Hey Seniors HEYYYYYYY
If you’re graduating, have we got the survey for you! When you complete it, you can pick up your gold honor cord to wear at graduation. You can also pick up your 5 tickets for the UHP Graduating Seniors reception. I’m not saying we’re holding your cords and tickets hostage, but I’m also not not saying it.
Here’s what you need to know:
First, complete the senior survey. You can do this online starting today — make sure to follow the link at the very end to submit your name on a separate form! We keep your responses and your name separate so that you can feel free to be honest, but we need to confirm that you’ve completed the survey. That last step is key!
Next, come pick up your golden cord and graduating senior reception tickets at the Foggy Bottom office staring Monday, May 4th. You can continue to pick up your materials any time during regular business hours (9AM-5PM) after that up until the Thursday before graduation. We’ll check to make sure you’ve already completed the Senior Survey.
Finally, attend the UHP Graduating seniors reception. We’ll be in the City View Room at 1957 E Street from 5-7pm on Saturday, May 16th, 2015. Please note the reception will feature a cash bar and you will be able to pick up one drink ticket per guest when you check in at the reception.
We look forward to seeing you and your guests at the reception!
Tag: AY1415
Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice [Recommended Event]
GWDebate with sponsorship from the French Embassy Center of Excellence invites you to view Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice as part of GWU’s Veterans History Writing Project.
Last summer, the GWU Debate & Literary Society had the privilege of accompanying the World War II veterans of the 29th Infantry Division to Normandy for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The trip was documented by the World War II Foundation and, with the support of the French Embassy to the United States, has been turned into a documentary. In addition, the GW students and student-veterans who accompanied the returning veterans have created their own student-documentary on their experience, which will be premiered at GWU along with the World War II Foundation’s documentary.
Here’s the who, what, when and where:
Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice
7:00pm April 30, 2015
Funger Hall, Room 108
2201 G St NW, Washington, DC 20052
More information on the film can be found at the film’s website or the Facebook event page.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow [SURE Stories]
The following post was written by UHP student and SURE Award winner Michelle Stuhlmacher.
Late in April hoards of geographers will descend on Chicago, Illinois to share their research, attend plenary sessions, and generally revel in the wonders of geography. The annual meeting is hosted by the American Association of Geographers (AAG) and, thanks to money from the SURE award, this year I will be joining them!
I will be presenting research that I conducted as part of the Hollings Scholarship Program with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This summer I worked at the National Centers for Environmental Information (one of the NOAA branch offices) in Asheville, NC. My mentor had created an index for snowfall that is like the Enhanced Fujita Scale for tornado or the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The scale is called the Regional Snowfall Index and my job for the summer was updating the way it incorporated census data.
To do this I used ArcGIS and programmed scripts in Python. I learned so much over the summer and did some extra analysis on the new Regional Snowfall Index calculations. This analysis, and what it says about our society’s vulnerability to future snowstorms, is what I will be presenting at AAG.
The Ethical Issues of Climate Change [Recommended Event]
Join the Philosophy Department on Friday April 24th at 4pm for the second annual Griffith Lecture! Dr. Dale Jamieson, from New York University, will be speaking about the ethical issues that have arisen due to climate change. These changes cause untold harm on our environment, yet most of us do not feel much responsibility. What is the reason for this alienation? Dr. Jamieson is Professor of Environmental Studies as well as Philosophy at NYU, so he is sure to get your brain thinking. The lecture will take place in Duques Hall, room 152.
Click here for more information!
Catherine Chandler, 2015 GW Award Recipient
Catherine celebrated the news by treating herself to gelato. And then ice cream. The “Double Down.” And with “lots of hysterical crying,” she says. “I am not a pretty crier.”
On Friday, April 17, Catherine was informed that she is one of three recipients of the 2015 George Washington Award by the Joint Committee of Faculty and Students. The Award is the highest and most prestigious that any GW community member can win. On Sunday, May 17, Catherine will sit on stage at Commencement on the National Mall to be recognized in front of tens of thousands of spectators as one of the most accomplished, respected, and deserving of our numbers.
Catherine began working as a Program Officer in the University Honors Program eleven years ago this summer. She holds an advanced degree in Art History, but as she pursued her degrees, she realized her love of working with college students and the institutions of academia. For three years, she served as a peer adviser, or “preceptor”, at Wheaton College, her alma mater. She also served as the program’s supervisor.
In the past eleven years, the UHP has gained a prestigious place within the University. Catherine is too modest to voice her own great contributions to this success. She is proud that UHP enjoys “a very good reputation among other professionals on campus. We have good connections with all of the advising offices and the deans’ offices. People enjoy working with us and they enjoy working with our students. We’ve built a lot of really great relationships over the years.”
Her students and coworkers recognize her efforts in building many of those great relationships with her patience, her wit, her professionalism, and her absolute dedication to the program and school. She observes that the UHP has turned into an “integral intellectual community of students with shared experiences and shared values as scholars,” of which she is happy to be part. She leads the flourishing student peer advising program, paves the way for students to seamlessly integrate the UHP into their GW career, and is a backbone of emotional support that her students and coworkers need.
In the past few years, she faced great challenges in her job. Amongst them, she was twice left as the sole Program Officer. When asked how she persevered through these overwhelming times, she recalls, “After the first time I was alone, I learned a lot… it prompted me to come up with some pretty clever solutions and some things that have become really good practices, such as having peer advisers review four year plans… Borne of difficulty, but ultimately a good thing.” Always seeking to improve upon her service and ensure her students are well cared for, she bore these rough times admirably.
Several months ago, when presented with a copy of her nomination, which included more than twenty letters of support, Catherine quietly set the folder in her lap and put on a brave face for her afternoon appointments before letting herself read the thick collection through. To those students, alumni, faculty, and staff who contributed emotional, gracious, gushing letters of admiration, ‘thank yous’, and support, she sends a message:
“I want to thank the people who wrote nomination letters… for the time they put into it and the sincerity they put into it. I want to thank everybody in the Honors Program and everyone who has been in the Honors Program for the past eleven years for making it such a wonderful place to work, and so challenging and exciting that I really can’t picture myself working anywhere else.”
The Award makes Catherine the second UHP recipient in recent years, after Assistant Director of Finance and Administration, Eydie Costantino, received the award in 2011. The Award stands as a magnificent “thank you” from Catherine’s students and coworkers, and in recognition that the University could use more people like Catherine Chandler.
Textiles at Twelve: Political Identity [Recommended Event]
The GWU and Textile Museum host
Textiles at Twelve: Political Identity
Thursday, April 23, 2015 – 12:00pm
Ingrid Creppell, Associate Professor in GW’s Department of Political Science and the Elliott School of International Affairs (and Deputy Director of the Honors Program!) will lead an informal talk and discussion on the history of political identity and its expression and transmission.
Textiles at Twelve: Political Identity
Thursday, April 23, 2015 – 12:00pm
Ingrid Creppell, Associate Professor in GW’s Department of Political Science and the Elliott School of International Affairs (and Deputy Director of the Honors Program!) will lead an informal talk and discussion on the history of political identity and its expression and transmission.
First floor lecture hall.
Townhouse Study Hours
Everybody knows the best place to study for finals is the UHP Townhouse. Peace and quiet? Check. Coffee and snacks? Check. Other little geniuses? Check.
So stop by for some quality gettin’ it done during extended study hours. Full schedule below.
4/30 – 5/1 5p-10p
5/2 – 5/3 12p-10p
5/4 – 5/8 5p-10p
5/9 – 5/10 12p-10p
Why I Chose the UHP, and Why I’d Do It Over, and Over, and Over Again
This is my fourth admissions season on the University side of the table, and each year, I receive the question “Why the UHP?” a hundred times.
And yet, each year, I have a difficult time verbalizing all that it is great, good, challenging, and defining about the University Honors Program Experience. I have token stories about my professors, certain papers, and can even show funny pictures from the Student Faculty Dinner. But in forming my answers to this vast query, I needed structure. And I have now found two themes that allow me to structure that speech: Challenge and Community (for alliteration’s sake).
I chose Challenge when I came to the UHP. I thought I was smart and savvy already, but I needed to be continuously pushed. I am not a student to get lost in a 150 person lecture, or to abide by what the professor says simply because they said it. My professors challenge me, and I like to challenge them back. The UHP Curriculum is not about extra classes; it is about having an outlet for all of these questions that do not fit neatly into the syllabus of an International Affairs policy class. It is about reading beautiful texts that echo in my consciousness. It is about finding kindred souls in my classmates who are of all majors, but who all can challenge me in a second over a common text we have come to love or hate.
Those kindred souls make my community. GW has 10,000 undergraduate students, and the UHP is just 5% of that. Numbers sound important, but what feels important is when I walk into a building and I am welcomed by name, or even by a hug. The Townhouse has become my home base; it is where I work, where I caffeinate, where I study, and where I come to feel a sense of belonging. What feels important is going to Catherine or Mary and asking them to talk me through a decision, or arguing with a fellow student over Nietzsche on our way to a gallery exhibit, when a grade was not hanging in the balance.
Challenge and Community are not two exclusive entities. They feed off one another. My incredible relationship with the UHP staff builds my professional toolbox, as I take leadership roles and – honestly – sometimes make mistakes. I do not seek a passive community, but a community of challenging, sharp, engaged, loving people. People who self-motivate, and glean energy from discussions that make them re-think.
Coming out of the UHP, and GW at large, I have had opportunities for research, networking, internships, professional development, and furthermore, I have learned how to take criticism. The small class sizes, close professorial relationships, and opportunities for leadership have formed me into the ready-set-go young professional and academic that I am. I meet high expectations with gratitude. And if in my career, I find advisers, friends, and mentors, who foster the same curiosity, maturity, and introspect as I have found at the UHP, I’ll be happy.
Kerry Lanzo is a member of the Elliott School of International Affairs Class of 2015, a student staffer at the UHP, and a student peer adviser.
Climate Change Open House 4/21
Come support Dr. Miller’s Honors Climate Change class as we unveil our project on Tuesday, April 21st from 9:35am – 12:00pm on the third floor of the new Science and Engineering Hall! We are a team of nine students who are continuing an effort launched in 2012 to deploy greenhouse gas sensors throughout the DC area. We seek to display the information gathered in an easily-understandable visual, to help depict exactly what is happening in our local community. Our project is to measure CO2 levels in the GW community using raspberry pi sensors, compare those CO2 levels to readings from the DC metro area, and discover the impact of our actions by comparing our data with the global CO2 baseline (Mauna Loa).
Our open-house is open to all students and faculty who would like to learn more about the human impact on our changing global climate and what the consequences of that are. We will be showcasing our lighthouse sensor (shaped after the Washington Monument!) which will help viewers to understand what the CO2 reading in the Foggy Bottom area is, and whether or not we are moving in a more eco-friendly direction as a community.
Please check out our class website, 161.253.108.106 (yes, that number will work in your search bar!) for more information about our project. Refreshments will be served at our event. We hope to see you there!
Student-Faculty Dinner!!!!!
STUDENT-FACULTY DINNER TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
Get your ticket now for the student-faculty dinner on Wednesday, April 29 from 5-7 at Chalin’s Restaurant (1912 Eye St. NW). Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Town House or the Ames Office.
It’s all-you-can-eat, so unleash your inner Kirby and EAT ALL YOU CAN.
