2017 Spring The Honorable Mention

Honors student and grant recipient, Warren Cook [left], poses on a road trip during summer research in the Snake Valley. Photo Courtesy of Warren Cook Honors students take the lead in environmental research B Y: E R I C M E L L M E R & D I A N A K H O S R O V I cultural values.’ I really tried to unearth the cultural value of water Warren Cook and Tim Lindgren, recipients of last year’s Hon- through my twenty oral interviews.” ors Independent Summer Research Grant, conducted separate reCook says he hopes his qualitative research will contribute to search projects during the summer of 2016 that addressed the role existing scientific research on the potential environmental damage of ecological destruction in human lives. a water grab could have. “If we can better Focusing on a local scale, senior histounderstand the connection that we hu“If we can better understand the ry major Cook conducted research in the mans have with the planet, maybe we’ll connection that we humans have Snake Valley between Utah and Nevada think twice before destroying it,” Cook to explore the effects a water grab would observes. with the planet, maybe we’ll think have on the valley’s residents. He credits his successful research twice before destroying it.” Cook spent July 2016 living in a to Abby Johnson, director of the Great school bus next to the alfalfa fields owned Basin Water Network; to his aunt and by his uncle, Ed Alder. During his stay, uncle, Deana and Ed Alder; and to proWarren Cook he traveled the 100-mile long valley to fessors Jeff Nichols, Gary Marquardt, conduct twenty in-depth interviews with Lance Newman, and Brent Olson. residents about the relationship between water, people, and the Cook expressed gratitude for his research opportunity, which landscape. refined his people skills and gave him confidence in his ability “I used a theoretical framework outlined by Dan Flores (an en- to spearhead future independent research during his graduate vironmental historian) to get at what he calls the ‘spirit of place,’” school studies. Cook says. “Flores says, ‘What generates the spirit of place are Continued on Page 11 PAGE FOUR PAGE FIVE DAVE GOLDSMITH The end of an era as assistant director of Honors and the development of a new major 1 STUDENT LEADERS Honors student (over) involvement with on-campus leadership roles Honors Director Wins National Award for Leadership Badenhausen accepted the Sam Schuman Award for Excellence for work in and outside the classroom B Y: E L A I N E S H E E H A N Richard Badenhausen, director of Westminster’s Honors program, assumed the role of National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Vice President in Fall 2016. The NCHC is the membership organization of approximately 900 Honors programs and colleges around the country and abroad. Shortly before, he accepted the Sam Schuman Award for Excellence at a Four-Year Institution, which is awarded annually to one NCHC Honors director or faculty member for outstanding contributions to their four-year honors program. Though this national recognition is a major success for both Badenhausen and the Honors program, it did not come as a surprise to the many students and faculty who work with the college’s Honors director. Since 2002, when Salt Lake City hosted the NCHC annual conference, Badenhausen has served as a member of multiple NCHC committees, including the organization’s board of directors. He has also worked as a co-chair of the Publications Board, which oversees all NCHC publications, and as a consultant on best practices in Honors education, advising over a dozen other Honors programs and colleges across the country. “Become a good listener.” Richard Badenhausen On advice to aspiring leaders Badenhausen said NCHC “energized our Westminster community in a way that helped us understand the value of getting involved in the national opportunities to connect— especially when it came to student involvement.” Through Badenhausen’s guidance, students have had the opportunity to take advantage of the professional development opportunities provided by the program’s NCHC affiliation, such as publishing undergraduate research and attending the annual NCHC conference. Badenhausen and students have said these opportunities foster appreciation for the distinctiveness of the Westminster Honors program while simultaneously generating innovative ideas for how to improve. Fueled by a strong national network and a student-centered value system, Badenhausen is leading the Honors program into an exciting new time of growth. Once the transition from Honors program to Honors college is complete, Badenhausen will become the dean of the college—though he said his leadership methods won’t change much. Badenhausen said he will continue to focus on helping first-year students make a smooth transition to college and discover their Photo Courtesy of Elaine Sheehan interests and leadership potential early on. He said he will also continue to teach the first-year seminars, allowing him to connect with the majority of students in each cohort, which he said he sees as one of the most important parts of his role. Though Badenhausen’s national recognition demonstrates the quality of Westminster’s program under his leadership, he said his most rewarding moments in Honors are not the awards but the ability to “work with students and see them accomplish things they couldn’t conceive of when they arrived at the college and to know that they’ve had a transformative experience through the opportunities they have here.” The Westminster Honors community is grateful for Richard’s dedication to the program and his successes both on a national level and in his everyday interactions with individual students in the program and looks forward to his continued successes as the Honors dean. 2 Honors student, Holden Rassmussen [left], discussing political theory with philosophy professor Kara Barnette. Photo Courtesy of Elaine Sheehan Philosophy professors speak about what characteristics and qualities make a good leader B Y: H O L D E N R A S S M U S S E N The theme of this semester’s Honorable Mention is leadership. A theme is a unifying element of a work that situates the piece in a familiar, broad idea to ease the transmission of the author’s ideas to the reader. Of course, we should not leave themes unexamined, because we then risk conveying nothing more than an empty husk of a buzzword, with the vague aim of marketing something to someone. That’s why we’ve asked our neighborhood philosophers to weigh in on this semester’s theme by asking them, “What makes a good leader?” Here are their responses for your rumination. “[It is] [d]ifficult to resist reprising Nietzsche’s aphoristic remark on leaders/leadership, so I won’t: Vademecum—Vadetecum Lured by my style and tendency, You follow and come after me? Follow your own self faithfully— Take time—and thus you follow me.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, from the prelude “Joke, Cunning and Revenge”) “I like to think that the key to effective leadership is character. How do you behave when you think nobody is looking? What kinds of actions define you? Character is what’s ingrained and automatic and it implies a harmony between word and deed. No doubt the last 20 years have seen their fair share of corporate executives who at work stand and smile by statements of company integrity while at the same time enjoy personal lives of extravagant greed and reckless behavior. We then wonder why the companies they run are so rife with corruption and illegal practices. As Kung Fu-tzu, commonly known in the West as Confucius, put it 2,500 years ago: ‘If the ruler himself is upright, all will go well even though he does not give orders. But if he himself is not upright, even though he gives orders, they will not be obeyed.’” Michael Popich “Philosophers are doing their jobs when they annoy and question ‘leaders’— not when they are trying to emulate ‘leaders.’ In fact, some of us (like me) actually find the aim of building ‘leaders’ incredibly problematic.” Kara Barnette “The Sage Helps all beings find their nature, But does not presume to act.” (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, #64) Nick More Jason Goltz 3 FAREWELL, DAVE The Man, the Myth, the Honors assistant director steps down to build new Geology major “Dave is one of the smartest, “When humans dam a river funniest guys I know. Dave has people say we’re ‘playing god.’ been a great partner in Honors When beavers do it, they don’t over the nine years... He’s even get accused of playing going to be missed greatly.” human.” Richard Badenhausen Dave Goldsmith “Spending four hours a week with Dave in class is a rollicking experience... Class is sometimes hard—and sometimes plain bonkers— but it’s always an experience nobody will forget.” Christine Seifert B Y: A S H L E I G H A L B R E C H T S E N Geology professor Dave Goldsmith’s distinctive approach to teaching—an integration of fresh perspectives, tangible examples, and witty humor—has enriched the Honors community for the past fourteen years. Through Honors courses like Science as Knowledge, Goldsmith offers ideas accessible to students of all disciplines. His expertise might intimidate some if it wasn’t tempered by sharp jokes, amusing references, and engaging enthusiasm. As assistant director of the Honors program for the past nine years, Goldsmith has ensured Honors students cultivate curiosity beyond their seminars by overseeing many student-centered programs like Tuesday Conversations, Honors orientation, and the annual Honors writing awards. Additionally, he has coordinated Academic Decathlon, which provides Utah high school students the opportunity to connect with Honors students on campus. At the same time Goldsmith has devoted significant energy to the Honors program, he has also helped form Westminster’s new geology major, which he will now continue to develop by serving as the department’s faculty chair. As Goldsmith departs from his position as assistant director of Honors, we thank him for his contributions and look forward to his teaching in Honors classrooms for years to come. 4 Honors in Action: Campus leaders and pioneers Hannah Fasiang demonstrates how to make kombucha at an American Chemical Society event. Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith B Y: M A G G I E F I S C H E R A N D E L I Z A B E T H J O H N S O N Hannah Fasiang, a fourth-year pre-med student, works as a peer mentor for other pre-med students and serves as one of three presidents for the ACS (American Chemical Society) chapter on campus. Fasiang has been involved with ACS since her first year of college and she credits Robyn Hyde—the society’s faculty adviser, chair of the chemistry department, and pre-med adviser—with equipping her with the tools she needed to take on an ACS leadership position. Fasiang says she values her leadership role, which has taught her how to work with young children through club outreach—a skill she says will be valuable as she pursues her dream of treating all ages as an emergency room doctor. In addition to developing new leadership skills, Fasiang says the most rewarding part of ACS has been seeing her mentees “blossoming and growing and making their [medical school] applications really strong.” Attend any student-led event on campus and you’re more than likely to find an Honors student behind the scenes. Just as Honors students study in a wide range of academic fields, they also serve in leadership roles ranging from student government to peer mentor programs. 5 Barnette and Michael Popich, the Ethics Bowl team’s coaches, helped him develop leadership skills when he and another Honors student were the only returning members. Hasanbegovic says the responsibility of being a student leader is rewarding because “when things go well, that’s great; you know you helped do something great.” Emma Metos, a third-year student at Westminster, is the managing editor of Ellipsis, a consultant in the Westminster Writing Center, the vice president of Westminster Girl Up, the vice president of Westminster Slam, and a logistics officer for Democracy Matters. Though she fills many roles, Metos says her most important leadership position is as a Teaching Fellow for the Utah Humanities Clemente course because she is passionate about working with high school students. Metos aspires to be a teacher in a secondary institution and says she appreciates the opportunities for mentorship her leadership positions have provided her. Metos says she sees immediate benefits from student leadership. “Student leadership has helped me get every bit out of those tuition dollars that I can,” she says. “It feels like I am getting the most of my college experience and I am really enjoying myself.” To manage the stress of her leadership roles, Metos suggests keeping extensive to-do lists and having a designated “no email and no homework day” to help balance school and clubs with a social and personal life. Selina Foster works next to her pup in the Westminster Writing Center. Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith Selina Foster, a fourth-year student in the Honors program, is the assistant director of the Writing Center, a trip leader for the Outdoor Program, president of the Westminster math society (Lemma), and an Honors peer mentor. She credits Willy Palomo, a Westminster alumnus and her Honors peer mentor, as a major influence on her desire to work in the Writing Center, as well as Honors director Richard Badenhausen, who encouraged her to take Theory & Teaching of Writing from Chris LeCluyse. As president of Lemma, Foster organized an outreach program with Promise South Salt Lake’s STEM Center to expose younger students to the STEM fields. As she concludes her time on campus as a student leader, Foster notes that she “like[s] to do a lot of things across a lot of disciplines,” and says the most rewarding thing of being a student leader is getting to “see other people getting excited about what you do and asking about it and then wanting to be a part of it.” Grayson Massey is a second-year student involved in the Presidential Ambassador program, an ASW Senator, and the president of the Westminster College Republicans club. Off campus, he is the vice chairman for the Utah Young Republicans, vice president for the State College Republicans, and state secretary for PBL (Phi Beta Lambda), a collegiate arm of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). Massey says one of his goals when he came to Westminster was to be very involved, and he says he has received support from his parents, professors, peers, and Badenhausen. This support has helped Massey pursue his passion for politics. “I [lead] because I genuinely enjoy people,” he says. “I like getting to know people, and I am really a policy guy at heart.” Though he says he knows being involved in multiple leadership positions can be tiring and difficult to balance, Massey says he enjoys being involved with organizations that are important to him. Gano Hasanbegovic, a third-year student in the Honors program, serves as the communication officer for Westminster’s Psychology Club and is a member of the Ethics Bowl Team. Hasanbegovic says he began his on-campus leadership through GriffinQuest, where he learned “what it means to be a leader and different kinds of leadership.” He then decided to become a member and leader of the Psychology Club following his interest of majoring in psychology. In addition to leading through GriffinQuest and the Psychology Club, Hasanbegovic says Honors professors Kara Emma Metos in her role as the Teaching Fellow for the Utah Humanities Clemente Course. Photo Courtesy of Jean Cheney Grayson Massey discusses school policy with Andrey Chen (not pictured). Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith 6 Aaron Smith records observational data in Meldrum as part of his role in ACS. Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith Angie Mock decorates her residence hall for students as part of her role as Resident Advisor. Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith Second-year Angie Mock is a resident advisor, a member of the mock trial team and the vice president of Democracy Matters, a role in which she promotes non-partisan political engagement. She says her interest in student leadership stems from her enthusiasm for meeting and getting to know new people on campus. “I love to hear about what other people are doing and build relationships with them,” Mock says. “I like how anywhere I go on campus I can see people that I directly work with all the time.” Mock encourages students who want to become more involved on campus to seek out resources like Honors peer mentors or resident advisors who are likely to be in leadership positions themselves. She also encourages students to find people they enjoy working with and pursue leadership positions in areas they care about. Molinari credits Honors professor Kara Barnette with helping her grow as a student leader and reinforcing her passions for feminism and activism. Her advice to other student leaders for maintaining school/life balance is to utilize the available resources on campus, such as office hours with faculty, the Writing Center, and the Counseling Center. Aaron Smith pursued multiple leadership roles as a first-year student. In addition to holding leadership positions in the ACS and the Republican Club, Smith is the founder and president of the Strength Club. Like Fasiang, Smith credits his involvement with the ACS to Robyn Hyde, who advised him to join ACS even before he came to Westminster if he was serious about pursuing pre-med. He says he decided to start the Strength Club because, unlike other schools he considered attending, Westminster did not have any sort of weightlifting or Cross-Fit club. Smith says the most rewarding part about being a student leader is that he feels “the work I put in is actually something I can get out of it.” As a first-year, Katy Molinari led the education section of Students for Choice, going to on-campus dorms and apartments and teaching students about bystander intervention and sex education. She says she became involved because she is passionate about reproductive justice and finds that educating others is a very rewarding experience. “I love the fact that I get to teach about something that’s so important and that’s not taught about enough. I feel like what I do is making a difference and I love that I can give students experiences that I never had.” Honors students represent Westminster in a variety of leadership positions both on and off campus. Across expansive and diverse interests and leadership styles, Honors student leaders collectively encourage other students to get involved in their own forms of leadership. Massey’s advice, for example, is to “find what you’re passionate about and interested in and then reach out. I’ve never had anybody turn me away because I was interested in something.” Katy Molinari leads the education section for Students for Choice. Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith 7 Student Profile: Global Scholar Debbie Samaniego B Y: S T E P H A N I E H E L D Debbie Samaniego, a senior political science major, was one of approximately 900 applicants from around the country this year to win one of forty prestigious Marshall Scholarships, which will allow her to attend her choice of graduate programs in the United Kingdom. For Samaniego, this represents many firsts—she was the first member of her family to pursue higher education and is the first Westminster College student to receive this full-ride scholarship. Samaniego said she worked on her application essays intensively for two months, going through two revisions per week with her advisor, Jo Hinsdale, on essay topics ranging from diversity and leadership to community engagement. After the first round of cuts, Samaniego flew to California for a final interview. The next day, she received a call with the good news. “I just started crying, actually; it was pretty funny,” Samaniego said. “I’ve never had an experience that just, like, brought me to tears.” Samaniego said the Marshall Scholarship was her “reach-for-thestars” scholarship. And now that she has it, she said she hopes her accomplishments will inspire others to push the boundaries of what they believe they’re capable of. “I want to show people that we could do it,” Samaniego said. “Not that I could do it, but that anyone like me could do it—any student who’s [a] low-income, first generation [student] who has a lot of other struggles to go through.” Photo Courtesy of Felix Mantz Samaniego said her desire to uplift students from her same background drives her forward. For the last three years, she has volunteered with the Clemente program, which is co-sponsored by Westminster’s Honors program and helps encourage underserved students from East High School to pursue higher education. Samaniego advised her fellow Honors students to find leadership roles related to their passions in life. “I try to be a mentor or guide students that have the same questions that I had and just simply [try] to make it easier for them because I know it wasn’t easy for me,” Samaniego said. “I really wanted to work with the youth around Salt Lake City—people who came from a similar background as me—because that’s where I wanted to help.” Professor Profile: Equality Advocate Jo Hinsdale B Y: S C O U T I N V I E Mary Jo Hinsdale, director of the McNair Scholars Program and an adjunct professor in the Science, Power, & Diversity Honors seminar, has made a real-world impact at Westminster through her research questioning dominant narratives in academia, bringing issues of diversity into the classroom, and preparing students from underrepresented groups for graduate school and beyond. Her work in diversity hasn’t gone unnoticed. Hinsdale was recently one of three recipients who received the Unsung Hero award, which was presented during the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration week at Westminster College to faculty and staff who have excelled in their diversity efforts. Hinsdale started working with Westminster’s branch of the McNair Scholars Program in 2003 as a coordinator before taking on the position of director in 2005. The McNair Scholars Program helps undergraduate students from low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented groups prepare for graduate school with the aim of creating a more diverse faculty in higher education institutions across the country. “We deliver a comprehensive curriculum to McNair Scholars to make sure they have the skills they need to select and apply to graduate schools and have the funding to go there and be successful,” Hinsdale says. Through her work in the McNair Scholars Program, Hinsdale says she has come to understand the barriers facing women, people of color, and women of color especially in the sciences —knowledge she Photo Courtesy of Calen Smith brings to the Science, Power, & Diversity seminar she co-teaches with neuroscience and Honors professor Russ Costa. “It’s not just about numbers in science,” Hinsdale says. “It’s about bringing in new perspectives. We need to understand the value of both Western systems and other systems so that we can begin to think in new ways. My students are young, and they have the time to do it.” Through her five years in the Honors program—and many more working with students in the McNair Scholars Program—Hinsdale says she has learned from her students as they’ve learned from her. “Both programs encourage independent, critical thinkers and a deep approach to bringing disciplines into conversation,” Hinsdale says. “In McNair and in Honors, students want to do as much as they can to develop themselves and the impact that their work can have out in the world.” 8 Let’s Get Your Perspective What is the relationship between Honors and other leadership roles in your life? Control isn’t easy to relinquish. Teachers are trained to create clear plans of study for students to follow —read this, write that, get tested—like following a wellmarked path through a forest toward the clearing beyond. Historians especially Jeff Nichols wrestle with the Professor of History notion of “coverage.” We “cover” wars, elections, economic busts—he “big trees” along the path in this clumsy metaphor. When a historian realizes he can’t cover everything, he often relies on a textbook to provide scholarly interpretation of impossibly complex events. That introduces another authority —someone who tells us the proper route. “Trust me,” the author says, “I have a Ph.D. I know my way through this particular forest.” When I simultaneously began the Honors program and ROTC to become a Naval officer, the two programs seemed in direct conflict with one another. Honors promoted my individuality while ROTC dismissed it, constantly reminding Nathan Guyer me about the importance Senior Public Health Student of uniformity and established procedures. Now, however, I realize these programs are not in conflict but are mutually beneficial. How might the Honors curriculum include strategies for effective military leadership? Leadership in ROTC demands a high level of military discipline and physical fitness, but it also requires analytical thinking and effective communication—skills I have developed through the Honors program. Last semester, for example, I served as the Battalion Commanding Officer and led the entire Navy ROTC unit. The philosophical discussions in my Honors classes, which encouraged me to communicate clearly and approach problems from multiple angles, also translated into my military experience. I used these skills to coordinate teams through physical challenges and critically approach tough ethical decisions I faced. In the classroom, my decisions determine my grades; in my future profession, my decisions will mean life or death. In addition to effective communication and critical thinking “ B e i n g p a i r e d w i t h s o m e o n e fro m a n o t her di sc i p l i n e f o r c e s m e t o c o n s i d e r d i ffe re n t paths .” Jeff Nichols When we follow that model, we reward a student for mastering the material, repackaging it in her own words, and presenting it in the approved form. By the end of the semester, a teacher has led students—where, exactly? To agreement with the teacher’s point of view? Or some author’s interpretation? “Welcome to Thinking,” as you all know, is different, and teaching those courses has changed my teaching. First, being paired with someone from another discipline forces me to consider different paths. But more importantly, the focus on original interpretations of primary sources means we all stumble through the woods together and often in different directions entirely, especially when we’re all reading things for the very first time. Taking out the secondary stuff—the scholarly essays, monographs, textbooks—takes the trail signs down for all of us and makes us pay attention to the journey more than the destination. What we find is that we can blaze our own ways through dark forests (I’m looking at you, Thucydides). We may not end up in the same clearing, but we’ve learned there are many paths. “The [ H o n o r s ] cu r r iculu m has mad e me a more ethical, cr itical and ef f ective leade r.” Nathan Guyer skills, Honors has given me an appreciation for community and mentorship. The peer mentor program in Honors inspired me to develop and implement a new ROTC mentorship program to establish foundations for incoming first-year ROTC students. At the same time, the environment in my Honors classrooms—where there exists no hierarchy based on class standing—encouraged me to act with a humble and approachable demeanor while holding the highest ROTC leadership role. Honors hasn’t taught me how to organize soldiers to fight wars. However, I believe the curriculum has made me a more ethical, critical, and effective leader—traits that will be invaluable for a future Naval officer. 9 NEWS & NOTES Teresa Elias (’04) is now Director of Brand Strategy at USANA Health Sciences. Tyler Palo (’17) was accepted into the MFA program for Musical Theatre with the Guildford School of Acting at the University of Surrey in England. He will be one of eight students in the program starting in September. Jennifer Amos (’09) welcomed her first child—Sarah—into the world in June. Congratulations! Cassidy Jones (’11) received the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award for the University of Utah’s Parks, Recreation, and Tourism program. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree focusing on urban and youth engagement in parks and protected areas. Palmer Larsen (’18) competed at ABS Nationals for rock climbing, coming in 5th place out of 124 climbers and ending up in 20th after the second day of competition. Jared Christensen (’12), will start the Curatorial Practice MFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art in the fall. Max Black’s (’18) poem “Hungry” won the Western Regional Honors Council (WRHC) Award for Poetry and will soon appear in Scribendi, an arts journal published by the University of New Mexico. Taylor Stevens (’18) is working at the Salt Lake Tribune as a legislative political intern. Sam Wilkinson (’13) will start medical school at the University of Utah this fall. Elaine Sheehan (’18), Sabi Lowder (’17), and Benjamin Pok (’17) were elected to serve on the ASW Student Board as the Clubs President, Student Body Vice President, and Student Body President, respectively, for the 2017-2018 academic year. Cera Cantu (’14), after completing two years with AmeriCorps, will start graduate school this fall at Emory University in the MPH program at the Rollins School of Public Health, one of the top MPH programs in the country. Jessica Taghvaiee (’19) is the Director of The Generation Project, a mentoring program she has initiated between students from her high school and 6th grade students from a nearby elementary school. She is also studying Political Science and Spanish-Latin American Literature in Spain this semester. Hailey Henderson (’15) will be one of six students to start the MFA program in acting at the University of Washington this fall. Pratik Raghu (’15), who is working on a Ph.D. in Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, returned to campus this April to give one of the keynote lectures at the Annual Global Crises & Global Change Conference. Grayson Massey (’19) launched and registered his own political consulting firm in December of 2016 and is in the process of a merger with another consulting company where he will act as one of three partners in the new firm. James Steur (’16) will start the Ph.D. program in Political Science at the University of Illinois next fall. Diana Khosrovi (’20) recently started her position as Communications Intern at Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy (UCCD). Hannah Fasiang (’17) was accepted to University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine. She will receive her MD in 2021. Nathan Guyer (’17) will start the training required to become a Navy SEAL this summer in Cornado, CA. Jaci Bera (’20) and Savannah Olsen (’20), roommates and fellow Honors students in the incoming cohort, discovered a common ancestry! Coincidentally, the two, who were previously strangers living in distant parts of the country, connected the dots and realized that their great-great grandfathers were brothers, making them distant cousins. Apparently being suited for Honors runs in the family! Debbie Samaniego (’17) was one of forty undergraduates in the US to be awarded a Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in the UK at University of London. Did you do something notable? We want to know! Email your news and notes to Richard at [e-mail]. Selina Foster (’17) will take a gap year and then begin a Ph.D. program in Mathematics at Montana State University in the Fall of 2018. 10 HONORS WRITING AWARDS WINNING ENTRIES BEST OVERALL The Evolution of Queer TIM LINDGREN Challenging Objectivism and Framing Partial Impartialities HON 222, COSTA & BARNETTE HON 222, COSTA & BARNETTE TIM LINDGREN A Mad Civilization or Civilizational (Dis)content CAROLYN JANECEK The Paradigm of Suppressing Human Passions and Calling it Objective HON 222, COSTA & BARNETTE HON 221, GOLDSMITH & SEIFERT ELAINE SHEEHAN Parent Contributions to Student Honors Council Fund The Westminster College Honors program is very grateful to R I C H A R D BA D EN H AU S EN & K AT H ER I N E V ENTI the following friends of Honors who have contributed to the R EG I E & J O H N BR A D F O R D J EA N BU TC H ER & TO M D ELO U G H ERY “Student Honors Council Fund” since the last newsletter. T H O M A S G R AY & LYN N ZO N G E This fund supports modest travel grants to assist Honors D I A N E & S T EV E G R EEN students in making decisions about continuing their educations G R EG & M I C H ELE LES O I N E in graduate school. M I TC H & LO R I PA D I LLA Contributions to this fund, which are tax deductible, can be J EF F & C AT H ER I N E S C H R E I BER made at any time of the year to the “Student Honors Council TO R I & LO R R I S H AV ER Fund” and should be sent care of the Westminster College DAYN E & LO U A N N S M I T H Honors program, 1840 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City, UT S T EP H A N I E & J O H N T S O U R M A S 84105. R I C H A R D WAT H N E Continued from Page 1 Tim Lindgren, a Westminster senior and customized Global Studies major, also focused his research on the environment but on a global scale. Lindgren says he conducted his research to highlight the fact that ecocide, or ecological destruction, is genocide. Lindgren says the main point of his research was to argue for the need for an international law to criminalize severe and extensive forms of ecocide. He wanted to discuss the importance of incorporating an international crime of ecocide under jurisdiction of international law. Lindgren attributes his success to his mentors throughout the research process: Westminster professors Leonardo FigueroaHelland, Giancarlo Panagia, and Kara Barnette. Lindgren says his goal is to “take the big ideas and transfer them into law” and says he wants to make change through activism on a global scale and through continued participation in academic projects. He says he would also look to leadership positions if they involved change. “I’m interested in change,” Lindgren says. “If that [change] comes with leadership, then so be it.” Lindgren says his independent summer research opportunity prepared him for research he hopes to conduct in a graduate program in the future. He noted he is considering the University of Melbourne, Australia; the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England; and the University of London or The University of London, Birkbeck, to study human rights law. 11 HONORA B LE M E N T I ON ED ITO R S 20 1 6 -2 0 1 7 Elaine Sheehan (’18) Managing Editor Catherine Blakemore (’17) Layout Editor Warren Cook (’17) Copy Editor Taylor Stevens (’18) Copy Editor Calen Smith (’19) Photo Editor Nathan Guyer (’17) Layout Editor From the editors: in one word... What makes a good leader? COMMUNICATION VULNERABILITY - Elaine Sheehan - Calen Smith PATIENCE - Warren Cook ENTHUSIASM PASSION - Nathan Guyer - Catherine Blakemore COLLABORATION - Taylor Stevens Honors Program Westminster College 1840 South 1300 East Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 westminstercollege.edu/honors 12