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A familiar face is no longer with us. We bid a fond farewell in November to Kay Gamble, long-time secretary of Honors, who is now employed with the International Students & Scholars office in the Taggart Student Center. During Kay's five and a half years with Honors, she was well known for her sincere interest in the lives of Honors students and she will be greatly missed. Stop in and visit her when you're in the TSC; she's in room 313. |
With Kay's departure, we undertook a significant evaluation and revision of her position. The result is that many new challenges have been added to the role and it has been re-classified from Level II to Level IV. We were very fortunate to have several excellent candidates apply. Beginning spring semester, you'll see a new face in our office, Danene Dustin. |
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Danene Dustin considers herself, for the most part, a local to the valley. She spent several years of her childhood in Australia, earned an undergraduate degree from BYU in travel and tourism, and is now the mother of three. Danene has worked at USU for four years, first with Registration and then with Conference Services, and is excited to associate with and help Honors students. |
In the months following Kay's absence, you may have also noticed two new faces in the Honors Office. Lisa Ferrara and Brooke Christensen have joined Katherine Shakespeare as student advisors for Honors. |
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Lisa Ferrara is in her second year as a Professional & Technical Writing major, minoring in both Art History and Women & Gender Studies. Lisa is involved with the International Model United Nations Association, Society for Technical Communications, Rhetoric Associates, and Honors Fellow program. |
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Brooke Christensen is a junior majoring in Elementary Education with an emphasis in social studies, planning to graduate in Fall 2005. Brooke works as an Honors Fellow and has also been employed as an undergraduate Research Fellow, working on both math and reading literacy projects at Edith Bowen Laboratory School. |
Congratulations to those students who were honored at the A-Pin awards reception on Wednesday, October 27. The A-Pin is one of Utah State University's oldest and most prestigious academic awards. It was established in 1910 and is given to students who earn a 4.0 GPA for two consecutive semesters in 15 or more graded credits. Among those honored were 20 Honors students: |
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McKenzie Anderson |
Nicholas Gordon Kimberly Hill Annette Johnson Alissa Kirk Laurie Knapp Jason McConnell Logan McKenna |
Johnathan Nelson Jennifer Paskett Sarah Platt Amanda Searle Katherine Shakespeare Linda Smith |
Congratulations as well to those students who graduated with Honors fall semester. |
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Faith Shepherd Kearl |
Honors in English and University Studies |
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| Honors would like to specially congratulate Katrina Kuddes, the first student to graduate with Honors in Interior Design, and Shauna Wight, who was named the HASS Valedictorian at fall commencement. | ||
| Honors is happy to announce that Honors student Jennifer Paskett has been awarded a fellowship through The Fund for American Studies (TFAS). She will spend spring semester in Washington DC. Thanks to the efforts of Peter McNamara, others in the Department of Political Science and TFAS, she received a scholarship that covers roughly half the cost of housing and tuition. She will be attending classes at Georgetown University and interning at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division's Office of Consumer Litigation. Jennifer is looking forward to living on Capitol Hill, being in the nation's capitol during the presidential inauguration, attending Supreme Court hearings, and seeing the cherry trees bloom in the spring. |
| And would also like to mention that Marc Greenwood was awarded the Environmental Studies Scholarship in the amount of $1000, sponsored annually by Annie's Homegrown. This Environmental Studies Scholarship is open to full time students focusing on classes in the environmental studies field. More information is available at http://www.annies.com/programs/essrecipients.html. |
Welcome back to Anita Sant and Jeremy Pack, who recently returned from volunteer service abroad. |
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Anita has traveled to countries all over the world, including Canada, England, France, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, Greece and Turkey. She also participated in a Global Youth Leadership Summit in Australia, where she snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef, climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and attended "La Boheme" at the Sydney Opera House. "I love to travel," says Anita. "An expensive hobby, I know, but one that comes with priceless rewards." This past July, Anita returned from her most recent adventure, this in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she served as a volunteer missionary. Anita will graduate in May 2005 with undergraduate degrees in both anthropology and Spanish. She is currently applying to Pennsylvania State University's Leisure Studies program, where she hopes to earn her PhD. |
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Jeremy also returned in July from a volunteer mission in the Russian cities of Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, and Volgograd, all of which, Jeremy explains, are "far warmer than Logan in the winter." Back at USU, Jeremy is double-majoring in mathematics and computer science, and minoring in Russian. Jeremy works in the language lab as a Russian tutor, directs the beginning orchestra program at Summit Elementary School, teaches private piano lessons, plays in the USU Symphony, and says he can be recognized by the large fur hat he wears when it's cold out. After he eventually graduates, Jeremy plans to continue his studies in the sciences. |
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For the second year, Honors is preparing to accept applications for the Helen B. Cannon Award. To be eligible you must be planning to complete your senior thesis and graduate with Honors from December 2005-August 2006. You will need to submit: a statement detailing the Honors Program courses you've completed and expect to complete by graduation, including an analysis of the courses you've taken; an intellectual biography related to those courses; a 1-page précis of your (intended) Honors thesis; and the thesis proposal form, signed by your thesis advisor. It should be accompanied by a c.v., which should include plans for graduate school, if applicable, and a letter of support from one of your professors. If you are selected for the award, you will receive the stipend in two payments--$500 at the beginning of fall semester and $500 upon graduation. If you're interested in applying for this award, keep an eye on the Honors website for application dates. We'll be accepting applications midway through spring semester and the award recipient will be announced mid-April. |
If you are finding that the cost of textbooks is depriving you of social capital, read on. If you have ever done an Honors contract with a faculty member and found it a positive, useful experience, please send in a 200-word write-up to: dlancy@cc.usu.edu . Describe the nature of the project, the process of negotiation with the faculty member, the nature of your meetings/discussion with him/her, what drove your decision to select this course/professor/ project and the outcomes. Can you identify any long-term benefits and/or was this contract related to your thesis? The best essay will earn a $100 bookstore gift certificate, the 2nd best $75 and there will be several $25 Honorable Mention awards. Dr. Lancy will select the winners. |
Deadlines for prestige fellowships are also fast approaching. Honors works with students who are applying for national fellowships and scholarships to help them submit excellent applications. See our website for more information about each of these scholarships, and email Dr. Fox at clfox@cc.usu.edu if you're interested in applying for any of them. |
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| Barry M. Goldwater, for science, math and engineering students | USU deadline is January 24 |
| Summer internships at the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C. (all majors) | February 1 or early spring |
| Harry S. Truman, for juniors interested in working in public policy | USU deadline is January 25 |
| Thomas Pickering Fellowship, for sophomores interested in a graduate degree in International Studies. Provides three years of funding and carries a four-year service requirement. | February 21 |
| Morris Udall, for environmental studies or engineering | February 15 |
| James Madison Scholarship, for education majors who wish to teach history | February 28 |
| NSEP, for study abroad to a non-English speaking country outside Western Europe. Requires work for a governmental agency when you return. | February 1 |
| Gilman Scholarship, for study abroad for the fall, for students doing a semester abroad who are also eligible for the Pell grant | March 15 |
Brand-new Honors sections of Physics 2210 and 2220 will be offered Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, respectively. The distinctive Honors component of the class will be a weekly session with Dr. Jan Sojka. Dr. Sojka received his BSc from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and his PhD from University College, London. Dr. Sojka has been employed at USU since 1980, has worked in a mentorship capacity with USU's Get Away Special program, and was named Carnegie Professor of the Year in 2002. |
| So far as courses go, we've refined Honors 2100 Inquiry, for Spring 2005. This year, second semester freshmen are enrolled in one of nine, major-specific sections of Honors 2100. These sections (which include Art, Humanities, Biological Sciences, Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, Engineering, and General) will again be taught by esteemed faculty and will help students begin to learn about Honors research opportunities and methods within their respective fields. |
Honors has also revised the Honors Plans for Engineering and Elementary Education. The Department Honors Plan for Engineering is now college-wide, instead of emphasis-specific, with adaptable course paths for both incoming freshmen and upper-division students interested in Honors. Check it out at http://www.usu.edu/honors/faculty_advisors/eng.htm . The Elementary Education Department Honors Plan has been revised to better encourage and facilitate teaching effectiveness in a particular curricular emphasis area or with a particular group of learners. Honors students now select contract courses from a given list of emphasis-specific courses, and complete their senior theses prior to student teaching, so that they might implement the project or study in the classroom setting. You may view the new Elementary Education Department Honors Plan at http://www.usu.edu/honors/faculty_advisors/eled.htm . |
| And, Honors has created a department Honors plan for students interested in Creative Writing. The Creative Writing Honors Plan is designed for students who choose not to pursue Honors in their major, or because Honors is not offered in their major, but whose interests and talents support the development of original, publishable writing. The Creative Writing Honors Plan is available at http://www.usu.edu/honors/faculty_advisors/Crwrt.htm ; interested students should contact Honors. |
If you'd like to receive emails from the Honors Office regarding important priority registration dates, scholarship opportunities, and university activities, be sure you've subscribed to the Honors Listserv, at http://lists.usu.edu/mailman/listinfo/honors_list. This site also allows you to unsubscribe from the listserv, should you wish to do so. |
And finally, please remember that Honors is here to help you! If you find yourself in serious trouble with your schoolwork, please do visit with us before doing anything drastic. We can help you devise a plan and negotiate with professors about assignments and classes. We helped several students this past semester avoid dropping all of their courses by developing a strategy for getting them back on track. |
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