Students Team With Alumni for Oral History Project
From left: Christine Moulton; Joanne Williams; Clair Stevens ’80, J.D., Morgan Heintz; President Steven M. Corey, Ph.D.; Kellen Beckwith and Jake Taber. .
Top Five Seniors Recognized
Olivet recognized the best of its student body during Honors Convocation in April. The Donald A. Morris Awards are presented each year to the top five graduating seniors with the highest grade point average, and the professor whom each student deems the most influential in his or her academic career. The 2010-11 recipients are: Kellen Beckwith, of Farmington Hills; Michael Harden, of St. Johns; Morgan Heintz, of Eaton Rapids; Christine Moulton, of Royal Oak; and Ellen Schulz, of Freeland. Beckwith, a mathematics secondary education major, chose to honor Jake Taber, head swimming and diving coach at Olivet. Harden, an environmental science major, selected Leah Knapp, D.V.M., professor of biology. Heintz, an actuarial science major, chose Clair Stevens ’80, J.D., associate professor of insurance and risk management. Moulton, a journalism and mass communication major, selected Joanne Williams, assistant professor of journalism and theatre. Schulz, an elementary special education major, chose to honor Janine Peters, assistant professor of mathematics. The Donald A. Morris Award was named after a former president of the college. Morris served Olivet from 1977-92.
Peters Awarded Livingston Professorship Janine Peters, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Olivet College, received the Livingston Professorship award during Honors Convocation in April. The professorship is the highest teaching honor awarded to a full-time, tenured faculty member at Olivet. Peters was recognized by the college community as exceptional in her abilities as an instructor, as well as her commitment to the college’s mission. She sustains engagement of students in the learning
Olivet students in the history seminar are restructuring the college’s history throughout the decades. The students are working to document the college’s past, one alum at a time, in a nontraditional way. The students will be working to create an oral history, a way to share the decades through recollections of those with firsthand experience. Students, who are completely responsible for the development of the project, will be using surveys to formulate a written account of Olivet College history from alumni perspectives. The surveys have been created and distributed to select alumni so they can share everything they remember from their time at Olivet. The questions focus on a range of items, depending on the decade, from major historical happenings to everyday life at Olivet. “It may give us true feedback of what it was like here on Olivet’s campus,” said freshman David Eggelston, who hopes to get a more relatable history, with human feelings. Adviser of the project, Craig Korpela, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and political science, said, “I am anxious to work with alumni and students to provide a more thorough Olivet College history.” Above: Katherine Anne Porter shown with author Sherwood Anderson outside of Dole Hall, during the 1939 Writer’s Conference at Olivet College. Craig Korpela, Ph.D.
process; creates a classroom environment that is characterized by enthusiasm for learning and high expectations; and models life-long learning through continuous professional growth and development. A faculty member since 2002, Peters currently teaches courses in the liberal arts core, the calculus sequence, probability and statistics, geometry, complex analysis and advanced calculus. She is adviser to Helping Hands, the college’s student organization committed to community service projects, as well as the math club. She is also one of the college’s faculty athletic representatives to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Janine Peters
SPRING
2011
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