The Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is looking for a new logo and invites submissions from students and community members.
The Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative is a cross-disciplinary resource at IUP dedicated to the study of myth in a myriad of forms—literary, visual, musical, and performative—with the intention of fostering dialogue across languages, cultures, and historical periods, supporting innovative research, teaching, and creative projects.
Design submissions for the logo contest are due by 5:00 p.m. on November 25; the winning design will be announced by the end of the fall semester. The winning designer will receive $100. Entries must be submitted in a PNG format through this Google form.
Entries must be original artwork created by the participant; the use of AI is prohibited. Designs must not include any copyrighted materials, trademarks, or images not owned by the participant. Participants can submit more than one design; designs must be appropriate for all audiences and suitable for printed and online publications.
Designs should reflect classical and modern motifs in harmony (stylized mythic imagery, soft parchment or marble tones) and can include cosmic or supernatural elements and nature imagery. The only words that can appear in the design are “Myth Collaborative.”
Sean McDaniel, IUP professor of Spanish in the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing, is the director of the Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative. During his sabbatical, IUP professor of English Michael Williamson, who formerly served as the Myth Collaborative director, is serving as the interim director.
Kristin Mlay-Kuhns, an adjunct professor in IUP’s Department of Language, Literature and Writing and a PhD candidate in the Literature and Criticism doctoral program, is the associate director of the Collaborative.
Baylie Jett Mills, a doctoral student in the Literature and Criticism program, is the assistant director and is coordinating the logo design contest. She can be contacted at bj005@iup.edu.
“As the Myth Collaborative continues to expand its community involvement, I thought a contest would be a fun way to engage people in the creative process,” Jett Mills said. “The logo design contest is an opportunity for artistic students and community members to think about the Myth Collaborative’s mission and create a lasting piece of art that symbolizes this space where myth is alive and celebrated. We are really excited to see the artwork that this contest inspires,” she said.
“The Myth Collaborative exists because of the vision, scholarship, and lifelong dedication of Professor Emerita Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, professor of English and founder of IUP’s interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Myth, Folklore, Legend, and Archetypal Studies,” McDaniels said.
Roffman donated 172 books to establish the Rosaly DeMaios Roffman Collection Center for the Study of Myth and Folklore at IUP. She inspired generations of students and scholars to see myth as a living, evolving field of study, including the late Blane Dessy, who supported the idea of a myth center and donated $100,000 in 2019 to the IUP College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building Enhancement Fund.
Upon his retirement, Dessy, a 1973 English major graduate, helped found the Dessy-Roffman Myth Collaborative, which officially opened in 2021. The Myth Collaborative is physically located in the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing in Jane E. Leonard Hall.
Recently, the Myth Collaborative has been expanding its outreach with the creation of an Instagram page, @mythcollaborative, and a website currently in the works, www.MythCollaborative.org. The Myth Collaborative also plans to reinvigorate Studies in the Humanities, IUP’s English and literary criticism–focused academic journal, this semester.
Fall Lecture Series
The Myth Collaborative is currently offering a fall lecture series, which began September 11 with Begoña Cadiñanos Martínez, Ruth García Martín, and Pablo Martín Domínguez, “The Underworld and Its Representation in Video Games: A Comparison of Senua’s Hellblade & Hades.”
The programs are free and open to the community, presented via Zoom, and offered from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m., alternating between Wednesdays and Fridays. While the series is free, Zoom registration is required. The series runs through December.
Fall Lecture Series Topics and Presenters
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September 23 – Jayme Novara, “Where the Edge of the Horizon Meets the Sky: The World of Afterlife Goddesses”
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October 9 – Kate Kimbrell and IUP Professor of English Dr. Michael Williamson, “Elegy as an Expansion of the Dead in Abraham Sutzkever’s Poetry” and “Living Yiddish and the Language of the Dead: Abraham Sutzkever’s Post-Holocaust Poetry”
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October 21 – Cole Phillips, “The Generating Spirit of the 19th-Century American House and Home”
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November 6 – Mahrukh Hamid and Nicolas Michaud, “Between Fanaa and Baqaa: Mystical Poetry as the Practice of Aliveness” and “Speaking Death: Myth, Language, and Non-Being”
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November 18 – Stacey Hoffer, “Exhumed or Erased? Anne Brontë and the Brontë Myth”
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December 4 – IUP Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist Harrison Wick, “The Hidden Art of Fore-edge Paintings and Poetry at IUP”