Theatre Students to Study Abroad
Taylor Hohman, a senior theatre arts major from Lexington, Ky., has been accepted for post-graduate study at the Accademia dell’Arte in Tuscany, Italy. He will travel to Italy this summer for language immersion and then begin a full year of studying Italian culture, language, opera and theatre at dell’Arte.
Junior theatre arts major Johnathan Menius of Kannapolis has been accepted to study acting this summer in Paris at Friches Theatre Urbain in a program entitled “Inside French Theatre: Acting and Movement Training.”
New Catawba Ambassadors
Nine Catawba College students have been selected as new Catawba Ambassadors and will begin their new duties this fall. Ambassadors serve as tour guides for prospective students to the institution.
New Catawba Ambassadors include Lindsey Burch, a junior from Greensboro; Megan Fulsom, a freshman from Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Victoria Hamilton, a sophomore from Wake Forest; Candace Jacobs, a sophomore from Tampa, Fla.; Sonny Kong, a freshman from Matthews; Tara Millington, a freshman from Palatine Bridge, N.Y.; Sheldon Rogers, a freshman from Waxhaw; Shane Timmons, a sophomore from Denton; and Alex Will, a freshman from Pembroke, Mass.
Elizabeth O’Connell and Jackie Pearson, members of Catawba College’s Admissions staff, serve as co-advisors of the Ambassadors.
Students Earn Merit Scholarships from Catawba College Honors Program
Six Catawba College students have been awarded merit scholarships by the College Honors Program based on their participation in the Honors program and an essay each of them wrote. These scholarships are awarded each spring.
Recipients of the merit scholarships include Elisa Alfieri, a sophomore from Salisbury; Elizabeth Foster, a freshman from Baltimore, Md.; Meagan Kittle, a freshman from Winchester, Ontario; Lindsay Stobaugh, a freshman from Greensboro; Lauren Ebersole, a sophomore from Hagerstown, Md.; and Victoria Hamilton, a sophomore from Wake Forest.
This year, faculty board judges who evaluated the students and their essays included Dr. Julie Chamberlain of the music department, Dr. Sharon Sullivan of the mathematics department, and Dr. Sheila Brownlow of the psychology department and director of Catawba’s Honors Program. The board judges reported that they learned that students perceive that an Honors program is essential in “...Allowing us to explore other places and cultures...letting us see our role in the world,” (Elisa Alfieri) and that “there is no other way to truly experience a culture or region if not to wholeheartedly try it on for size, despite one’s upbringing or place of origin” (Victoria Hamilton). The essays, the judges noted, also reflected the goals and missions of the Honors Program, in that the students clearly recognized that in “...higher education there is a danger of only studying what is easy to grasp...” and, as Elizabeth Foster noted, we need to promote the sorts of experiences that will make people “reject stereotypes that have been embedded in the American culture.”
Students Receive Funding to Participate in Scholarly Association Meetings
Catawba College students have been awarded funding to attend and participate in scholarly association meetings where some will present their research. The student travel awards were made from the College’s Fund for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning and will cover a portion of the actual costs associated the students’ trips.
The following students from various disciplines were awarded funding:
;;Alpha Chi – Jennie Brooks, a senior from Charlotte, will present the results of her experience as a music business major with a radio station internship at the annual Alpha Chi National Convention.
Biology – Three senior biology students, Sean Bloom of Snellville, Ga., Jennifer Pickler of Liberty, and Ashley Wilhelm of Cleveland, will present the results of their senior research at the N.C. Academy of Science. Pickler and Wilhelm, along with senior Sarah Simmons of Clemmons, will also present the results of their work at the Association of Southeastern Biologists and Southeast Regional Tri Beta and received a grant from these biology associations.
Chemistry – Three senior chemistry majors, Hollie Bruce and David Pinkston of Salisbury and Ross Hudgins will attend the National American Chemical Society Annual Meeting as conferees, representing the Catawba College Chapter of the American Chemical Society – Student Affiliate, and as authors of four contributed papers which are the result of their capstone experience.
Dance – Eight students will be attending the American College Dance Festival, Mid-Atlantic Region. All attending will participate in the performance of one or more pieces of original student choreography. Two of the pieces, choreographed by seniors Anthony Johnson of Burlington and Jennifer Reiff of Wilmington, will be adjudicated. A third choreographer, senior David Loudermilk of Richmond, Va., will be considered for participation in a workshop with the Dean Emeritus of the American Dance Festival.
Mathematics – Senior Josey Gantt of Winston-Salem, Stephanie Garrett, sophomore Melissa Kepley of Cary, and senior Jennifer O’Connell of Jamesburg, N.J. will represent Catawba College in the Math Jeopardy Contest at the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America conference. Additionally, O’Connell will present a mathematics research paper that is the result of her capstone course.
Psychology – Four students, junior Cathrine Baletine of Charlotte, senior Alex Lopez of Rockwell, senior Sharyn Lyons of Spring Lake, and junior Jill Makransky of Penns Grove, N.J. will present papers describing projects performed under the guidance of psychology faculty at the Southeastern Psychological Association meeting. Six other students, Mary Attea of Kenmore, N.Y., Brooks Gleason of Winston-Salem, Lauren Perry of Salisbury, Steven Kruger of Romney, W.Va., Alvin Owusu of Powder Springs, Ga., and Stephanie Valentine of Charlotte, prepared papers but will not be attending the meeting.
Students Attend N.C. Academy of Science Meeting
Catawba College students attended the 102nd annual meeting of the N.C. Academy of Science held March 18-20 in Raleigh and four of those students attending made presentations.
Senior Kendall Prescott of Exeter, N.H. won first place in the Derieux Award competition for her poster presentation entitled “Comparing the phantom imaging method with the sensitometric method as a means of testing quality control in the film processor.” Senior Ashley Wilhelm of Cleveland won the first place Derieux Award in the ecology section with her oral presentation “Social dominance and heat shock proteins: are they related?” Senior Sean Bloom of Snellville, Ga. won the third place Derieux Award in the ecology section for his oral presentation “Does successional stage affect macro-invertebrate community structure in the piedmont forested wetlands?” Senior Jennifer Pickler of Liberty won a second place Derieux Award in the biotechnology/health sciences/physiology section for her oral presentation “Effects of food availability on heat shot protein levels in Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis.”
Political Science Students Participate in Association Meeting
Members of Catawba’s political science department participated in the N.C. Political Science Association’s annual meeting held at the University of N.C. at Pembroke on Friday, March 18.
Drs. Sanford Silverburg and Michael Bitzer participated as discussants on several panels. Silverburg chaired a panel on “Islam and Politics” as well as served as a panelists on a roundtable entitled “Words and Deeds: The Bush Foreign Policy.” Bitzer served as a discussant for a panel of papers on the 2004 Election.
At the meeting, Bitzer was re-elected as historian of the organization. Two Catawba College political science students, junior Jason Windett of Salisbury and sophomore Lauren Smith of Greensboro, also joined the faculty at the meeting.
