Oklahoma City University Honors Program Newsletter—Fall 2016

THE ENDEAVOR NEWSLETTER OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY HONORS PROGRAM FALL 2016

2 Director's Corner 3 Welcome, Freshmen 4 Faculty Spotlight 5 Student Council News 5 Friday Forums 6–7 Seattle Conference

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DIRECTOR’S CORNER The fall of 2016 has seen some exciting new initiatives for the OCU Honors Program as we seek to provide new opportunities for community building and program growth. I’d like to quickly highlight two of those new efforts here.

KAREN YOUMANS

Pictured above, center: The Gold Star Memorial Building at sunset.

The two-day Honors Orientation and Retreat that precedes Stars Week for incoming freshmen has been a long-standing tradition for the OCU Honors Program. This year, with the introduction of the Honors Peer Mentoring Program, honors student leaders took a more prominent role in organizing and facilitating that orientation endeavor. Our new multi-purpose environment in the Gold Star Memorial Building provided the ideal environment for welcoming our new honors freshmen and introducing them to the opportunities and challenges of Honors at OCU. After a bustling Sunday morning move-in, students and their families participated in a welcome reception in the Honors Hall and a welcome dinner later that evening in the University Center Cafeteria (“the Caf”). Monday morning was devoted to orientation sessions in the Honors Hall led by the peer mentors, while afternoon activities included a trip to The Escape OKC for team-building exercises. We received much positive feedback from both new students and their families about their orientation experience and hope to build on this success next year.

Alongside these efforts to enhance the honors experience for our current students, we’re also reaching out to program alumni, hoping to reconnect with many and invite them to play a role in our larger OCU Honors community. We know our alumni represent a wealth of education and professional experience that could benefit current students in numerous ways. Our first general mailing to alumni went out in August, and we’ll continue to reach out in various ways as we seek to update our alumni database. We invite alumni to visit the Honors page on the OCU website to fill out our alumni form and to like our Facebook page, Honors @OCU, to stay up-todate with all things Honors.

Dr. Youmans

STAY CONNECTED facebook.com/ocuhonors 2

okcu.edu/academics/honors

CLASS OF 2020 The OCU Honors Program is proud to welcome its new freshman cohort. This year’s class has students from all over the country who are majoring in various fields of study. The new honors students took advantage of early move-in and participated in many honorssponsored events. An honors open house was held for students and their families in order to introduce them to the program and to give them tours around the new honors space.

This year’s honors orientation was special because many upperclassmen honors students were involved in orientation through the honors peer-mentoring program, a new leadership and service opportunity which gives upperclassmen the opportunity to help plan and facilitate Honors Orientation. Additionally, mentors are each assigned a group of six to nine freshmen, which they will form relationships with and advise throughout the school year. During orientation, mentors and freshmen participated in various teambuilding activities with their groups, including a live escape game at Escape OKC. On behalf of the Honors Program, we wish the new class a great first year and many years to come. Welcome Class of 2020!

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT DR. ERIK HEINE Dr. Erik Heine, professor of music theory and assistant director of the Honors Program, participated in a fundraising ultramarathon to help create the Deb Heine Endowed Scholarship for OCU music students.

At 6:00 a.m. on October 22, Dr. Heine began the endurance challenge with a personal goal of hitting 50 miles before 6:00 p.m.

Not only did he meet his goal in just under 8 hours, he also kept running and won the race with a finishing distance of 71.85 miles over the 12-hour period.

What made you want to create this scholarship?

DR. ERIC HEINE PROFESSOR OF MUSIC THEORY

“I want to do something that will have a positive lasting effect on the university. I don't have the financial means to create this scholarship on my own, but I have a body that is still willing to do something that will hopefully be awe-inspiring, and will encourage alumni and friends of OCU to support me in this challenge.”

When did you first develop an interest in running?

“I initially started running track and cross country in high school, but unfortunately ended up facing a serious injury which knocked me off my feet for a few years. When working on my dissertation, however, I needed an outlet to relieve stress so I began running again, and now I am at a point where I cannot do without it.”

Was there a point where you thought you might break down?

How did you manage to keep going for the whole 12 hours?

“When you get to a certain point everything hurts and it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s going to hurt. My threshold is 4.5 hours, and after that it gets pretty painful, but you just have to know that it is going to hurt from that point onwards. There are so many ways it can go wrong and there is only one way it can go right, and this one went right. I am extraordinarily appreciative of the people who came out to see me, that is what I needed in the afternoon.

As everyone started to come out, I knew this is what I was doing it for. I would walk when they couldn’t see me, so I always made sure I was running for them. I knew I was going to make it 12 hours because people were counting on me and for every mile I ran it was more money into the scholarship fund.”

Will there be another ultramarathon challenge in the future?

“No, never. I spent 10 months getting myself mentally and physically prepared for this race. There was so much mental work involved. I spent 10 months alone getting my mind ready, because during a race as long as this one, it is so easy to break down if you are not cognitively aware of the pain and suffering you will face throughout the duration of the race. With kids and family, it is especially hard to prepare for a race like this. However, I am still going to run the OKC Memorial marathon in April and try to get a chance to run the Boston Marathon.”

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HONORS STUDENT COUNCIL UPDATE Hi, Honors students!

I hope you are having a great year so far! Next semester, HSC will be starting a series about maintaining mental health in college, so keep a lookout for our advertising! We are planning to talk about stress management, selfperception, and challenges for college students. We are also planning to get beanbag chairs for the Honors lounge. As always, we will host a spring enrollment party and end-of-the-year party. Hope to see you at our events!

Thank you, Sylvia Hayes Honors Student Council President Pictured: Sylvia Hayes in Taipei during the OCU-Doers Taiwan Study Program trip in July.

FRIDAY FORUM

It has been one year since the Honors Program started hosting Friday Forums, a weekly meetup of honors students and faculty where professors, students, and organizations hold discussions and presentations for the program.

This semester, the honors program has enjoyed hosting some very interesting Friday Forums. Professor Kate Huston, Dr. Richard Johnson, and state Representative Cyndi Munson gave a presentation on “Women and Politics.� Honors student Patience Williams and professor Tracy Floreani presented the research they completed last summer in the Yale Library Archives in New Haven, Connecticut, about Fanny Ellison, the wife of Oklahoma writer Ralph Ellison. Mary Benner and the Study Abroad department hosted a global engagement session where honors students met exchange students from Taiwan and Germany and shared their experiences about studying abroad.

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NCHC 2016: THE STARS OF SEATTLE From October 12 to 16, honors students Eric Odum, Sylvia Hayes, Arrash Allahyar, Patience Williams, Tom Hoblin, Lauren Branum, Josh Hertz, Anna Nguyen, and Celia Tedde, along with Dr. Karen Youmans and Dr. Dave Easley, attended the 51st National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Seattle, Washington.

Honors educators and students gathered for a variety of workshops, master classes, roundtable discussions, and an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas. Students also participated in City as Text, an NCHC program which allows students to visit the many unique and historical districts of Seattle: Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Gasworks Park, Seattle Center, and many other great locations.

OCU also won a first place award for having the best honors newsletter.

The 51st conference was concluded with a gala and a closing concert which included performances from a Japanese percussion group and a Native American tribal band.

OCU Honors students and faculty presentations included: Karen Youmans, Dave Easley, Tom Hoblin, Celia Tedde Beyond Acceleration: Alternative Curriculum Design in Honors (Music) Courses Anna Nguyen and Lauren Branum Using Digital Storytelling for Critical Reflection About International Experiences Patience Williams Poetry Masterclass and performance Eric Odum Getting to Know SOX: A Hindsight Analysis of the 2002 SarbanesOxley Act Arrash Allahyar Tardigrades as a Potential Model Organism for Astrobiological Research

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