The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement / NKU Honors Program Fellowships

The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement's Honors Scholars is a program designed to underwrite and encourage undergraduate research that meets a community need.  The program's inaugural academic year will be the Fall 2010/Spring 2011 semesters. Up to seven fellows will be selected.

Applications are due by April 16, 2010. Selection will be made by April 30. They will be reviewed by an advisory committee jointly selected by the Director of the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement and the Director of the NKU Honors Program.  Then, the two directors will select up to seven Fellows for the coming academic year.

Application to be a SH Fellow is open to any Honors Program student who will have completed at least 12 hours of Honors course work by the end of Spring semester 2010, who is in good standing with the NKU Honors Program, and still has Capstone work to be completed.  The application form must be completed and turned in to the Honors Program along with requisite materials by 5 p.m. April 16.

Each fellow will receive a stipend of $2,500 and the student's faculty mentor will receive a $500 ($250 per semester) faculty development stipend. The student stipend is intended for educational expenses, which are broadly defined (tuition, books, housing, educational travel, computer software). Distribution of student stipend will be incremental, and based upon regular progress reports on funded project.

Here are the guiding ideas of this program:

1)      The goal is to partner undergraduates with supervising faculty to produce community-valued research, some of which could be identified by Vision 2015 (www.Vision2015.org), but Vision 2105 needs are not the exclusive province of this award.

2)      In exchange for a $2,500 fellowship, a fellow will be responsible for delivering high quality but "confined" research (i.e., something realistic and something that can be accomplished in the time frame of an academic year) as part of an Honors Program capstone credit-bearing class(es) monitored by a faculty member approved by the director of Honors Program. These research projects might also serve as the student's Capstone project in Honors.

3)      Research could be collaborative--that is, more than one student could work on one project if overseers (Honors, SHCCE, Vision 2015) deem a particular research project as conducive to collaboration.

4)      Within budgetary constraints and at the discretion of the SHCCE director, the SHCCE will underwrite the cost of the fellows to attend a relevant conference during the academic year, such as the Kentucky Engagement Conference or the national NCUR (National Conference on Undergraduate Research). It is the goal of this provision to assure that each fellow has an opportunity to present his/her research at a minimum of one such conference. Other funding sources will be sought to help meet this goal.

5)      All research projects are subject to the provisions of IRB Board review; some projects may not require that review.

6)      Research will be the intellectual property of NKU--which can in turn assign its use to a community partner. Authorship, however, remains with the student who conducted the research, and the author should be credited in any substantive use of the research.

7)      Each fellow will be responsible for making at least one public presentation on his/her research to a public P-12 school in northern Kentucky.

8)      Each fellow will be responsible for making at least one public presentation on his/her research to a community group in northern Kentucky.

9)      Each fellow must prepare an executive summary and a presentation-quality poster of his/her research to accompany the public presentations of the research.

10)   The SHCCE will publish a synopsis of the research to showcase the research on campus and in the community.

**Information on the application porcess, and materials required for a complete application, can be found on the Honors Program web site, or by contacting any member of the Honors Program faculty or staff.

**Questions about your application can be directed to either Mark Neikirk, Director of the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Dr. Ernest Smith, Director of the NKU Honors Program This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Congratulations to Honors Program students and Honors Ambassadors Arin Arnold and Hannah Scott, whose proposals were accepted for the Southern Regional Honors Council conference in Greenville SC March 25-27. Arin’s presentation title is "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Is Education the Problem with the American Economy?" Hannah will present "The Challenge: Get Out the Vote!" 

This is a unique and wonderful opportunity for students in the Honors Program. Undergraduate research is becoming a major point of emphasis nationally, and what better avenue to undergrad research than an Honors Program. Research is what we do. But I also like the way in which research is approached in Honors, with an openness that allows for unique and creative approaches to student topics. If you are an Honors or prospective Honors student, do not think of research in a narrow sense, as something that always occurs in the library or lab. Our students engage in ethnographic and field research, service-learning research, research prompted by international travel, research based on learning community experience, and the list goes on.

The NKU Honors Program, your ticket to travel and research.

Last week I was talking with Honors instructor Jodi Ferner and she was describing a moment of epiphany when she was an undergraduate. As I recall, she was walking across her campus from one class to another when, as she put it, “everything came together.” By “everything” she meant three particular classes she was enrolled in at the time. My read on the comment was that suddenly, all the classes interconnected as a whole. As she described the moment, it brought back similar moments of intellectual connection I’ve felt, times of clarity and depth when seemingly disparate subject matter seemed to fit together like a puzzle falling into place. I wonder how many other teachers and students have felt such a moment, and how they would describe the nature of the new awareness and empowerment. This is certainly something we are looking to cultivate in Honors, the ability to make connections across and between classes and areas of study, and it’s something we hope to see in student Capstone projects when they present their culminating work in the Honors Program. In the words of British novelist E.M. Forster, “Only connect.”

Without further ado, let me present the 26 Honors Ambassadors, who will be working in several capacities on behalf of the Program over the next couple of years. In many ways, these students will become the public face of our Program, both within the NKU community, but also regionally and nationally. I llok forward to working closely with this dedicated group of students.

Honors Ambassadors (26) appointed Spring 2010

Student (FY=1^st year)                             Contact             College             Major

Alig, Jillian (FY)                         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it               A&S                 English

Arnold, Arin (FY)                       This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          A&S                 History

Bishop, Rachel                          This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it         A&S                 Chemistry

Bradley, Jena (FY)                     This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it         A&S                 Intl Studies / Pol Sci

Castle, James                           This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it           A&S                 Physics

Cropenbaker, Joey (FY)             This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    A&S                 Biology

Farris, Michael                           This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          H/USB COB      Sports Bus / Marketing

Franzen, Kairee (FY)                  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it        COEHS             Exercise Science

Harpe, Rachel (FY)                    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it           A&S                 Art History

Hayes, Stephanie                      This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          A&S                 Biology

Hovekamp, Andrew                   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   COI                   EMB / Broadcast Jour

Johnson, George                      This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it       COI / A&S         Computer Sc / Philosophy

Johnston, Morgan                     This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it     COI                   EMB

Kinnard, Corrinna (FY)               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it        COHP              Nursing

Portwood, Joe (FY)                   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      A&S                 Art

Pyles, Ashley                            This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it           COEHS           Middle Grades Ed

Reed, Jenny (FY)                      This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    A&S             Art

Sams, Meryl                              This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          COHP             Nursing

Scaringelli, Carol                       This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      COEHS           Secondary ‘English Ed

Scott, Hannah                           This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it           A&S                 Mech/Manuf Engineering Tech

Strohmaier, Carly (FY)               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    COHP               Nursing

Taylor, Justin (FY)                     This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          COI / A&S         Computer Sc / Mathematics      

Topmiller, Mike (FY)                   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it     H/USB COB      Undeclared Business

Vander Ende Nicholas               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   A&S                   Physics / Philosophy

Weickert, Maria (FY)                  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      COHP               Nursing

Wilkinson, Jimmy (FY)               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it       COEHS             English Secondary Education

I would urge any prospective Honors Program student visiting this blog to strongly consider living in the Honors wing of Callahan Hall. I would also strongly urge any current Honors Program student not currently living in Callahan to consider doing so. The sense of community and opportunity is what makes the difference with the Callahan students. The Honors wing is the most inclusive environment you could imagine. I’ve been over there a few times to interact with the students, and it seems like no matter the nature of a student’s personality, they have a comfortable place in this incredibly supportive community. The more shy student can let the more extroverted take the lead, but fully participate in all sorts of fun activities, while the “born leader” can easily find a leadership role in Callahan. Students truly support one another over there; you can feel it when you interact with them. They care about their environment and one another.

This sense of personal support I’ve been describing is buttressed by the built-in academic support one receives from h/her peers. If you’re having trouble with an assignment or subject, you’re surrounded by smart students from all majors, so you’re sure to find the help you need in no time. Not to mention the excellent programming and social events that take place in the Honors wing. These students clearly have fun. They know that working hard merits relaxation time, and I sense that they regularly make sure to help one another takes the needed deep breath when the academic stress is on.

If you’re an Honors student to be, take a serious look at Callahan. Contact me and I’ll put you in touch with an Honors Ambassador (student) living in Callahan, and you can converse by email and perhaps set up a tour of the hall next time you’re near campus.

I've been pondering that question? (WNKU just played Billy Bragg and Wilco performing the Woody Guthrie song "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key." That song is certainly singular.) In reviewing my first 6 months in the Director's position, it strikes me that what has been singular for me about the Honors Program is exactly what I would have hoped and expected: the students. I am working to create more and more opportunities to interact with our students, and with the soon-to-be-selected Honors Ambassadors, I'll have the perfect opportunity to get to know 25 outstanding people. In interviewing and selecting from among the pool of applicants, I've had the chance to gauge student perceptions of and hopes for the Program, their interest in strengthening the Honors community, their research interests, and their desire to contribute to the health and well-being of our collective endeavor in Honors. There are some special opportunities ahead for these students, and I can't wait to begin working with them as a group.

At the same time I want to have more opportunities to meet students not currently taking classes in the Honors House. May I personally invite any student on campus who is currently in, or interested in applying to, the NKU Honrs Program, to contact me about speaking face-to-face. Honors is a very unique environment where students have an opportunity to help shape their learning experience, both within and outsdie the classroom. Even if you did not choose to apply to be an Honors Ambassador, let's talk. Call or email me to locate a time.

I suppose a new year is a natural time for reflection and renewal. One of the poets whose archive I've worked with tended to always write some sort of reflective poem on New Year's Eve each year. My own reflection would be that I hope in the past 6 months we've created some real energy and momentum in the Honors Program, and that we'll continue to see innovation, creavitity, intellectual and academic challenge and excellence as our distinguishing characteristics, as faculty, staff, and students.

One issue I certainly want to address head-on this coming year is retention and persistence, as we attempt to get more students to the completion point of our 21-hour minor. The Honors Ambassadors seem to be eager to take a lead role in promoting, mentoring, and creating continuity and incentive to finish, and I think they will help enormously in keeping more students tapped into the Program from first semester to completion.

I am in the home stretch of interviewing and selecting these outstanding student leaders. Once the process is complete, I'll post the names in this blog. Happy New Year to all readers, in particular our current, prospective, and future students.

Our inaugural Recognition Breakfast this morning has put me in a great mood for the day. We honored the 18 Honors Program students who successfully presented their Capstone projects last week, and awarded each the gold Honors medallion to be worn at commencement. These students have also earned the distinction of University Honors Fellow on their diplomas and transcripts. We also announced the first-ever recipients of the Outstanding Capstone Project Award. The two winners are:

Physics major Michael Fuehner for “Structural and Magnetic Studies of Cobalt-ferrite for Potential Pressure Sensor Applications,” and Social Work major TuNice Masden for “Bibliotherapy for Elementary School-Aged Children.” Congratulations Michael and TuNice.

Congratulations to Michael and TuNice!

The essays on “the song I can’t live without” were, as you might expect, varied and creative. While there were no entries in the genre of jazz, perhaps that is to be expected with the Honors demographic. We are, after all, talking about “traditional” college-age students; the majority of students in our Program are between 18-23 years old. I’ll try to introduce more students to the likes of Miles, Trane, and Bessie in my course on “Jazz, Blues, and Poetry” next fall. In addition, perhaps students need songs with words. That was my case early on, and I would credit some of the better lyricists of the 60s and early 70s, writers like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Neil Young, with sparking my interests in language and poetry.

One student did, however, reach far back to write about the pop staple “Build Me Up Buttercup,” which he termed “a story of both absent-mindedness and pathetic devotion.” I think I have to make this student-essay an award winner based on the whimsical choice alone. (Though I have the nagging feeling that perhaps the student isn’t being whimsical.) This student winner is named Joe Portwood.

Two students wrote about songs that helped them negotiate relationships with their fathers, and I find each essay worthy of a dinner prize. Stephanie Mathena explored palimpsest (without using that word) in her essay on “The Boys of Summer” (both the Don Henley original and the cover version by The Ataris). While noting that it is a song about aging and reflection on that process, Stephanie wrote:

My fondness of the song revived itself after years passed and The Ataris re-popularized their own version in 2003, for a younger generation. I revisited my dad playing his old Don Henley record after every listen of the MP3 file on my iPod. I’d listen before soccer

games, driving home from my first job, after fights with parents, and during car rides with my high school sweetheart who learned to play the song for me on guitar. The song encompassed my life by being there during my entire adolescence, not only the summers. It helped me feel safe, knowing that not only would I always have my youth in that song, but a piece of someone so distant from me. In a way, part of him was growing up with me instead of growing apart from me.

Another student, Jimmy Wilkinson, wrote about how Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” enables him to connect with his father, who died too soon. The LP was left behind, and passed to Jimmy by his mother as the first record his dad ever owned. Jimmy concludes his essay by writing, “Although years now separate us from each other’s existence, whenever I feel the distance weighing on me, I simply put on an old, scratched vinyl LP, knowing my father must have done the same so many times before, and I am able to remember.” Nicely turned. I’ll enjoy having dinner with Stephanie and Jimmy.

First-year student Jenny Reed wrote about the Beatles classic, “Blackbird,” connecting it to the civil rights struggle. She wrote: “I find joy in knowing that I personally relate to a song that universally recognizes the struggle for civil rights.  This is due to my strong feelings about equal civil rights for all.  While some may argue racial battles are over, this is not true globally, nor do I feel it can be completely accepted nationwide.” Great job, Jenny. See you at dinner.

Finally, I want to honor James Castle, who introduced me to “Sleep” by Eric Whitacre. And I should add that James refers to the orchestrated version rather than the original composition written for choral groups. So you see, maybe words aren’t always necessary, for as James notes “the very fact that there are no words distracting you forces you to truly appreciate the beauty of this piece.” James continues by saying that if any of us doubt the beauty of this song, we should listen to it with him, and he will convince us, for the song is “like climbing a mountain, having a long journey to travel until you hit the peak.  When you hit this peak you take a look around and you finally see the sheer beauty of the world surrounding you.” James will also join the dinner entourage.

Thanks to all of the students who entered my little essay contest. Congratulations to James, Jenny, Jimmy, Joe, and Stephanie. We’ll all be going to dinner (not on campus, don’t worry) together soon. And thanks also to Dr. Kevin Kirby, who emailed me a list of songs that resulted in a pleasant email exchange about the songwriting talents of Joni Mitchell. Maybe I’ll invite Dr. Kirby to help me foot the dinner bill (just kidding).

The Conference of Honors featuring student Capstone projects was, by several accounts, the top one to date. The range of both research subject matter and style of presentation was striking. Some students seem ready to step right into the classroom as born teachers; others appear ready to produce and market their own one-hour documentary films. Another student showcased her own cooking show, and yet another taught us about bibliotherapy and how the two children’s books she has authored can be used in that practice. Not to mention strategies for polymer wire synthesis and magnetic studies of cobalt-ferrite for potential pressure sensor applications.

Jodi and I were remarkably calibrated in our scoring of the projects, and while there were many truly outstanding presentations of the projects, we were in complete accord on the two inaugural award winners. We won’t announce them, however, until this week at our awards breakfast.

Many first-year Honors students attended the conference, and this is very important, since Honors students should begin thinking about potential Capstone projects as early as possible. Honors students reading this blog should also be reminded that we run several meetings during the semester to help in preparation. I run a proposal writing workshop each semester; we have beginning-of-term and mid-term meetings for all students finishing projects during that semester; and we will begin this spring to run a standing meeting each semester on presentation style and skills. We all use presentations in our Honors classes, but students can always benefit from discussion of how to effectively present material. And in the spirit of dialogic Honors education, Jodi and I will be meeting with each student who presented to offer our own feedback on their presentations.

We hope that this cycle will urge everyone to see Capstone as a synthetic and ongoing process, not a stand-alone project completed in separation from our course curriculum.

Today and tomorrow is the Conference of Honors, where Honors students finishing our Program present their Capstone projects in Budig theatre. I can't wait to see this showcase of student achievement! Capstone is a two-semester, 6 credit hour research and/or creative endeavor, produced under the direction of a faculty expert. This opportunity to do individual work with regular one-on-one direction by a faculty member for a full academic year is certainly one of the unique aspects of Honors education.

Here is a sampling of some project titles: Stephanie Isaacs, majoring in Political Science, will present "Gender Representation in Electoral Politics: Systems, Strategies, and Realities." Philosophy major Julie Franks is presenting "Colors, Motion, and the Brain." Physics major Michael Fuehner will present "Structural and Magnetic Studies of Cobalt-ferrite for Potential Pressure Sensor Applications." Another project, by Anthropology major Tiffany Little, is titled "Textiles in Everyday Colonial American Life: An Examination of Household Cloth Products." Other projects have similarly fascinating titles.

Capstone Coordinator Jodi Ferner and I will no doubt have a difficult selection decision as we inaugurate our Outstanding Capstone Award winners. This is the first semester for these awards.

Toward the end of the week, I'll report on some impressions of what I saw from our students.