Fall 2005
Vol. 10
The New Face of Honors Orientation by Donna Wessel Walker
In response to feedback from our students, Honors Orientation has grown and changed over the last few years. Many of the enhancements are made possible by the generosity of our alumni and friends and by the support of the college, which, among other things have provided a greatly improved office complex and the Perlman Honors Commons downstairs. A freshman book, sent to all new students over the summer has become the intellectual focus of the Honors Kick-Off. Thanks to our enlarged space, we are able to host a lunch for orientees with Honors directors on the second day of Orientation. In addition to our knowledgeable and experienced advising staff, we have a crew of peer advisors who spend both organized and informal time with the incoming students and provide first-hand insight about classes and about the college experience in general. The Honors Kick-Off has grown from a brief get-together into a full day event that combines academic engagement with community-building fun and games. This year, we were again fortunate to find a freshman book written by a distinguished UM professor and arrange for him to present a public lecture later in the term. For eight weeks during the summer, Honors advisors and other staff are busy welcoming the new class of Honors students as they arrive for the Summer Orientation Program. Honors students, like all other students coming to Michigan for the first time, come to Orientation to prepare them academically and socially to start their careers at the university. Run by the Office of New Student Programs (ONSP),
FORUM
honors Honors Kick-Off September 2, 2005 When Germs Travel: the Freshman book for 2005
Every summer for the past five years we have sent a book to incoming students to welcome them to the Honors Program. The book provides a bonding experience and is a platform for several events during the academic year, beginning with the Kick-Off held
Continued on Page 6 Honors Kick-Off begins in the Chemistry Building Auditorium.
just before classes begin. This year, we chose When Germs Travel by Howard Markel. Dr. Markel is a physician, medical educator, and historian of medicine right here at UM. He is the George E. Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Professor of History, Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Psychiatry, and Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. The book is an interdisciplinary study of six epidemics in U.S. history, epidemics which were significantly impacted by the confluence of disease, recent immigrants, US immigration policy, and American attitudes to race, class, ethnicity and immigration. Professor Dick Canary discusses Honors Math options.
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LSA HONORS Director Stephen Darwall Acting Director David Porter Associate Director Liina M. Wallin Assistant Director Donna Wessel Walker Scholarship Coordinator Elleanor H. Crown Program Coordinator John C. Cantú Graduation Auditor Mary Plummer Office Manager Vicki Davinich Receptionist John B. Morgan Admissions Assistant Jeanne Getty Faculty Advisors Maria Gonzalez Santhadevi Jeyabalan Margaret Lourie Deborah Mahoney Robert Pachella Manuel Teodoro Contact Information LSA Honors Program 1330 Mason Hall 419 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1027 Phone: 734-764-6274 Fax: 734-763-6553 Email: honors.alums@umich.edu Website http://www.umich.edu/honors
Regents of the University David A. Brandon, Ann Arbor Laurence B. Deitch, Bingham Farms Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Point Park S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Point Farms Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor Mary Sue Coleman, President, ex officio The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding non-discrimination and affirmative action, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the University’s Director of Affirmative Action and Title IX/ Section 504 Coordinator, 4005 Wolverine Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1281, (734) 763-0235; TTY (734) 647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call: (734) 764-1817.
Kudos by Elleanor H. Crown
HONORS PROGRAM AWARDS Honors alumni and friends have been very generous over the years and have provided funds to reward and support our students and teachers. Special awards to Honors seniors are part of our graduation ceremony each year. In April, 2003 we initiated a group of awards made possible by the Goldstein family, Ellen, Joseph, Laura Bassichis and Paul, all of whom attended our ceremony and assisted in the presentation. Named for distinguished UM alumni and associates, the Goldstein Prizes reward excellence in humanities, arts, natural sciences and mathematics, social sciences, public service, humanitarianism and teaching. This year’s group of outstanding students each graduated with High or Highest Honors. The Robert Hayden Humanities Award winner was Robert Stephan, a classics concentrator whose meticulous research on a papyrus archive in the Egyptian town of Karanis led to an unprecedented student-curated exhibit at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The Arthur Miller Arts Award went to Thomas Wisniewski, a joint degree student in Music Performance (saxophone) and LSA Honors (creative writing). Tom is the winner of several top Hopwood Awards for writing in both poetry and short story categories. We were fortunate to have him provide the music for the Honors graduation ceremony where he performed selections from Puccini operas. Lyssa Sperlich, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology concentrator, conducted a series of ingenious experiments to test the hypothesis that ecological competition exists between two local species of foraging bats. The result was a highly praised Honors thesis. She was awarded the Jerome and Isabella Karle Award for Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The winner of the Marshall Sahlins Social Science Award was Evelyn May Lyn Tan who was nominated by both the Economics Department and the Psychology Department in which she completed two exceptional Honors theses. The Economics faculty has encouraged her to submit her thesis for publication. The Gerald Ford Public Service Award winner, political science major Andrew Block, has compiled a distinguished record both of scholarship and of public service in Illinois and Michigan. His thesis on the centrality of language in the Basque case for cultural and regional nationalism was commended for its insight and careful research. The Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award was presented to Katie Siegmund, an Honors sociology concentrator who was confronted by the plight of thousands of AIDS orphans while doing research in Malawi. She founded two organizations, The Global Hope Project and Touching Hearts, that have raised over $100,000 for the AIDS orphans of Malawi. Honors history concentrator Ian Campbell has set his sights on a life dedicated to scholarship and teaching. Broadening his intellectual scope from an emphasis on Imperial Russia to the Muslim nationalities in the Russian Empire, he has greatly increased the difficulty of his task. This summer he has begun to study Kazak, one of the Central Asian languages he will need for his work. Ian was presented the Sidney Fine Teaching Award for his promise as an educator of tomorrow. Honors Alumni Prizes for outstanding achievement and service to the Honors Program and the university were presented to Alexandra Achen and Ryan Bonneville. Sasha Achen is an Honors economics and mathematics concentrator who has served the Honors Program as an Undergraduate Student Instructor and Peer Advisor, and has represented the Honors Program ably on many occasions. Ryan Bonneville, an Honors 2
HONORS PROGRAM AWARDS continued from page 2 mathematics and philosophy major, has served as a Peer Advisor and has been a trusted and highly productive member of the Honors student staff.
The Honors Program makes annual grants to outstanding Honors juniors. These include the Otto Graf Scholarship and Prizes and the Jack Meiland Prize. Otto Graf, German scholar and humanist, was Director of Honors for eighteen years. The awards given in his honor are made to students distinguished by their academic excellence and commitment. The work of Jack Meiland, Philosophy professor and Honors Director, was noted for its interdisciplinarity. The Meiland Award is made annually to the student whose studies best reflect his ideals of quality and breadth. This year, Jonathan Shaheen and Jennifer Black shared the Jack Meiland Award. Otto Graf Scholarships went to Jason Miller (Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics) and Keith Fudge (English). Graf Prizes were awarded to Charles Crissman (Mathematics, Linguistics), Allison Gorsuch (American Culture), Ashley Jardina (Political Science), and Joseph Torigian (Political Science).
Virginia Voss Memorial Scholarships are awarded each year to senior Honors women for excellence in writing. They pay tribute to the memory of the late Virginia Voss who graduated from Michigan in the 1950s and became College Editor of Mademoiselle Magazine. After her untimely death, the Voss family provided funds for the awards. This year, Voss Scholarships for academic writing were awarded to Shilpa Murthy (Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology), Margaret Winter (English), Samantha Sefton (Linguistics), Kathleen Lentz (Psychology), Lauren Smith (English), Natasha Abner (Linguistics), and Jean Franzino (English). Meg Ryan (Creative Writing) was awarded a scholarship for poetry.
National Awards This has been an exciting year of scholarship competitions for the Honors Program and for the University of Michigan. These are some of the highlights of this scholarship season. Jacob Bourjaily (Honors Physics, Jacob Bourjaily Lyric Chen Mathematics) of Grand Rapids, MI, Madison Moore and Christopher Hayward (Honors Astronomy and Astrophysics, Honors Mathematics, Physics) of Shelby Township, MI, are both headed to the University of Cambridge to pursue graduate work in mathematics. Jacob was one of only thirty-four students awarded two-year Marshall Scholarships for study at any institution in the United Kingdom. He chose Cambridge. He is particularly interested in resolving some of the big questions in physics such as why our views of gravity and our views of particle physics are inconsistent. Jake has been doing research with Professor Gordon Kane on the composition of the universe, specifically the phenomena of “dark energy” and “dark matter.” Christopher won one of only eleven Winston Churchill Scholarships for a year of mathematics, natural science or engineering study at Churchill College, Cambridge. He is especially interested in quantum field theory, general relativity, and cosmology. We also congratulate Joseph Jewell, a first-year graduate student in aerospace engineering for his successful bid for the Rhodes Scholarship. Harry S. Truman Scholarships are awarded to juniors to finance graduate education in preparation for a career in public service. This year, one of those highly competitive awards went to Honors junior Lyric Chen (Honors Political Science, Economics) of Madison, WI. Lyric is fluent in Chinese and French, has conducted research in China and has interned in a number of positions in Wisconsin and Washington, DC. She plans to become a labor lawyer and eventually to run for public office in her home state. Lyric was also selected as one of this year’s Glamour Magazine Top Ten College Women. The Beinecke Brothers Memorial Scholarship provides support for graduate studies in humanities and social sciences. This year, Honors junior Christopher “Madison” Moore (French, Comparative Literature) garnered one of those coveted awards. Madison, a native of St. Louis, MO, spent last year studying and conducting research in Paris. He is also an accomplished violinist. Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships are awarded for excellence in mathematics, natural science and engineering. Eric Chanowski (Honors Biochemistry) and Pratik Rohatgi (Biomedical Engineering) were named Goldwater Scholars in March, 2005.
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Giving Back From a speech delivered at the Honors Graduation Celebration and a letter. by Alexandra Achen Good morning, my name is Sasha Achen. I’m an economics major and for the last three years I have also coordinated an education program that talks to students about rape and dating violence. Those are my two real passions, one of which is very academic and one of which is more focused on social justice. When preparing to talk this morning, I thought, “Well I could talk to the Honors Students about academic passions,” but you all already understand this topic, because you chose to do a lot of extra work to graduate with Honors, and I think it’s not because you want the honor but because you love what you do. Then I thought, “Well I can talk about my community service passions,” but I know Honors students and I know that very many of you are involved in giving back to your community in all kinds of different ways, and so to talk about that would be a little bit presumptuous also. So I thought the only part left of that sentence is the “and also” part, because, while I have found a lot of ways to challenge myself academically at Michigan and a lot of ways to give back and get involved in doing the social justice work and community service that I love, I have found it hard (through no fault of Michigan, but just because it’s hard) to find a way to do those things at the same time. Community service clearly has value in its own right, as does intellectual inquiry, but I think combining them is also very valuable. For some jobs this is easy. For the doctors and the teachers and the social workers, and even the lawyers and the politicians, it seems clear enough. So I thought, “Well what would be the hardest profession to do this for?” I have a very good friend who is a physics major and who tells me, “Sasha, my work is not going to change the world.” So I thought, “Well, if I can find a way that his academic career could change the world and be socially meaningful, then that’s it, then I’ve proven that this combination is possible for anybody.” I couldn’t do it. I went to one of the people I work with and said, “Melissa, I can’t give this speech because I haven’t found a way for physicists to bridge the gap between academic work and community service.” She said, “You know Sasha, I think they asked you to speak for three minutes, I don’t think they asked you to solve everybody’s problems in that time.” So I reminded myself that finding those bridges can, in fact, be a life’s work. Clearly the things you do separately also have value, but finding a way to make those connections between what you love intellectually and what you love in terms of giving back, and finding ways that you feel comfortable having fulfilled both
of those obligations is something that we have the next 50 and more years of our lives to do. And I hope it’s rewarding for all of us. Thank you. After Sasha graduated, Honors received this letter from her: I want to thank you, of course, for selecting me to receive the Alumni Prize this spring. Much more important to me, however, is to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to do the things that you recognized with this award. Being given the opportunity to design and teach a course all by myself was an amazing opportunity that I feel very fortunate to have had. I loved every minute of it, and I hope that it was both interesting for the students, and will help me to be a better teacher in the future. I had a great time working for the Honors office during summer orientation and campus days, too. Working with incoming students reminded me what a great school UM is, and renewed my excitement for learning about new subjects. The peer advisors always joked that working summer orientation will prompt you to change your schedule at least 4 times, because you can’t believe that you’ve gone so long without taking a course in philosophy, or women’s studies, or Chinese, or whatever else. During these times, whenever students would ask us what the best thing about Honors was, a lot of us would talk about the cool classes, but we also mentioned how wonderful the advisors are. It has meant a lot to me to be able to say that the Honors advisors knew more than just my transcript and my major, but also something about who I am and what I value. Michigan and the Honors Program have given me a great education and a bunch of experiences that I’ve found both enjoyable and instructive. What’s more, I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been paid for doing the things I love. I love UM, and am grateful for all that it has done for me and given me. Therefore, I hope that you will accept the enclosed check and make some good use of it for the Honors Program. You can offer an additional Ideas in Honors course, or set it aside toward buying a piano for Perlman Honors Commons, or whatever you like. Thank you all for the time you have taken throughout the last four years to help and encourage me, as well as for the opportunities that you have given me, and especially for thinking of me for the Alumni Prize. Your thoughtfulness and the faith you put in me have meant a great deal to me, and I hope that I won’t disappoint you. 4
Globalism From a speech delivered at the Honors Graduation Celebration. by Christopher Hayward Among the many aspects of my education at the University other world problems. I traveled to Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, of Michigan, my international experiences are the most Amsterdam, Florence, and around Switzerland. During my significant. Reflecting back on the past four years, it is clear that summer at CERN, I discovered more about the world than I had traveling, studying, working, and living abroad has changed me in my previous 20 years of life. drastically. The next year, I was accepted by the Tibet program. Since When I entered the Honors Program as a freshman, I the program lasted only two months, I searched for activities to was not particularly interested in traveling. I planned to study fill the remainder of the summer. Motivated by my interest in astrophysics, mathematics, and philosophy. This course of study Dostoyevsky, I decided to participate in the St. Petersburg study did not seem to necessitate or even permit study abroad. Before tour, a new program offered by the Center for Russian and East my first semester, I met with an Honors advisor to discuss my European Studies as part of the LSA “Celebrating St. Petersburg” schedule and academic plans, as all Theme Semester. Ten other students first-year students must. Dr. Crown and and I spent two weeks seeing the I briefly discussed my plans, but the sites of St. Petersburg, touring the topic of conversation rapidly shifted to Hermitage, and attending classes on our common academic interests, which St. Petersburg history, culture, and included pure mathematics and Asian politics. I was able to contrast the studies. I told Dr. Crown I had read a extravagant 19th century Golden Age few books about Buddhism while I was palaces with the sordid cinder-block in high school, and I wished to study structures of the Soviet era. Those two it further. She suggested I consider weeks in St. Petersburg helped me the Department of Asian Languages understand the realities of Communist and Cultures Summer Study in Tibet Russia more than any class could. program. I was impressed by the Three days after I returned from description of the program and the St. Petersburg, I boarded a flight for Chris Hayward (l.) and a friend in Tibet. photographs on the department’s Beijing. Soon I was in Lhasa, a place website, so I began to entertain the idea of spending the summer unlike anywhere I had been previously. My fellow students and after my sophomore year in Tibet. I learned Tibetan, studied religious and secular culture, and At one of the Honors lunches during my sophomore year, listened to lectures given by local artists, doctors, academics, Dr. Crown introduced me to Physics Professor Jean Krisch. After and monks. We visited the standard tourist destinations – the talking for a few minutes, Professor Krisch suggested that I apply Jokhang temple, Potala Palace, Drepung Monastery – but also for the Michigan Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates traveled far off the beaten path. We camped in a snowstorm at at CERN, the European Organization for Particle Physics, located fifteen and a half thousand feet elevation on the shores of Lake in Geneva, Switzerland. I told her that I already planned to study Namtso, visited Bonpo holy sites in Kongpo, and participated in in Tibet but that I would keep the opportunity in mind. However, a Guru Rinpoche festival at a monastery in Kham. We met the when I learned that the program would actually pay me to spend head lamas of monasteries, local farmers, and monks who had a summer doing physics research in Geneva, I decided to apply. been in retreat caves, out of contact with humanity, for five years. I was accepted to the CERN program before the Tibet program My experiences in Tibet have changed me in ways that I do not application deadline, so I decided to earn money working at yet fully understand. CERN and to go to Tibet the next summer. As it turned out, Next year, my international education will continue at my decision was a good one, because the Tibet program was Cambridge University, where I will study theoretical physics as a cancelled that summer due to SARS. Churchill Scholar. I look forward to learning advanced physics, I spent the summer at CERN doing research, attending but I am especially excited to be able to live in the United lectures, and meeting students from around the world. Though Kingdom. My past experiences suggest that my time in England I learned much about particle physics and international physics will change me in ways I cannot yet imagine. I am extremely collaboration, I learned even more about international politics, grateful for the opportunities that the University of Michigan has other cultures, and history. My fellow summer students regularly provided me: I entered college as a high school student from engaged me in discussions about terrorism, war, poverty, and Michigan, and I am leaving as a citizen of the world.
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between the last ONSP session and lunch, the peers were given free rein to take the new students on a walking tour anywhere continued from page 1 they chose. Some offered personalized tours of the campus and Ann Arbor. One long-legged peer advisor became famous summer Orientation includes information sessions on a wide range among our first-year students for his fast-paced visit to Main of issues: the meaning of a liberal arts education, computing on Street. Other peers took their groups of students to the UM campus, health and safety, student groups and clubs, and a drama Art Museum, where a lively Pop Art exhibit was on display all group in skits concerning student life issues. Honors students summer. Docents at the Museum were happy to provide tours, come to the Honors Program office for the academic portion of since they are eager to introduce new students to the riches of their Orientation: information about Honors, academic advising, our small but excellent collection. and course registration. Many parents come to Orientation with Students then came to the Honors Program complex in their sons and daughters. Parents have general sessions with Mason Hall, where they enjoyed a buffet lunch; the menu varied the staff from ONSP and are invited to sessions in the Honors every day, and the students were always glad to avoid dining hall Program where we fare! While they ate, the students participated discuss Honors and in a conversation with the Honors directors on Small group discussion of When Germs Travel. its expectations, and various meanings of “honor” and what role honor also share experience has in an education. In June, Steve Darwall and wisdom about took students through Aristotle’s argument that being a parent of a excellence is always superior to honor. When first-year university David Porter came on board as interim director student. on 1 July, he presented and analyzed a scene For the oreintees, in which Shakespeare’s Falstaff contemplates we provide a wealth whether honor is of activities and worth the effort it resources. We give requires. Students group sessions on were clearly glad degree requirements to participate in and Honors expeca discussion that tations. Our academic advisors meet with made them think students individually twice, to get to know their and engage each students, to talk about long- and short-range other, and they goals, course options, placement, and other told us so. issues that may arise. We used the This year, as last year, Perlman Honors we’ve been privileged Commons as a Acting Director David Porter leads to have mathematics student hub for discussion of Falstaff’s view of Professor Dick Canary Orientation. We Honor. as our math advisor: he set up a bank gave an overview of the of computers in many options in math the seminar room of the Commons, and peer adto each student group, visors met student groups there every evening to and then met with “backpack” their courses—put their course list students individually into a shopping-cart-style feature on our course to make specific course election website. The next morning, after their final recommendations. Our academic advising appointments, students met the Head Peer Advisor, Ryan Bonneville, helps with schedule peer advisors conduct peers in the Commons again to register and print planning. group sessions, giving their schedules. the student perspective Do these efforts add value to the Honors on professors and courses, outlining course sequences, offering students’ Orientation experience? Yes! Responses on our reassurance about workload and how to balance work and evaluations were overwhelming positive: 96% of Honors students social life, and providing hands-on help through the registration rated the Honors component of Orientation as “excellent” or process. “good”. 98% rated our peer advisors as excellent or good, and But Honors Orientation is more than all this! In addition many offered the opinion that our peer advisors were the best to academic guidance, we seek to give students a sense of what part of Orientation, and that students could not have done Honors is all about, and to demonstrate the kinds of activities without them. “Awesome” and “great” are frequently repeated we offer. Honors peer advisors make the first steps in this part of accolades. For most, the Honors portion of Orientation is the Orientation, literally: This summer, with about 45 minutes to fill best part of their experience.
Orientation
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Honors Kick-Off September 2, 2005
Afternoon Fun The day-long Kick-Off continued in a more lighthearted vein with lunch in the Union Ballroom and a campus scavenger hunt led by Honors Housing RAs in the afternoon. Students were divided into small teams and sent to stations around central campus. At each station, they were given a task to perform, untying a human knot, singing the fight song backwards, trying to get the entire group atop the famous block M, tossing bean bags into baskets, etc. At the end of each task the team was scored by the RAs. After an afternoon of fun, everyone reassembled in the Ballroom and the winning team was awarded a dinner at a popular local restaurant. See the back cover for more pictures from the Kick-Off.
When Germs Travel: continued from page 1 It is a gripping read; we agreed with students who said it was hard to put down. The book played an important role in our Kick-Off at the beginning of this semester. On the morning of Friday 2 September, the whole class gathered to hear three faculty members address the book and the issues it raises. Professor Ruth Scodel of Classics linked the book’s description of large-scale public health crises both to the recent devastations of Hurricane Katrina (then only days past) and to the evidence of an ancient plague provided by a mass grave uncovered in Greece. Professor Timothy Johnson of the UM medical school described his own HIV/AIDS research and service among women and infants, demonstrating UM’s response to that crisis, the beginning of which is described so movingly in Dr. Markel’s book. Psychology professor Phillip Akutsu drew students into discussion (a feat in itself in an assembly of 500) about our own attitudes to disease, the other and the unknown. After these talks, students went to small discussion groups led by faculty, staff, and advanced Honors students, to pursue these themes and more.
Howard Markel will give a public lecture on the themes raised by the book during Parents’ Weekend, on Friday, 11 November. The talk will be followed by a reception, when students will have the opportunity to meet Dr. Markel and have him sign their copies of the book. The book raises many issues which may provide topics for the Honors Round Table and “Fresh Ideas” discussions throughout the year. Have ideas for next year’s freshman book? Email them to Donna Wessel Walker, dlww@umich.edu. We’re always looking for suggestions.
Orientation Soundbites
ABOUT THEIR PEER ADVISORS… Everyone was fantastic. They instilled confidence in a time of relative uncertainty.
New Honors Students Rate the Orientation Experience
I liked being able to talk with people who had recently been where I will be going.
ABOUT THEIR ACADEMIC ADVISORS… She was awesome! We explored all my academic options and wound up talking for nearly 2 hours!
The peer advisors were an awesome source of information and seemed very eager and willing to answer all of my questions.
Really helpful in planning a schedule that would let me satisfy my current concentration but give me room to change my mind.
They’re so cool. It was very fun to spend time with current Honors students, and it reassured me that Honors is the place for me.
I loved his relaxed attitude. It made me more at ease with college. It was my favorite part of orientation. Great Advice!
Very very helpful! Made me feel much more confident about the whole college experience.
She was not afraid to let me know when I was going down the wrong path.
The peer advisors were also very helpful - I never felt lost or like I had no idea what I was doing.
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From the Directors: Introducing David Porter as Acting Director of Honors for 2005/06 From Stephen Darwall, LS&A Honors Director As many of you already know, I am on sabbatical from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006 and have left the Honors Program in the capable hands of Acting Director, Associate Professor David Porter. David Porter is an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature. His extremely wide interests in literature, history, and cultural studies lead him to engaging conversations with students and colleagues and to prize the kind of intellectual community with a vigorous idea exchange that we are fostering in the Honors Program. He was a member of the Telluride House at Cornell as an undergraduate and took his PhD at Stanford. David’s main research area is 18th Century English Literature with a focus on the European, especially English, fascination with Chinese culture of that period. He has written on book on this subject, Ideographia: The Chinese Cipher in Early Modern Europe (Stanford University Press, 2001), is currently working on a second, Chinoiserie and Aesthetic Accommodation in Eighteenth-Century England England, and is the convener for a conference on “Gender and Popular Culture 1650-1750” at the University on October 21 and 22. Interest in computers and the phenomenon of the web led him to edit Internet Culture (Routledge, 1997) while still a graduate student and has also led him to employ the web to market the Chinese Reading and Reference software which he has recently developed. I know you will all want to join me in welcoming David Porter as Acting Director for this year and that you will very much enjoy getting to know him. And, as for me, as Douglas MacArthur said on leaving the Philippines in WWII, “I Shall Return.” Have a great year! All best,
Letter from David Porter It’s my pleasure to greet you as the Acting Director of the Honors Program. My three months on the job so far have only heightened my appreciation for the crucial role the Program plays in the College of LS&A and for the remarkable opportunities the Program offers its equally remarkable students. During the last academic year, we sponsored nearly 40 academic events and activities on campus, including Honors lunches with such visiting notables as Amanda Gibson and Mike Danforth from NPR, the musician, writer, and conceptual artist DJ Spooky, and author and journalist James Gleick, as well as discussion forums on topics including the role of media in political campaigns, the Rwandan genocide, information theory, circadian rhythms, the ethnography of Hollywood, the Iraq war, and the social construction of intelligence. While all these events were taking place in our Honors Lounge and the beautifully renovated space of our Perlman Honors Commons, our staff was reviewing over 3300 applications of potential candidates for the 2005 entering class. As I discovered on meeting many of the successful applicants during our summer orientation sessions, our admissions and recruiting efforts once again paid off in an exceptionally strong class. Our 520 new freshmen hail from some thirty states and seven foreign countries, and include 115 National Merit Semifinalists, 210 students with high school GPAs of 4.0, and—my favorite statistic—110 native speakers of 33 different foreign languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Chinese, and Gujarati. As I told our new students during summer orientation, with classmates like these, Honors students can expect to learn just about as much from each other over four years at Michigan as they will from their instructors. As I see it, the basic purpose of the Honors Program, after all, is to gather together students who value intelligence, curiosity, and imagination in themselves and other people, and to provide them with plentiful opportunities to indulge their shared passion for learning. My goals for the Program this year are to continue to support and develop the very successful innovations of the past several years—including Honors in Florence, the Honors Faculty Fellows program, and a more holistic admissions procedure—while also introducing several new initiatives which I hope will make a strong Honors Program even stronger. For the first time this year, we have launched a substantial fall Honors recruitment campaign, designed to persuade strong students who might not otherwise apply to Michigan that the LSA Honors Program, by combining the best features of a world-class research university and a selective liberal arts college, can provide them with the undergraduate experience they’re looking for. We’ve also added a new component to our application procedure for Honors: an optional additional essay designed to help us evaluate Continued on Page 11
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We want to hear from you! We have tabulated responses to our last survey and will be in contact with some of you soon. If you have not responded yet, or if you have updates, please return this sheet or send the information by email to honors.alums@umich.edu Title (Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr.) ________________________________________________________________________ Name _______________________________________________________________________________________ Former Name ________________________________________________________________________________ Mailing Address ______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone _________________________________________ Email Address _______________________________ Year of Graduation ____________________________ Honors Degree ______________________________ Other Degrees _______________________________________________________________________________ CUT HERE TO MAIL
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Check this box if we may post your news on our website. I am willing to serve as a volunteer for the LSA Honors Program and will ______ Talk with prospective students in my area. ______ Mentor Honors students on campus or in my community. ______ Provide an internship for an Honors student in my workplace. (specify __________________________________________________). ______ Serve as a resource for Honors students interested in my ďŹ eld. (specify __________________________________________________).
Check this box if you would like to receive emails about Honors lectures and other events. Please return this form by mail or fax it to Honors at 734.763.6553. You may also email the information to honors.alums@umich.edu
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Honors Updates
Lunch with Honors, Honors Roundtable and Fresh Ideas At least once a month, Honors students are invited to lunch and a program in the Honors Lounge. Almost every week, Honors students gather in the South Quad dining hall for an informal lunch discussion with faculty, staff and guests. During the 2004-2005 academic year, Honors Director, Steve Darwall, invited a variety of guests to afternoon sessions in the Perlman Honors Commons to discuss issues of interest to our students. Highlights of the 2004-2005 year have have included visits from Jose Kagabo, Rwandan Professor of Sociology at the Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales, who shared with us an insider’s and a researcher’s view of the Rwandan genocide and James Gleick, science writer and 2005 DeRoy Honors Lecturer (see last year’s Forum) whose recent work has focused on information theory. Two performers on campus for University Musical Society events joined us for Lunch with Honors, Osama “Sam” Shalbi, Candian performer of “The Osama Project” and Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, who discussed his career and his remixed movie, “Rebirth of a Nation.”
Ideas in Honors (Honors 135) “Ideas in Honors,” the mini-courses for first-year students taught by Honors seniors continue to gain in popularity with our beginning students. There are ten sections being taught in Fall Term 2005. Each has an enrollment of between 10 and 12 freshmen. What began in 2002 as two sections of a pilot course enrolled nearly a quarter of our first-year students for the current term and there will be more sections offered in winter 2006. This year’s topics range from physics to abstract expressionism. Many thanks again for the generosity of our alumnae/i who have made it possible for us to offer this experience which supports both the Honors seniors who design the courses and our first year students who benefit from their enthusiasm. If you missed the article in the last newsletter about these mini-courses for first-year students taught by Honors seniors, see www.lsa.umich.edu/honors/2004forum.pdf www.lsa.umich.edu/honors/2004forum.pdf.
Honors 135 topics, Fall Term 2005: Walking 101 The Dismembered Tragic Muse: Reconstructing Ancient Greek Drama Through Performance An Examination of the Millennium Development Goals Great Experiments in Physics
Letter from David Porter
Race and Religion in Spain: Una Exploracion de Los Temas mas Polemicos en Espana Actualme
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candidates’ interest in the Program and their commitment to the intellectual values it represents. To aid in the recruitment of our strongest applicants, we’ve set aside funds for up to a dozen $1,000 book scholarships to be applied towards the cost of textbooks during the freshman year. And finally, to enable more of our Honors students in this increasingly globalized world to take advantage of opportunities for overseas learning experiences, we will sponsor a scholarship competition that will award up to $3,000 to students who submit a compelling proposal for an international learning project, whether it be intensive summer language study in Morocco, a semester abroad in Beijing, or a volunteer social service project in Ghana. In short, many exciting things are happening in the Honors Program these days. We have a full slate of events and activities again this year, and we always welcome the participation of friends and alumni of the Program. Do stop by for a visit some time, or drop us a line—we’re always glad to hear from you.
Combinatorial Game Theory: How Numbers Solve Mathematical Games Red States Versus the Blue: America’s Culture War Stand-Up Comedy as Cultural Discourse Situating Abstract Expressionism
If you would like to read the full descriptions of these classes, check them out at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/cg/. Just look under “Honors” for any given semester and you will find a compete list.
All the best, David Porter 11
Honors Kick-Off September 2, 2005
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Honors Program The University of Michigan 1330 Mason Hall Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1027
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NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID ANN ARBOR, MI PERMIT NO. 144