Ms. Cognevich became Dr. Cognevich after her successful dissertation defense on October 2, officially completing her doctoral degree in English Literature at LSU. Creative Writing class the following day doubled as a celebration for her achievement as well as an activity designed to get her students thinking about how to include immersive sensory details and descriptive language in their writing. Before eating any of the pizza, cookies, cake, candy, and popcorn, they wrote descriptions capturing the sight, scent, feel, and even the sound associated with the foods before tackling taste descriptions.

Dr. Cognevich’s dissertation, titled Inside Voice: Charlotte Smith, (In)sensibility, and Emotional Cadences in Lyric Silence, studied problems of emotional expression, sensory descriptions, and gender in lyric poetry through a sonnet collection by late eighteenth-century British poet Charlotte Smith. 

Congratulations, Dr. Cognevich! We are proud of you!