California University of Pennsylvania Honors Program
Fall 2015
PASSHE 2015
PAGE 2
Fall 2015 Graduating
Seniors
PAGES 4
Summer in Spain
PAGE 5
University Honors Program News
Writing Consultants Go Cross Country
T
hree Honors Program students also working as writing consultants for the Cal U Writing Center presented
their scholarship at a national conference in November. Juniors Alex Dawes (anthropology) and Ashley
Shilling (English) joined senior Rebecca McDonough (psychology) and Cal U Writing center director Dr. Kurt
Kearcher to present “RAD Reflections: Testing Our Assumptions about the Role of Undergraduate Tutors in
RAD-Based Writing Center Research” at the National Conference on
Peer Tutoring in Writing held in Salt Lake City November 6-8.
The writing consultants and director discussed their scholarly
work in the Cal U Writing Center as it relates to RAD research,
which emphasizes scholarship that is replicable, aggregable, and data
supported. The conference drew hundreds of undergraduate tutors,
graduate tutors, and professional writing center scholars and directors
from dozens of education institutions
for three days of programming
devoted to writing center practices,
scholarship, and administration. The
students’ travel was funded in part by
Top: Students conversing
the Honors Program.
before presentation.
Left: Students listening to
Dr. Kearcher present.
PAGE 2
PASSHE 2015
Norway Welcomes Cal U
Honors Students
By Rachel Constantini
T
his past summer, through
Pennsylvania State System of
Higher Education Summer Honors Program, I had the opportunity to become a world traveler.
Never did I think I would be traveling across the ocean to Norway
as a college student, and have the
chance to see firsthand what another country is doing to reduce
its carbon footprint.
I was one of two representatives from California University of Pennsylvania, both of us
juniors in the Honors Program.
During the first week of the program, we took two courses at West
Chester University, one exploring
Nobel Leadership and the second
on Environmental Stewardship.
We had a busy week: lectures every day, written reflections on
daily readings, final presentations
for each of the classes, watched
documentaries to end each night,
and we even squeezed in a field
trip. One of the highlights of the
course work was working with
another student to research a past
Nobel Laureate. I researched F.W.
de Klerk and Nelson Mandela,
and when we arrived in Norway,
got to see the Nobel Peace Prize
the pair received.
The second week we spent
in Oslo, Norway. There was very
little time for relaxing - we were
always moving, whether visiting
a museum, touring the American
Embassy, or rowing a Viking ship.
By far, the highlight of the trip was
nominating someone for the Nobel Peace Prize. We presented our
nominations in the room where
the Nobel Institute actually names
the Nobel Peace Prize recipient for
that year. My l favorite experience
was giving ideas to the friends of
Østensjøvannet Lake for a trail
they plan to build, and studying
the native wildlife of Norway.
I learned so much through
this program, not just from the
lectures, but also from the other PASSHE students. Each of us
took the information we learned
and have done things on our own
campuses to change the way people think about the environment.
At IUP, a student is working with
the cafeteria to reduce food waste.
Here at Cal U, I am working with
my sustainable recreation class to
look at local parks and help them
become more ecofriendly.
Top Right:
Kirra Lent
with Norway
student.
Bottom Left:
PASSHE
group photo.
Above: Rachel Constantini and Kirra Lent pose
in Norway.
Newsletter Staff
Editors
Zoe Scripter
Amelia Lipkind
Contributors
Rachel Constantini
Thomas Koenig
Karina Sanchez
Amelia Lipkind
Lindsey Gasper
Cynthia Zelmore
Austin Owens
Alicia Wadsworth
Kelsey Baumgardner
Rebecca McDonough
Honors Program News
Honors Program Staff
Director- Dr. M. G. Aune
Associate Director- Dr. Craig Fox
Secretary- Kim Orslene
PAGE 3
Giving Thanks to Student Honors Advisory Board Members
SHAB President Gives a Shout
Out to Fall 2015 Members
By Lindsey Gasper
I
t has been an honor to serve
as the president of SHAB for
this past calendar year for so
many different reasons that I
could never fit them all into this
article. I personally have seen a
tremendous amount of growth
in our Honors community and
I’d like to think that SHAB has
really helped facilitate that growth
through organizing events and
further informing our student
body. The one thing I am very
pleased with is the success of the
open SHAB Meetings we held
this semester. These meetings are
meant to give Honors Program
members a snapshot of what
SHAB is responsible for, but
also to give students a chance to
come forward with any questions,
comments, or concerns that they
may have. SHAB really strives to
please all members of the Honors
community to the best of our
abilities.
I would also like to thank
all of those who participated in
our Service Socials this semester!
From all things pumpkin spice
to crazy, creative Halloween
costumes and cozy hot cocoa,
there surely was something for
everyone. Of course, none of these
events would have been possible
without the undying dedication
of all the SHAB members, and
the committee members. I would
like to thank every one of them
for all of their hard work and
commitment to improving the
Honors Program for everyone.
Best wishes to the new members
and new officers taking over this
coming spring semester; I cannot
wait to see what future holds.
Also, a big congratulations to
those of us graduating either in
December or May: Angela Selby,
Skyler Boehm, Andee Stynchula,
and John Troutman.
Left: Students pose for pics. Middle: Adam Andresen photo
bombs the picture. Right: Brynna Sherony, Lindsey Gasper, and Angela Selby.
Astrophysical Research
Student Studies at Baylor
University in Texas
By Alicia Wadsworth
ver the summer, I contributed to astrophysical research
being performed at Baylor University in Waco, TX. I collected
lightcurve data for asteroids, and
using this data, generated several
lightcurves for two asteroids, 51
Nemausa and 135 Hertha. I later
submitted these data sets to the
Minor Planet Center’s Lightcurve
Database, an online resource for
O
astronomers and astrophysicists
to view asteroid lightcurve data.
This project was done as a preliminary foray into collecting raw
lightcurve data for asteroids, with
the researchers having the eventual goal of collecting enough
data to generate a 3-dimensional
model of an asteroid using only its
lightcurve data. I am glad to have
had the chance to become more
involved in advanced scientific
research, and I have gained some
valuable skills and experience.
Honors Program News
I highly recommend the National Science Foundation’s (NSF)
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for any
other students who are interested
in making a contribution to their
field through research. Students
who apply have the chance to work
closely with faculty who are actively researching one of many areas in
the sciences. The NSF even offers
a grant for students who are interested in participating in an REU.
PAGE 4
Graduating Seniors
David P. Casey Dr. Laura Miller
Honors Thesis: Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media for Athletes
Abigail K. Petrosky Dr. Pamela Twiss
Honors Thesis: Women in Government: An Analysis of GirlGov
Angela Selby Dr. Denise Joseph
Honors Thesis: Investigating Ageism in Undergraduates: A Comparative Analysis of Different Academic Majors
Shawn M. ShannonDr. Marcia Hoover
Honors Thesis: HEATT: The Other Side of Cross Curricular Education
Megan E. Sweeney Dr. Holiday Adair
Honors Thesis: The Effects of Mandatory Therapy for Counselors in Training
A Collection of Perspectives
Honors Student Interviews
Drs. Fox and Persinger
By Cynthia Zelmore
T
he University Honors Program offers a wide variety of
courses to students to enrich their
college experience, and this fall
semester a new honors course was
offered, Topics in Arts and Humanities. Not only was this class
new to the Honors Program, it
was newly developed by Dr. Fox
and Dr. Persinger based around
their mutual research interests.
Dr. Persinger and Dr. Fox teach
the class together on Wednesdays from 6:00 PM to 8:45 PM.
The class features a wide range of
articles and resources for the students to peruse each week. The
students familiarize themselves
with each article. They prepare to
summarize and discuss one article in particular in depth with the
other members of the class and
the professors. Students also research the background of an author from the readings to provide
better context for the material.
In teaching the class
together from different backgrounds, Dr. Persinger and Dr.
Fox bring unique perspectives
to the material. While they both
enjoy discussing and debating
the coursework, they arrived at
their mutual interests from separate starting points. Dr. Fox is a
professor who studies philosophy
and comes to discuss art through
his pursuit of understanding the
way people evaluate the meaningfulness of things. On the other hand, Dr. Persinger is an art
history professor focused on the
development of art history perspectives who studied the work
of art historian Meyer Schapiro
for many years. Dr. Fox contacted Dr. Persinger about an article related to Meyer Schapiro
and from their discussion grew
a wealth of material of potential
perspectives and meaningful talks
of art that lead to their developing the curriculum for the class.
They hope it will leave
students with, as Dr. Fox says,
“an openness and awareness to
different possible ways of trying
Honors Program News
to come to understand art things
and to bring that to your later
experiences as you go on in life
and college and beyond, not even
just art things.” Dr. Persinger
adds that she hopes students
will take away a new “way of
approaching things in the world”.
Their discussions are
lengthy, the readings and sources
are plentiful, and they mix together to create a class of content students are unlikely to find outside
the Honors Program. The professors have enjoyed teaching it so
far and say that they would gladly teach such a class again given
the opportunity. The class had no
prerequisite, the professors only
asked that students to an interest
in the topics and materials of the
class. Students across majors and
experience level signed up for the
class and engage with their professors at length every week. While
it is still a new course, the results
look promising and perhaps as the
class plays out, everyone will come
away with a new perspective.
PAGE 5
Summer in Spain
Student Has an Experience of
a Lifetime Abroad
By Karina Sanchez
T
his past spring semester, I
was lucky enough to have the
opportunity to study abroad in
beautiful Alicante, Spain. It is located
on the southeastern coast, and from
my apartment I had a view of the
ocean and of mountain-top castle
ruins. The city is small enough that
you can get to anything you need by
walking, and big enough that you
never run out of new things to do
and see. Over the course of my five
months there, I attended classes at
the University of Alicante four days
a week, taught English twice a week
to a group of Spanish middle school
students, and took advantage of all
my long weekends through travel
or exploring Alicante. Adjusting to
life abroad took a couple of weeks,
and taking classes entirely taught
in Spanish was definitely a new
experience. However, as new as
everything was to me, by the time
it came time to leave Alicante it
felt like I was leaving home all over
again.
Studying abroad offered me
opportunities of a lifetime; I was
able to travel to places I had only
ever dreamed of one day seeing.
During my time abroad, I was able
to explore new cities in Spain, as
well as London, Paris, Rome, Venice,
Milan, Pompeii, and even ventured
to Morocco. I walked ancient
streets, celebrated in the madness
of the Fiestas de Carnival, sat atop
the London Eye at sunset, wandered
through the Parisian catacombs (at
times alone) just before closing time
after having stood at the top of the
Eiffel tower, explored more ruins
than I could count and was able to
quite literally step back in time, got
Honors Program News
culture shock and food poisoning,
visited awe-inspiring museums,
cathedrals, and castles, and met so
many new, amazing people that I
will never forget. I hope to be able to
return to Alicante, and to continue
to travel as much as possible. I may
even pursue a post-graduate degree
from the University of Valencia in
the future.
To anyone thinking about
studying abroad – or going abroad
for any amount of time – I say take
any opportunity that comes your
way, and to make the absolute most
of your experiences while they last!
PAGE 6
PSU’s Nanotech Manufacturing
PSU Offered a NMT Program
to Students Over Summer
By Thomas Koenig
D
uring the summer of 2015,
two California University
of Pennsylvania UHP students
attended the 18-credit nanofabrication manufacturing technology (NMT) program offered by
the Pennsylvania State University
(PSU). The students offered their
unique background in theoretical physics to a group-work based
environment. Classes were held
three hours per day each day of the
week for 12 weeks. In addition to
learning the theory behind manufacturing processes, the students
were also exposed to state of the
art machinery. Included among
the numerous tools used were
the scanning electron microscope
(SEM), electron beam lithography (E-beam lithography), atomic force microscope (AFM), and
plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition (PECVD). These tools
Honors Field Trip
Dr. Fisanick’s Class Takes a
Trip to Wheeling, WV
By Austin Owens
O
n October 15-16, 2015,
students from Dr. Christina
Fisanick’s Honors 150 class spent
time in Wheeling, West Virginia
to conduct research for their
digital storytelling projects. Upon
arrival at the cabin at Ogelbay Park
in Wheeling, WV, we prepared
ourselves for a dinner sponsored
by Alpha Delta Kappa’s Iota chapter
and attended by local media, a
lecturer, and most importantly,
prominent supervisors, managers,
and experts on the historical sites
were housed in a multimillion dollar clean room, which required the
students to gown in full bunny suits.
Experiments conducted involved
deposition, etching, and characterization of various materials.
Half-way through the series of courses, the students were
challenged to write a group paper
on various topics. One student was
assigned to write a fifty-page paper
on gold nanowires as sensors; the
other student was assigned a paper
of similar length on nanoantennas
and photonic crystals. After submission of their first group papers,
the class quickly moved through additional content and was assigned
another term paper. The requisite
page length was 70 pages, assigned
to be completed within three weeks.
One student was assigned
to write on solar cell fabrication
and took the liberty to extensively
discuss solid state physics principles vital to the function of the cell.
He additionally tutored several
group members in solid state physics to ensure their understanding
of processes at the atomic level.
The other student was assigned to write on fuel cell fabrication and application. The fuel cell
designed was 125 cubic centimeters with enough power output to
fuel a car. The student was the only
member of his group with a solid background in chemistry and
led his team through the oxidation-reduction chemical processes
associated with fuel cell technology. He worked closely with a graduate of North Hampton Community College in designing a novel
fabrication process from scratch.
Both projects were well
received. The students both remark on the unique experience
offered to them by the program,
and how much they learned
about fabrication processes and
techniques. One plans to attend
graduate school to earn a PhD
in materials science, focusing in
nanotechnology while the other intends on earning his PhD
in high energy particle physics.
we were researching. After dinner
Dr. Javersack, a retired history
professor and Dean of Liberal Arts
at West Liberty University, gave a
brief but informative history of the
city of Wheeling.
The next morning my partner (Jacob Rice) and I began our
research in Wheeling by capturing
the geography of the city on camera. Once we entered our site, Independence Hall, it became clear
that there was much more to take
in about Wheeling, West Virginia
than we had anticipated. And we
know from talking to our classmates that they found their sites
equally captivating. In addition to
Independence Hall, this semes-
ter’s Honors 150 students are researching and presenting digital
stories about West Liberty University’s Rare Books Room, Oglebay’s Glass Museum, Oglebay’s
Mansion Museum, and the Ohio
County Public Library’s Archives
and Special Collections. We will
be back in Wheeling on December 5 from Noon to 2 pm at the
Ohio County Public Library to
premiere our digital stories. The
event is free and open to the public.
Honors Program News
PAGE 7
Making the Magic
Internship with the “Happiest
Place on Earth”
By Kelsey Baumgardner
E
very little girl dreams of
some day working at Disney
world. Last semester I made that
dream come true. After years
of looking I finally decided to
take a chance and apply for the
Disney College Program. This
program allows students to live
and work at Disney World for
up to a full year. With this program students from all across
the world find themselves in Orlando working for the mouse.
For the length of my pro-
gram I worked merchandise in
Disney’s Animal Kingdom. When I
found out where I would be working it was safe to say I was less than
thrilled. It wasn’t my dream spot, but
looking back on it I wouldn’t have
changed it for the world. It became
my home and I had a family to get
me through the long 14 hour shifts
while still keeping my Disney smile.
While I was there I really
confirmed the fact that I wanted to
work for the company for the rest
of my life. Spending six months in
the happiest place on earth made
me realize it really is just that. Every
day I spent there gave me a reason
to smile. Knowing I was making a
difference in a families’ vacation
was truly a magical experience.
Because of the Disney
College Program I now have
friends all across not only the
country, but the world. The program has also given me new goals
in life. It helped me find myself
and who I want to be. The program gave me the room I needed to grow and I now know if I
make a wish and do as dreamers
do, all my wishes will come true.
Right: Kelsey Baumgardner posing
in front of the iconic castle at Disney
World.
NCHC Fall 2015
NCHC Students Head to
Chicago
By Rebecca McDonough
A group of 18 honors students
traveled to Chicago from November 11-15 for the 50th annual National Collegiate Honors Council
conference. Opportunity carried
them notably on the wind through
Millennium Park, the John Hancock Center, Navy Pier, a dog park,
and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Students presented their
research in a variety of formats,
including poster sessions (Emily Dickey, Haley Bashada, Shelby
Zikeli, Skyler Boehm, Leah Sead-
er, Nicole Stephens, Andee Stynchula, Abby Beatty, Adam Andresen,
Rebecca McDonough, and Sami
Ringel), roundtable discussions
(Angela Selby, Leah Seader, and
Lindsey Gasper), idea exchanges
(John Troutman and Jared Sofranko), presentations (Ethan Klersy
and Laura Owens), and a drama
master class (Kayla Grimm).
Abby Beatty received the
award for best environmental sciences poster for her research on
herbicides. This is the second year
Honors Program News
in a row that a Cal U Honors student has won a best poster award.
As it was the 50th annual
meeting, the conference concluded with an elaborate gala, termed
“college prom” by its attendees.
The celebration featured a unique
dinner, improv comedy show, live
band, and a keynote address.
PAGE 8
Interview with an Alumni
Success Story from Cal U
Alumni
By Amelia Lipkind
L
awrence Murray is a 2009 Cal
U Honors graduate with a degree in Communications Studies
and a focus in radio and television
performance. Once he graduated, he went back home to Philadelphia and got involved with
a volunteer organization called
City Year which is a program that
helps students and schools succeed. In California he decided to
go back to school for a graduate’s
degree at USC Annenberg School
for Communication and Journalism in 2012. Through Annenberg,
he had the privilege of traveling
to Sochi for the Winter Olympics
as a communications intern for
the United States Olympic Committee. This was when he started
to finally get into what he had always wanted to do: Sports Journalism. As of March 2014, he graduated from Annenberg and soon
after he picked up a job working
for Fox Sports 1, covering basketball. Since December 2014, he has
been working for the NFL Network
as a researcher. While at Cal U, he
learned that the Honors Program
was going to push him more academically, but help him in the long
run. At first, coming to Cal as a
freshman, he did not intend on going into the Honors Program, but
he got a well needed push from a
professor and he ended up sticking with it. He admits that without
the Honors Program, he probably
would not have made it into grad
school. He goes on to say that his
most memorable moment in the
Honors Program was his thesis.
He may not have been the most
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Honors Program News
involved student when it came to
excursions or conferences, but his
thesis was his favorite memory of
the Honors Program and something that he is very proud of. His
thesis was on Hip Hop and Media
over the last twenty-five years and
he did attend a conference that
took place here at Cal about hip
hop music.
He also gave words of advice for the students here at Cal
U. Relationships are everything.
Working on relationships outside
of the classroom is something to
focus on and develop. Feel free to
get out of your comfort zone, but
still have control over the situations you put yourself in. Make relationships with peers, professors,
advisors, etc. because they are the
ones that will help you with your
goals. Grades can only carry you
so far.
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @CalUHonors