Scholars Student Government

Now that Dr. Birgen is back from the National Conference, the next few blog posts will be items of interest to students.  The next one is:

Student Government Reborn

You may not have noticed, but the Scholars Student Council has been pretty ineffective this term.  I do not believe they have met and they certainly haven't planned anything for the Scholars Program.  I attended a presentation by some students who had recreated the Scholars Council at their university, Millikin.

Top Ten Tips

1. Have effective leadership
2. Act with purpose
3. Have structure in leadership
4. Think ahead
5. Never lead blind
6. Delegate responsibilities
7. Have regular meetings
8. Have accountability process
9. Host events
10. Engage members from the first year

They said one of the things they had changed that really helped is to have every person on the Council responsible for one and only one thing, all reporting to the Council President.  Their jobs were:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Public Relations Director
• Programming Director
• Academic Director
• Transition/Recruitment Director

Additionally, they created by-laws for their council which we also don't have.  They placed emphasis on community building and providing serviced to enhance the honors experience.

From their suggestions, I think the two things we can do yet this term is for the council to start meeting and to assign a job to every person on the council.  Your council members this year are Abbigail Mueller (assisting Andra while student teaching), Aditi Patel, Alexia Brewster, Andra Peeler, Benjamin Bogard, Bob King, Ella Newell, Kelsey Miner, Levi Endelman, Zach Schulz (stepping in for Alexia during Wartburg West).  The eight jobs I would propose, but of course are subject to change by the council are:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary/Treasurer
• Service Director
• Public Relations Director
• Programming/Special Events Director
• Academic Director
• Transition/Recruitment Director

Partners in the Parks

Now that Dr. Birgen is back from the National Conference, the next few blog posts will be items of interest to students.  The first is:

Partners in the Park

This is a collaboration between the National Park Service and the National Collegiate Honors Council, of which Wartburg is a member.  Students travel to a National Park for a week and study the location using the techniques of City as Text.  The costs are quite reasonable and the education is priceless.  This year there is a new opportunity to participate the day after Christmas in Florida in the Everglades.

Proposed Projects for 2014
1. Black Canyon of the Gunnison, CO (Aug 2-9)
2. Buffalo National River, AR (May 12-18)
3. Everglades Nat. Park, FL (Dec 26-Jan 1 2013)
4. Glacier National Park, MT (Aug 11-16)
5. GC-Parashant Nat, Mon, AZ (May 26-31)
6. Olympic National Park, WA (Aug 5-11) 
7. Sequoia National Park, CA (Aug 5-10)
8. Shenandoah Nat. Park, VA (May 18-23) 

Bowling for Primes

Hey everyone! 

KME is about to have its (hopefully) annual Bowling for Primes! This event will take place on Tuesday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. In order to get the word out more effectively, we would like to have a representative from KME "pop in" either at the beginning or end of your class periods to announce this fun activity. (There will also be posters and emails.) 

If you would rather we not interrupt your class, please let me know and we will skip over it.

Thanks!

KME Secretary 

Friday meeting of the Philosophical & Literary Society this week

8-Nov

Rachel Clark

Bioterrorism in 1641: A Plague-Sore in Parliament

The Philosophical & Literary Society meets Fridays at 4:00 in the McCoy conference rooms of the Saemann Student Union when Wartburg is in session.  Students are encouraged to attend.  Beverages and snacks available.

We invite presentations of an academic nature from faculty, staff, students, and members of the community.  Please contact one of the individuals below for further information.

Philosophical & Literary Society Steering Committee:

Walter C. "Chip" Bouzard

Amy Nolan

Lynn Olson

Fred Waldstein

Roy Ventullo, Technical Consultant

STEM Internships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

STEM Internships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Research Opportunities at National Laboratories for Undergraduate, Post-Baccalaureates, Graduate Students, and Faculty in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math areas.

Please contact Amanda VanOver at Amanda.VanOver@orau.org for additional questions on the Higher Education Research Experiences (HERE) or Nuclear Engineering Science Laboratory Synthesis Programs (NESLS)

Want to complete a hands-on research project?

Want to gain a competitive advantage?

Want to be mentored by top nationally acclaimed scientists?

Want to use state-of-the-art equipment and facilities

Want to interact with a national community of peers?

General Information

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a long history and interest in providing hands-on research experiences to students at all academic levels.  Over the years, these research experience programs have enhanced students' academic curricula and at the same time have helped the Laboratory (1) develop its own workforce and (2) contribute to the national vision for excellence in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. ORNL is a multi-program science and technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department (DOE) by UT-Battelle, LLC.  Scientists and engineers at ORNL conduct basic and applied research and development to create scientific knowledge and technological solutions that strengthen the nation's leadership in key areas of sciences, engineering, mathematics, and technology.  ORNL scientists are also fully supportive of their responsibility to help mentor the next generation of scientists.

Eligibility

You must meet the qualifications of all programs if you would like to complete an application.  You can find the eligibility requirements on the program postings.

Selection

Applicants are selected based on academic achievements, scientific interests, and career goals.

Stipend

Participants will receive a stipend based on academic level.  Plus some programs provide a housing allowance, and one round trip to and from the lab from your university or home.  Certain eligibility requirements will need to be met in order to be eligible for the housing and travel.  See information provided on web site.

Application

Please visit http://www.orau.org/ornl and click on your academic level to learn more about educational programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Complete your profile in the Talent and Opportunity System (TOppS) system and then apply to one or all of the program postings. Applications must be submitted visa the TOppS system.  See the programs web sites for suggested deadline dates.

 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 2014 HS-STEM Summer Internships

Now accepting applications for

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

2014 HS-STEM Summer Internships

Application deadline: January 6, 2014

Undergraduate students receive a $5,000 stipend plus travel expenses.

10-week research experiences are offered at: Argonne, Idaho, Berkeley, Livermore, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories; as well as at Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Coast Guard Research and Development Center, Customs and Borders Protection Laboratories and Scientific Services, Naval Research Laboratory, Engineer Research and Development Center, National Security Technologies Remote Sensing Laboratory, Transportation Security Laboratory, and more… 

Areas of research: Engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological / life sciences, environmental science, emergency and incident management,social sciences, and more.  

  

U.S. citizenship required

Detailed information about the internships can be found at: http://www.orau.gov/dhseducation/internships/

Please share this information with students and colleagues at your academic institution/organization.

A flier is located at:  http://www.orau.gov/dhseducation/internships/files/HS-STEMflier2014.pdf 

 

DHS has partnered with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) to manage the program. For questions please email us at dhsed@orau.org.
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An Opportunity for an International Honors Semester

Bonjour Honors Educators!

On behalf of the thousand-plus villagers who hail from the heart of France's Loire Valley in a town called Pontlevoy, the University of West Florida and its partner institutions would like to invite your top students to The Abbey Experience this September, 2014. www.theabbeyprogram.org

For more than a thousand years, monks and searchers and--more recently--America college students with high potential have come to the village of Pontlevoy to settle into the town's ancient abbey, where they live and learn with a deeply reflective engagement with their setting, academics and each other.  Now it can be your students' turn to do the same, by experiencing The Abbey next fall. (As this student's blog post reveals, the village and program become a home very quickly for our group: http://theabbeyprogram.org/2013/03/abbey-student-voices-courtneys-very-busy-week-les-jours-sont-les-fetes/)

The Abbey Experience is an intense academic semester abroad, during which all students will take at least 15 credit hours in the core of the Liberal Arts, while they also meet Europe and its citizens one village at a time. To learn more about our curriculum, click here: http://theabbeyprogram.org/home/academics/ Our teaching focusses on History, Art History, Comparative Literature and the French language.  Although the Abbey Experience is pleased to accept French majors, our average student  has no experience with French prior to our program.  As this student blog reveals, part of The Abbey is always about lingusitic risks and fears being managed well: http://theabbeyprogram.org/2013/03/abbey-student-voices-my-first-host-family-sunday-dinner/

Of course The Abbey Experience is not for every student.  It's for students from sophomore standing on who want to find an inner fearlessness and solder that together with how it feels to travel Europe and learn in active and dramatic ways every day. Our program size is limited to 50 students each fall, who will have 5-6 faculty as their mentors. This ratio allows us to do what can't be done at any home university: we hop trains for class or meet in a family's living room over tea. Or we bike to the organic winery down the road and hear how 7 generations of work and family have bottled the same product since before the time of Napoleon. Or we search for the perfect Parisian cafe to duck into and hide from the rain in, while our discussions of the "Lost Generation" are so lively that nobody can remember what regular "school" feels like. Students who've had The Abbey Experience mark it as the best learning time of their lives, as this digital short clearly reveals: http://vimeo.com/50303792

Students on The Abbey Experience have over three months to call Europe their classroom.  Travel is critical to how our classes ask students to open up to a deeper learning.  Whether at a 16th century chateau or standing on Omaha Beach, the academics of The Abbey Experience seek to combine what students learn with how and where that learning takes place.  Is class today going to Rome's Sistine Chapel or to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam?  Or at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, just outside of Berlin, or somewhere in a storied literary pub in Dublin's infamous Temple Bar neighborhood?  Every student has weeks of classes set in the incomparable Loire Valley, 6 nights in storied Paris and three nights along the canals of Amsterdam.  Beyond those required classrooms, our academics will break away to go where they must go, while your students learn to travel and ask hard questions all along the journey. To learn more about how travel and learning weave together on The Abbey Experience, click here: http://theabbeyprogram.org/home/paris-travel/

Semester programs are often a dream for students that gets killed by budgetary considerations.  That's why The Abbey Experience is priced to correspond so closely with what students tend to spend in any given semester at home.  At $9899, The Abbey Experience fee covers everything a student will spend in a semester away, except for a plane ticket, the meals not covered by the program, books and any independent travel a student elects to do.  Our best estimate for what a student will spend "all in" on The Abbey Experience is about $12,900.  Financial aid can and does help most every Abbey student make the experience possible. To learn more about affording The Abbey Experience, take a look at our FAQ here:http://theabbeyprogram.org/home/faq/abbey-finances/ 

Students who want The Abbey Experience have national scholarships to apply for AND they have scholarships associated with The Abbey to seek.  Students in good academic standing at the University of West Florida, for example, will have scholarship support available to help them fund their journey.  While students hailing from any US university can compete for similar help through the Henry Douglas Mackaman Scholars Program, which will be awarding 20 scholarships for 2014 in the amount of $1000 to qualified students.

Your students will always find reasons to stay home next fall.  We know from governmental research that over half of our graduating seniors who are college bound will swear up and down that study abroad is in their college future.  We also know that out of about 14 million college students in the USA last year, only 300,000 made good on their study-abroad promise.  The Abbey Experience is a special reason for your students to say yes to a study-abroad semester. And when your students have said yes, they will likely echo the kind of courage that is evident in this student's blog post from her term away:http://theabbeyprogram.org/2013/03/abbey-student-voices-dinner-with-my-host-family-mardi-gras-night/

Why should your top students apply for The Abbey Experience? Because our academics will help them regardless of their majors.  Because our textured and dynamic learning model will give them a primer in self reliance and intellectual ferocity. And because our portable learning plans will become not just a semester itinerary of discovery and promise but a lifelong mantra about how to travel and learn with gusto, hope and reflection.  Please review our attached brochure below, which is in Pdf format, to learn more reasons why The Abbey Experience is going to be right for your top students.

As Director of The Abbey Experience and The Abbey Experience Academic consortium, I will be available next week in New Orleans at the NCHC conference, together with Dr. Greg Lanier of the Honors Program at UWF, who is also past president of the NCHC.  Find us all over the conference on Friday afternoon 8 November or Saturday morning 9 November, or look for us to be discussing The Abbey Experience with interested Honors Deans and Directors on Fridayevening about 8:00 pm in the bar of the Napoleon House.  Click here for the link to The Abbey Experience Honors Fete Event to let us know that you can come! https://www.facebook.com/events/541484482593651/

Or to arrange a coffee, a cold pint or any other reason to chat next week in New Orleans about study abroad and how your students can access the benefits of The Abbey Experience, please text my cell at 651-341-1806 or shoot me an email at dougmackaman@gmail.com

The Experience begins this September, but the journey never ends.

Best,

Doug Mackaman

Dr. Douglas P. Mackaman

Professor of History

--

Mariah Birgen
Professor of Mathematics
Wartburg Scholars Director

Office Phone: (319) 352-8565
Office: SC 358

Office Hours: Mon 2:30, Tues 2:00, Thur 2:00, Fri 2:30 PM Central time
Scholars Facebook: www.facebook.com/Wartburg.Scholars

Scholars Blog:  http://wartburgscholarsprogram.blogspot.com/

Scholars WebSite: https://sites.google.com/site/wartburgscholarsprogram/