It’s Round III of the Freshmen Small Groups! These are the last sessions of the semester so you don’t want to miss it. We’ll be meeting in District House B114, so don’t go to the townhouse for this one!
We’ll be discussing:
Planning for summer
Student feedback for courses
Research opportunities
Revisiting priorities/time management
Upperclass Honors housing, including a tour of the Honors affinity in District House
And more!
As always, you can register online for the most convenient time. But do it now, you busy, busy people, because spots always fill up quickly.
Small Groups will meet next week of November 14th – specific days and times are available at the online registration page. Sign up now!
Join us in the Club Room for our second Food for Though of the semester on Friday, November 18th at 12PM!
Professor Eric Saidel of the philosophy department will discuss “How Not to Solve the Mind-Body Problem.” How are the mind and body related? There seem to be four possible answers to this question. The problem is that each answer is demonstrably wrong. This talk will start by discussing these answers and finish by suggesting a different way of approaching the problem.
Lunch will be provided, so please make sure to RSVP as seats (and sandwiches) are limited.
Professors looking for research assistantships for spring 2017 projects are listed below. Click through the title to learn more about the project, including instructions for applying. Please reach out to Catherine at cbrady@gwu.edu if you are interested in doing a research assistantship for credit.
The Luther Rice Undergraduate Research Fellowships are part of the Columbian College’s efforts to encourage undergraduate research at the university. The LutherRice Fellows have earned a reputation as being among the brightest CCAS students. If you’re a CCAS student with a research question or project that you are passionate about, definitely consider applying!
This fellowship program invites students from all disciplines to submit faculty-mentored research proposals for the 2016-17 academic year. Students who are selected will receive $3,000 – $5,000 and the faculty mentor will be given an additional $1,000. For more information about the program, look here.
The deadline to apply is November 30 for the Fall and and March 1 for the Spring.
If you have questions, you may reach out to Elizabeth Chacko at echacko@gwu.edu or to Paul Hoyt-O’Connor, Director of the Center for Undergraduate Fellowships and Research, at phoytoc@gwu.edu.
This is not a drill, people. Spring 2017 registration is upon us! But before you can register for next semester’s classes, you have some housekeeping to do. Find out how to get your holds removed and where to find the best courses for you next semester. Registration Schedule
*** Thursday, November 3: Freshmen & sophomores (Privileged Registration)
November 4
Friday
90 or more hours (credits) earned
November 7
Monday
70 or more hours (credits) earned
November 9
Wednesday
50 or more hours (credits) earned
November 10
Thursday
30 or more hours (credits) earned
November 11
Friday
0 or more hours (credits) earned
Registration is open from 7AM-10PM.
Upperclassmen, if you’re not sure when you register, you can check your earned credit hours in GWeb using the following path: Student Records & Registration Menu > Student Records Information Menu > Transcripts > View Unofficial Transcripts. Make sure you’re looking at overall hours earned for the accurate total! Urgent Hold Information
Check your record via GWeb regarding holds prior to your scheduled registration time. Any hold on your account will prevent access to registration. You can view any holds on your account by looking at: Student Records & Registration Menu > Student Records Information Menu > View Administrative Holds.
Make sure to check now and again in the days lead up to registration. Check early, and check often! BADLY TIMED HOLDS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU:
*Please note: Sophomores in the Columbian College can meet with an Honors program advisor to have their holds lifted. Freshmen must follow directions from their POD advisors.* Spring Registration Advising
All honors students are encouraged to see a Honors Program Officer before registration. Make sure you are prepared with a tentative course schedule using the Spring 2017 Schedule of Classes and Honors course descriptions. As new course information and revisions become available we will update the website. Please re-check the information on the Schedule of Classes and the Honors site before you register to ensure that you’re up-to-date!
Please use our wide selection of dates to your advantage – plan on meeting with an advisor at a time that is most practical given your registration date. Students may discuss registration (and remove an advising hold, if applicable) by one of the following options:
Attend an advising party:
Friday, October 28th from 12 to 2 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom!
Monday, October 31st from 2 to 4 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom!
Wednesday, November 2nd from 11 to 1 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom!
Cross-Listed Courses
Some upper-level Honors courses are cross-listed with departmental course numbers. If an Honors course you want to take fills up, check to see if it’s cross-listed! You may still be able to enroll in the departmental section of the class. Just make sure to email Catherine or Mary to let them know so they can update DegreeMap, which won’t automatically give you Honors credit for the course.
Freshmen, you all did an AMAZING job on four year plans. Congratulations! Now that that’s a wrap, it’s time to move on to the next advising beast: SPRING REGISTRATION! At October Small Group Meetings, we’ll answer burning questions such as:
What is spring registration going to be like?
How do I get rid of this registration hold on my account?
Should I stay with my current Origins/Science faculty member or switch things up?
Are college students still allowed to trick-or-treat?
[Insert your non-personal, generalizable question about basically anything here]
Please RSVP for a small group meeting here. Small group meetings are first-come, first-served and they’re small (duh), so don’t procrastinate! We’ll be holding meetings in the club room on Foggy on:
Friday, 10/14
9:30am
Friday, 10/14
10:30am
Friday, 10/14
2pm
Friday, 10/14
3pm
Monday, 10/17
4pm
Wednesday, 10/19
4pm
Thursday, 10/20
3pm
So SIGN UP NOW and we’ll see you next week! If the only meeting you can attend is full, please contact the UHP front office or email uhp@gwu.edu. If you cannot attend any of the meeting times, please schedule a one-on-one appointment with Catherine or Mary here.
Join us in the Club Room on Friday, October 14th at 12pm for our first Food for Thought of the semester!
Professor Robert Van Order, professor of finance and economics, will start us off with “Shadow Banking: with an emphasis on China.” The talk will focus first on shadow banking as a concept and a policy issue and second on applications, so far, to China and especially Chinese property values. This is a great topic for students interested in international economics or business!
Lunch will be provided, so please make sure to RSVP as seats (and sandwiches) are limited.
Who was the legendary Benedictine monk who invented champagne? Which Shakespeare play features Shylock? What are the two top candy-producing companies in the U.S.?
That’s right, the UHP is hosting a trivia night! What year was Finding Nemo released in theaters?
Join us on Friday, September 30th for UHP trivia from 7-10 PM. We’re bringing in a professional trivia host and filling up the Continental Ballroom in the Marvin Center to give YOU the opportunity to show everyone how much stuff you know! I bet you know SO much stuff! Except to which Icelandic city the volcano known as Eyjafjallajokull is closest.
Tables at the event will hold teams of up to 8, and one person can sign up a full team (each person does not need to complete the sign up form). Single players or smaller teams should sign up and will be grouped together to form a full table. Snacks will be provided, as will prizes for the winning table! This event is alcohol free.
Freshman move in is right around the corner, and we are so excited for you to get here! There’s going to be a lot going on your first week at GW, but don’t miss the Honors Community Welcome dinner, exclusively for incoming Honors freshmen, on Wednesday, August 31st from 6-8 PM in Post Hall on the Mount Vernon Campus. Please don’t.
This is going to be a super fun, no-pressure way to get to know your new peers, meet some staff and faculty, and grub on some free dinner! We can’t wait to assimilate – I mean welcome – you to the Honors Program!
The following blog post was written by UHPer Sarah Hampton, a sophomore in the Elliott School. This summer she travelled to Greece with HONR 2054, History of Ancient Philosophy, taught by Professor Ralkowski (who took these wonderful photos!). Visiting the Parthenon on the first day in Athens.
In preparation for our trip to Greece, my fellow students and I explored the works of some of the greatest ancient philosophers known to man. Studying their work was incredibly different than experiencing the environment that inspired said works, however; we were unaware of how dramatically our interpretations of these philosophers would change. After weeks of becoming familiar with the traditions of ancient philosophy, we boarded the flights that would carry most of us to our first experience with Greek culture.
CYA, or College Year in Athens, welcomed us to Greece by showing us the apartments we were to call home for the next few days. These apartments, positioned right next to an Olympic stadium, introduced us to the combination of history and modernity that is found within Athens. We began our Grecian experience by exploring different ancient sites every morning with Professor Mark Ralkowski. These tours were led by our personal guide, Dr. Angelos Papadopoulos, who exposed us to the intimate details of ancient Greek history that are unknown to those who visit Greece for purely recreational purposes. He deemed us “travelers, not tourists,” and the distinction between these two terms became incredibly evident throughout the duration of our trip. Jack delivered an inspired monologue during our visit of the Theater of Epidaurus, which dates back to the 4th century BCE.
After exploring ancient sites every morning, we would often find time to discuss the connections between the sites we were visiting and the material we had read in preparation for the trip. Our perceptions of Greek philosophy grew much richer as we were introduced to the smaller intricacies of Grecian life. These conversations allowed us to utilize both academic texts and our first-hand experience in Greece, which transformed them from merely educational conversations to ones that allowed us to truly connect ancient philosophy with the modern world.
Once finished conversing and exploring various sites, we were free to roam the city of Athens and experience Greek culture on our own terms. This aspect of the trip was incredibly educational, for it allowed us to really emerge ourselves into a culture that was completely different from that of our own. We were able to see the difference between the city of Athens and the mountainous region of Delphi as well as the more coastal regions of the Peloponnese. By interacting directly with the Greek culture around us, we were able to bridge the gap between tourists and travelers. We were able to immerse ourselves in the history and culture of another country while simultaneously connecting ancient history with modern phenomena. Lunch break in the Peloponnese
The opportunity to learn Greek philosophy while within Greece itself was one that thoroughly impacted myself and my classmates. We developed a newfound appreciation for the global culture and grew in our capabilities as students. This trip provided us with unimaginable opportunities to learn, from discussing the works of Plato on the seats within Plato’s academy, to practicing Socratic debate methods mere meters from the prison in which he was held, and from analyzing the famous Parthenon to playing amongst the rocks at the bottom of the Temple of Poseidon. After directly immersing ourselves into Greek culture, we were profoundly changed as people; this identified us as travelers, rather than simply tourists appreciating culture on a superficial level. We were able to better understand the thought process of the philosophers we had studied, as we were finally able to understand the culture and environment in which their philosophies developed. Greece pushed us to grow not only as students of The George Washington University, but as students of the world as well.
