Honors Wednesday Memo
Opportunities and Information for Honors Students
edited by Lakin Stevens
Volume 4, Issue 2
August 26, 2020
Message from Dean Jeff Vahlbusch
Dear Honors College students,
I miss you, and I miss our "Hey Hi HowAreYou? Fine You? Good!" exchanges as we pass each other in Appalachian Hall. Even more, I miss the deeper conversations with you and with Honors faculty and staff. Talking together, as you know in your HON courses, is the heart of Honors education.
So here's a standing invitation: on most Mondays from 3 to 5 p.m., and on most Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m., I'll be in my Honors Zoom room ready for you to drop in and start, or join, the conversation! On Monday each week, starting this Monday 8/31, I'll send a Zoom invitation plus password. Watch your email for the immortal subject line: Cookies with Jeff.
Opportunities on my mind: getting to know each of you, improving the quality of Honors College life under COVID-19, establishing an Honors College student government, creating and sustaining a truly inclusive and anti-racist Honors College, thinking together innovatively about Honors College requirements and curriculum. And please bring your own topics, questions, insights, ideas!
Yours,
Jeff
P.S. Dear Honors students, faculty and staff, please continue to follow the rules, wear your masks, keep a minimum of 6 feet between you and others indoors and out, and set examples for all with your actions. This is our way forward, and, perhaps paradoxically, the way to get back to campus life as we yearn for it to be.
Photos above, all submitted, show four stages of a collaborative nature mandala on the Honors College courtyard created by first-year students in Dr. Garrett McDowell's Honors seminar Balanced Brains. The assignment required students to complete a walking meditation to collect objects from nature with the goal of exercising intuitive, visual intelligence. The bottom right selfie features Audrey Gay (front) and Emma Estudillo (back) collaborating from a safe distance.
Upcoming Opportunities:
Dean Jeff is happy to help you apply; send him an email at vahlbuschjb@appstate.edu.
Join Student Government!
Michael Davis, Appalachian’s student body president, calls for students to declare candidacy for one of 70+ seats available! To view more click here and contact Michael with any questions davismc@appstate.edu.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Webinar
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) will be holding an informational webinar about their program. The NSF supports graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees by providing three years of support to those with demonstrated achievements in science or engineering. The zoom will be held on September 4, 2020. To register, click here.
Self-Care During COVID-19
Wellness and Prevention Services is offering free 4-week long meditation classes to help with stress, sleep, focus, and self-judgement. Classes are live and led by a certified Koru Mindfulness instructor. To sign up, click here.
Health Professions Advising New Student Sessions
This week Health Professions Advising is offering zoom group sessions focused on helping new students write a prescription for success. The next upcoming session is Thursday August 27th at 3:00pm for medical, dental, pharmacy, optometry, and veterinarian medicine. Register for the session here and find zoom links on their calendar!
Appalachian Global Symposium: Proposal Submissions
The Office of International Education and Development is hosting its eighth annual Appalachian Global Symposium on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. The symposium will provide a platform to highlight the global education activities or research of Appalachian students, faculty, and staff. Submissions are due by September 12, 2020 and you can learn more by clicking here.
Stay in the Know:
University Writing Center is Now Open
The University Writing Center is a great resource for any class where you can get direct feedback about your writing. Starting Monday, August 24th you can schedule Zoom appointments from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Monday through Thursday and 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on Fridays. To learn more click here.
Career Development Center: The Guide to Your Career
The Career Development Center’s Guide to Your Career: A Career Readiness Handbook for Students can help students identify certain skills to develop for a career path. The guide provides several tips, tricks, and advice to promote career readiness. Click here for more information.
How to Use NC DOCKS
Scholarly Communications shared a step-by-step guide for how to self-publish in Appalachian’s institutional repository. NC DOCKS or North Carolina Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship is where theses are published, stored, and accessible, providing a great resource for students researching and publishing. Learn more here.
ISA’s Virtual Support Group Interest Meeting
The Office of Intercultural Student Affairs is holding an interest meeting for its Sankofa Support Group (SSG). In order to create a safe space for discussion and navigation through difficult times, SSG is aiming to create connection, mitigate conflict, and provide emotional support through a series of virtual conversations. Attend the Zoom meeting on Friday, August 28th from 12:00-1:30 pm. See more details here.
Craft Enrichment Virtual Classes
This Fall, the Craft Enrichment Program is offering online classes in visual journaling, watercolors, photography, Japanese Sumi-e painting, and pottery. The classes are open to novices, hobbyists, and advanced students! Registration opened August 19th at noon and will remain open until the class is full. Click here for more information.
In the Honors Spotlight
Matthew Streets’ Immersive Research
Photo above features Matthew Streets in New Orleans, Louisiana March 2020. Photo submitted.
Recent honors graduate Matthew Streets is the recipient of a full-tuition fellowship to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi where he will pursue his Master of Arts in Southern Studies. With his Bachelor of Arts in History and minors in Spanish, African Studies, and Southern Studies, Streets chose to spend his 2020 spring break conducting fieldwork for his Honors thesis in New Orleans. Streets’ choice of location aided his research, while also allowing him to embrace “previously unfamiliar situations, cuisine, and cultural influences.”
For the full story, click here!
Honors Students International Service over Spring Break
The photo above features Honors students (left to right) Maddy Babb, Katie Feeny, Kyndal Steward, and Wade Creech in the Dominican Republic during Spring Break 2020. Photo submitted.
Four Honors students, Katie Feeny, Kyndal Stewart, Wade Creech, and Maddy Babb, dedicated their spring break to the international Alternative Service Experience (iASE) program Water for Life: Grassroots Community Development and Cross-Cultural Connections in El Cidral, Dominican Republic. Led by Appalachian faculty, the group helped construct water tanks to improve access to clean and safe drinking water. Stewart reflected, “As an Honors student for App State, the act of service has been instilled upon us. I think it is very important that those of us who are able find time to give back to our community, and make it a regular part of our ongoing education and throughout our lives...”
To read more, click here.
Have news to share? Submissions 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.
To stay in the know, learn about opportunities, and take part in the Honors community, find us below!
