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News & Updates from the Honors College
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The Honors Program has a new name!
KSU's Undergraduate Honors Program will now be called the University Honors Program. University Honors Program is the name used at Southern Polytechnic State University prior to consolidation. The University Honors Program name better reflects the scope of KSU's Honors Program, which encompasses all majors, and distinguishes it from departmental honors programs such as the Coles College Scholar program. The new name was approved by the University Policies and Curriculum Committee at its February meeting. Dr. Liza Davis and Dr. Kami Anderson continue to serve as program directors on the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses, respectively.
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Honors College announces student scholarships
Students must apply by March 15th
The Honors College is pleased to announce new scholarship funding for 2016-17 that will allow us to assist several new and current students.
The Dasher-Spruell Presidential Scholars Scholarship is designed to recognize academically talented, first-time first-year students enrolled in the Honors Program at Kennesaw State University. Similarly, the Marietta Campus Honors Scholarship will recognize academically talented first-year Honors Program students who have selected a STEAM major (Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture or Math) based on the Marietta campus. Both scholarships are renewable and are intended to assist with filling the gap between the cost of attendance and funding from Georgia's scholarship and grant programs. The scholarships may be used toward the cost of tuition, fees, books, room and board and any other educational expenses, including study abroad. Scholarship amounts will vary based on annual market performance and other factors.
In addition, new funding is available for students in the PEGS and Great Books cohorts. The Beacon Foundation President's Emerging Global Scholars (PEGS) Annual Scholarship provides general scholarship funds that may be used to offset the cost of attendance at KSU for PEGS students. The Beacon Foundation has also provided need-based funding to assist PEGS students with travel expenses.
Great Books students are eligible for two new scholarships. The Barry and Sylvia Hyman Endowed International Education Scholarship was established in honor of KSU faculty emeritus Dr. E. Howard Shealy for his years of exceptional service to the study abroad program in Montepulciano, Italy. The scholarship provides assistance to first-year students to support study abroad in Montepulciano. The Robin Schmidt Shore Endowed Scholarship will also assist freshmen admitted to the Great Books cohort for study abroad in Montepulciano.
Honors students are encouraged to complete the KSU Scholarship Application online before the March 15th deadline. Students complete the application just once to be considered for every KSU scholarship for which they qualify, based on answers to the questions in the application. While financial need is not a necessity for all scholarship funds, if you have financial need, you will want to complete the FAFSA for 2016-17 prior to the March 15th deadline as well. More information about all KSU scholarships may be found at http://scholarships.kennesaw.edu/ Information was also emailed to Honors students and can be found on the Honors College website.
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Great Books class partners with Historic Oakland Cemetery
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Great Books cohort students visited Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta March 5th to gather research for materials they will create for the site. Left to right: Ashley Longenecker, Burke McGoldrick, Brianna Osuna, Abigail Roshaven, Asuria Austin, Sarah Brown, Jennifer Sharpe, Jocelyn Escobedo, Amber Hunt, and Ashley Zweifel.
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Students in the Great Books Honors ENGL 1102 course spent a recent Saturday exploring Atlanta's Victorian-era Oakland Cemetery, conducting research that will culminate in new educational programming geared to home-schooled students who visit the cemetery. The research-writing project is the brainchild of Dr. Rochelle Harris, whose current Great Books course teaches writing and research skills through the lens of great gothic literature. According to Dr. Harris, the tropes of gothic literature--ghosts, turbulent weather, decaying castles, imperiled heroines, graveyards and dastardly villains have been employed by great authors of past and present to convey and critique the cultural and political tensions of their eras. Students are reading classic works by Jane Austen, Flannery O'Connor, Samuel Coleridge and others, as well as the more recent Harry Potter.
"As a city park, an historic site, a civil war memorial, and an active cemetery, Oakland is a complex space," Dr. Harris said. "Students will research immigrants to Atlanta and the death and burial practices associated with those groups, developing materials, activities and resources that the staff can use to teach visitors about historical and cultural contexts of Oakland Cemetery."
Communication major Ashley Longenecker noted, "There is so much history in Atlanta that I did not know about and I am looking forward to uncovering in this project." Working with Oakland is a win-win situation for all, explained classmate Ashley Zweifel. "We are learning history about Atlanta, developing a program for future generations, and having fun learning about the creepy and cool things that Atlanta's first established cemetery has to offer. At the same time, Oakland is benefiting by being able to reach out to homeschooling families and expand their history with the community."
For the last several years, Dr. Harris has connected her Honors ENGL 1102 courses with community partners. Previous class partners include the historic Root House in Marietta, for which students created a script for docents that required research into city archives, historical resources and Marietta life during the Union occupation and Reconstruction. In Spring 2015, her students partnered with the Zuckerman Museum of Art to develop educational programming for the "Art, AIDS, America" exhibit to make the exhibit appropriate and meaningful for middle school, high school, and college audiences. She wrote about her teaching techniques in the KSU English Department's Fall 2015 publication, Broadside. "Community partners are out there, ready and willing to collaborate. What we can gain--new knowledge, new ideas, new connections, new experiences--they can offer. What we already know--reading, writing, interpreting, research--is what they need."
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Honors student spotlight
Honors and Dual Enrollment Honors Program students capture top spots
in KSU Public Speaking Showcase
Honors student Madison Dawkins (right) won first place and a $500 prize at the KSU Public Speaking Showcase February 26th. Madison Higbee (left), a homeschooled Dual Enrollment Honors student, won second prize and $400 in the contest, sponsored by the School of Communication and The Home Depot. Dawkins, a freshman Communication major, drew on her family's personal experience with organ donation to persuade the audience to become organ donors. Higbee urged audience members to support a current bill to ban conversion therapy for minors in Georgia. Both students completed Dr. Katherine Kinnick's (center) honors public speaking class in Fall semester. University Honors Program students have taken the title in each of the past three competitions. Previous winners were
Holly Deal and Carly Pizza.
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Honors alumnus Stephen Pritchett ('15) has been accepted to the Master of Arts program in Spanish at the University of Georgia and awarded a graduate assistantship. He graduated as an Honors Scholar from KSU with a degree in Modern Language and Culture. His primary language is Spanish, with a secondary concentration in French. He completed a study abroad in Mexico during his studies at KSU. "I do not believe I would have been admitted to the program if I had not been a part of the Honors Program; my Honors Thesis was one of the main topics of my interview with the admissions committee," Stephen said. His thesis focused on "dialect leveling" in the speech of Spanish speaking students at KSU. His research investigated how Mexican dialects affected the accents of Spanish speakers from Central American and the Caribbean studying here at KSU. After completing his master's degree, Stephens goal is to pursue a doctorate and become a professor of Spanish linguistics. |
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Honors student Valerie Washington has been named the Georgia Engineering Student of the Year by the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers. Valerie is an Industrial and Systems Engineering major who is researching ways to make fitness tracking devices easier to use to improve the user's health. This past summer, she served as a research assistant in the University of Michigan Summer Research Opportunities Program, where she explored ways to optimize patient flow in the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital Emergency Department. She is the founding president of the International Council on Systems Engineering Atlanta Chapter Student Division at KSU. She has also served as a research assistant and teaching assistant for the Systems Engineering Department. The GSPE award is determined by academic success, community involvement and work-related engineering contributions. Valerie was presented with the award at a gala at the Georgia Tech Conference Center on February 13th. Previously, Valerie won the 2014-15 KSU Systems Engineering/Industrial Engineering Technology Student of the Year award.
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Dual Enrollment Honors Program senior Jonny Crumly has been named STAR Student for North Cobb Christian School. STAR Student is awarded to the student with the highest SAT score in one sitting and in the top 10% of their class at each Cobb County high school. Jonny is president of the student body at NCCS and captain of its top-ranked varsity basketball team. He won a national championship in individual policy debate as a high school sophomore. Outside of school, he teaches 5th grade Sunday school.
"I have really enjoyed my time at KSU DEHP. When I graduate I will have earned 31 credit hours, and these courses have definitely helped me prepare for the academic transition coming this fall, from learning how to deal with a college course load, to how to be proactive with professors, and even determining what kind of college I would like to study at. I hope to eventually practice law and one day sit on the bench, so I plan to major in history. I am leaning towards attending Sewanee: University of the South to play basketball."
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Dual Enrollment Honors Program student Patrick Roberts was selected by audition from numerous applicants from across the nation for membership in Music for All's 2016 Honor Orchestra of America. Patrick is a violinist in the KSU Symphony Orchestra. He will perform in concert as part of the Music for All National Festival, presented by Yamaha, March 11-14 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The orchestra is performing shared concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. A junior at North Cobb High School, Patrick has played section and concertmaster positions for the last five years in the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra, which initially accepted him as a 5th grader. He has also performed in the Georgia All State Orchestra, Honors All State and Cobb County Honor Orchestras for the past 4 years, as well as the 2015 Honor Orchestra of America.
"A highlight in my life is that I am now playing in the Symphony Orchestra at Kennesaw State University," Patrick said. In the future, he hopes to major in violin performance and play in a professional orchestra.
Do you have an accomplishment we can share? Email your news and photo to kkinnick@kennesaw.edu.
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Dates and Deadlines
March 11 - Extended Deadline to enter your research paper or project in the KSU Library Undergraduate Research Award contest. $500 prize. Click here for more info.
March 14 - Priority registration for summer term opens for Honors students who have attended mandatory advising sessions -- check your time ticket on Owl Express for your entry time.
March 15 - KSU scholarship application deadline.
March 15 - Deadline to nominate an honors faculty member for the Distinguished Honors Faculty award.
Check your email for nomination form or visit the Honors Lounge.
March 15, 3:30 p.m., Willingham Hall 226 - "Scholarships 101" workshop with Dr. Michelle Miles
March 16, 5:30 p.m., Willingham Hall Honors Lounge - Honors Club event: Showcase of of Honors Student Research/Capstone Projects
March 22, 2:00 p.m., Bailey Center - Impact of International Experience event featuring president of the Peace Corps and Senator Johnny Isakson
March 25 - Priority registration for fall term opens for Honors and DEHP students who have attended mandatory advising sessions -- check your time ticket on Owl Express for your entry time.
April 2-8 - Spring Break
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KSU Honors College | honors.kennesaw.edu
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