AY1617 – Page 6 – University Honors Program Blog

Honors Upper Class Housing Community!

January 31, 2017Featured, General News

Living in Honors housing as a sophomore, junior, or senior is a great way to lock down your housing and roommates early, bask in the glow of other Honors students, secure a spot in a great residence hall, and avoid the potential hazards of living on a floor full of randos.
For the 2017-2018 academic year, we are pleased to offer a group of doubles on the seventh floor of District House! Please note that different residence halls have different prices, you can find a list for housing rates here. Only sign up for housing with the UHP if you actually intend to live there.
Studio doubles are efficiency-style with a kitchen and bathroom.
Please note, the upperclass Honors housing community is an established Academic Residential Community (ARC). You do not need to apply for Affinity Housing to live in this community.
Applying for the Honors housing community requires 4 steps:

Fill out the upperclass Honors Housing application by Friday, February 17.
Through this Google Doc, you can request desired roommates. All roommates must be members of the Honors Program, and each roommate must fill this form out separately – no one can be signed up by proxy. UHPers can also sign up for housing individually and then be placed in a studio with another student that applied individually.
Confirm roommate assignment via email.
Applicants will be contacted by an Honors Program Officer by email to confirm roommate assignment.
Receive email from GW Housing.
GW Housing will reach out to you with instructions to complete the housing lottery, the date you will be able to sign up, and your RMS number for the application.
Complete the general housing application.
Once you have received your email from GW Housing, access GW Housing e-Services to complete the self check-in process.

The Dark Knight Movie Screening with Prof. Trullinger

January 30, 2017Events, Featured, General News

Join Professor Trullinger on Friday, 2/10 at 7 PM in the Club Room for

Exceptionalism in The Dark Knight: The Movie Experience You Don’t Need but Definitely Deserve Right Now

Is it permissible to go outside the law to stop outlaws? This question runs throughout Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which portrays the character of Batman as grounded in the struggles of familiar reality: he faces a Gotham of political machinations, disaffected citizens, and corrupt cops. Into this mix comes the Joker, an agent of chaos whose unpredictable behavior sets up a clash of perspectives on the legitimacy of law and democracy in a time of crisis. Widely hailed as a thought-provoking allegory for America’s War on Terror, The Dark Knight stimulates questions as much as thrills, and we will host a discussion about the movie afterwards, in the light of a brief presentation of Carl Schmitt’s theory of exceptionalism. We supply the movie and snacks. You supply good company and thoughts.

RSVP here.

2017 SURE Award Deadline: February 10th

January 30, 2017Competitions, Featured, General News

Did you know that Honors students have the exclusive opportunity to win up to $500 for their research? It’s true! Apply to the UHP/Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award (SURE) and we might just cut you a check.
We know “Undergraduate Research Enhancement” doesn’t sound that exciting (well, to most people at least, but you are UHPers), but what you can actually do with that money is amazing. Some of last year’s winners used the funds to study youth activism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, explore the culture of recycling in Buenos Aires, and present research findings at a national conference!
The application includes:

Student Application Form,
Faculty Support Form, and
Unofficial GW Transcript (no transcripts from GWeb please!).

The possibilities are endless, but the deadline to apply for funds for spring or summer 2017 is Friday, February 10th.

#HonorsProblems: Be Weird, and Be Better for It

January 25, 2017General News, Student Peer Advisors, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by Aaron, a junior in the Elliott School studying conflict resolution and psychology. Aaron is also the peer advisor training coordinator! You can learn more about him here.
“You’ve got to embrace your inner strange, man. Just be weird.” – Willoughby, Everybody Wants Some
I play Dungeons and Dragons. There it is. It’s not something I’ve done forever – I played for the first time over last summer, had a blast, and now I play once a week with a group of friends.
I’ve always loved fantasy worlds. Marvel, DC, Harry Potter and beyond – you name it and I’ve probably spent a bit of time in that universe. I’ve fallen in love with movies, books, and comics.
As a new player, I quickly found the game to be incredibly social, interactive, and pushing me out of my comfort zone. In fact, I would go so far to say that it is one of the most creatively challenging things I’ve ever done. It was very difficult to communicate the rush of excitement over this discovery of a new passion to people who didn’t understand, even those who shared similar passions to those I mentioned above. I was ready for some awkwardness, but I quickly began to feel embarrassed. I was teased. Their perceptions of the game completely contrasted with my experience.
While rock climbing with one of the guys I play with – talk about the last thing you’d expect two DnD players to be up to on a rainy Saturday in DC – he shared that he rarely discussed the game with friends who didn’t play.
For me, keeping something that had brought me such an important dimension of creativity, imagination, and happiness to myself is not acceptable. Our quirky passions define us. They give us a reprieve from the stresses of the world and our more practical passions. Even more importantly, they often enhance skillsets that we don’t use in our schoolwork and other areas of life, creating a well-rounded self. These things should not be hidden – they should be celebrated. Be proud of the “weird” things you do because they make you happy in ways that “normal” things cannot. Embrace them. Share your stories and encourage others to share the passions they keep to themselves. Try someone’s passion and invite him or her to try yours.
GW is an incredible environment for career-minded individuals and those passionate about their academics. If not the first, I fall deeply into that second category. Having a passion so detached from my schoolwork is imperative to my academic success. For three hours every Saturday, I make the choice to forget about my homework, or the paper due on Tuesday, and lose myself in a character and a world. I laugh with my friends and think critically about imaginary situations. When we resurface at the end of a session, I feel refreshed and sharper, more prepared for the week of work ahead.
I didn’t discover DnD until seven months ago. If you feel you are lacking something similar, consider yourself incentivized to indulge curiosities and explore activities that you may have dismissed in the past. I never expected to find myself a DnD player, but here I am today, trying to derive greater meaning from something that makes me happy in the simplest of ways.

Honors Study Abroad Info Session

January 24, 2017Events, General News

YES WE CAN (go abroad as Honors students)

CALLING ALL FRESHMEN AND SOPHOMORES WHO DEFINITELY MAYBE WANT TO STUDY ABROAD!

The UHP will be hosting a Study Abroad Info Session for Honors students on Monday, February 6th at 5PM. Catherine and Mary will be joined by an advisor from the Office of Study Abroad to talk you through deciding to go abroad, picking a program, applying, and more! It’s never too early to start planning for study abroad – in fact, it’s usually too late. It’s also probably not as expensive as you think.
We’ll see you in the Honors townhouse on 2/6 at 5!

Honors Contracts Due Friday, 2/3

January 23, 2017Featured, General News

If you’re taking a contract course, make sure to get your Honors Contract complete.
How do you know if you need to complete an Honors Contract? If your spring plans include pursuing any of these things FOR CREDIT:

Internship,
Undergraduate Research,
Research Assistantship,
Senior Thesis (Not the same as Special Honors in your degree — that’s a different form found here)

Get the RTF-EZ here and the Contract Form here. Don’t forget your proposal!
You’ve got until COB Friday, February 3rd.
Confused? Make an appointment.

Moral Theology in Kant and Others [Research Assistant]

January 19, 2017General News, Research Assistant Opportunity

Professor: Joseph Trullinger
Department: Honors and Philosophy
Title: Moral Theology in Kant and Others
Description: I am thinking of writing a book that will explore Kant’s philosophy of “moral religion,” with a chapter that sets it alongside liberation theology, so as to reveal some parallels between the two that have
gone unnoticed by Kant scholars on the one hand and liberation theologians on the other. I know Kant scholarship fairly well, and the majority of the book would be about Kant, but I need to supplement my knowledge of liberation theology by reading more books and articles in it. To that end, I need to gather together materials on that (especially by Black and Latin American theologians), and see points of contact and divergence between how they conceive of the relationship between morality and religion, and critical
social thought.
Duties: I need a research assistant to canvass secondary literature relevant to liberation theology (and, where relevant, its opinions of Kant), and then synopsize the relevance of those books and articles to my research project by building a substantive annotated bibliography. The RA would meet with me periodically to report and discuss their findings. As time progresses, the student should recommend certain ways of categorizing the secondary literature, in response to our discussions about the research project.
Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)
Credit hour option*: 0
Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: trullinger@gwu.edu
*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be met. Students selected to be research assistants should contact Catherine Chandler at cbrady@gwu.edu whether they intend to pursue credit or not.

The Brunswick Group Open House

January 13, 2017Job/Internship Opportunity

Are you interested in communications, public relations, consulting, media relations, or public affairs? Then the Brunswick Group’s Winter Open House is the place for you to be on February 7th from 2:00 – 4:00 PM! Each year, Brunswick, an international corporate advisory firm, hosts an open house where students can find more information about internships and entry-level positions available at the company. We have a packed agenda, including presentations about what we do as a firm, information on how students can apply for an internship or entry-level position, time for networking with members of the DC office, and an interactive case study exercise. Please RSVP to usrecruitment@brunswickgroup.com if you are interested in attending.

NEW Honors DegreeMap Petition

January 12, 2017Featured, General News

If Honors advising was the Guardians of the Galaxy, DegreeMap would be Rocket Raccoon – it’s not perfect and sometimes it makes mistakes, but it plays a necessary role and when it does its job well, it’s an essential tool for success.

Also, DegreeMap can be surprisingly tender when you least expect it.

If your Honors classes aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do in DegreeMap, please fill out the Honors DegreeMap Petition form. This is especially useful for Honors courses that have been approved to fulfill major requirements, which may not automatically populate in DegreeMap. Please submit one request per course and be patient with us, as the petition process can take several weeks. Please reach out to Catherine or Mary with any questions.

Bates White is actively recruiting candidates for the Summer Consultant Program

January 9, 2017Job/Internship Opportunity

Summer Consultants work on teams to develop rigorous, high-quality economic or ﬁnancial analysis and reports. They participate in a thorough internal training program, that provides the tools necessary to contribute to many aspects of a project. Under the direction of senior staﬀ, Summer Consultants will have the opportunity to conduct research on various subjects; work with databases, spreadsheets, and other tools to analyze data and information; create economic and business models; synthesize facts, communicate with experts and clients; and prepare presentations and reports. They work side-by-side with colleagues at all levels and backgrounds, from PhD economists to lawyers and MBAs. We oﬀer a competitive salary, paid holidays, an opportunity to work on a community service project, and fun-ﬁlled summer outings. Positions are available in our Washington, DC oﬃce.
Candidates should be current juniors (rising seniors) pursuing an undergraduate degree and maintaining an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher. Bates White values candidates from diverse academic backgrounds and while training in economics or business with a strong quantitative background is helpful, it is not a requirement. For consideration, please submit a cover letter, résumé, transcript, and writing sample that reﬂects your research and/or analysis of a particular issue to GWork AND to our website (www.bateswhite.com). Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications are due Sunday, January 22^nd. For more information, please visit www.bateswhite.com.
You can email Shane DeStefano, shane.destefano@bateswhite.com, for more information as well.