Honors Wednesday Memo
Opportunities and Information for Honors Students
edited by Lakin Stevens
Volume 4, Issue 12
November 4, 2020
Message from Dean Jeff Vahlbusch
Dear Honors students, faculty, colleagues, friends,
Yesterday in a Zoom recruitment session I said, as I often do: "my job as dean is to help connect great students to great opportunities."
One of our Honors student ambassadors raised his Zoom-hand and said, "YES! EXACTLY!" and talked in glowing words about SOC, the Student Opportunity Center, the largest database of high-impact educational and professional opportunities for undergraduates in the country. Each Honors student this year receives a free subscription, and this particular student had just found a paid VIRTUAL internship in his major through SOC.
Honors students across the university: please sign up here now (it takes about 3 minutes), and then ignore SOC until this semester is over and our very well-deserved break has finally begun.
Sending all support always,
Jeff
What are Honors students doing this October? Rhoda Waechter (first-year) dresses up for Halloween and Connor Ranes (first-year) visits Hebron Falls and titles his photo “Rocks and Trees.” Photos both submitted to us either through Instagram @apphonors or honors@appstate.edu.
Upcoming Opportunities:
Dean Jeff is happy to help you apply; send him an email at vahlbuschjb@appstate.edu.
Thesis Information Sessions
The Honors College thesis information sessions are for students starting or planning to start your thesis in Spring 2021. The upcoming dates are November 8th at 10:00 am, November 16th 1:00 pm, November 17th at 3:30 pm, and November 20th at 2:00pm. To register, click here.
Participate in SGA Survey
First-year Honors student and SGA Honors and Academics Senator Connor Ranes asks for you participation in a survey regarding a proposed bill in SGA to allow students to have a certain number of mental health days per semester. Ranes explains, “To pass this bill, we need a certain amount of responses to a data survey.” Take the survey here and contact Connor Ranes with any questions.
Fall 2020 Research Grant Applications Open
The Office of Student Research is accepting applications for student Research Grants designed to fund costs associated with outside the classroom, faculty-mentored, student-based research projects or creative endeavors. Apply by November 15th. For more information, click here.
Honors Symposium Call for Papers
The Lloyd International Honors College’s Honors Symposium provides undergraduates the opportunity to participate in a virtual academic conference. Submit your research-based paper by December 21st at 11:55 pm, to be considered and for a chance to win varying monetary awards! To learn more, click here.
Applied Geophysics (GPR) Workshop
The Ground-Penetrating Rader (GPR) Field Applications Workshop is a five day intensive training program in GPR survey, data acquisition and analysis. The program offers students practical, useful professional and research skills in the field/urban survey and exploration job market. The sessions run throughout June and July of 2021 and take place in Rapoltu Mare, Transylvania, Romania. For more information, visit here or contact Dr. Andre Gonciar.
Stay in the Know:
Courageous Conversations
The Walker College of Business will host its fifth Courageous Conversations event discussing religious identities at work, navigating your own religious identity, and the religious identities of others. Join in on November 5th for free to listen to Andrea Breazeale-King, Ryan Door, Koby Ellick, Rose Hamid, Pastor Reggie Hunt, and Dr. Laskmi Iyer. Register here and find more information here.
Self-Help Resources
The Counseling Center has compiled a list of resources to help students become more familiar with resources, websites, apps, and campus resources. Find the list “Coping During the Coronavirus Pandemic” here.
Queering the Outdoors
The Henderson Springs LGBT Center invites everyone to participate in their monthly outdoor adventures! Upcoming events for November include rock climbing with experienced guides and Crabtree falls November 7th and November 21st, respectively. Sign up here for more information!
Inaugural Mountain Studies Lecture
The College of Arts and Sciences invites you to attend its Inaugural Mountain Studies Lecture titled “Reaching New Heights: Highlights from the Most Comprehensive Science Expedition to Mt. Everest in History.” Join in to the free, public event with speakers Dr. Baker Perry, Dr. Aurora Elmore, Alex Tait, Anton Seimon, and Tracie Seimon. Register here for November 10th at 7:00 pm.
A Sustained Dialogue Institute Workshop
Join the upcoming webinar on managing our emotions to support students of all political affiliations. Open to all faculty, staff, and students, the Sustained Dialogue Institute will discuss the amygdala’s role in political dialogue and provide pathways to manage tensions. Click here to sign up for November 18th from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
In the Honors Spotlight
Honors Student Rebecca Brown Conducts Swine Research for Honors Thesis
Photo above features Rebecca Brown with her thesis research materials at Otus Branch Farm in Todd, NC.
Honors senior Rebecca Brown, who is a Chancellor’s Scholar and a sustainable development major with a concentration in agroecology and sustainable agriculture and a minor in chemistry, has been conducting research for her thesis on whether hog manure can be used as a soil fertilizer. In her research, she compares hog manure to two other organic amendments in order to address the challenge of finding sources of phosphorus for High Country farmers to fertilize their soil. Brown is working with Dr. Anne Fanatico, associate professor in the Department of Sustainable Development as her thesis director and with Mr. Eddy Labus, extension agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, as her second reader. Mr. Richard Boyland, area agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, serves on her thesis committee, and is also allowing Brown to conduct her research on a portion of his land at Otus Branch Farm in Todd, NC.
For more details on Brown’s research, read 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!