2013 Fall Honorable Mention

Honorable Mention mentioning Westminster honorables since 2002 Honors students write “poetry for the people” with Westminster Slam Last year, Honors student Willy Palomo started the Westminster Slam Poetry club with the help of Honors Director Richard Badenhausen and English professor Natasha Saje. Although the club is relatively new, it already has a significant presence on campus. The club has nearly a dozen members, over half of which are members of the Honors program. Many of these students were active in the slam poetry community before coming to college, and they wanted to bring their love of the art to Westminster. The slam poetry movement, which began in the mid-1980s, represents a dramatic break from the tradition of subdued poetry recitation in academic and literary circles. This new movement encouraged artists to create poetry about, by, and for the people. This principle of equality influences both the people and procedures involved in slam poetry. Poetry slams are competitions, but the judges are chosen from the audience. According to Westminster Slam founder Willy Palomo, the ideal judge has never even been to a slam before because slam poetry is about “making poetry accessible to everyone.” Westminster Slam carries this ideal forward in the Salt Lake slam community, and together they strive to create a free speech zone in which poets can address a wide range of personal, political, social, and spiritual issues through poetry. The audience is expected to participate in slam performances, snapping to express appreciation and enjoyment or calling out “push” to encourage poets to continue when they seem to be faltering. Hissing and booing are not off-limits, either. As Palomo points out, “the audience is in total control.” Because of this atmosphere of direct engagement, slam poets strive to connect to the audience for which they write. But slam poetry is also an opportunity for the poets to better understand themselves. Senior psychology major Courtney Hammond saw her first slam as a freshman in college and is now an active member of the team. “Participating in Westminster Slam has helped increase my confidence in interpersonal conversation,” she said. Erin Cavender, a sophomore marketing major currently studying in the Honors Principia program in Scotland, has also enjoyed her experience as a member of Westminster Slam. “I joined the slam team because it seemed like a fun way to get involved with other students at Westminster while improving my skills as a writer,” she said. Cavender thinks that being in the Honors program was one of the major reasons she decided to join the team. “I felt that slam complemented my developing writing skills,” she said. “While Humanities taught me precision in language, slam encouraged me to use language to produce emotion. The combination was truly delightful.” Westminster Slam is currently fundraising in order to attend the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI), which will be held in Boulder, Colorado in March. Though most slams are competitions among individuals, CUPSI is a team event in which four poets can compete together. A large portion of the fundraising will be done through Battle at Botanica events at Botanica Coffee House, such as the Haiku Deathmatch held earlier this fall. Additional Battle at Botanica events will be held on the third Saturday of every month. All of these events are free, but attendees are encouraged to offer a donation. The Westminster Slam poets meet on Mondays from 8 to 11 p.m. to workshop their ideas and generate new poems through prompts and improv games. For more on upcoming events and videos of performances, visit Westminster Slam Poetry on Facebook. By: Jorie Page Fall 2013 Honors program undergoes review from national expert Dr. John Zubizarreta and Honors Director Richard Badenhausen hit the slopes after the program review. Review report points to current successes and future opportunities. Over the course of the past academic year, the Honors Council conducted its six-year program review to assess whether Westminster’s Honors program is achieving its learning goals and offering students enriching extracurricular opportunities. The Council began the process by compiling a selfstudy. To gather information for the report, the Council reflected on the program’s current features, solicited feedback from Honors faculty, and examined data on student outcomes. Assistant Director Dave Goldsmith oversaw the development of the report, which was then revised by the Honors Council and sent to an external reviewer, John Zubizarreta. Dr. Zubizarreta is the Honors Director at Columbia College, a former National Collegiate Honors Council President, and the 2010 CASE/Carnegie Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor of the Year. He compiled an overall assessment and recommendations based on the Honors Council’s report and his on-campus interactions with students and faculty during a two-day visit in March. The program review’s findings show the Honors program to be successful in many respects, both inside and outside the classroom. The curriculum’s focus on critical analysis and communication skills has translated into substantial learning gains as measured through assessments like the Collegiate Learning Assessment exam. Furthermore, the program has very high completion rates: about 70% of students complete the entire program in four years. Finally, the retention of firstyear students is especially noteworthy: over 90% for the past two years. Opportunities to engage in social and academic events, research, and travel also continue to enhance students’ experiences. page 2 Dr. Zubizarreta’s conclusions were enthusiastically positive and highlighted the recognition that the program has gained in the national Honors community. He cited the unique interdisciplinary coursework, leadership opportunities, and strong sense of community among students as some of the features that make this Honors program, according to him, one of the strongest in the country. The Honors Council is now discussing ways to further strengthen the program based on internal findings and Dr. Zubizarreta’s recommendations. Developing ways for transfer students to enter Honors is one such opportunity. The Council will also explore how to make the core Honors curriculum even more creative and interdisciplinary in light of our campus’ increasing support for a revised Liberal Education program. Finally, the program review has identified the importance of expanding diversity in the program. New initiatives to pursue this goal include examining the curriculum and continuing our involvement in the Clemente Program, a mentoring program for underserved students at East High, which includes the support of two current Honors students (Nicole Bedera and Willy Palomo) as teaching fellows. Program Director Richard Badenhausen emphasized the community-wide efforts involved in making the program review a success. “I appreciate both Dave’s leadership in overseeing the compilation of the report and the engagement of other constituencies, including the Honors Council, faculty, and students,” Dr. Badenhausen said. Students will have an opportunity to learn more about the program review and to provide their feedback during an open forum this spring. By: Melanie Long President Brian teaches Honors ‘Law in History’ Though the Honors program has many stimulating classes, its newest offering—a cross-listed history course taught by the president of Westminster College—is especially unique. “Law in History” is a course that examines the interaction of law with culture, economics, individuals, and society. This exploration is guided by none other than Dr. Brian Levin-Stankevich, a long-time student of law and history, and Westminster’s current president. Several Honors students registered for the class because they hoped it would supplement their Honors experience as well as their majors. “It’ll give my major a little more context for classes I will be taking in the future,” said Jasmine Carlson, a junior majoring in political science, I force myself who also plans to go to continuously to law school. rethink this Senior English major Nicole Holbrook course, and that agrees. “I enjoy the means I need to new perspective it continue to read adds to my literature and learn myself. studies,” she said. Each week, the “Law in History” students discuss a different historical legal system such as Greek, Roman, or Salic law. Quizzes are taken in groups of four, which allows the students to combine their knowledge to get the best grade possible. “The quizzes are kind of difficult,” said sophomore Lauren Waters. But groups that get wrong answers on a quiz are encouraged to defend their responses in true Honors style. A successful defense can earn back the missed points. The class doesn’t just challenge the students. It challenges the president, too. “I force myself to continuously rethink and reconstruct this course and the readings, and that means I need to continue to read and learn myself,” said Dr. Brian. The president is also learning to adjust to the more interactive teaching valued in Honors. “It’s hard to break the habit of talking and the feeling that I need to convey lots of information and analysis,” he said. “That is still a work in progress for me.” And as if the new teaching style weren’t enough to worry about, Dr. Brian has also had to deal with a constant stream of technical difficulties. “He has a fleet of IT technicians that follow him and do his bidding,” joked Carlson. Overall, though, the class experience has been decidedly positive. “I have really enjoyed getting to know Dr. Brian,” said Lauren Waters. “Although he’s still a little intimidating to me, I have loved seeing him get really passionate about things.” Dr. Brian has also enjoyed this new teaching experience and is “quite impressed” with students’ abilities. By: Brianne Sandorf “ ” page 3 Honors students present in New Orleans at National Collegiate Honors Conference This year, a group of four Honors students traveled to New Orleans to present their research at the annual conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the professional organization that represents the approximately 800 Honors programs in the country. Their presentations before some of the 2,000 conference attendees covered a variety of topics ranging from a Baconian analysis of wildlife documentaries to a study of the best Honors peer mentor practices. In addition to their personal presentations, Katrina England and Nicole Bedera also participated in the Student Fishbowl Session, during which a select group of about eight Honors students from around the country came together to discuss what makes Honors programs work best. Sara McCaskey also participated in an additional presentation titled “What Makes a Winning Honors Newsletter.” In this presentation, McCaskey and the four other judges for the NCHC’s annual newsletter competition reflected on their evaluation process to explain why certain newsletters were more successful than others. The students were accompanied by Honors Director Richard Badenhausen, who was attending his 18th NCHC convention. As always, he kept busy throughout the meeting, presenting on panels about Honors recruiting and the value of Honors site visitors. He co-chaired the meeting of the Publications Board, which oversees all NCHC Publications, co-chaired the Student Interdisciplinary Research Paper strand at the conference, and served in the consultant’s center. But the best part of the meeting occurred when the entire Westminster contingent finished off one of its busy days with a relaxing dinner at local hotspot Cochon, where they were joined by 2011 Honors grad Chris Roundy, who is studying tropical disease and public health at Tulane University. By: Sara McCaskey Courtney Hammond and Nicole Bedera explored the relationships between peer mentors and their mentees in their presentation, “You Can Trust Us: The Benefits of a Two-Step Trust-Building Approach to Peer Mentorship.” Their proposed plan involved a trust-building exercise at orientation and a social, authentic follow-up with mentees during the first semester. Nicole and Courtney used the Westminster Honors program’s “Confidential Q&A” exercise as an example of an opportunity for mentors to become more approachable and trustworthy during orientation. Sara McCaskey discussed the best practices for creating a student-run campus magazine in her Idea Exchange presentation, “Integrating Print and Digital Media: A Campus Magazine Project.” By reflecting on her personal experience creating a campus magazine at Westminster, Sara led a discussion about the value of integrating traditional print journalism practices with modern technology. In addition, her presentation explored practical solutions to the creative and logistical challenges that creators of a new campus publication must address. page 4 Katrina England participated in the Student Independent Research Paper portion of the conference with a presentation titled “No ‘Idols’ in this Cave: Minimizing Baconian Biases and Engaging Wildlife Documentary Viewers in the Scientific Process through ‘Making Of ’ Videos.” In her presentation, Katrina discussed how wildlife documentaries are positioned at the nexus of science broadcasting and fiction. By examining classic cinema’s constructed ‘realism,’ and Francis Bacon’s theory of the “Idols of the Mind,” she argued that wildlife documentaries can and should strip back their façades of objectivity and scientific authority with supplemental ‘making of ’ videos which reveal the crew’s process of creating the film itself. By being intentionally transparent with their production process, wildlife filmmakers could open themselves and their methods up to critique, and allow the genre to be more true to the untidy nature of scientific inquiry. Andre Biscaye conducted breast cancer research with the Huntsman Cancer Institute this summer. Caitlin Himelright had her work featured at the Mod-a-go-go art gallery in October. Nicole Bedera presented at Westminster Thinks Big on college sexual assault report rates. Lauren Carter presented research on mercury distribution in the Great Salt Lake at an EPA Wetlands conference in September. Pratik Raghu worked with the nonprofit Youthlinc this past summer in Kenya. He taught English and helped organize a microenterprise workshop. Christian Swenson’s original play The Box was produced by Warboy Theatre Projects at Echo Theatre in Provo this summer. ! News & Notes Katrina England was selected as an External Reviewer for the International Undergraduate Philosophy Journal, Stance. Alicia Foster walked the Camino de Santiago with a group of Westminster students this May. Pratik Raghu, Jorie Page, and Emma Deloughery earned the first, second, and third place awards respectively in Westminster’s 2013 horror story contest. Sabina Schill worked at Nightmare on 13th, the number-one-rated haunted house in Utah during the 2013 season. Hannah Williams placed second in the design category of Foliotek’s ePortfolio contest. She is also the president of Westminster’s Residence Hall Association. Did you do something notable? We want to know! Email your news and notes to Richard at [e-mail]. Joey Devine competed in the Ragnar relay race competition. Jordan Larsen (’07) began classes in the MBA program at BYU this fall. Kait Thomas (’10) was interviewed by CNN about her work as a park ranger in Arches National Park. Amanda Anais Ruiz, (’10) graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School this May with magna cum laude honors and the school’s Public Service Award. She also received a commission as an officer in the U.S. Navy to serve as a J.A.G. Corps Lawyer. Ashley Pedersen (‘10) accepted a new job as Director of Education at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Bryan Craven (’10) and Ali Monjar (’10) were married in September. page 5 A natural fit: Students find love in Honors The recent marriage of Westminster Honors alums Ali Monjar (’10) and Bryan Craven (’10) is just one example of at least a half dozen Honors marriages in the past decade. The couple met during Honors orientation and according to Ali, “we both had instant crushes on each other.” It’s hard to believe that Honors students can find love page 6 in the midst of their busy schedules. Who has the time to think of romance when challenging readings and freshman prompts intrude daily? However, despite the workload, Honors couples are everywhere. Ali and Bryan agree that without Honors there is “a good possibility we wouldn’t have met. And if we did meet, we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other.” In Honors, students get to know each other in a special way. The fact that they’re graded on their critical thinking and analysis skills affects not only their academics, but also their social lives. “The shared experience of completing the Honors core breeds a fellowship which naturally transitions into romance,” Bryan said. As students become more confident with the ‘so what?’ of arguments, the ‘why not?’ of relationships with fellow Honors students seems much less daunting. Juniors Megan Peters and Greg Yerkes are two Honors students who have been dating for over a year. They first met in Humanities, but sparks didn’t fly instantly. In fact, Greg never imagined he would date anyone in Honors because he “thought they were all nerdy!” And Megan thought that “the Honors tendency to date within was just an exaggeration.” Little did they know. While Honors couples could certainly benefit from helping each other academically, Honors students’ competitive nature has the potential to get in the way. “It’s hard not to get competitive when someone does better in class, but we won’t share who does better in our relationship,” said Megan. Having a knowing companion close at hand just makes Honors seminars a little bit easier. Megan explained, “We help each other when one of us has already taken the class.” “But we’ve learned not to edit each other’s papers, because that’s just too much for a relationship to handle,” she joked. As for their theory about why Honors couples just work, Megan and Greg agree that it’s because they “have similar schedules, similar drive, and similar likes.” Not only do Honors students understand each other’s frustrations, they also understand Nick More references. Senior Sara McCaskey and David Luhr (’12) represent yet another example of Honors love. Megan & Greg Sara and David have been dating for about two years, but Sara never believed she would find a match in Honors because the “program is relatively small, so the odds didn’t seem all that great.” However, David wasn’t as surprised. “The Honors program brought me together with my closest friends from college,” he said. “So it follows that I should find my love there, as well.” Sara and David agreed that just being in the Honors program together draws students to one another. “Being in the program gives us all some common ground that makes it easier to build relationships—romantic or not,” Sara said. Other recent Honors marriages include Paula Porter (’10) and Chert Griffith (’09), Jenn Niedfeldt (’09) and Andrew Waterhouse (’08), Anna Hansen (’08) and Greg Bowen (’08), and Sharayah Coleman (’08) and John Cook (‘10). That group will soon be joined by recently engaged Ashley Pedersen (’09) and Ben Rackham (’09). Ashley and Ben met at Honors orientation, and though neither one was interested in dating they quickly realized how much they had in common. The rest is history. “We both realized somewhere between Halloween and winter break that we were, in fact, dating,” said Ben. “Things were going pretty well, so we just kept up with it, and now we’re still together, and engaged, eight years later.” But who better to ask about the phenomenon of Honors couples than the man who witnessed them first-hand? As Director of the Honors program, Richard Badenhausen claims, “Honors students have come together as life partners so often because, like Aristotle, they understand that genuine friendship is based on reciprocal good will. Honors students enjoy spending time together with others of excellent character in situations that allow them to exercise their arête. What could be more natural? Of course the highest form of friendship is based on a mutual horror over the use of passive voice.” Suddenly, Humanities makes sense. By: Anabel Alvarado Favorite date spot in SLC? Park Café because we’re huge breakfast people (our hipster side). Most romantic spot on campus? Bassis is our place to go; we try to meet up between classes for a quick coffee and crossword puzzle. Sara & David Favorite date spot in SLC? We love to go on walks together around the neighborhoods in Sugar House and admire all of the beautiful houses. It’s really fun because all of the houses are so different and I think we get to know each other even better every time we go. Most romantic spot on campus? With its wobbly tables, crumb-filled seating booths, and displays of abandoned dishes, Shaw is an obviously romantic getaway—one particular high table against the windows facing the Commons, to be exact. That’s where we ate lunch when we first started spending time together outside of class, with lots of joking and nervous attempts at flirtation. Ali & Bryan Favorite date spot in SLC? The Broadway Theater is our favorite date spot. It’s where we had our first date to see Man on Wire, and we’ve seen so many great films there since. It’s a great place because it’s local and supports artistic, independent films that sometimes make you reflect more than standard blockbusters. Most romantic spot on campus? Well, we didn’t really interact romantically when we were at school together. As I mentioned, we were both pretty shy about it. But we did have our wedding reception at Westminster, and it rained. So getting our pictures taken on the bridge was pretty romantic. page 7 On mentoring and education McNair Scholars Program Director Mary Jo Hinsdale attributes her success to students. Mary Jo Hinsdale, the Director of the McNair Scholars Program, has been at Westminster for ten years. She started as the Program Coordinator and became the Director two years later. She loves her job. However, it was not what she expected. Hinsdale was born in Long Island, New York, and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended Kalamazoo College, a liberal arts school in Michigan similar to Westminster. At Kalamazoo she studied French Language and Literature, and she went on to earn her master’s degree in education at Eastern Michigan University. In 2011, she earned her Ph.D in Philosophy of Education from the University of Utah. Hinsdale went back to school for this degree because she was inspired by the students she mentors at Westminster. As Director, Hinsdale helps students work towards pursuing postgraduate degrees. “I am asking them to do this thing that I’ve never done. If they’re willing to do it, I should be too!” she said. On paper, Hinsdale “designs and carries out the program services,” but she does a lot more than that. She has one-on-one sessions with students and coordinates workshops and classes to better prepare them for graduate school. Hinsdale puts her heart and soul into her work at the McNair Scholars Program. For Hinsdale, being the director is a very rewarding position. She has not only helped six students in the McNair Scholars Program earn their Ph.Ds, but she also taught two Honors classes this year: in Spring 2013, she co-taught the Science, Power and Diversity seminar with Russ Costa, and in May 2013 she taught Meditation in the Brain. She said she’d love to teach Honors again, because she really enjoyed it. Honors students also enjoy working with Hinsdale. In the past five years, 20 percent of Westminster McNair Scholars have come from Honors. Moreover, Hinsdale wants to continue improving education through the McNair Scholars program and through her own mentoring and writing. On top of her work at Westminster, Hinsdale is turning her doctoral dissertation into a book, which will focus on mentorship and how it can transform academia. On this topic, she said, “I feel really honored to have young colleagues. They are very gracious to me. When I write about mentorship, they answer my questions.” Hinsdale’s project on improving mentorship influences her goals as Director. “I feel like I occupy a very special position to be a part of all of these young lives that are going to go out and become professors and try to help change what’s going on in academia.” By: Bekah Davis Turning the page Junior Jorie Page finds her niche in Honors. Upon meeting Jorie Page, a junior in the Honors program, I came to realize what passion looks like: passion not only for the English or Honors programs, but also for life holistically. During her time at Westminster, Jorie has been involved in Ellipsis both as a reader and as this year’s co-editor. Jorie enjoys spending time hiking and playing with her husky, Loki. The clearest sign of Jorie’s passion for life was her recollection page 8 of a spontaneous overnight trip to the coast of San Francisco. She stated that it was a decision made so abruptly that she drove straight to the beach and back to return in time for Monday classes. Jorie said this experience taught her to “be spontaneous” because “it’s more memorable.” In Honors, Jorie found her niche at Westminster. Her experience with Richard Badenhausen, in the company of his beloved golden retriever Scout, cemented her belief that Honors was home to a group of people that Jorie wanted to be a part of. It seems as if there is no challenge Jorie cannot face. Jorie enjoyed the rigor of Humanities enough that she admits that she “sometimes misses Humanities because of how much [she] got pushed.” However frustrating, the rigor of Humanities and Honors gave Jorie the incentive she needed and was “life-changing” for her in the way that she now approaches academic papers. Jorie continues to dig into her papers as an English major. Although she started as a creative writing major, she quickly realized through writing papers and reading primary texts that the analytical side of literature suits her better. Now, Jorie’s favorite thing to do in her History and Philosophy of Science class is to challenge her own assumptions about certain beliefs. Through Honors, she has learned to “never take things at face-value” and to always ask ‘why?’ By: Selina Wilkinson What is one specific Honors classroom experience that has helped you face your fears? How? Michael Vought, Professor of Theatre Katrina England, Senior The opportunity to repeatedly face our fears is an integral part of the Arts in Performance seminar that Heidi Van Ert and I facilitate. As working artists, we believe that risk taking and the resulting inevitable failures are part of the artistic process. Failure, however, is not a concept that Honors students readily embrace. We knew that to create an atmosphere in which students would be willing to risk, fail, and risk again, we would need to lead by example, so we determined early on that we professors would do every activity that we asked our students to do. This seemingly innocuous choice has been the impetus for untold opportunities to face my own personal demons. You see, I am quite capable in some areas of the arts and Heidi is quite capable in others. Neither of us is proficient in all areas. In fact, in some we just plain suck. This creates an interesting dynamic. While students know how debilitating peer pressure can be, professors face a similar condition. I like to call it, “you’re-supposed-to-look-like-you-know-what-you’redoing-up-here” pressure. Yet I have, somewhat foolishly, co-authored a syllabus that actively demonstrates just the opposite. If facing one’s fears is indeed a class objective, then we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. I have so often wanted to bolt from the room that it was difficult to settle on one experience for this essay. Perhaps, of all the self-deprecating activities that I have engaged in during this course, the day that Heidi showed up with a professional ballroom dancer tops the list of my “let-me-show-you-how-foolish-I-can-look” moments. Or maybe it was when the modern dance teacher had us choreograph and perform for the entire class. I’d say those two are about neck and neck. You see, dance terrifies me and here I was dancing with students half my age with twice my ability (I am being generous to myself on both counts). But you know what? I didn’t just survive it, I actually had fun. Why? Because of the unwavering support of everyone around me. Just as I have so consciously supported countless students in the risks that we asked of them, they were there to support me. These same students, along with my amazing co-facilitator, who had acted and sung and read poetry and painted when it scared them half to death, were there to hold my hand, literally and figuratively, as we danced. I’ll cherish that forever. “Progress is the devil in disguise!” John Allred (’14) asserted, starting what would continue as an unconventional and hilarious rebuttal. While I could not tell you the exact question to which he responded—“Is government expenditure good for the economy?” or something like that—I distinctly remember our class reaction to the opening lines of the first debate in our Political Economy of Conflict class because they have since helped me face my fear of not being bright enough for Honors. Before I continue with the specific experience, I feel I owe a justification for my (maybe) seemingly silly fear. After all, I am already here, in the Honors program, which means that at some point, someone thought I was worthy of an Honors education, right? Right?! But sometimes I worry that I earn good grades on my papers because they are well-organized, not because my ideas are any good, or that when I say something useful in class, it is because I anticipated what the professor wanted to say, not Sometimes that I contributed an original I seriously thought to the conversation. wonder if I In other words, sometimes have managed I seriously wonder if I have to make it this managed to make it this far far in school in school by way of mere by way of mere deception or luck. Some psychologists call this fear deception or Impostor Syndrome. luck. So, how has a rebuttal to an in-class debate—and a goofy one at that—helped me face my fear that I am not really bright enough to be here, that I am an impostor in Honors? When I think back on the debate, I fail to recall much of the content, but I do remember the reaction to John’s speech: laughter! Confused, surprised laughter that jolted the class from metaphorical (and, in one case, literal) slumber. And now, when I look back at the aftermath of our amusement, I think that maybe my worries are as absurd as claiming that the devil uses progress as his disguise, or that somehow, all of us have not earned our place as Honors students through our diligence, drive, and camaraderie. “ ” page 9 Undergraduate summer research projects Two Honors students received grants to conduct independent research last summer. “Never Go Out Alone”: Rape Prevention Tips and their Effect on Women’s Lives Nicole Bedera, Senior Sociology Major The role of women in college sexual assault prevention and risk reduction has become controversial as movements for men’s participation have become more popular. Research on college sexual assault prevention and risk reduction in general has largely focused on individual programs or universities. However, previous research has avoided larger studies of the messages many colleges give their students regarding who is responsible for rape prevention on campus. I attempted to fill that gap by examining rape prevention and risk reduction tips posted on 40 college websites. I analyzed each tip for frequency and intended audience and I also looked for common themes in the women’s tips as a group. At the end of my research, I found that most tips are still directed at women and that they convey three main messages: there are no safe places for women, women can’t trust anyone, and women should never be alone. These themes reflect a culture that perpetuates rape myths and victim blaming, and reveal a need for a new approach to providing rape prevention tips for college women that avoid these harmful cultural assumptions. Assessing the Influence of Gender on Unemployment: A Panel Data Approach While differences in hourly earnings between men and women have frequently been investigated in gender economics, the gender gap in unemployment rates has received less attention. According to much of the existing research, the reduction in the unemployment rate differential between the genders over the past 30 years indicates that gender no longer plays a significant role in employment outcomes. I conducted a regression analysis to evaluate that claim using microeconomic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I also conducted panel data regressions to establish whether women are subject to more weeks of unemployment in a year than men and whether this difference represents the influence of direct and indirect (i.e., societal) gender discrimination. After accounting for women’s decisions to drop out of the labor force, the regression output indicates that direct gender discrimination against women may no longer play a significant role in employment outcomes. However, there is evidence that societal pressures continue to encourage women to quit work in response to unemployment more readily than men. These findings speak to the complex gender dynamics that persist in the American labor market despite measures to ensure equal employment opportunities and suggest that unemployment rates alone are insufficient to fully understand those dynamics. page 10 Melanie Long, Senior Economics Major Get to know your Student Honors Council The students who make up the Student Honors Council serve as representatives for all Honors students. These four elected students - president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer – mentor incoming Honors students, generate ideas about Honors courses, propose new program goals, and discuss student concerns about the Honors program. In addition, the Student Honors Council organizes academic and social events for Honors students, including the “Pizza with Profs” lecture series and the “Profs Pick the Flick” film series. The Student Honors Council plans these events, along with annual Holiday parties, the Dead Paper Society, Monte Carlo night and the end-of-the-year softball game to help establish a sense of program identity and community among Honors students. By: Mackenzie Crow Jeff Collins President Monique Arvisais-Anhalt Vice President Megan Peters Secretary Jake Winter Treasurer Jeff Collins is a fifth-year senior double-majoring in biology and environmental studies. Jeff loves to spend time outside hiking with friends, camping, skiing, or snowboarding. His favorite Honors class was Arts in Performance because he faced so many enlightening challenges and learned so much from his fellow students. Monique Arvisais-Anhalt is a junior majoring in chemistry and minoring in French. Monique was recently accepted to SUNY Upstate Medical School. She loves to run, spend time outside, and watch The X-Files. Her favorite Honors class was Science, Power and Diversity with Russ Costa and Joel Addams because she thought the intersection between neuroscience, psychology, and medicine was fascinating. Megan Peters is a junior majoring in marketing and minoring in film studies. She hopes to become an account manager in an entertainment-focused company. Her favorite Honors class was Arts in Performance because of the free spirited, supportive, and dependable environment her professors and fellow students created. She loves to spend her free time watching movies and reading. Jake Winter is a junior majoring in biology and pre-med. Jake enjoys rock climbing, playing the guitar, and spending time with his dogs. His favorite Honors class was History and Philosophy of Science with Dave Goldsmith and Richard Wellman because it injected a healthy dose of skepticism into his outlook as a budding scientist. Question & Answer If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be? If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Jeff Cherry Garcia, because everyone would love me and I’d be named after my favorite guitarist/songwriter. Jeff A perfect memory and the ability to master any subject quickly. Monique I would be l’écureuil because I like to scamper up trees. Megan I would be coffee flavored ice cream because I’m basically made up of coffee in body weight at this point. Jake Vanilla. Pigment isn’t my strong suit. Monique The ability to walk through solid matter. Then I’d be able to go to Platform 9 and ¾. ’Nuff said. Megan I would want to be able to understand what people actually mean when they say things. Jake The ability to open even the hardest-to-open jars. page 11 Save the Date! April 22 The Annual Honors Spring Banquet 7:00 pm at Westminster on the Draw April 23 Honors faculty vs. student softball game High noon on Dumke Field May 31 Commencement 1:45 pm at the Maverik Center A few Honors graduates from the class of 2013 at last year’s Spring Banquet. Honorable editors Sara McCaskey Senior, Communication Jessie Smith Senior, Communication Honors Program Westminster College 1840 S. 1300 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84105 westminstercollege.edu/honors Chris Cunningham Junior, Economics Hannah Williams Sophomore, Business Jessica Bowen Junior, English