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As part of her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) project last year, Anna Kroon ’19 studied a medieval romance story that was first published in 1505.

She found more than 40 different versions of the story "Valentine and Orson" at libraries around the world while working on her project She transcribed five versions from original images, encoding them in a markup language called XML. She then expanded the project for her honors thesis, entitling her research, "Digital Representation of Narrative Elements in Valentine and Orson."

Her intensive work was recognized with the 2019 Award for Student Excellence from the New American Colleges & Universities, a prestigious consortium the University is part of that is dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement.

"Anna’s project is an exceptionally impressive example of the kind of scholarly work that brings together traditional humanistic inquiries with technologies that are changing the way we read and think."Maeve Adams, assistant professor of English at Manhattan College

"This award means a lot to me because it is recognition of the significance of humanities research," said Kroon, who received a $1,000 prize. "In my application, I discussed the important experiential education opportunities that I had from the beginning of my time at the University, from independent studies as a research assistant to my honors thesis."

"Anna’s project is an exceptionally impressive example of the kind of scholarly work that brings together traditional humanistic inquiries with technologies that are changing the way we read and think," said Maeve Adams, assistant professor of English at Manhattan College, a NAC&U member, and a scholar trained in the technical encoding that Kroon used for her work.

Kroon, an English major, is a graduate of the University’s Honors Program. As a student, she also interned with the Women Writers Project at Northeastern University, where she .

She is grateful for the guidance of Mary Isbell, Ph.D., her academic adviser and mentor. Conducting independent studies with Isbell, Kroon helped to create digital editions of shipboard newspapers that captured tales from expeditions as far back as the 19th century.

"The award is much deserved praise for the tremendous work Anna has done at the University," said Isbell. "I'm personally most excited because it recognizes the excellence of Anna's research. She has made real contributions to the fields of adaptation theory and digital humanities."

"I encourage humanities students to take the leap into research. It has been an exciting process and a path that my younger self would never have expected."Anna Kroon ’19

Kroon, who minored in computer science and history, studied rare books and manuscripts at libraries in New Haven and New York City. She has presented her work to the campus community and to the University’s Board of Governors, and this fall, she will begin pursuing her master’s degree in digital humanities at Loyola University Chicago.

"At the University of New Haven, I learned about the entire process of creating a digital edition and being an editor of a text," said Kroon. "I encourage humanities students to take the leap into research. It has been an exciting process and a path that my younger self would never have expected."

Adds Isbell, "Anna’s success demonstrates just what is possible for students who take full advantage of the many opportunities available at the University. We're going to keep hearing about her accomplishments well after graduation. She's poised to make major contributions to the field of digital humanities and other fields we can't even predict at this point."