She is married with one child, loves to cook, paint, garden, and cannot wait to read The Hobbit to her daughter one day.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

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This recording from August 13, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Grace Bennett on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 at 3pm ET.

This thesis challenges the reductionistic narrative that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were anti-technology and anti-science. It examines technological examples from the works of Lewis and Tolkien that show their varying degrees of comfort and caution surrounding different types of technology. The first category this thesis assesses is technology created for knowledge, which Lewis and Tolkien saw as inherently neutral and able to be used for good or evil. The second category, technology for travel between worlds, highlights Lewis’s fears about lasting negative consequences of space travel, and the third category examines inherently evil technology created for control and domination.

About the Presenter:

Grace Bennett has been working towards an MA in Language and Literature from Signum University with a concentration in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. She is originally from North Carolina and got her bachelor’s degree in Literature from Patrick Henry College, located in Virginia. She currently lives in St Andrews, Scotland with her husband while he pursues a master’s degree at the University of St Andrews. Grace works for the Classic Learning Test and spends much of her free time (now that her thesis is finished!) reading, baking, and exploring the magical Scottish seaside. She is head-over-heels for anything to do with Lewis, Tolkien, Middle English, tea, Doctor Who, and puffins. She hopes to pursue further Lewis and Tolkien studies in the future!

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

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This episode contains an interview with author and Academic Submissions Coordinator Dr Julian Barr. Julian has a middle grade novel called Rebel Seers: Beyond the Ashlands up in the collaboratory and several works published outside Signum University. There is also a brief reminder about the new Signum Tutorials program as announced at Mythmoot XII.

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This recording from June 4, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Jeffrey Wade on Thursday, June 4, 2025 at 5pm ET.

This thesis concerns itself with the question of whether the inhabitants of Tolkien’s Arda possess an awareness of their creation’s eschatological end. It is not a study of Christian doctrine, Tolkien, or outside analysis. It is a study of how myth carries the weight of a telos through music, memory, and hope. This thesis’ conceit is the same as Tolkien’s, the entire legendarium has been recorded and passed down from the Valar to the Elves and subsequently through the Hobbits. Therefore, all of Arda is revealed to be undergirded by the Music of the Ainur, which is more than a creation hymn – it is a sustaining breath, echoing through waters, songs, and the hearts of every individual. This Music is heard beside hearths, in dreams before perilous roads, and wherever water is found. Drawing from the legendarium, with modern scholarship simply providing context, this study argues that Arda is alive and looking forward to a final eucatastrophe where all sad things come untrue.

About the Presenter:

Jeffrey E. Wade, Concordia Seminary, M.Div. ’14, became a student again shortly after discovering Signum University. What started as a hope to be a better reader, researcher, and writer soon blossomed into enrollment in the MA program with the desire to better communicate and inculcate hope using Tolkien’s legendarium as a foundation. Bringing hope is Jeffrey’s primary vocation as a pastor and head of school in Michigan. When not teaching, conversing, or residing in a good book, Jeffrey spends his time outdoors with his wife and three children.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

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This recording from May 30, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Father Andrew Damick on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 2pm ET.

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, particularly in The Silmarillion and related material, the reader encounters divine beings, including the Valar, who are called gods in the text and by Tolkien himself in his commentary. Multiple divine beings in addition the creator god Eru Ilúvatar – the Ainur – inhabit Tolkien’s world, both good and evil, and their presence is the primary reason that many scholars and readers have asked: Is Tolkien’s work Christian or pagan? Modern understandings of the divine in religion (both academic and popular) tend to divide religious traditions into monotheism and polytheism, and so Tolkien’s pantheon of gods might seem pagan. What such a reading of Tolkien usually fails to consider is the divine plurality present in the Christian tradition that does not conform to common conceptions of monotheism.

In Biblical scholarship, the divine plurality in both the Bible and other Christian texts, emblematic in the Biblical phrase God of gods (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:2; Dan. 2:47, 11:36), may be understood through the lens of divine council theology. Further, a consideration of the Christian tradition broadly (not limiting examination only to the canonical Scriptures) shows divine plurality firmly entrenched. This thesis uses divine council theology in considering both the Bible and other major historical Christian texts to interpret Tolkien’s Valar and Maiar – both fallen and unfallen – as more consistent with a premodern Christian framework, in which there is both a single creator God and many other gods.

About the Presenter:

The Very Rev. Andrew Stephen Damick is an archpriest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Chief Content Officer of Ancient Faith Ministries, author of five books (with a sixth forthcoming in 2025), and host or co-host of nine podcasts. His work has been translated into Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Lithuanian, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature with minors in Religion, Ancient Greek, and Classical Studies from North Carolina State University, and a Master of Divinity degree from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary with Honors in the field of Church History. He served in parish ministry for thirteen years and has worked in Orthodox Christian media since 2020. He is married with four children and resides in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He believes in both dragons and giants.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

Support The Signum Scene

This recording from May 24, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Sarah Monnier on Friday, May 24, 2025 at 9am ET.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Classics, which generally means Greek and Latin language materials, are much more advanced in digital scholarship and resources than Germanic languages. While an enormous amount of material exists online to allow research into Biblical and Classical Greek text, for instance, there is less available for the Germanic languages, including Old English. While the digital world is not devoid of quality Old English digital editions (Electronic Beowulf immediately stands out), there is little connectivity between projects, and with the wider world of scholarship beyond the immediate texts. This project takes Widsið as a prototype for the XML-markup of Old English poetry that allows ease-of-reading for scholars of all levels and language abilities. The goal is to give access to original-language texts to scholars who are not fluent, or perhaps are learning the language, as well as to give wider access to additional information about things mentioned within the poem. Chosen because of its plethora of named entities, Widsið demonstrates the broader possibilities of digital editions, and the future of inclusion within the Perseus Digital Library would give still greater reach to its references. This paper discusses the process of creating this digital text, both as a scholarly edition and as a digital edition, and then explores the greater possibilities available in a digital context.

About the Presenter:

Sarah Monnier is a former opera singer who switched paths after having children. Her first course at Signum was Introduction to Old English, where she fell in love with the language and poetry. At Signum she was introduced to working with digital texts, and inspired by the possibilities of Old English in a digital context, she dove headfirst into that side of Old English studies. A mother of four, she lives in Iowa.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

Support The Signum Scene

This episode contains an interview with author Brad Patty, whose novel Arms and White Samite is posted in the fiction submission hall of the Circulation Library. WE also update new things added to the Collaboratory since the last podcast was recorded.

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This recording from May 7, 2025.

Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Kimberly McKinney on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 10am ET.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s tales about Middle-earth were designed to provide a conceivable mythological history for the existing world. Due to this intentional connection, his secondary, fictional world reflects many familiar primary world experiences in both physical and metaphysical aspects. As a reader and writer of fairy-stories, Tolkien desired to present life as simultaneously touched by grief and joy, thus creating his concept of the eucatastrophe. As someone who loved nature and especially plants, Tolkien infused Middle-earth with a remarkable variety of botanical life, not only to inform the landscape, but also to communicate some of his most significant themes. The high value Tolkien placed on flowers, herbs, and trees moved him to feature them in active roles in his stories and to portray them as independent, influential members of a living world. This paper explores several key ways in which Tolkien used plants in Middle-earth: as setters of environment and mood, as communicators of a location’s good or evil nature, as instigators of joy through eucatastrophic deliverance, and as symbols of abiding hope, which Tolkien called in Elvish estel.

About the Presenter:

An avid reader from an early age, Kimberly studied biology and journalism in college, with plans to become a science writer. In time, however, the writing side won out, and she began pursuing a part-time career as a book editor while embarking on a full-time career of homeschooling her children. In 2021, she joined the Signum family in the MA program to expand her knowledge of language and literature, especially fantasy literature, and to sharpen her abilities to communicate and teach. Her interests span a broad range, including the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, medieval Germanic languages, and modern methods of textual study. Kimberly and her husband have also authored and self-published a growing number of fantasy novels together. She lives with her family and four cats in South Carolina, USA.

About Signum Thesis Theaters:

Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend!

Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/.

To learn more about Signum's rigorous academic graduate program: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/ma-in-language-and-literature/

Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/

Support The Signum Scene