The Pioneer Center for Student Excellence and the Graduate School have announced the winners of this year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT). The research communication competition challenges master and doctoral students to present a compelling oration on their thesis and/or dissertation topic and its significance in just three minutes.

This year’s competition took place in a virtual format. Winners were announced by Holly Hansen-Thomas, dean of the Graduate School, in a video posted to YouTube.

First place in the TWU competition was awarded to Vanessa Ellison for her presentation, “A Study of Black Veganism and Food Culture.” In February, Ellison will travel with Hansen-Thomas to the Council of Southern Graduate Schools Annual Meeting in North Carolina for the national competition.

Ellison’s advisor/major professor is Jessica Gullion (Sociology, Denton).

Second place was awarded to Jennifer DuBose for “Fat, Cisgender, Male Protagonists in Award-Winning Young Adult Literature.” DuBose’s advisor/major professor is Gretchen Busl (English, Denton).

The third-place winner was Ch’Nell Amos, who presented “The Sexualization of Blackness in China: Race, Counter-Images, and Hypervisibility.” Her advisor/major professor is Ashley Bender (English, Denton).