Honors Wednesday Memo
Opportunities and Information for Honors Students
edited by Brad Rentz
Volume 3, Issue 17
January 15, 2019
Message from Dean Jeff Vahlbusch
Dear returning and new Honors students:
Welcome to the second semester of AY 2019–2020. Let’s work to make the next 15 weeks extraordinarily rich and exciting, both in the Honors College and in departmental and college Honors Programs across the university, and let’s keep working to make the Honors College world-class.
My definition of “world-class”? A college that can offer its amazing students and faculty powerful educational, social, international, and civic engagement opportunities that can compete in innovation and excellence with any provided by Honors colleges and programs across the country and, indeed, around the world. And we are getting there!
How to make the next 15 weeks in Honors rich and exciting? Show up and seek ways to get involved. To find powerful opportunities, talk to me, talk to your Honors Academic Mentor, talk to fellow Honors students, talk to your academic department, and always read the Honors Wednesday Memo.
Here’s the first extraordinary opportunity this semester: I strongly encourage you to apply to become an Appalachian Ambassador! Ambassadors represent the university; give tours of campus; and run one of the most professional and successful leadership and service organizations in North Carolina higher education. Online applications open January 13th for this year and close January 24th, 2020. Find more information here and the application here. I am happy as always to consult on the application process.
Here’s to a terrific new year in Honors at Appalachian!
Jeff Vahlbusch, Ph.D., Dean of the Honors College
The photo above features Dean Vahlbusch giving opening words at the Fall 2019 Honors Graduation Ceremony
Upcoming Opportunities:
Appalachian LatinA Student (ALAS) Mentorship Program
ALAS is seeking students to apply for their mentorship program this spring! This opportunity is for students who identify as female and Latinx. Interested students should contact Maria Conchita Hofman. For more information, visit our website.
Tech4Teach Call for Proposals
The deadline to submit proposals for the Tech4Teach fair has been extended to January 17, 2020. The fair will be held on February 26, 2020, from 11:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Student Union. Last year, the fair reached submission capacity quickly, submit your proposal soon! For more information, click here.
Campus Greensboro Fellows Program
This fellow’s program is a competitive 10-week summer program that includes a paid industry internship. Internship opportunities are available in business, IT, engineering, nonprofit, fine arts, education, journalism/media, marketing/event planning, healthcare, entrepreneurship, construction, and more. The deadline to apply for this program is February 17, 2020. For more information, visit our website.
Study Abroad in London
All majors and disciplines are invited to consider this study abroad opportunity to London in the summer of 2020. Students will study Literature and Diplomacy at the King’s College in London. The deadline to apply for this study abroad opportunity is February 10, 2020. To learn more, click here.
Student Design and Build Competition
The Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) located in Englewood, Colorado is hosting a national Design and Build Competition. MOA’s second annual competition solicits design proposals from individual students or student teams in response to a provided theme and challenge. The deadline to submit to this year’s competition is July 11, 2020. For more information, visit our website.
Stay in the Know…
Cookies with Jeff
This is a regular chance to meet and talk with the Dean of the Honors College, to get to know fellow Honors and Honors College students and to brainstorm together ways to improve the Honors College and Honors education at Appalachian. The next Cookies with Jeff will be on Wednesday, January 22th, 2020, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Jeff's decanal living room, Appalachian Hall 285. All are invited, and all are welcome! To learn more, visit our website.
Building a Just World Film Series
Hosted by the Humanities Council, there are two remaining films in this series. On January 19, the film Selma will show from 3 to 6 p.m. in honor of Martin Luther King Day. After the film, there will be a panel discussion. All screenings in this film series are free and are located at The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. For more information, click here.
ASCEND 2020 Peer Mentors and Logistics Application
If you are interested in making an impact on incoming first-year/transfer students that have an underrepresented and/or marginalized identity that will attend App State in Fall 2020, then you should consider applying. The theme for this year is SOAR (Student Outreach for Access and Resiliency). Applications are due by January 20, 2020. For more information, visit our website.
INTERSECT Social Justice Retreat
INTERSECT is a three-day immersion retreat aimed at empowering students to take positive action on our campus. The retreat is designed to help educate participants about the concepts of social justice and leadership through exploration of their own stories, the stories of others, and issues of oppression and privilege. The application closes on January 23, 2020, at midnight. To learn more, click here.
Sustained Dialogue Workshops
Sustained Dialogue has added new workshops for this semester. The new workshop, “Difficult Conversations”, is aimed at developing tools for engaging in dialog across differences. Both workshops will be held in the Student Union, room 420. For more information, and how to register for a workshop, visit our website.
In the Honors Spotlight
December 2019 Honors College Graduation Ceremony
The photo above features the eight Honors graduates from the fall of 2019. Honors graduates on the bottom row (left to right) are Ian Clapp, Allison Staley, Sope Kahn, and Nora Smith. Graduates on the top row (left to right) are Haley Davidson, Fahiima Mohamed, Holly Gallagher, and Lyubomir Gizdarski
In the Honors College Commencement ceremony held Thursday, December 12, 2019, we celebrated the accomplishments of those who completed the requirements to earn the distinction of University Honors. In the ceremony, the following Honors graduates were bestowed their medals: Ian Clapp, Hannah Davenport, Haley Davidson, Holly Gallagher, Lyubomir Gizdarski, Sope Kahn, Fahiima Mohamed, Nora Smith, and Allison Staley. To read Dean Vahlbusch’s remarks about these stellar students and to learn more about each students’ time at Appalachian, click here.
Honors Nora Smith Presents at December Commencement
The photo above features Honors Nora Smith at the Fall 2019 Commencement Ceremony.
Honors Nora Smith presented at Appalachian State University’s December 2019 Commencement held on Friday, December 13, 2019 in the Holmes Convocation Center. As a communication major, Smith spoke representing both the Honors College and College of Fine and Applied Arts. Within the Honors College, Nora served as the first-year and sophomore AHA! representative (Appalachian Honors Association), helping to create community-building events for Honors students. And they recently defended their honors thesis, Who, What, When, Where, and Why? A New Story of Journalism, as told by Nonprofit News Organizations, which applied Kenneth Burke’s dramatist pentad—a theory of human and character motivation—to the literature of nonprofit news organizations.
To read more on this story, visit our website.
To Stay in the Know and Learn About All Opportunities in Honors, please visit https://honors.appstate.edu/announcements
Appalachian State Honors College on Social Media!
Check us out on Instagram also! Find us by searching “Appalachian Honors College”
Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook at Appalachian Honors: https://www.facebook.com/Appalachian-Honors-482157301971520/
Have news to share? Submissions to the Honors Wednesday Memo can be made by emailing honors@appstate.edu. Any content received by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday will be considered for the following week’s issue.