UHP Fall 2016 Newsletter

California University of Pennsylvania Honors Program Fall 2016

Graduating Seniors

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FEATURE : PASSHE in Spain

PAGES 6 & 7 Presidential Campaign: DNC & RNC

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University Honors Program News Honors Film Society A New Club is in Town (or at least in Smith)

By Jared Sofranko

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ounded out of Dr. Aune’s cult film class, the Honors Film Society is an organization open for all honors students to join! In it, we watch films of different genres and have an open discussion based on our

opinions. So far this year, we have watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Rushmore, and The Social Network, and we are always looking for new suggestions to watch and discuss! The organization was started as a

way to teach students to talk about their opinions openly in an informal setting. We meet every other week in the Smith Hall 144 (Honors classroom) at 8pm and there are always refreshments served! We hope to see you there!

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Honors Social/Service Committee Volunteering for Nonprofit With the Honors Service Commitee

By Amanda Andrews

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hen entering into the Honors Program as a freshmen, one of my favorite events were the service social nights the University Honors Program held. I really liked the opportunity to gather with all the other members of the Honors Program to socialize.

However, my favorite part was being able to volunteer my time to make a project for one of our local nonprofits. Upon getting a position on the Student Honors Advisory Board (SHAB), I jumped on the opportunity to

become the Service Committee Chair, so I could be a part of organizing the service projects for the service socials.

Working with the Center for Volunteer Programs and Service Learning director, Diane Hasbrouck, I look to see what nonprofit organizations partnering with California University of Pennsylvania could use our services. Then, with the help of the Service Committee, I create a fun project for our nonprofit. If you are interested in being a more active member of the Honors Program, the Service Committee is always looking

Newsletter Staff Chief Editor Zoe Scripter

Associate Editor Amelia Lipkind

Contributors

Jared Sofranko Amanda Andrews Leah Seader Emily Warne Taylor Dunn Brittany Kach

Alex Dawes Aiden Brooks Hannah Kovscek Amelia Lipkind Kirra Lent Claudia Pehowic

Honors Program News

for more help.

Our first service social for the fall 2016 semester was a huge success. On October 27th, we had a Halloween-themed service social event, where students got the opportunity to dress in their Halloween costumes and compete in a costume contest.

For this service social event, we made 40 Halloween treat bags for preschoolers at The Village, a local daycare. For our next service social in November, we will be hosting a holiday-themed social service event, in which we will be making Christmas tags for Hope for the Holiday. I hope to see all of you there!

Honors Program Staff

Director- Dr. M. G. Aune Associate Director- Dr. Craig Fox Secretary- Kim Orslene

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How Involved Are You in Your Honors Program?

Introducing the Honors Community Involvement Award

By Leah Seader

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he Student Honors Advisory Board serves as the liaison between the University Honors Program directors and the students. After attending the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference last November in Chicago, members of the Student Honors Advisory Board were able to develop and finalize a points system to reward the students who are

involved in the program here at Cal U. All members of the University Honors Program are eligible to receive the Honors Community Involvement Award, otherwise known as the Honors CIA. Students who complete 15 points will receive a certificate and students who complete at least 60 points will receive the Honors CIA pin prior to graduation. Students can earn points in a variety of ways including attending an honors social/service event (2 points), joining an honors

committee (1 point), attending a thesis presentation (1 point), serving as an Honors Coach (3 points), attending a local conference (3 points), attending a national conference such as NCHC or NCUR (5 points), etc. It is suggested that students complete at least 15 points a year to stay on track. Points will be logged and tracked on OrgSync, so make sure that you sign-in at each event and keep track of your own points. Please direct any questions that you may have to shab@calu.edu. Good luck!!!

Interview With A Professor Dr. Arrigo-Nelson’s Topics in Science and Technology Class

By Emily Warne

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he Science and Technology Honors elective for fall 2016 looks into climate change and human evolution. Taught by Dr. Arrigo-Nelson, this course isn’t just for science majors. All of us have different backgrounds which is one of the many reasons this course is so great.

We have no exams; Dr. ArrigoNelson created a seminar-style course that includes lectures in combination with a lot of good discussion. This course requires you to think outside your comfort level and not only absorb the information presented, but

to form your own opinion and reflect on the week’s teachings.

I’ve learned so much about our world and ancestry from this course. It’s challenging but extremely rewarding. There are less than ten of us in the class which allows for in depth discussion and to learn not only from the professor but also each other. We also got the opportunity to go on a field trip to Meadowcroft Rock Shelter.

It was a chance to spend the day away from campus and bond as a class as well as learn in a hands-on way. We have weekly reflection assignments, discussion points, and are building a semester’s worth of Honors Program News

knowledge to complete a research paper as our final grade. This is the second Topics in Science and Technology course I’ve taken; they’re different every semester and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each honors elective I’ve taken.

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Graduating Seniors Tinamarie D. Brown Dr. Louise Nicholson Honors Thesis: The Induction of Seizure Like Activity in Drosophila melanogaster Using Caffeine Clairissa A. Harris Professor James Bove Honors Thesis: What I Want to be When I Grow Up: An Artistic Exploration of Gender Formation and Identity Jasmine G. Naccarato Dr. Reuben Brock Honors Thesis: The Effectiveness of Integrated Treatment for Substance Use Disorder and Other Mental Illness: A Meta-Analysis

Society and the Sociopath A Look Inside Dr. Sweitzer’s Fall 2016 Class

By Taylor Dunn

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r. Sweitzer has been teaching Society and the Sociopath as a class for a few years, however, she has manipulated it into an Honors course. This change was especially fantastic for me, a Sociology major with a concentration in Deviance, as it fulfilled not only a major requirement, but also an Honors credit. However, even for the non-Sociology majors this class

fulfills a general education credit and is an interesting course to learn about sociopathic behaviors. This class relies heavily on discussions, which are enthralling enough to make it seem almost as though you are not sitting in a class at 10 am. Rather, you feel as though you are just having intelligent conversation‌ about serial killers and sociopaths. We learn everything from the different ways of spotting a sociopath in day-to-day life to how to analyze the nature of a crime and determine the variety of killer.

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From this class I, and I am sure my other classmates, hope to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a sociopath.

I also hope to better learn how to profile for serial killers that are sociopaths or have sociopathic tendencies, which are harder to spot due to their ability to blend into a crowd. I am happy to say that we are doing just that in this class and are even preparing to profile a sociopath of our choice for a group project. Society and the Sociopath is truly a wonderful and exciting course.

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Language Skills for Success Analysis of Professor Downey’s Fall 2016 Class

By Brittany Kach

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Downey’s Honors Composition I class is certainly not like any writing class I had taken in high school. Soon after beginning this semester, I quickly learned to reconsider everything I had learned from previous English classes. Dr. Downey deconstructed writing rules that I had considered to be unbreakable – never use the passive voice when you can use the active, never end a sentence with a preposition, never split infinitives. Teachers had drilled rules like these into my head since middle school, but had never explained why such rules should be followed. By explaining why and how these

rules of writing are created, Dr. Downey has given me and my classmates the power to choose how to use language.

I feel that I’ve been given the tools to write successfully, and it is up to me to decide how to use them. Dr. Downey often reminds her classes that, as college students, they have the power and responsibility to make our own choices. One of those choices is how we communicate with others – and if we can communicate effectively, what does it matter if we use a contraction or slip into the first person?

Sometimes, though, it is best to follow the rules – like when writing very formal papers – so Dr. Downey has introduced us to a variety of types of writing

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to help us understand what kinds of writing best communicate certain purposes. I’m sure that throughout the semester, we will continue to explore essays of different styles and purposes so that we will leave the semester prepared to communicate our ideas effectively through the written word. I feel that I now have a deeper understanding of the purposes of writing and how to best achieve these purposes.

I think that by the end of this course, my classmates and I will not only be more independent writers and more effective communicators, but also more independent people overall.

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Unexpected and Inspirational Travels PASSHE 2016 Trip Surpasses Expectations

By Alex Dawes

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l Camino de Santiago in Spain is an enormous cultural experience like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life. While I had studied Spanish for five years previously, it had not adequately prepared me for the cultural aspects of my first visit to the country. While I was initially hesitant about my own speaking skills, I quickly came to realize that I was much better off than many of my fellow

classmates. I had little confidence in my conversational abilities, but I found myself able to read and understand the majority of what I came upon. This was an enormous confidence boost, both given the situation, and in general.

My three weeks in Spain, and the two weeks I spent hiking there were perhaps the most formative times of my life.

When I consider my time and travels, I like to remember that I happily proved myself wrong

time and time again. In the weeks before embarking on El Camino, I became worried that we would become tourists in our time there, and that I would not experience something truly special. However, I proved myself wrong, more wrong than I could have imagined. My time in Spain was the happiest time in my life so far, and it has inspired me to travel abroad again, and to continue exploring both the world and my own abilities.

New Outlook on Life PASSHE 2016 Trip Causes Powerful Realizations

By Aiden Brooks

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would consider the time that I spent on the Summer Honors Program to Spain to include many of the most powerful, “real” moments in my life. I say this because my success, our success as pilgrims, was largely determined by our direct degree of comfort- if I wasn’t in too much pain, too cold, too thirsty, or too hungry, I was doing well then. It was a giant step away from the normal stresses in our normal lives. We are always stressing over very abstract things, concepts such as grade point averages, finances and complex interpersonal relations. On the Camino de Santiago, your problems are very simple: tiredness and pain.

These feelings were very strong, do not mistake calling them “simple” for calling them easy.

However, I would rather deal with the real, awful, immediate pain of a blister than the abstract and unapproachable concept of “building a future”.

None of that is to say that the Camino is an entirely different world than we really live in. The Camino de Santiago made me realize that in the same world that I am writing essays, sending e-mails and stressing over tests, I am also capable of walking hundreds of miles through the Spanish countryside. The program showed me the massive scale of the potential experiences we can have as humans, as well as the scale of emotions that can be felt. I have seen and felt the immense pain, exhaustion Honors Program News

and emptiness that the Camino can give, as well as the sheer ecstasy of reaching the top of the next mountain, and the completely unimaginable and indescribable wave of emotion that accompanies reaching Santiago. These are all very real things in our world, and the Summer Honors Program revitalized my enthusiasm for life, and for learning. Taking steps on a pilgrimage route is therapeutic, and has allowed my mind to “reset”, whilst still absorbing the beautiful language and culture of Spain. This reset is the biggest gift the Camino has given me; the ability to approach the world from the same amazed, optimistic, challenge-ready and child-like perspective that I found myself taking during the program.

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Photos from El Camino de Santiago, Spain

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NCHC16: Know Yourself National Collegiate Honors Council’s Annual Conference

By Hannah Kovscek

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hree years ago I came to Cal U’s Fall Honors Program Open House and learned about the conference opportunities available to students joining the program. It was in that moment I first knew that Cal U, and more specifically, the Honors Program, was right for me. Flash forward to present day – I’m currently squished against the window seat of aisle twenty of Southwest Flight #5884 flying out of Seattle, heading home from the 51st NCHC conference. For me, attending this conference was a goal that I had pursued since day one, and the experience exceeded any expectation that I ever could have imagined (you could say that I’m now a self-proclaimed conference junky).

The National Collegiate Honors Council hosts this annual conference as an opportunity for undergraduate students and faculty in Honors Programs and Honors Colleges across the

world to connect and discuss their research with each other.

Cal U was represented by nine students and three faculty members this year, most of whom were presenting research that they had conducted. As a future teacher and an avid reader, I was interested in combining these two areas through a research project. I used a class I took last semester, Emerging Literacy, as a springboard to survey teachers in K-4 classrooms in local schools and to compare their classroom books to those on Scholastic’s “100 Greatest Books for Kids.”

I also worked with Dr. Aune to present research on end-ofsemester assessment results from HON 100. Both of these projects were turned into poster presentations for the conference.

The conference isn’t just an opportunity to showcase your hard work, however, as opportunities to network, develop yourself professionally, and have fun also play a significant part in the experience. The conference is so large that you can tailor your schedule to your own interests;

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one morning I attended a dance workshop, while during another I woke up through early morning yoga. During another afternoon I attended an event with special guest Sherman Alexie, a noted author and poet whose works I read in high school (cue the fangirling). I can’t forget about the food, either. Dr. Fox made a point to select Seattle-specific dining options, and let me just say that I don’t always take pictures of my food… but when I do, I’m at the NCHC conference.

The theme of the conference, “Know Yourself,” left an imprint on me even now that it’s over. I knew three years ago that presenting at this specific conference was on my Cal U bucket list, but I didn’t know that it would become one of the highlights of my undergraduate experience so far (or that I’d drink 381,940 cups of coffee in the process). To all students debating whether or not to pursue presenting their work at a conference, I highly encourage you to take the leap and discover more about yourself through the process, as well.

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Honors Graduate Success Story Interview With An Honors Program Alumni

By Amelia Lipkind

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rittany Kusniar graduated from the Honors Program in May 2015. She is now finishing up her Master’s Degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Slippery Rock University with an expected graduation in May 2017.

She plans to be a Career Counselor on a college campus once she achieves her Master’s. Surprisingly, she was a Meteorology major with a Mathematics minor while she attended here at Cal U. Brittany became involved in the Honors Program rather early on and she remembers all the friends she made in the Honors residence

hall while she lived there for two years, and she still has lasting friendships from staying there. She became a member of SHAB her freshman year.

Brittany was Secretary of SHAB for one year, and then went on to become President for two years. She states that she had a great executive board that helped her shape the organization into a more visible aspect of the Honors Program. She was also able to attend many conferences from 2012-2015 where she talked about leadership and effective student government. These conferences were her fondest memories of her time at Cal U and in the Honors Program.

Her Honors thesis was titled; “Career Anxiety and Life After Graduation” and that was a topic that was completely unrelated to her major, but she was very thankful for the opportunity to be creative.

She was then able to use this thesis in her graduate school interviews.

However, you can no longer wait for opportunities to find you, you must seek them out. Brittany credits the Honors Program to helping her so much after graduation. SHAB helped her to become a better leader, think critically and pursue something that she is passionate about.

She also thanks Dr. Aune for being a wonderful mentor and always took the time to ask her about her life in and outside of school. Brittany went on to say, “All of the skills and experiences I gained during my time in the UHP formed me into a marketable candidate when applying to graduate schools. I absolutely loved my time in the UHP and attribute some of my success to the time and care the UHP faculty and staff put into making my time there the best it could be. I often talk about all of the experiences I gained at Cal in the UHP and am so blessed and grateful that others saw potential in me to let me be a visible leader in the program.”

Brittany encourages students to get involved in the Honors Program, it lets you do so much in and out of the classroom.

Honors Thesis Presentation Title:

Earth Science (Presented on April 22, 2015) “Career Anxiety and Life After Graduation” Committee Members: Gary Seelye, Rhonda Gifford and Gregg Gould

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Democratic National Convention Student Works as Runner for Fox News

By Kirra Lent

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his past summer I had the opportunity to work as a runner for Fox News during the Democratic National Convention. As a part of the Washington Center Seminar Series, I was able to study the relationship between national party conventions and presidential elections. For a week prior to the Democratic National Convention, I spent my mornings and afternoons listening to speakers such as former Governor Ed Rendell, DNC Chief Executive Organizer Leah Daughtry, and Attorney

General of Philadelphia Eric Holder discuss their experiences and answer questions. During the convention, I drove news anchors like Bret Baier, Shepard Smith, and Harris Faulkner to the Wells Fargo Center; ran script for the show Shepard Smith Reporting; and met delegates from all over the country dressed in the wackiest of garb. With all of these experiences and many more, it is difficult to pick favorites.

However, none beat the moment I watched Hillary Clinton accept her nomination as the Democratic Party’s first female presidential nominee. Red and blue balloons fell from above me and Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” blared

from the surrounding speakers. I will never forget that moment. By attending the Washington Center Seminar Series and interning at the Democratic National Convention, I learned about how national parties mold their constituents’ views of candidates, how news stations make decisions about spinning stories, and what type of planning and effort is put forward during national party conventions. However, I also learned more about myself in the process. I will be forever thankful for this opportunity, and I suggest that other Honors students look into completing programs with the Washington Center in the future!

The 2016 Democratic National Convention was held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 through to July 28, 2016.

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Republican National Convention Student Works as Writer for Talk Media News

By Claudia Pehowic

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efore the secret service arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, more than 100 global students met at Baldwin Wallace University to prepare for a worldclass internship. The Washington Center took to Cleveland; the Republican Party was to select its twenty-ninth presidential nominee.

A week before the convention, an academic seminar allowed students a chance to air grievances with the political system. My roommate from the University of Guam said the island longed to be involved in the general election. My roommate from the University of San Diego and her twin brother spoke of the hopelessness of

being Californian Republicans in the Electoral College. Even in the primary election, the candidates had been picked out by the time their state voted. I presided over a class-wide debate on whether to “free the delegates,” allowing them to vote their conscience rather than reflect their state’s vote. Donald Trump was exposing a rift in the Republican system, so the Republican Party’s House Ways and Means Committee had their own debate.

Cleveland was arranged for 2,472 delegates to flood the city along with national media personnel.

I interned with Talk Media News, a media aggregate that sent information to small radio stations and newspapers around the country.

supervisor, Tim. He told me that people lose interest in a sentence after fourteen words. ” he said, “should be “Paragraphs, no longer than two sentences.”

Organizational blunders were no match for newfound courage. I telephoned professors who had conducted global studies; I gauged the economic impact of the RNC by meeting with local business owners; I called Cleveland homeless shelters and discovered the city’s underground plan to conceal homeless populations.

Come October, I am still placing pieces of the political puzzle: as Harold Lasswell writes, “who gets what and how.”

Writing stories was hard. My first attempt was torn to shreds by my

The 2016 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio, from July18 through to July 21, 2016.

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Happy Holidays!

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