SMBHC Newsletter
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
In this issue:
- Message from the Dean
- Done with CAC?
- Think about a Fulbright
- Barksdale Award Winners Announced
- Honors Forum Opps
- Summer Programs: Research and Internships
- Campus Involvement
- Love, Love, Love: An NYTimes Essay Contest
- Peace Corps Recruiter Visiting
- Student Achievements
This issue and all previous newsletters can be viewed on the SMBHC website. See details for all upcoming SMBHC events on the Calendar!
NOTE: The SMBHC newsletter is best viewed in HTML format with scripts enabled. In Ole Miss webmail, click “default.htm” at the top of the e-mail and select “Open” to view the newsletter correctly.
Message from the Dean
1. Many thanks for your attendance at the Spring Convocation. We had a great crowd to hear the former director of the Honors Program, and I appreciate your support.
2. Freshmen Ventures! Please remember to block off March 29th, Saturday, ALL DAY, to hear the reports from the teams who traveled this year! Also, we’d like copies of each group’s best digital picture. Please send yours to pleeton@olemiss.edu.
Done with CAC?
If you’ve already fulfilled the commitment you made for Community Action when you submitted your Spring 08 form, go ahead and report your efforts to Dr. Young, and you’ll be done with the procedures for this semester. E-mail dbyoung@olemiss.edu and say what you did, for about how long, and the name of a supervisor who could back you up. (If you can provide details and insights, it’s much easier for us to write letters for you later.)
Think about a Fulbright
Up-coming national scholarship workshops will focus on the Fulbright U.S. Student Award. These awards (limited to U.S. citizens) support one academic-year’s study or research in one of over 140 countries worldwide. Applications are due in early Fall, so now is the time to learn what’s required for an application. Come to a workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 4pm or on Friday, Feb. 15, at 12:30. Both workshops are in room 308 HC.
Barksdale Award Winners Announced
At Spring Convocation, Tyler Craft (sophomore, International Studies/Political Science) and Patrick Woodyard (junior, International Studies) were announced as this year’s Barksdale Award winners. Each will receive $5,000 to carry out an independent project. Tyler will travel to Uganda, Chicago, and Arkansas to learn how microcredit financing functions in those cultures and economies; he hopes to begin to figure out whether microcredit is an option for alleviating poverty in the Mississippi Delta. Patrick will go to Uganda to observe first-hand the workings of several philanthropic organizations, take language lessons in Luganda , and begin assembling material that will serve as a basis for creating a new organization to channel donor support to orphans in Africa.
Honors Forum Opps
Evita
The Ford Center presents “Evita,” on Monday, February 18, at 8pm in the Ford Center. Based on the incredible true story, the tale of Evita, told entirely through song and dance, follows the life of Argentina's infamous Eva Peron. Contact the UM Ticket Office (915-7411) for ticket price and availability.
Dr. Baden speaks on polyether brevetoxins
Dr. Daniel G. Baden, William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine Science at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, will speak on Wednesday, February 20, at 2:00 in Natural Products Center Room 2066. Dr. Baden will focus his presentation on polyether brevetoxins (molecular marine toxins), specifically on those emanating from red tides.
Summer Programs: Research and Internships
If the programs listed below do not interest you, keep in mind that the SMBHC website has a list of many internships and research programs in all fields.
Intern at the Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle is seeking editorial interns for the summer 2008 session. Duties include reporting and writing brief features. The internships are paid, full-time positions in the Washington office and will last from June through August. Applications must be received by February 29. For more information, see http://chronicle.com/help/internships/?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en.
Campus Involvement
Help out at SEJC
The Student Media Center is looking for volunteers for the South East Journalism Conference which will be held Feb. 21-23 at Ole Miss. We need volunteers for sign-in, escorting contestants, meet and greets, etc. Volunteers will be fed and given t-shirts as well. For further information, contact Lori Simpson at (901) 488-5690 or e-mail lasimpso@olemiss.edu.
Eco-poetry and Ecofeminism
Wednesday, February 20, at 12:15 Ann Fisher-Wirth, Professor of English, gives a presentation on "Eco-poetry and Ecofeminism." Sarah Isom Center, 203 Paul B. Johnson Commons. Co-sponsored by Adventure Divas and the class Gender Studies 301H: Women and the Environment.
Extension of Deadline for Submissions to Isom Conference
8th Annual Isom Student Gender Conference Extended Abstract Deadline: Fri., 2/15 CFP at http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/sarah_isom_center/
Love, Love, Love
Been dwelling on love lately? The New York Times invites you to submit (via e-mail) your personal essay on “the current state of love and relationships.” Essays should be 1,500-2,000 words in length. The winner scores $1,000 and publication of the essay in a special “Modern Love” column on May 4. Deadline for submission is March 31. See http://www.nytimes.com/ads/marketing/modernlove/.
Peace Corps Recruiter Visiting
Monday, February 18, 11:00-1:00, Croft 107. Willie Jackson will share his own experiences as a volunteer and talk about current opportunities in the Peace Corps. For more information, please contact Willie Jackson at wjackson@peacecorps.gov or 404-562-3476.
Student Achievements
(Please let us know when your hard work has brought you some honor or recognition. E-mail rcduke@olemiss.edu with subject heading “Student Achievements.”)
Mimi Abadie and Winsor Yuan will be presenting “Senegal: The Beat of Africa” at the Southern Regional Honors Council in Birmingham in late March. This DVD, created by Winsor, tells the story of Mimi’s 8-weeks in Senegal, which she spent learning to make drums and traveling through Senegal to hear regional rhythms. The trip and the making of the DVD were funded by Mimi’s Barksdale Award. If anyone would like to see the DVD, come by Dr. Young’s office to borrow a copy.
Senior Shad White has been selected to attend the International Achievement Summit on the Big Island of Hawaii next July. This Summit brings together the young leaders of the 21st century with some of the outstanding individuals who shaped the 20th century. In past years, guest participants have included the likes of Colin Powell, Paul Farmer, Stephen Spielberg, and Bill Clinton.
Meaghan Gandy and Scarlett Andrews, two freshmen majoring in Public Policy Leadership, have had papers accepted for presentation at the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference in Oregon on April 18-19. Both papers were submitted as the final papers in Dr. Eric Weber’s Honors 101 class. Meaghan’s paper on "Military Matters" was inspired by Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods. Meaghan focuses on the subject of friendly fire, and what sort of court should judge such cases. She argues such cases should be judged by military courts. Scarlett Andrews’s paper is called “Do You Believe in Ghosts?” Working from Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Scarlett supports Pirsig’s claim that there is a difference in degree rather than in kind between belief in intangibles like gravity, and belief in ghosts. She presents a case for toleration, with limits, of beliefs about ghosts, such as the Native American beliefs mentioned in ZMM.