CONGRATS : Jamaica's RAVEN Maragh, a first-year doctoral student selected as 2014-15 HASTAC Scholar at the University of Iowa....She attended Westwood High School in Trelawny, and left that institution for the United States while an eighth grader. There she attended the Metro Christian Academy in Oklahoma.

BY ANNALISA DONAHEY  Sunday, February 22, 2015   

RAVEN Maragh, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies, was recently selected as one of the University of Iowa Obermann Center HASTAC scholar recipients for the 2014-2015 academic year.

MARAGH ... attended Westwood High School in Trelawny

The HASTAC award, or Humanities, Arts, Sciences, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, awards two graduate students with a monetary gift and a unique experience to promote and attend a variety of forums and events through the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies.

The programme is specifically designed for graduate students with knowledge and interests in digital media, higher education, digital humanities, and technology in the arts. Maragh is a perfect fit for this programme as her focus is in media and communications and she has quite a bit of experience in the field.

She was born in Mandeville, Jamaica on November 29, 1990, attended Belair Preparatory School in the central Jamaica town, before relocating to Negril, western Jamaica, in November 1996.

She attended Westwood High School in Trelawny, and left that institution for the United States while an eighth grader. There she attended the Metro Christian Academy in Oklahoma.

Raven Maragh (third left) during a social occasion
 with the department.

She graciously answered a few questions I had about her involvement in the HASTAC programme and discussed some of the events and projects she's most looking forward to in this 2014-2015 academic year:

Q: What motivated you to apply for the HASTAC award?

A: The department sent out a few emails about the HASTAC Scholar Program, and I was drawn to the description of digital media studies in a practical sense. I was thrilled to apply for the opportunity to learn and practice methods in media studies that I study at the theoretical and historical level. My journalism background also prompted my interest in critical scholarship with practical implications; I truly wanted to learn more about the field I've been studying in a different way. more