THE ENDEAVOR
NEWSLETTER OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY HONORS PROGRAM SPRING 2015
2 Director's Corner 3 Research Day 3 Goldwater 4 Honored Graduates 5 Year-End Party 6–7 Faculty Spotlight 8 Upcoming This Fall Pictured: Gold Star Building, future home of Honors
DIRECTOR’S CORNER It’s hard to believe how quickly the last year has passed. Just yesterday I was shuffling through liability forms and lunch orders for the infamous Honors Retreat Ropes Course, and now I’m a full year into this exciting journey as your Honors Director. I’ve enjoyed a challenging and rewarding year advising and teaching an amazing group of bright and motivated students. While we build on a strong tradition of academic excellence and innovative learning, we look forward to an even brighter future. KAREN YOUMANS
The Honors Student Council continues to evolve as a student organization well equipped to take us into the next era for OCU Honors. Student participation in HSC events has been up this year, and we saw a record number of candidates running for HSC Exec this spring. A number of new HSC initiatives are in the works for next year. If you are interested in helping out on any of the HSC committees, please contact Eric Odum (edodum@my.okcu.edu). Earlier this spring, the OCU School of Law moved to their new building in downtown Oklahoma City, and vacated their space in the historic Gold Star Memorial Building at the heart of OCU’s main campus. Thanks to the initiative and leadership of former Honors Directors Jim Buss and Virginia McCombs, as well as Assistant Director Marc DiPaolo, half of that building’s first floor has been dedicated for development as the University Honors Center. This new center will include space for Honors classrooms, a student lounge and study room, and offices for both Honors Program administration and Honors Student Council. Be looking for announcements over the summer about work days (for those of you staying in the OKC metropolitan area this summer) as we hope to be able to move into the space by the start of the fall semester. (*applause*) Many of your Honors student colleagues are traveling and studying abroad this summer, and I’m encouraging them to post their blog addresses on the OCU Honors Facebook page so that we can follow their adventures! Keep an eye out for that. Whether you are interning, traveling, researching for a capstone project, studying for the MCAT, or taking much-needed rest, I wish you the most meaningful and enjoyable of summers. Best, Dr. Youmans
STAY CONNECTED facebook.com/ocuhonors
okcu.edu/academics/honors
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY WINNERS British Literature Colin Ferguson Rachel Honaker
Predicting Postmodernism in Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy Issues of Slavery and Jane Austen's Mansfield Park
Ethics, Politics, and Globalism Rileigh Darby-McClure Diverging from the Apocalypse: What Are We Afraid Of? Popular Culture Caitlin Brown
The Importance of Illustration
Literary Endings and Beginnings Kyle Wardwell Naively Saving the Apocalypse: Searching for Moral Answers in “Trigun� Science Rileigh Darby-McClure
Immunology and Pathogenic Microbiology
Feminist Science Fiction Erin Langer With Dystopia as a Representation of the Present: The Handmaid's Tale Music Nicole Baker
The Joke of Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in E Major, Op.33, No.2
Dystopian Futures Sylvia Hayes
Interpreting Mockingjay
BIOLOGY MAJOR EARNS GOLDWATER COMMENDATION RILEIGH DARBY-MCCLURE Rileigh Darby-McClure, a junior cell and molecular biology major and honors student from Colorado Springs, Colo., received an honorable mention commendation from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Program. The scholarship program honoring Senator Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. Each year around 200 scholarship and 150 honorable mention recipients are chosen from a field of well over a thousand applicants. Darby-McClure plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the field of neurobiology.
CUM HONORE Congratulations to the following students who graduated cum honore from Oklahoma City University in the spring of 2015. The Honors Program celebrated their accomplishments during the annual Senior Dinner at Hefner Grill, where seniors received their Honors graduation certificates and sashes to wear at graduation. Special awards were also given to Dr. Marc DiPaolo who was awarded Distinguished Honors Professor of the Year, and to Dr. Regina Bennett, who received the Honors Program Distinguished Service Award. Senior Colin Ferguson was awarded Outstanding Honors Student of the Year.
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Seth Adams Instrumental Music Education
William Lugar Religion, Philosophy
Cameron Calloway Biology
Beatrize Martinez Criminology, Economics
Laura Cunningham Business
Lauren Matheny Acting
Tiesha Davis Nursing, Spanish
Kathryn Wonderly Vocal Music Education
Colin Ferguson Philosophy, English
Eric McClure Music
Alexandria Hansen Early Childhood Education
Devin Murphey Marketing
Christina Hansen Cell & Molecular Biology
Lillie Pennington Biology
Taylor Henderson Biomedical Science
Jacob Tipps Cell & Molecular Biology
Kathryn Hirsch Religion
Victoria Trujillo Vocal Music
Theresa Hottel English, Film Production
Andrew Wasson History
Alexandria Johnson Entertainment Business, Dance
Julia Wither Film Studies
CELEBRATE The Honors Program and Honors Student Council hosted an end-of-the-year celebration at the iconic Paramount Theatre on Film Row. Honors students, friends, and faculty joined each other for a night of food, film, and fun. The event was a great way for everyone to enjoy some quality time with each other and take a break from all the stress that comes with the end of the semester. After dinner, students enjoyed a screening of the 1979 version of “Dracula.� The Paramount was an amazing venue, and the Honors Program may even host another movie night there in the future, so make sure to be on the lookout.
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT MARC DiPAOLO Dr. Marc DiPaolo, associate professor of English and film and assistant director of the Honors program, has been awarded $2,000 by the Junior Scholar Grant for scholarly work in the field of religious studies for his next book. This book will be a first for DiPaolo, dealing exclusively with the intersection of religious studies and literary studies. DiPaolo’s book will trace the influence of the Christianized Norse mythology of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien on the fantasy genre and examine how novelists Philip Pullman, Suzanne Collins, George R.R. Martin and television serial writers Terry Nation and Stephen Moffat claimed starkly different ideological agendas from Lewis and Tolkien yet mirrored their ecological concerns.
MARC DiPAOLO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND FILM “I want to propose ways of reading that may not have occurred to fans.”
“Fantasy fans tend to embrace all of these books as good art, and this book will argue that the fantasy fans who love the genre tropes unreservedly may have stumbled upon a truth that has been lost in the culture wars’ various factions rushing to claim one author over another as a champion. There is more commonality of feeling and ethics uniting these works thematically than any divisive ideological label can undermine completely”. When asked about the significance of his new book, DiPaolo added: “When I was growing up, I was hungry for someone to talk to me about my favorite TV shows, comic books, movies because I knew I liked them but didn’t know why, and I could tell there was social commentary I understand, history and science references I didn’t understand, and I wanted to understand them. So when I write, I try to understand what I like to look at for fun and apply my learning as a literature professor to it to help fans appreciate what’s really going on in stories they think they know backwards and forward, so I want to propose ways of reading that may not have occurred to fans.” The idea for this book developed in part through two sections of Honors Jr./Sr. Seminars that DiPaolo taught in the spring of 2015.
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT BROOKE HESSLER During the Spring 2015 semester, Dr. Brooke Hessler, professor of English, and Eleanor Lou Carrithers Chair of Writing and Composition, organized and facilitated an oral history project on same-sex marriage in Oklahoma. Why did you start this project? “A lot of the work I do in the community connects to oral history somehow. I’m interested in other ways we can capture stories. This time, the historic event I wanted to respond to was the legalization of same sex marriage in Oklahoma. Many of Oklahoma’s elected officials are not in favor of same-sex marriage and they are starting to institute laws and rules that make it harder to get a marriage license. I felt that this was a historic moment, and it’s a big story, and so I wanted to capture some of the stories by people whose lives are affected by it.” What was your goal for this oral history project? “Both to get the stories recorded and also to have them published on the Oklahoma History Center database archives. We wanted this not to be a series of diatribes but just wedding stories so that when people in Oklahoma have conversations about this issue they have some faces and stories to humanize it to see what a same-sex family looks like and what a same-sex wedding ceremony looks like.”
BROOKE HESSLER PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH “People in the humanities can be teachers and activists; you don’t have to be a politician to try to make a difference. As a researcher, it meant a lot to me to have young scholars by my side.”
How did you go about your research process? “I contacted Robin Meyers and Lori Walke of Mayflower Church and asked if they would help me contact some of the people who had their weddings when same-sex marriage became legal. I also contacted Freedom to Marry Oklahoma and some other social activists who care about this issue and I issued an invitation and a couple dozen couples responded.” Dr. Hessler made class participation optional, and current Honors students Morgan White, Alanah Hosford, and Cassandra Velasco helped organize and run interviews. What is your next step with this project? “I’m collecting names again to do another round. I’d like to do another set of interviews maybe before the end of semester. The stories were beautiful and inspiring. Most of the couples had had commitment ceremonies already but this was special. I’m hoping they will be published online by the end of the semester.”
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HONORS STUDENT COUNCIL EXECUTIVE BOARD 2015-2016 In March, officers and representatives of Honors Student Council came together for an HSC retreat at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The meeting was held in an underground aquarium, a perfect environment for Honors students to generate creative ideas to improve HSC. Officers talked about the new Honors Center being renovated at the Gold Star Building and shared ideas on how the new space should function once it opens in the fall. Officers also provided insight on how to build the OCU Honors Program time capsule in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Collegiate Honors Council. Several OCU Honors students and faculty will attend the 50th NCHC conference this November in Chicago. Other initiatives were discussed, including the piloting of a peer mentoring program for incoming Honors students next fall. HSC has big plans for the upcoming school year, and the officers and representatives will make sure to keep Honors students updated on what is going on and how to get involved.
PRESIDENT ERIC ODUM VICE PRESIDENT RILEIGH DARBY-MCCLURE TREASURER JOE WATHIKA SECRETARY ADRIENNE PIERCE
If you're interested in serving as a council representative, email Eric Odum at edodum@my.okcu.edu.
OKLAHOMA SCHOLAR-LEADERSHIP ENRICHMENT PROGRAM The Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program is an intercollegiate academic program sponsored by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education open to students at all the public and private universities in Oklahoma. The OSLEP classes meet for five days. OSLEP classes are seminars, and students must prepare to participate. Students have pre-seminar reading and writing assignments and are expected to complete the assigned readings before the class begins. The scholar selects the readings; the faculty resource person directs the student preparation, evaluates student performance (oral and written), and assigns grades. S/U grades are based on preparation; attendance and participation in the class activities; contribution to the discussions and intellectual content of the class; and performance in the assigned written work or special project. After the conclusion of the class, the students are generally required to write a 10-15-page paper. You should always carefully read the syllabus for the class to make sure you’re prepared. OSLEP provides housing for students, and the program is free of charge for OCU Honors students. The cost of registration and books is all covered. OCU Honors students will also receive three Honors credits upon completion of an OSLEP course. Visit oslep.org to apply. FALL 2015 SCHEDULE Firing the Social Justice Imagination: Deploying Research Methodologies & Creativity in Advocacy Studies (3 credits) September 12-13, September 26-27, and October 31-November 1, 2015 at the University of Central Oklahoma Engaging and Informing Citizens about the Death Penalty in the U.S. (2 credits) September 12-13 and October 31-November 1, 2015 at the University of Central Oklahoma Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Human Trafficking: A Creative Approach (1 credit) September 26-27, 2015 at the University of Central Oklahoma
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