Periplus spring 2014

Periplus A publication of the UNCW Honors College

VOL. 9 ISSUE 1 Spring 2014

Literature & Evolution...2 Honors Project ..............3 Dr. Horan Interview........4 The Invisible Gorilla.........5 Amigos y Escolares.......6 -7 International Travel.........8 Student Research...........9 RHA.........................10 Non-trad Honors....... ..11 Some Girl(s)..................12 Alumni News.................13 Graduation.............14-15

(Photo by Elizabeth Bernardo) (left to right) Naomi Barbee, Ashley Stowe, Nick Reed, Mickey Johnson, and Kristina Auten perform in Some Girl(s)

Some Girls...Love Drama Honors student Elizabeth Bernardo directs UNCW production Elizabeth Bernardo Class of 2015

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hen the word “research” is mentioned, the first image that comes to mind is probably a lab or a library. But what about a theater stage? As I’ve learned from UNCW’s theatre department, over half of theatre is research – the role, the social context, the language, the setting, behaviors, everything. When I was granted the Terry Rogers Scholarship to produce Neil LaBute’s Some Girl(s) as the UNCW Theatre Department’s Student Lab Series, I knew that I was going to have a lot of research to do as the director. (To read more, continue to page 12.)

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Genetically-Modified Literature?

Dr. Dianne Dodd and Ms. Michelle Britt break tradition with honors seminar course Ashley Deleon Class of 2017

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n “Genetically-Modified Literature,” an Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar, Ms. Michelle Britt and Dr. Diane Dodd helped bridge the gap between literature and science at UNCW. Our class structure ranged from lectures on basic genetic concepts to indepth class-led discussions based on chapters read before class. The books on the course list included Crichton’s Jurassic Park, and Cook’s Chromosome 6 among others.

The Socratic discussions that were plentiful in this course allowed for the dialogue to be free-flowing and uninterrupted. Listening to the perspectives of my peers about the texts enlightened me to re-think what I had read. As a class, we incorporated each other’s opinions, perspectives, and beliefs into our own. We developed our arguments through understanding those of our peers, and in the end there was no distinction between “science and non-science majors”; we were simply a class of UNCW students. Dr. Dodd expressed her appreciation for student participation by saying, “Their contributions are so creative and insightful.

They’ve expanded my perspective and opened up new ways for me to think.”

One of the most imperative goals of this class was to apply learned thought processes to our future endeavors. Learning something in a course is great, but being able to apply it outside of an academic

(Photo by Ashley Deleon) Students browse Robin Cook’s Chromosome 6

(Photo by Ashley Deleon) Dr. Diane Dodd (left) and Ms. Michelle Britt (right) formed an academic power-duo to create a course joining science and literature. setting is where its true significance lies. To become the ideal job candidate, a science major should be able to examine subjects from a literary perspective and vice versa. Ms. Britt reiterated this by saying “In [the students’] future careers, it will be important to think outside the box and to examine and understand the connectivity that exists not only in our lives but within the world.”

With the aid of Ms. Britt and Dr. Dodd, I have rediscovered the importance of incorporating both aspects of academia to catalyze my arguments, papers, and discussions. I’m sure that my fellow HON210 peers would agree with me in saying that the combination of professors in this course provided the ideal platform to present such an enlightening seminar. I would undoubtedly and irrevocably recommend this course to anyone who is looking to challenge themselves, their way of thinking, and their perceptions of both science and literature.

Completing the Honors Project

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A student majoring in economics and creative writing shares her Honors Project experience the questions section of the defense became much more of a discussion with my committee members ssentially a 75-page detailed outline of a full answering questions between themselves and helping children’s novel, my honors project centers on me express the ideas I wanted to get across. the stock market crash of 1929 and is told through As far as the advice I would give to students the eyes of an 11-year-old named Richard Grace. As defending their honors theses, organize your research part of my project, I wrote full scenes and charted the ahead of time. I think this project is especially story, researched the economic similarities between difficult for fine arts majors since there is no specified 1929 and the 2008 recession, and made a physical expectation of what an creative honors project is. It copy of the children’s book is a lot of about what the (in Creative Writing 323: advisor thinks and how Book Building). the student personally As an economics and feels about their work. A creative writing major, lot of times, I was told to I wanted to combine do “whatever you think is disciplines in an unexpected necessary,” which never way. I didn’t want to write helped and was frustrating. a textbook or bury myself Essentially. I would under charts and economic advise anyone “creating” research. I chose 1929 an honors project to solidify because of how similar the in their minds what they downturn was to the recent want their limit (page 2008 Great Recession. My limit/section break) to be project advisor was Nina before they even really start DeGramont and my board writing. It might change, was made up of a creative but it will at least help be a writing professor, English guide. With a creative piece professor, and economics (Photo by Carole Reynolds) Qualia Hendrickson you could keep going professor: Mel Boyijian, graduated in spring 2014 with university honors in forever, but then, you’d Katie Peel, and Chris Dumas, economics and creative writing. never finish the project. If respectively. it’s a story, do you want a For the thesis defense, I full-length novel or a solid expected to present information regarding my topic that lengthy excerpt? Same for a play, film project, or was not in the paper but had considered and framed the anything similar. work. To prepare, I created a Powerpoint presentation of information that led up to the completed project the For more information on departmental honors board had read. I did not want to repeat to them, what projects, the 499 handbook is available at uncw.edu/ they had already read, so I branched out and talked a honors/academics/departmental. lot about my process, especially as a CRW major and because the idea of an outline seemed unique when I looked at past CRW honors projects.

The defense experience was exactly as I expected.

I had tried my best to keep in contact with my board throughout the semester, so most of the discussion did not come as a surprise. I was nervous, of course, but I received feedback on my presentation skills. Overall, Qualia Hendrickson Class of 2014

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Meet the New Associate Director

Dr. Jennifer Horan: political science professor, beekeeper, and new Honors associate director Cody Beck Class of 2016

(Photo by Carole Reynolds) Dr. Horan (left) announces readers at the spring 2014 release party for Second Story Journal, edited by Naomi Spicer (right)

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r. Jennifer Horan, the incoming associate director for the Honors College currently serves as an associate professor of public & international affairs here at UNCW. She will officially begin her associate director role in July.

Early on in her academic career, Dr. Horan spent a year abroad in Ecuador. She credits this time as the catalyst for her interest in political science, as she was able to witness a coup in the country firsthand.

Dr. Horan went on to double major in political science and Spanish during her undergraduate years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She earned her master’s degree from the University of New Orleans and her doctorate from Tulane University.

Her specialty is comparative government, especially in Latin America.

The first thing I noticed in Dr. Horan’s office was the abundance of photos of her three daughters, as well as the many bee-decorated items throughout the room.

When asked about her hobby of beekeeping, she cited conservation as her primary motivation, since honey bees no longer exist in the wild. She explained to me how bees are viewed with an unfair bias by the majority of people; according to her, they are really quite gentle and industrious creatures.

Dr. Horan commented that she is looking forward to the opportunity of serving as associate director

because it gives her the chance to “work with students, work with faculty, and bring the two together through research and teaching environments.” This proves to be a field in which she has an impressive amount of experience, as an Honors academic advisor, Honors seminar teacher, Honors project supervisor, Honors student documentary subject, and published researcher.

She later showed me a framed art piece, a gift a former student had crafted after working alongside her. Dr. Horan is the kind of faculty member who leaves a lasting influence on students, an impact that transcends the classroom experience.

Honors student Zoe VanDerPloeg is a prime example of this influence. Zoe boasts an extensive history working with Dr. Horan. She has collaborated with Dr. Horan on a documentary film project and has twice served as the Honors mentor for her Honors seminar class. She remarked that “[Dr. Horan] is such an engaging speaker; not only is she knowledgeable, but she is also very good at explaining what she knows … Plus she has this great subtle wit that makes her personable. Now that our projects are done, it’s great to see her again around Honors.”

As evidenced by her students and her experience with the Honors program, I believe we can all agree that it will indeed be great to see Dr. Horan around Honors as our new associate director.

Did you See the Gorilla?

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Honors Spring SpeakerDr. Daniel Simons visits UNCW to discuss The Invisible Gorilla changes. However, this experiment shows that we notice far less than we think.

The Invisible Gorilla experiment became so popular that Dr. Simons and his colleague Christopher hen watching a group of people passing a basketball, one probably would not expect to see Chabris wrote a book of the same name. The Invisible a gorilla march onto the screen. In Dr. Dan Simons’ Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us explores cognitive psychology experiment, this is exactly what several different cognitive illusions and gives multiple happened. Dr. Simons, a cognitive psychologist at the examples of each one in action. These illusions include University of Illinois, studies human perception and the illusion of confidence, the illusion of memory, and cognitive illusions. Simons’ “Invisible Gorilla” is one the illusion of knowledge. The book is informative, of the most well known experiments in psychology enjoyable, and offers a few tips on how to live with and has sparked numerous other studies. Replicated in awareness of these limitations.

Dr. Simons visited UNCW on Feb. 18, 2014, many labs around the world, the results of the experiand discussed his research on cognitive illusions. He ment demonstrate that the human mind does not work presented new information beyond what was included as previously thought. in The Invisible Gorilla and discussed some of the results and ramifications of his findings.

One key point of Simons’ lecture was the effects of priming.

He asked half the audience to close their eyes, while the other half was shown a question concerning the number of countries in Africa. “Does Africa have more than 50 countries?”

“Does Africa have more than 180 countries?” After several seconds, the audience roles reversed.

Audience members, primed with a question with a lower suggested (Photo by Carole Reynolds) Students from the Invisible Gorilla reading number, were more likely to make group gather to meet Dr. Daniel Simons lower guesses than audience members shown the question In “The Invisible Gorilla” experiment, subjects with a high suggested number. The result of the watch a short video of several people passing a mini experiment showed another kind of cognitive basketball. Viewers are asked to count the number of illusion. Questions that seemed unbiased actually passes made by a team in black shirts while ignoring inclined guessers towards certain guesses.

Dr. Simons’ research has influenced the legal the passes made by the team in white shirts. Halfway through the video, a person in a gorilla suit enters and medical professions—it has affected the way the frame, pounds its chest, and walks off screen. eyewitness testimony is weighed in court, and has Most people do not even notice the gorilla! This shown that certain medical precautions are insufficient phenomenon is known as the illusion of attention. We in error prevention. With this new knowledge of believe that when we are paying attention, we will human perceptive limitations, we can more effectively always notice when something in our environment understand that we and our world are not the way that they seem.

Katie Albritton and Morgan Thompson Class of 2016

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Cross-Cultural Community

Ms.Valerie Rider illustrates her Amigos y Escolares Honors course Ms. Valerie Rider Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

(Photo by Ms. Valerie Rider) Students from Rider’s class pose with their tutees. ¡Vamos! Let’s go!

If you were permitted just one word to express your beliefs, your philosophy of education; basically, if you had to choose a single word to explain yourself, that would be a pretty tough assignment, wouldn’t it?

There is no shortage of noble candidates out there, such as “inclusion,” “tolerance,” “patience”; the list goes on. Since I truly believe that, in Honors and in the greater university community, we should actively strive to develop understanding and connections among all the people with whom we share the planet, ¡Vamos! is the word for me.

Whether I´m telling a class “let´s go! Let´s get going with what we´re doing today!” or encouraging students to get on a plane and put what they´ve learned

at UNCW to use in a study abroad experience –“let´s go!”—or, in the case of the Honors seminar Amigos y escolares, where students tutor and mentor elementary school children –“let´s go! says it all for us. “Let´s do everything we can to help create cross-cultural experiences in our community!”. ¡Vamos! conveys the positive energy and yes: the inclusion, tolerance, and patience we all hope to create.

The Hispanic population in Wilmington, New Hanover County, and North Carolina has grown at a tremendous rate over the last three decades. Our state has seen the Hispanic population increase from onehalf percent 20 years ago to its current rate, roughly 8.5 percent. With this increase has come a need to provide services which will assist Hispanics in their efforts to assimilate into the wider community.

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At the 2011 National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Phoenix, Arizona, it was my privilege to speak about Amigos y escolares. During our panel’s presentation, I used the metaphor of railroad tracks to describe the Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities of New Hanover County. While perhaps not the most perfect metaphor ever, it does call to mind the image of two lines running right next to each other, lines which could “see” one another (if tracks could see!), but which never touch nor intersect. This has, until very recently, been the case locally and state-wide (as well as in other areas of the country).

Amigos is now in its ninth year. Its purpose is to facilitate contact, friendship, and core subject instruction between our Honors students and elementary school children at College Park Elementary School.

While a majority of the school children are Hispanic, Honors students are also paired with children from other areas of the world. It is gratifying to think that in one small way, we are contributing to our community by making connections and creating friendships in an environment of trust, learning, respect, and even fun!

Many of the children our Honors students mentor have basic proficiency in English. Others do not.

Whatever the level of the child’s English, though, more often than not his/her parents do not yet communicate effectively in English. This puts the children we work with at a disadvantage, as the help most of us could count on from our parents when we came home from school every day (homework, practice with spelling, writing, letters from teachers and the principal, etc.) does not exist for them.

The parents to whom I refer are hard-working people and are doing the very best they can in their new country. Learning English is definitely on their radar, but cannot happen overnight. Our Honors students perform a wonderful service by helping when, where, and how they can. They work one-onone or sometimes with more than one child, focusing on subjects for which the teachers request help.

During their sessions the “big” kids and the “little” kids come to know each other. It means the world for

each child to have his/her “own” college student show up for their session!

Amigos y escolares (which means Friends and students) is a seminar course. In class each week, students and I must “bring something to the table”.

This means that we research topics of personal interest and others that I assign. All pertain to the Spanishspeaking world. Each class, three or four students present a charla (a talk) on their topic. I speak on each as well. Some of our themes this semester are Hispanics in the U.S., cuisine in the Spanish-speaking world, history and geography of the Spanish-speaking world, music/art/literature in the Spanish-speaking world. Here are two examples of topics selected by students this semester: the Bri Bri indigenous community of Costa Rica, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In addition to the charlas and the questionand-answer sessions that follow, we use our time in class to pulir el español; to polish our Spanish. I call this segment of each class el taller, the workshop.

Students are free to ask any questions pertaining to the language (grammar, vocabulary, usage) they wish.

Everyone uses Spanish at the level appropriate to their experience; we have advanced, intermediate, and beginning level Spanish students in Amigos. Students know that they may present in either English or Spanish, although they are always encouraged to use their Spanish, and will not be penalized for attempting their charlas in the target language.

Whether in our classroom or in College Park, the philosophy behind Amigos y escolares is to create the most welcoming environment possible for all, and to finish our semester having done as much good as we possibly could. ¡Vamos!

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International Travel in Spain

Katherine Culley, an Honors anthropology major, travels to study abroad in Spain hiccups in the process of going through CIEE. “My classes here unfortunately aren’t related to Honors,” Katherine writes from the university she is studying at, the Universidad de Sevilla. “But I am taking classes in my major, anthropology. I’m taking a mix of Spanish and anthropology classes, all of which are in Spanish!”

Katherine’s obvious enthusiasm was evident even before she left at the beginning of the semester.

She also eagerly wrote on the differences between Andalusían and American culture. “One of the most prevalent [differences] is the schedule of their day,” she says. “In Spain, I have lunch between two and three o’clock and dinner anywhere between eight and ten o’clock. From two o’clock to five o’clock, all the stores are closed, and many people go home to eat lunch or take a nap.

Honors College students wanting to study abroad (Photo courtesy of Katherine Culley) The should follow in Katherine’s footsteps and not take no architectural beauty of Spain’s buildings is just one for an answer. Despite the fact that Katherine couldn’t benefit of studying abroad find a university program that fit her needs, she went out of her way to afford herself the best opportunity tudying abroad is a common practice among available, just what every Honors student should do.

Honors College students. Many students have gone on trips sponsored by the Honors College to Swansea or on trips through UNCW to other countries. Not as many, however, take the initiative to find study abroad opportunities that fit their needs by other means, outside of the university, even though they certainly are not few and far between.

Enter Katherine Culley (’16), a second-year Honors student studying anthropology, with just such initiative.

Even though it required some digging, she took the time to find the perfect (Photo courtesy of Katherine Culley) Culley (far right) poses with trip using the Office of International friends while abroad Programs’ vast resources—the CIEE’s (Council on International Educational Exchange) trip to Sevilla, the fourth largest city in Spain and the capital city of the southern province, Andalucía. With Katherine’s determination to get to Spain, nothing could stop her, even if there were a few Naomi Spicer Class of 2016

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Diving into Undergraduate Research

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Undergraduate marine biology major Andrea Yammine discusses her Honors research

do it while the fish are further South.”

But it is not all work. Yammine perks up and visibly brightens when talking NCW’s location attracts about learning to use all of the many beach lovers, and equipment and talking about many beach lovers become marine loving field research. She admits biology students. But that’s not that going to the beach every day what drew junior Andrea Yammine is a great part of the research. to UNCW and the marine biology “When it’s cold, Dr. Lankford program – for her, it was the fish. will get us hot cocoa,” she also At the Center for Marine confesses with a smile Science labs, or CMS, Yammine Yammine started working in and other student researchers help Dr. Lankford’s lab last semester, Dr. Lankford compare sediment so that by the time she graduates grain size to fish abundance using next spring, she will have had two four different species of surf zone years of undergraduate research fish. This way, the team can see if experience. She hopes to get into beach erosion and the changing graduate school to further research sediment sizes are affecting the and map the influence of humans fish population. and fisheries.

Dr. Lankford’s lab has data (Photo courtesy of Andrea Yammine) Dr. Lankford and Yammine on this topic dating back to 2006, Yammine enjoys snorkeling as part of met in an honors class about and these students are adding even her course of study research – HON120. “He talked more to the pool. Students in the to our class, and then I asked lab help with taking samples and him about working in the lab,” documenting them, and according Yammine shares. She recommends that other honors to Yammine this includes a lot of statistical analysis, students interested in research take the class to help really putting their “skills to the test.” “The best part is them make connections and get started as soon as they finding out the answer,” Yammine admits, and shares can! that so far the research shows that sediment size has not adversely affected the fish populations.

“We’re hoping to get the research published,” Yammine said, explaining that this would be the first time that this specific type of research would be presented. This research would show if beach re-nourishment is helpful or a detriment to the environment and local fish populations. Even if it proves to have a negative affect, Yammine understands that beach renourishment is required to keep beaches such as Wrightsville and Carolina Beach running for the economy, but there may be ways to lessen the impact. “They (Photo courtesy of Andrea Yammine) Yammine particularly could move up the date,” she suggests, “And appreciates the hands-on learning in the marine biology major Elizabeth Bernardo Class of 2015

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Promoting Leadership in RHA

Honors students share experiences with UNCW’s Residence Hall Association 2013-14 RHA Executive Board. Dallas was VP of community service, planning and facilitating programs on campus and in the Wilmington community that focused on community service. Jacubczak served as the VP of leadership development to develop the leadership skills of on-campus students through workshops, retreats, and a conference. Together they collaborated with their fellow executive board members and other UNCW leaders to better the university for students of the present and future.

When asked how being an Honors scholar affected her leadership experiences Dallas remarked, “Generally, Honors students aren’t just smart; they are open minded, hardworking, and dedicated. Those qualities are leadership qualities, so I think it’s just natural for Honors students to become leaders here on campus and in the (Photo courtesy of Kayla Jacubczak) Kayla Jacubczak presents world.” While both students recognized the an award as vice president of Leadership Development in the large time commitment taking on leadership Residence Hall Association positions can be, they agreed that with good time management skills (and a planner!) they t UNC Wilmington, there are a multitude of were able to help change others’ lives as well as their student-lead organizations. Under the Office of Housing and Residence Life in the Division of Student own.

Ashley Hann Class of 2017

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Affairs resides the Residence Hall Association (RHA), a group comprised solely of students that acts as the overall governing body for individuals residing oncampus. RHA works not only to govern on-campus life through legislation, but they also focus heavily on developing and promoting on-campus programs. On the larger scale of the entire university, they serve as a representative for the on-campus student population.

With more than 4,000 students residing on campus that means RHA represents the interests of nearly 40 percent of the undergraduate student body at UNCW. Leading this organization is an executive board comprised of a president, five vice presidents of different departments, and two national communication coordinators. During the 2013-14 school year two of the student leaders that were elected to positions on the RHA Executive Board were also members of the Honors College. Sterling Dallas (Class of ’15) and Kayla Jacubczak (Class of ’16) are both Honors students who held vice president positions on the

(Photo courtesy of Sterling Dallas) Sterling Dallas (left) and Kayla Kajubczak (right)

Non-Traditional Honors Students

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Honors student discusses the benefits and drawbacks of entering during her sophomore year Bethany Showers Class of 2015

(Photos by Naomi Spicer) Bethany Showers (left) and Matthew Rodriguez (right) consider themselves nontraditional honors students because they entered the Honors Program as sophomores

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efore the current semester, I received my admittance letter to the UNCW Honors College. I was to start this journey in the middle of the road compared to the majority of my peers who had been admitted before the fall of their freshman years. Coming late to the party labeled me as a “Non-Traditional Honors Student.”

With a fellow non-trad, Matthew Rodriguez, I was able to nail down the highs and lows of “middle-road” status.

Generally, if you were to ask any Honors student what they love most about the Honors College, firstly, they would say, “Early Registration.” The next benefit they would dwell on would be the challenging academic atmosphere. For people who love learning (affectionately known as “nerds” to the world outside this tight-knit group of intellectuals), Honors is an oasis for academic enthusiasm. Honors also provides passionate professors and caring, involved advisors for students.

“My advisor has been extremely helpful,” said Rodriguez. “She seems to care more about me and my desired career than just getting me that diploma.” Joining halfway through your freshman year has its pitfalls, though.

A big drawback to not being in Honors the fall of freshman year is missing out on an entire class (HON 110) dedicated to ensuring your comprehensive future in the Honors College. This class, plus rooming in Honors House helps freshmen find a true niche in Honors. While HON 110 acclimates freshmen to college life, it also introduces them to the inner workings of the UNCW Honors College. This combination of resources provides freshmen with more friendships and knowledge than the hour-long orientation that non-traditional Honors students receive ever could.

Nonetheless, the sense of accomplishment and intellectual vigor that comes with your acceptance letter to the UNCW Honors College is unparalleled.

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Some Girls...Love Drama (Continued) Much research went into a two-hour long Something the actors had to struggle with was the performance that ran for just one weekend. As a language. LaBute’s writing style is very unique, ranging director, I started out by reading as much of LaBute’s from sentence fragments to onomatopoetic sounds to anthology as I could, a collection of over 20 plays long, rambling run-ons. I also had to research the use alone, not counting his screenwriting credits. In of ellipses (also known as …) because LaBute puts addition, I watched the movie version of the play to them everywhere. From reading his other works and see how it translated into film and to inspire myself doing research, I realized that oftentimes these meant not to copy the film while directing. that LaBute wanted the character to be interrupted, for This was the simple preliminary research. The the next line to start coming in so that the characters difficulty came when I had to plan blocking and were talking over each other. Other times, these meant staging. I was given the SRO Theatre in the Cultural that LaBute wanted the actor to continue speaking Arts Building as my performance space, and I what they thought the line was in order to give it the finally settled on a thrust stage, with the playing area hyper-realistic feel that he is known for writing in. surrounded on three sides by audience members. My advisor, Professor Christopher Marino, suggested This was completely new to me, so I had to do a lot that these ellipses could mean that the energy of a of research on how to direct for a thrust stage, which conversation and connection needed to be projected led me to study how film directors direct and block forward, even though no words were being said. scenes. With audience surrounding the actors on three I got to sit in on the show every night to watch. sides, I had to have the actors act naturally while still I could clearly see where all of the actors put their being on the stage, leading me to research and take a research, obviously, but something magical happened. more cinematic approach to blocking.

All of that disappeared as it became apparent. While all Even harder was the research that I had my of the research fell into place, the characters came to life actors do, and that I myself did, in preparation for the as real people, people who really knew what they were show. Since the play’s main character, Guy, is a writer talking about and had internalized all of this knowledge. and an English professor, I had actor Nick Reed, That is the magic of theatre and performance, and none talk to English professors and read all of the works of it could be done half as well without the amount of referenced in the piece, spanning from Don Quixote to research that went into the production.

Candide to the story of Bluebeard. I had each girl in the play also do research for their character, for example, Kristina Auten, who played Sam, was asked to interview stay-at-home moms and business majors, Naomi Barbee was asked to sit in on nursing classes, and Ashley Stowe was asked to shadow English professors, particularly ones with specialties in gender studies.

Freshman Mickey Johnson, who made her department debut with this show, played free-spirited artist Tyler. Johnson researched for the role by listening to music in order to get in the emotional state of the character.

In addition, she “looked up jewelry manufacturing [and] jewelry designing” since her character designs for a living. She also researched different eras of Chicago in order to learn about the times in which Tyler (Photo by Caleb Stewart) Nick Reed and Mickey Johnson might have lived.

Honors College Alumni News

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Michelle Saraceni Sheffer (B.A. creative writing, B.A. English, ’06) is the senior writer and editor at the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for the public library system in Philadelphia. She writes everything from magazine feature stories to opeds for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sheffer received a master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and spent a year teaching 8th grade English and cultural studies. She also married Ian Sheffer (UNCW Honors ’07) in 2008. Ian is in his third year of residency as an internal medicine physician at Temple University Hospital and will be starting an infectious disease fellowship (also at Temple) later this year. In addition to his M.D., he received a master’s degree in bioethics (Photo courtesy of alum) (left to right) Jovian Sackett, Grayson from the University of Pennsylvania, and Sackett, and Margaret Davis he has been an integral part in starting the Center for Urban Bioethics and Humanities at Temple University.

Julia Daugherty (B.S. psychology, B.A. international studies, ’13) moved to Andalucia last September to Jovian Sackett (B.A. environmental studies, B.A. conduct research on cross-cultural psychology and geology, ’04) has been GIS analyst for the Southern work as a conversation assistant in a small pueblo Environmental Law Center since August 2007 and was of Almeria. Her time working at the University of recently promoted to senior geospatial analyst. In 2012, Granada, where the research is carried out, has been he received his GISP certification. He was married in enriching as she learned much about the culture of 2011 to Margaret Davis and became a father in 2012 to southern Spain, the educational system, and the glitches Grayson Davis Sackett. in neuropsychological tests due to cultural biases.

Megan Hunter Anderson (B.S. nursing, ’09) will graduate with a master’s degree in nursing with a family nurse practitioner concentration in May 2014.

Anderson was also married in May 2013.

Lauren Grimes (B.A. will start pharmacy school

French, in fall

’09) 2014.

(Photo courtesy of alums) (left to right) Michelle Saraceni Sheffer and Ian Sheffer

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Honors in Cuba: A Letter to the Staff Student conveys her enthusiasm for the HON 120 Cuba: Coastal Ecology and History Christina Salerno and Jamie Watson (editor) Class of 2017 and 2015

Hello all, I am writing to share my experiences while traveling to Cuba with my HON 120 class led by Dr. Alina Szmant and Dr. Amanda Dickens. I can honestly say that this trip was an amazing, life-changing experience.

We had tremendous cultural experiences and learned much about Cuba’s ecosystem in a hands-on manner.

All of the staff we interacted with were incredibly helpful. They were so excited to work with us and show us their research and even hinted at excitement for potential work together in the future. We even were given the opportunity to see a coral that is extinct in the Florida Keys during one of our amazing snorkels. A trip like this confirmed my love for marine biology, and it has assured me I am in the right field of study.

When I first heard about this trip, I was immediately interested just because it was a trip to Cuba. Travel to Cuba is limited, and many will never have the fortune of traveling there. That in itself excited me. I believe that experiencing other cultures is very important and beneficial, and since not much is known about the culture of Cuba, I was very interested in immersing myself in it. We got to interact with many native people, and I got to use the Spanish I learned last semester with Ms. Valerie Rider. It felt amazing to be able to take different aspects of my education and apply them all at once.

This trip was an amazing opportunity for me, and I am so glad I did it. I hope that this trip continues in the future because it can only get better. If any ambassadors are needed to further promote this trip, I would love to take part in that!

Thank you, and have a great summer!

Christina Salerno

Congratulations, Spring Graduates!

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University Honors with honors in...biology: Laurel Hardy, Christine Laite, Christine Lopez, Laura

McSweeney, Jessica Ochab, Kaylin Prestage, Andrew Schofield, Lauren Sotet, Elizabeth Stone, Megan TaigJohnston, Kaela Vogel, Lauren Waters chemistry: Sarah Bentil-Oqusu, Caroline Franks, Mary Steagall, Heather Stevenson communication studies: Maggie Hankins creative writing: Victoria Flanagan, Qualia Hendrickson, Andrew Robie economics Nathaniel Booe, Laverry Kumar, Richard Ogden, Michael Reading, Kenneth Rich, Ben Shoesmith English: Lauren Clairmont, Gabrielle Pantalena entrepreneurship & business development:Gabrielle Revette exercise science: Molly Baker, Tate Devlin geology: Kelly Hattori international business: Robert Hamilton marine biology Chelsea Adams, Emma Bogdan, Chelcie Ferguson, Kristin Heidenreich, Sarah Mandirola, Eric McCarthy, Alison Monroe, Emily Schwartz, Ethan Simpson, Rachel Southern marketing: Kyle Blackburn, Kate Hagenburg, Matthew Martino, Kasey Mead, Katrina O’Hanlon, Alexis Strobin, Whitney Vass mathematics: Richard Graham, Kristen Moody oceanography: Joseph Sisti psychology: Kayla Chatterton, Amanda Criscito, Megan Halloran, Andrew Kaniuka, Hana Kuwabara, Nina Thigpen special education: Samantha Goodwin

Honors in...biology: Joel Cook, Peter Lawson, Allyssa Lee, Emily Marx, Seth Thomas, Haley Woodward

chemistry: Hannah Lineberry, Pouguiniseli Tankoano community health education: Marlissa Ivers criminology: Katherine Couch, Tyler McCarty elementary education: Kristin Morocco English: Asia Brown, Dana Calhoun, Tabitha Shiflett film studies: Richard Vasquez finance: Hector Martin-Bernabeu, Fabian Rodriguez, Santos, Esther Shinn French: Wren Burney geography: Shaina Poore geosciences: Lauren Glass, Haley Kachmarik history: David Evans, David Silvia international studies: Gongtao Sun marine biology: Tammy Bleier, Colleen Bove, Jenae Progar marketing: Marina Martin de la Fuente nursing: Clarissa Morrissey physics: Derek Grimes, Benjamin St. Laurent political science: Caroline Logan psychology: Courtney Anderson, Devin Barlaan, Olga Blank, Ryan Brabrand, Lindsay Buchler, Marlee Cadwell, John Capps, Michael Loeffler, Michael Matthews, Emily Olds, Angela Sekely, Sarah Stoloff recreation therapy: Jordan Perry recreation, sport leadership, & tourism management Erik Bigsby, Patrick Fecher, Savannah Mays social work: Jennifer Roofner special education: Alexandria Ivey

Periplus Staff

Jamie Watson - Editor-in-Chief Naomi Spicer - Editor Cody Beck - Assistant Editor Ashley Hann - Assistant Editor Dr. Bill Atwill - Advisor Staff Writers: Ashley Deleon Qualia Hendrickson Katie Albritton Morgan Thompson Professor Valerie Rider Elizabeth Bernardo Bethany Showers

UNCW Honors College 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403 www.uncw.edu/honors 910.962.4181

From the Editors:

The editors of Periplus are especially excited to have the newsletter reach 16 pages for the first time in two years. Although we value quality over quantity, our staff and staff writers have risen to the challenge of covering a variety of interesting topics regarding UNCW’s Honors College. Our staff is composed of volunteers devoting much time and energy to this publication, and we could not be more thankful.

Jamie Watson, Class of ’15

In Your Corner:

UNCW is a midst of transitions, and the Honors College is no exception. We are sad to see Bill Atwill leave as associate director, but are thrilled that Dr. Jennifer Horan will be joining us starting this summer.

She will bring a fresh perspective built on the foundation of her varied honors teaching and advising experiences. I know that faculty and students will really enjoy working with her- her energy is infectious! So please join me in welcoming Jennifer Horan to the Honors College!

Naomi Spicer, Class of ’16

Cody Beck, Class of ’16

Ashley Hann, Class of ’17

Dr. Katherine Bruce, Director UNCW Honors College

Give the Gift of Honors to Future Honors Students!

Name__________________________________________________________________________________ Home Address___________________________________________________________________________ City__________________________________________ State____________ Zip______________________ Home Phone: (______)______________________ Work Phone: (_______)_________________________ Email_________________________________________________________________________________ _______ I would like my gift to go to the Levy-Bruce Honors Scholars Endowed Scholarship

(scholarship for new Honors students) _______ I would like my gift to go to the Honors Scholars Trust Fund (programming) _______ I would like my gift to go to support UNCW Undergraduate Research _______ I would like my gift to go to _______________________________________________________ Please make checks payable to UNCW and mail to: Advancement Services, UNC Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403-5905 I would like to pledge $_________ to be paid in installments of $__________ to be billed: _____ Annually _____ Semi-Annually _____ Quarterly _____ Monthly _____ My first payment is enclosed. _____ Visa _____MC _____AmEx Card # ___________________________ 3 Dig.Sec. Code________ Exp. Date ___________ Signature: _______________________________________________ If you or your spouse work for a matching gift company, you could double or triple your gift.

Please obtain a matching gift form from your employer and mail with this form to UNCW. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Advancement Services: (910) 962-3593 or toll free (866) 468-6291 MAKE YOUR GIFT ONLINE: www.uncw.edu/giveonline