106472 honors winter 2016 newsletter pages

Honors at OU

InsideStudent Spotlight

Honors at OxfordHonors College Program Highlights

Spring 2016

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IN THIS ISSUE...FEATURES

04 Honors at Oxford

16 Faculty Bios

22 Student Spotlight

24 Honors Board of Visitors

UPDATES

06 Honors Program Highlights

12 Honors College

Research Opportunities

14 Conversations With the Dean

15 The Honors Undergraduate

Research Journal

26 Honors Happenings

DEANDavid Ray

ASSOCIATE DEANRich Hamerla EDITORWill O’Donnell

CONTACT US1300 Asp. Ave.Norman, OK 73019-6061

(405) 325-5292 | ou.edu/honors

DESIGN AND PRINTINGUniversity Printing Services

PHOTOGRAPHY Select images courtesy of Shevaun Williams & Associates, Lisa Tucker, and Hugh Scott

ON THE COVERFeatured from left to right: Honors College alumni Matt Cox, Shane Pruitt, Sarah Swenson and Chase Roberts

50Y E A R S

JOE

C. A

ND CAROLE KERR McCLEND

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ONORS COLLEGE

Honors at OU

This publication, printed by University Printing Services, is issued by the University of Oklahoma. 500 copies have been prepared and distributed at no cost to the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo

Spring 2016 Honors at OU 3

E ntering 2016, the OU Honors College celebrates its 20th anniversary. It was the fall semester of 1996 when President David L. Boren elevated OU’s already-strong Honors program

to college status, providing Honors with substantial additional resources and “a seat at the table” when university priorities and resources are discussed by top administrators. The original Honors Program had been created in 1964 by President George Lynn Cross and had been strengthened and reinvigorated under Director (now Provost Emerita) Nancy Mergler from 1987 through 1995.

The Honors College sponsors one large formal program, the Honors Curriculum and numerous informal programs. Students must apply for admission to the Honors Curriculum, and complete the requirements described on our website at ou.edu/content/honors/apply.html. Currently, there are about 2,300 Honors students in an undergraduate student body of 22,000.

The Honors Curriculum is dedicated to providing academically gifted students with the opportunity to develop their intellectual potential to the fullest. The Honors College offers challenging and enlightening courses taught by its own faculty members as well as faculty from other colleges of the university. Students in the program can enjoy the opportunity to enroll in the small sections (usually 19 students or fewer) of honors courses and also may enjoy intersession courses, summer study at Oxford University, and research internships with faculty in science laboratories or on humanities projects. The Honors College also encourages students to participate in the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program seminars and in OU-approved study abroad programs. Students completing the Honors College curriculum requirements will have a degree designation of cum Laude (3.4-3.59) Magna cum Laude (3.6-3.79), or Summa cum Laude (3.8-4.0). These are the most prestigious undergraduate degree designations attainable at the university.

Without any question, the greatest strength of the college is the extraordinary quality of our students. In 2015 OU became the first public university in U.S.

history to be ranked No. 1 among all universities, public or private, in freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled. OU ranks No. 1 in the nation among all public institutions in the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled, with more than 750 National Merit Scholars. OU has produced 29 Rhodes Scholars; no other university in Oklahoma has had more than three. OU is the only university in the nation, public or private, whose

students have won Goldwater, Mitchell, Truman, Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright and National Security Education Program scholarships in the same year.

The numerous informal programs sponsored by the college are open to anyone in the OU community. These include the Informal Reading Groups program and the Informed Citizens Discussion Groups program, described in the following pages.

OU’s Honors College seeks to provide the environment of a small, very fine liberal arts college inside a large public research university. (It is important to remember that liberal arts in the

classical sense include math and the sciences as well as humanities and the arts.) More specifically, the Honors College provides a space – an actual physical space – where OU’s most highly motivated and talented students can find each other, where they can find friends with common interests and tastes as well as friends from all majors and colleges. We encourage Honors students to take ownership of the building, and to use the 24-hour computer lab, the 24-hour quiet reading room and the 24-hour student lounge that are for Honors students only. We try to listen carefully to our students when they tell us what opportunities and activities they need and would like. As a consequence, much of our programming is student-initiated and student-organized. In addition, the Honors College faculty and staff are committed to working closely with Honors students to help them obtain the highest quality education possible, and to work with them both in small Honors classes and through directed research, organized discussion groups and informal conversation. Should you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me. My door is always open to current students, prospective students, and our many distinguished Honors alumni.

Honors at OU

DEAN’S MESSAGE

4 Honors at OU Spring 2016

T his past summer, 39 Honors students traveled to Oxford University, England, for a one-of-a-kind educational experience. Many had spent the previous four weeks attending courses in

Norman with OU professors, where they read, discussed and prepared to write about topics such as Shakespeare and London in Literature. Once at Oxford, the students attended weekly tutorial sessions where, with another student, they read their papers aloud to a distinguished Oxford faculty member who offered direct feedback and ideas for the next paper. The students then returned the following week with a new paper to repeat the process. According to the Oxford student handbook, the tutorials are “basically a discussion over [the] topic for that week, often sparked off by an essay… Considering the fact that [the] tutor may be one of the country’s leading lights in his or her particular field, it is amazing how much can be gained from this type of conversation...” For many participants, the experience is a defining moment of their academic careers.

Since 1998, the Honors at Oxford program has provided OU Honors students the chance to experience the intense academic environment of Oxford’s Brasenose College. Founded in 1509, the college counts Lord of the Flies author William Golding, Michael Palin of Monty Python fame and current U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron among its many distinguished alumni.

Oxford is home to the Bodleian Library, one of Europe’s oldest libraries and the second-largest in Britain. Primary texts held by the library include copies of the Magna Carta and Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, and the letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Honors at Oxford offers students the choice of a 3- or 6-credit-hour course. The 3-credit-hour courses are taught at Oxford by OU professors on such topics as World War I, Oxford in Archaeology, or Law and Literature. In terms of intensity and course format, they are similar to Honors intersession courses and count as an Honors colloquium credit. The 6-credit-hour courses, in contrast, consist of four weeks of intensive study in Norman with an

HONORS AT OXFORD


OU professor and three weeks of courses and tutorials with Oxford tutors. The topics of 6-credit-hour courses have included Philosophical Themes in Shakespeare, Postmodern British Literature, Banned Books in Britain, and Environment in Literature. These courses are designed to fill many different graduation requirements for both OU and the Honors College: Honors credit, upper-division hours, and Western Civilization and Culture general-education requirements.

The benefits of the Honors at Oxford program to OU students are numerous and life-changing regardless of the students’ age, background or intended major. Primarily, the program allows students the opportunity to compare educational systems and experience the different form of academic rigor required by tutorial courses at the centuries-old institution. While exposure to academic life at a world-class university is the program’s designated focus, perhaps more important is the unique study abroad experience. Honors at Oxford allows students plenty of free time to explore outside of

the demanding reading and writing schedule of courses and tutorials. There is no hand-holding nor scheduled trips. The program at once demands and fosters a sense of independence. Students who may have never before left the country – or the state – have weekends free to visit nearby London, Bath, Scotland, Ireland – even Norway! Students who have stayed in Oxford during the breaks have had the opportunities to participate in such extracurricular events as James Bond- and Harry Potter-themed dinners, the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on the university green, karaoke and visits to the Imperial War Museum. These have allowed OU students and

faculty to bond with one another as well as with Oxford students and faculty, sharing one language but two distinct cultures. Students have even returned from the summer program to launch OU student groups devoted to hobbies picked up at Oxford such as bocce (lawn bowling), croquet and chess!

Many past and current Honors students cite the Honors at Oxford program as the catalyst for their intellectual careers. Distinguished alumni of the program include Rhodes Scholar and current Senior Vice President and Provost of OU Health Sciences Center Jason Sanders and Rhodes and Marshall finalist Kyle Harper, currently OU’s senior vice president and provost. Many other students have returned from Oxford to become Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater and Truman scholars. Honors alum and Rhodes scholar Sarah Swenson has taught courses for Honors at Oxford, and former program participant, Honors alum and Rhodes scholar Andrea DenHoed, currently a web producer for The New Yorker, will be teaching a 3-hour course next summer. For all attendees, the program is one of academic and intellectual awakening.

Feature

The benefits of the Honors at Oxford program to OU students are numerous and life-changing regardless of the students’ age, background or intended major.


INFORMAL READING GROUPSEach semester, the Honors College sponsors the

Informal Reading Groups program. The groups, composed of 10-15 participants and a volunteer moderator from the Honors College faculty, staff or student body, meet just one hour per week to discuss about 50 pages of reading from specific books. The books cover a very wide range of topics, and most have been recommended by Honors students. To participate, the only commitment is that each participant makes a good-faith effort to do the reading and come to the group meeting as often as possible, with the understanding that there may be one or two weeks when students need to do other things. This is a great chance to meet other people at OU with similar interests. The goals of the program can be summarized as “maximum information and enjoyment, with zero stress.”

One of the most popular, rewarding and innovative programs offered by the Honors College, the Informal Reading Groups program has its origin in the Political Science department, where over a decade ago students and faculty began to meet to discuss a single book over the course of a semester. Beginning in 2008, the groups were organized and expanded by the Honors College and were open to all Honors students. Generous donations from supporters of the Honors College have allowed the program to grow to 40 groups during the fall 2015 semester. This year, for the first time, the program includes the entire OU family – moderators and group participants alike are drawn from OU’s student, staff and faculty community. The fall semester’s reading group selections include classics of literature (1984 and The Bell Jar), serious books on current events (Our Kids and China Goes Global),

HONORS PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Dean David Ray leads an Informal Reading Group in a discussion of The Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times by Susan Quinn.


experimental fiction (Kraken and The Handmaid’s Tale), collections of essays (The Literary Animal and Epictetus’ Discourses), short stories (The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories), poetry and political treatises (Days of War, Nights of Love).

In order to expand the program further and facilitate reading group discussions beyond the meeting times, efforts are being made to give the program an online presence. First of all, the processes have been automated using Qualtrics tools at survey.ou.edu, making it easier for both moderators and participants to recommend books and sign up for a group. Second, at a series of meetings during the first week of classes, 20-30 moderators met with Dean David Ray, IRG program coordinators and

two representatives of OU Create. Managed by the Center for Teaching Excellence, OU Create allows moderators to build and maintain a web presence for

their groups using such popular open-source applications as WordPress, MediaWiki, Drupal, and Omeka. Moderators can post reading schedules, share photos and publish blog posts with thoughts and criticism. The reading group websites also can function as “digital commons,” where the discussions over books and other

relevant topics continue even after the groups end. An online presence for the reading groups means that even people who can’t attend group meetings can participate in the discussion.

Honors Program Highlights

Examples of past Informal Reading Group selections include Don Quijote, by Miguel de Cervantes; Ulysses, by James Joyce; Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon and Memoires d’Hadrien, by Marguerite Yourcenar.


HONORS OUTDOOR ADVENTURE“Low impact on nature – high impact on people” –

This is the motto of the OUtdoor Adventure First-Year Trip, a week-long backpacking venture in New Mexico that partners incoming Honors College freshmen with trained and experienced guides, all of whom are Honors College upperclassmen. Inspired by Duke University’s Project WILD and a similar program at Princeton, the First-Year Trip is an experimental orientation program that provides freshmen the opportunity to meet with

other members of their class before New Sooner Orientation, learn about OU and the Honors College from older students, develop a sense of community and a positive connection to OU as a whole, and start their undergraduate careers with friendships forged by an unforgettable shared experience. OUtdoor Adventure also aims to build character while cultivating a love of nature and the outdoors and instilling values such as conservation, self-respect, responsibility and common


INFORMED CITIZENS DISCUSSION GROUPSThis fall, a record 200+ OU students from a variety

of majors and classifications signed up for another popular Honors College program, the Informed Citizens Discussion Groups. ICDG is a student-led organization dedicated to spreading awareness, fighting ignorance and promoting intelligent discussion about current events, politics and world issues. Open to all students, ICDG consists of small discussion groups of 10-15 participants led by two student moderators. The weekly discussions may center around any topic determined by the groups and/or moderators, but often focus on articles in the

British publication The Economist, which is provided to students at no cost by the Honors College. These groups are not homework but instead a fun and easy way to stay up-to-date and aware of important national and international issues. This year, in addition to weekly group meetings, ICDG hosted a guest panel and discussion on Criminal Justice Reform with distinguished speakers, including former Oklahoma Speaker of the House Kris Steele. ICDG president Derrick Jones hopes to continue organizing two to three events per semester in order to help OU students stay informed.



sense in all participants. No previous backpacking or outdoors experience is required – in fact, many participants come having never spent a night in the woods! The program is open to all incoming freshmen who are 18 by the start of the trek, and guide positions are available for any Honors College students with previous hiking/backpacking experience who attend leadership and planning sessions with the OUtdoor Adventure student organization.

Last year, OU Honors College staff member Nicolette Nicar and biology professor Cindy Gordon, Ph.D., accompanied 16 first-year students and 16 upper-class guides on a trek through the Pecos Wilderness in northern New Mexico. Participants met in Norman and took a charter bus to New Mexico, camping overnight at Jack’s Creek Campground and taking the first day to acclimate to the high altitude. Each of the three trail groups carried everything necessary for five days of self-sufficiency on the trail – food, water, tents, clothing, first aid kits, etc. What began as an apprehensive group of strangers loaded with 20-50 pound packs finished the trek as friends who bonded over learning about living in nature and discovering hidden strengths within themselves.


MEDICAL HUMANITIES PROGRAMA growing number of the nation’s top students

are attracted to OU’s Honors College each year by the Medical Humanities Program designed by Honors faculty member Sarah Tracy, Ph.D. The Medical Humanities Scholars Program is a sequential B.A./M.D. program offered to incoming Honors students. Medical Humanities Scholars design unique interdisciplinary programs that allow them to enhance

their study of medicine with other areas of academic interest from the humanities, arts and social sciences. The medical humanities comprise the ethical, literary, anthropological, sociological and historical study of the medical profession, disease, health and healing. Course work may be completed in the following fields:

• the history of medicine

• literature and medicine

• medical anthropology

• medical sociology

• bioethics and medical ethics

• health care policy and politics

• music and medicine

• art and medicine

The Honors College at OU advocates the study of the humanities and social sciences to expand students’ understanding of humankind and the medical profession’s place in it, and ultimately to create informed consumers of health care, as well as to further clinical and professional skills. The humanities and social sciences offer students a new set of tools for evaluating

the past, present, and future of the healing arts and sciences and for understanding the evolving role of medicine in society.

An additional opportunity for all Honors-eligible students at OU to pursue study in the medical humanities is the Medical Humanities Minor. Students contemplating careers in such fields as medicine, nursing, dentistry, genetics, law and social work may

wish to minor in medical humanities by completing 18 credit hours of course work. In addition to taking courses in these areas, students develop their “cultural competence” through the study of non-western cultures and a modern foreign language. Through a personally tailored curriculum, students gain an appreciation of the psychosocial dimensions of health and healing and of the larger political and social worlds of which medicine is a part.

The program is now in its 16th year and has grown from five scholars to 20 and to over 40 Medical Humanities minors. Pre-Med programs are among the most popular academic pursuits of the nation’s best and brightest students such as National Merit Scholars. The Medical Humanities Scholars Program offers motivated and high-achieving students from Oklahoma and from around the country the individual attention, stimulating curriculum, and early clinical experience they desire. While “brain drain” has historically been a problem for Oklahoma, the Medical Humanities Program actually helps to reverse the situation by bringing Medical Humanities Scholars in from out of state, many of whom remain in Oklahoma after graduation.




STUDENT–TO–PROFESSIONAL MENTORING EXPERIENCEThe Student-to-Professional Mentoring Experience

is an exciting new Honors College program that seeks to introduce top-achieving Honors students to highly accomplished OU alumni and corporate business leaders in the students’ field of study. The program consists of a corporate-style dinner, which gives up to 20 qualified Honors students the opportunity to establish vital contacts and gain indispensable insight into career placement as they transition from student to professional in competitive, specialized job markets. The dinner and discussion allows students to interact with seasoned professionals who give them “straight talk from the work trenches” about networking, interviewing and starting a career. While not intended to facilitate future employment for the students, the program does enable students to engage with experienced professionals in their field and to close the gaps that might occur between graduation and a successful career. The program runs at no cost to the Honors College as expenses are generously paid for by the professionals. Participation in the program is extended to any sophomore, junior or senior

Honors student with a 3.4 GPA who is in good standing with the Honors College and the university. Preference is given to upperclassmen since freshmen and sophomores will be given future opportunities to participate.

The program currently has standing partnerships with Oklahoma’s largest charter bank, BancFirst, and Oklahoma City “Super” Lawyers and Judges, who have hosted dinners on banking/finance and law, respectively. Student feedback on the program has been unanimously positive. “I liked the range of students who attended and the diversity of the BancFirst executives who came,” wrote one participant. Another added, “It’s always really encouraging to see female professionals, especially in such a male-dominated field.” The Honors College currently is seeking future partnerships in such fields as engineering, medicine, fine arts, nonprofit management and more. If you are an OU alumnus or a professional who would like to support this important new Honors College program, please contact Director of External Relations Lisa Tucker at (405) 325-9088 or [email protected].


HONORS COLLEGE

The Honors Research Assistant Program provides Honors students the opportunity to work with professors as research assistants on specific projects that the professor is studying.

Participants are expected to work for 10 hours a week for 10 weeks for $900. Honors College students with at least 15 hours of college credit and a 3.4+ GPA are eligible to apply.

HONORS RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROGRAM

Undergraduate Research Day is an annual conference and celebration hosted by the Honors College for students who were funded in their research or creative activities from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and students in general who want to show what they have discovered in their fields. This one-day conference showcases outstanding undergraduate research and creative activity for an audience of other students, faculty and parents. The Honors

College invites all undergraduates at accredited institutions to apply. Participants may present a poster or give a short talk (10-15 minutes) on their research. These presentations may be Powerpoint, video and/or performances. Topics can include the arts, natural sciences, life sciences, business, engineering, social sciences, critical studies in ancient or modern literature, and the humanities. Prose and poetry submissions and other forms of creative activity also are encouraged.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY


With the generous support of the Office of the Vice President of Research, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program offers financial assistance for scholarly and creative projects under the mentorship of a faculty member. Dozens of research projects are funded each year so that undergraduates may undertake ambitious and exciting research endeavors. This competitive program is open to all University of Oklahoma main campus and Health Sciences

Center students who compete for research grants of up to $1,000 each semester. Students and faculty from across the university discover the benefits of these hands-on research opportunities in laboratories, studios, libraries and field sites. At the conclusion of their work, UROP recipients present the results of their research or accounts of their work in progress at the Honors College’s Undergraduate Research Day, a professional-like conference held in April of each year.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM

In partnership with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the Honors College offers an opportunity for first-year Honors students to participate in laboratory research each spring. This course, the Honors First-Year Research Experience, is open to Honors

College students from all majors. Students are chosen through a competitive application process and participate in active laboratory research in the spring. They receive three hours of credit in both chemistry and Honors for successfully completing the course.

FIRST–YEAR RESEARCH EXPERIENCE


Conversations With the Dean Series: MAJORS AND CAREERS IN A VOLATILE ECONOMY

JOB FIELDS DISCUSSEDSept. 3 – Computer Science (Tim Burr and Zach Burgess)

Sept. 24 – Accounting (Dana Mohammed-Zadeh and Catherine Garmon)

Oct. 15 – Native American Studies (Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Ph.D.)

Oct. 22 – Engineering (Blake Myrick)

Conversations With the Dean is a series of informal lectures organized for Honors undergraduates by Dean David Ray. This semester, the theme of Conversations with the Dean is “Majors and Careers in a Volatile Economy.” The goal has been to bring back recent Honors alumni who have either done well in the tough job market of the last recession, or initially struggled and are now doing well after seeking a second degree or different major. In short, informal talks and question-and-answer sessions, alumni provide information about majors and fields that have led to reasonably good jobs during and after the recession, and one that fits that description but is now facing problems of over-supply (petroleum engineering). Speakers describe undergraduate major experiences at OU, discuss navigating the job market given the current economic climate, and outline strategies to undertake while still in college and shortly thereafter to make oneself a marketable job candidate. So far, majors and careers addressed have included computer science, accounting, Native American studies, and petroleum engineering. The Conversations series gives undergraduates the opportunity to interact with OU graduates who have successfully navigated the gap between graduation and a successful career, providing valuable advice and insight to students in a restructured modern economy.

VOLATILE

Come hear an OU engineering graduate describe the challenges of the field, detail the current realities of the job market, and discuss strategies to make you a more marketable candidate. There will be a question-and-answer session to follow.

BLAKE MYRICK Process Engineer at ExxonMobil

Houston, Texas Blake Myrick grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma and graduated with honors from the University of Oklahoma in 2011. While pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, he interned for Conoco Philips during the summer. He moved to Long Beach, California after graduating to work for Phillips 66. Blake has been involved in recruiting and hiring since 2011. He currently works as a process engineer for ExxonMobil in Houston, Texas.

Thursday, October 22nd 6:30pm David L. Boren Hall, Room 180/181

Refreshments Provided!

OU Honors College www.ou.edu/honors. For accommodations on the basis of

disability, please call 405.325.5291. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution www.ou.edu/eoo.

Dana Zadeh, a National Merit Scholar from San Diego, California, and co-

founder of The Oklahoma Group, graduated summa cum laude with double majors in economics and international studies in 2012. After graduating, she pursued a career in international development in Afghanistan. This experience inspired her to obtain a Master's degree in Accounting at the University of Southern California, which she completed in May 2015. She will begin working for KPMG in Los Angeles this month.

Majors and Careers In A Volatile Economy

Catherine Garmon, is a National Merit Scholar and Rath

Scholar from Vernon, TX and will be graduating in December 2015 with a BBA in Accounting and Masters in Accounting with a taxation focus. During college she interned with a local government, a public accounting firm, and a large privately-owned company.

OU Honors College www.ou.edu/honors. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please call 405.325.5291. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution www.ou.edu/eoo

Thursday, Sept 24 5:00 – 6:00 PM 180/181 DLBH Refreshments provided.

Majors and Careers

In A Volatile Economy

COMPUTER

SCIENCE

Two Honors alumni, one working in the field who has done recruiting interviews for his company, and one a current OU graduate student, discuss computer science education at OU, including majors and minors, and how it prepares them for life in the real world.

OU Honors College www.ou.edu/honors. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please call 405.325.5291 The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo

Tim Burr Tim Burr grew up in

Goodrich, Michigan; a National Merit Scholar, he graduated from OU in 2012 with a BS/MS in Computer Science. After graduation he moved to Boise, Idaho, where he works as a software developer for Clearwater Analytics."

Zack Burgess is from Tulsa,

OK and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Computer Science in December of 2014. He completes his Masters in Computer Science in December of 2015. During college, Zack had four internships, started his own company and lived in three other states.

Thursday, Sept 3rd

5:15 – 6:15

180/181 David L. Boren Hall

Refreshments provided.

VOLATILE

Dr. Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Ph.D.

Opening Career Paths with Native American Studies

Learn more about the NAS major/minor and exciting opportunities that can help jumpstart your career. Presentation by Dr. Amanda Cobb-Greetham, Coca-Cola Professor and Director of Native American Studies.

Thursday, October 15 4:30pm David L. Boren Hall, Room 180/181

OU Honors College www.ou.edu/honors. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please call 405.325.5291. The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution www.ou.edu/eoo.


Conversations With the Dean Series: MAJORS AND CAREERS IN A VOLATILE ECONOMY

The Honors Undergraduate RESEARCH JOURNAL

2015-2016 EXECUTIVE BOARDCole Townsends, Editor-in-Chief

Uzma Sandhu, Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Lexi Jovanovic, Director of Publicity

2015-2016 REVIEW BOARDLaura Burns

Daniel Holland

Blessing Ikpa

Maryam Mian

Bianca Prentiss

Carl Roberts

Daniella Royer

Grant Schatzman

Chynna Terrell

There’s one place to look to find engrossing papers written by top Honors students on themes as diverse as the sociology of the “lone cowboy” symbol, crowdsourcing in journalism, the role of OTC derivatives in the 2008 financial crisis, and representations of female artists at popular music festivals: THURJ. The Honors Undergraduate Research Journal is an annual Honors College publication that celebrates undergraduate research in all academic disciplines. Each spring, THURJ publishes the best undergraduate research papers from the previous year written by Honors students as determined by an editorial board of their peers. The editorial board reads and evaluates submissions using a blind review process and chooses between 8-12 papers for publication in the journal. Published papers cover as many topics as there are disciplines at OU, resulting in a publication that is as wide as it is deep. All published authors and artists/designers contributing cover art also receive a $100 prize, and published authors also are honored in an end-of-year reception. For 15 years, THURJ has showcased some of the greatest intellectual talent that OU has to offer while providing student editors and reviewers invaluable experience in selecting, proofing, designing and publicizing a high-quality, peer-reviewed academic publication.


BEN ALPERS, PH.D.

Ben Alpers, associate professor of American Intellectual and Cultural History, was among the first faculty members hired when the Honors program became its own college in 1995. He received a doctorate in history from Princeton University. His work centers on 20th-century American thought and culture, including film history and the history of political thought. His book Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture, 1920s-1950s concerns U.S. responses to Soviet Communism, Italian Fascism and German Nazism, and the development of the idea of totalitarianism. He currently is working on a book titled Happy Days: Images of the Pre-Sixties Past in Seventies America, which explores early attempts to come to grips with the social and cultural changes that took place in the 1960s. He also serves as the editor of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History’s blog. Alpers teaches a Perspectives course on American Social thought and served as an Informal Reading Groups moderator for the book Our Declaration by Danielle Allen.

MARIE DALLAM, PH.D.

Marie Dallam, associate professor of religious studies, joined the Honors College faculty in 2009. She received a doctorate from Temple University in religious studies. Her teaching and research focus on American religion and culture. One of the recurrent themes in her work is marginalization, specifically by exploring groups that have become religious and cultural outsiders in the United States, whether by

choice or default, or groups that perceive themselves to be marginalized by mainstream society. Dallam also is interested in research ethics, especially ethical issues or problems that arise from researching marginalized religious groups. Her books include Daddy Grace: A Celebrity Preacher and His House of Prayer (2007) and Religion, Food, and Eating in North America (co-edited anthology, 2014), and she has also authored numerous articles and book chapters. She currently is engaged in research for a manuscript that is part-history, part-sociology about Cowboy Churches of Texas and Oklahoma, regional churches with an informal, Western style and particular, inclusive theology. This semester, Dallam teaches a Perspectives course on Religion and State, focusing on first amendment issues by reading and discussing court cases and essays revolving around religion and state interactions. She also teaches a colloquium called Death and Dying, which uses interdisciplinary lenses to examine themes of grieving, suicide, the post-mortem body and others. Dallam served as an Informal Reading Groups moderator several times, most recently for the book How to Succeed in College (While Really Trying) by Jon B. Gould.

Outside of OU, Dallam is serving her fifth and final year as chairperson of the New Religious Movements Group within her field’s academic association, the American Academy of Religion. She recently was chosen to serve on the Executive Advisory Committee for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. Dallam is a fan of the OU women’s basketball team and attends all their home games. She also is a member of the OK City Chorus, which is part of the international organization Sweet Adelines.

Faculty Profiles

FACULTY BIOSl lReligion, Food ,

Eating inN�th America &

�Edited by

BENJAMIN E. ZELLER, MARIE W. DALLAM,

REID L. NEILSON, & NORA L. RUBEL


JULIA EHRHARDT, PH.D.

Julia Ehrhardt, associate professor of American studies and affiliate faculty of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, was among the first faculty members to join Honors when it became its own college in 1998. She received a doctorate in American studies from Yale University. Ehrhardt is a scholar of American literature with a focus on women’s literature from the turn of the 20th century to the present. She is particularly interested in the ways fiction and nonfiction writing by popular women writers express issues of national, social, and political significance, and the ways in which popular women writers engage issues of embodiment. She is the author of Writers of Conviction: The Personal Politics of Zona Gale, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Rose Wilder Lane, and Josephine Herbst (2004). She currently is working on a book about dieting in American literature.

Ehrhardt teaches Perspectives courses on American Literary Cultures and Food and Culture in America. Her Colloquia include Beauty in American Literature and Culture and Contemporary American Women’s Writing. She has developed and taught or co-taught over 15 distinct classes, including one in development on Post-9/11 Literature and Art. She also has been a consistent moderator for the Informal Reading Groups, leading one (“the group that will not die”) where Ehrhardt chooses a text for the first half of the semester and participants choose a related text for the second half. She most recently led a group that read Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, followed by Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl by choice of the participants. In 2004, Ehrhardt helped to create the experimental first-year orientation/back-packing program, OUtdoor Adventure, and served as its faculty adviser for many years. Ehrhardt is a proud New Jersyan from the 201 area code (Newark). In her free time, she enjoys knitting, cooking regional Italian and New American cuisine, and going to independent cinema. She also volunteers at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

RICH HAMERLA, PH.D.

Rich Hamerla is the associate dean of the Honors College and a Reach for Excellence Associate Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. He has worked on topics dealing with the history of American chemistry and physics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and scientific apparatus. His books include Two Centuries of Progress; A Bicentennial History of the Chemical Industry in Cleveland, 1796-1996, (1996), and An American Scientist on the Research Frontier; Edward Morley, Community, and Radical Ideas in Nineteenth-Century Science (2006). He also has publications on the history and use of biological weapons. Hamerla teaches an Honors Perspectives course called What Is Science? and Colloquia on Experiments in Science, Science and Technology in the Cold War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. He also taught the Great War in the 20th Century Colloquium this past summer at Oxford. He is a consistent moderator for the Informal Reading Groups program and will moderate a group reading Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb in the spring.

Hamerla went into the military straight out of high school, serving in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1983-1987. He received his doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in History and Philosophy of Science. Hamerla was a competitive cyclist for 25 years, competing in numerous races including the 2010 Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals. He has since moved on to motorcycles.

BRIAN JOHNSON, PH.D.

Brian Johnson received his doctorate in English from the University of Oklahoma. Now an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric, he joined the Honors College faculty in 2005 as director of the Honors College Writing Center. The Writing Center provides one-to-one tutoring support for student-writers in the Honors College and also is an integral

Faculty Profiles


part of the Perspectives courses required of Honors students. His research interests include writing program administration, the history of rhetoric, issues relating to free speech, and the rise of new literacies. Johnson also works with students to produce application materials for prestigious scholarships such as the Rhodes and Marshall and works with Honors students who are applying to medical, law or graduate schools.

Johnson regularly teaches courses focusing on writing, technology and literacy, and popular culture. As part of the popular Honors at Oxford summer program, he taught courses in England on Banned Books in Britain and London in Literature. Johnson is the future director of Honors at Oxford. He has served as a moderator for the Informal Reading Groups program, most recently for China Mieville’s Kraken in fall 2015. Johnson cites Walter Benjamin when he says that we should meet the world with “cunning and high spirits,” and he works hard each day to help his students do just that. Outside of the Honors College, he is a father, a live music fan and a home brewer. He also enjoys reading, OU football and hiking.

ROBERT LIFSET, PH.D.

Robert Lifset, Donald Keith Jones Associate Professor of Honors and History, joined the Honors College faculty in 2008 after receiving his doctorate from Columbia University. His research and teaching interests focus on energy history broadly defined. This includes the business, policy, political, environmental, social and cultural history of energy with a focus, though not exclusive, on the United States in the 20th century.

His books include Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain and The Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism (2014), a work that explores the connections between rising

energy demand in post-WW II America and the emergence of modern environmentalism. A second book, American Energy Policy in the 1970s (2014) consists of an edited collection of essays exploring responses to the energy crisis. He currently is researching a history of the energy crisis of the 1970s.

Lifset teaches a broad range of energy history courses including a survey of American energy history, and occasional courses in atomic and oil history. Lifset also often serves as an Informal Reading Groups Moderator, this spring he will lead a group discussing: Red Gas: Russia and the Origins of European Energ y Dependence.

DANIEL MAINS, PH.D.

Daniel Mains came to the Honors College in 2011 as assistant professor of anthropology and African studies. He received his doctorate in anthropology from Emory University. His research and writing explores the intersection between culture and economics in urban Africa. He is the author of Hope Is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia (2012), which examines how young men in urban Ethiopia negotiate the gap between their desires for the future and economic realities. Mains was a Fulbright Fellow in Hawassa, Ethiopia (2013 – 2014), where he taught at Hawassa University and conducted research concerning the relationship between urban infrastructural development, governance, and culture. He received an OU Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellowship to support work on a book project about that research during the spring 2016 semester. The book is tentatively titled Technologies of

Faculty Profiles

Comp A-3PMS 485 + BlackTrue duotone

HOPE IS CUT

Youth, Unemployment,

and the Future in

Urban Ethiopia

Daniel Mains


Development: Infrastructure and Governance in Urban Ethiopia.

Mains teaches the Perspectives courses Globalizing Africa and Culture, Power, and International Development and the Colloquia courses Cultures and Capitalisms and Global Youth Cultures. He serves on the Honors Inclusivity Committee and OU’s African Studies Institute and is a faculty advisor to the Honors Undergraduate Research Journal, the student-produced research publication of the Honors College. He also has served as an Informal Reading Groups moderator, most recently for the book Nairobi Heat by the Kenyan writer Mu koma wa Ngu gi. Mains enjoys cooking over open fires, listening to records and going on long walks with his kids.

NANCY MERGLER, PH.D.

An extraordinary benefit to both the Honors College and the OU community, Nancy Mergler has been at the University of Oklahoma since 1979. She first served as faculty in the Department of Psychology, moved into administration in 1987 as director of the Honors Program, and became the senior vice president and provost in 1995. As chief academic officer, she had primary responsibility to the president of the university and the OU Board of Regents, and oversaw all aspects of the academic enterprise for the Norman campus. This included the responsibility for intellectual standards, institutional planning and reporting, and the recruitment, retention and development of faculty and students. Mergler returned to the Honors College in June 2014 but continues to mentor and support many faculty administrators across campus; she believes that academic administration is important and different than managing business in the private sector.

Mergler teaches The Academic Habit, a non-traditional course wherein students select scholarly and fine arts events on campus to attend, then write essays

about these events. Essentially, they are creating their own curriculum about the intellectual community of which they are a citizen. At weekly class meetings, Mergler and the students discuss why they chose particular events to attend, how the audience responded, if they fully understood the event in question, and how the ideas pertaining to that event relate to the larger intellectual community. Her hope is that the students will learn to more fully appreciate the OU academic community but also learn how to create intellectual space within any community they join in the future. She also co-teaches a Perspectives class called Higher Education Past and Future with Dean David Ray that covers topics of interest at institutions of higher learning such as general education reform, sexual assault on campus and financial aid. In 2015, Mergler served as an Informal Reading Groups moderator for the book The Story of Alice by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, and in the spring she will moderate a group for the book Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson.

Outside of the Honors College, Mergler is a wife, a mother, a dog walker and an observer. She enjoys reading anything and everything, including newspapers, cheap novels, historical fiction, biography, higher education news blogs, etc. She reads extensively to keep herself and her colleagues abreast of the changes that are both happening and might be coming to higher education.

AMANDA MINKS, PH.D.

Amanda Minks, associate professor of anthropology and ethnomusicology, received a doctorate from Columbia University. She focuses on the ethnographic study of music and language across cultures. Over 10 years of research on the micro-politics and aesthetics of language socialization led to her monograph, Voices of Play: Miskitu Children’s Speech and Song on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (2013). In this and other projects, she has explored the relations

Faculty Profiles


between cultural difference and social inequality, illuminating the everyday practices and institutional structures that reproduce and transform selves and societies. Shifting these concerns to a historical lens, she currently is researching a book tentatively titled Hearing Heritage: Music, Mediation, and Inter-American Cultural Politics, 1920-1970, which focuses on cases studies involving the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua and Chile. Minks is part of a team of researchers based in Spain called Re-Interindi, investigating various aspects of a project on “The Other Sides of Indigenismo: A Sociohistorical Approach to Ethnic and Racial Categories and their Uses in Latin American Societies.” She has been working to bring her two disciplines, anthropology and ethnomusicology, into closer dialogue through helping to plan a joint symposium in Washington, D.C., on the Anthropology of Sound in 2016. She also recently helped the Sam Noble Museum apply for a grant to carry out consultation with Native American tribal nations to develop policies for community archiving and digitization of music recordings.

Minks has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and conduct research in Nicaragua for seven months in 2016. She will teach a class on Music and Culture at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua and will conduct archival research on mid-20th-century discourses of Nicaraguan folklore and indigenous culture. She also will travel to the autonomous regions of the eastern coast, the site of her previous research, to give presentations drawn from her book Voices of Play. Minks’ parents grew up in farming/ranching families in the Texas panhandle and she spent part of her childhood in Oklahoma. Through her spouse, Minks has extended family in Nicaragua and speaks both Spanish and English to her two very active children, ages 2 and almost 5. She also speaks Miskitu, an indigenous language of Nicaragua and Honduras. Minks enjoys listening, watching and participating in music and dance, learning languages, visiting museums and reading interesting children’s books.

CAROLYN MORGAN, PH.D.

An integral part of the Honors College and the university as a whole, Carolyn Morgan is an associate professor of sociology, human relations, and women’s studies and former associate dean of the Honors College. She joined the Sociology Department at OU in the 1970s and began teaching in the Human Relations Advanced Program at that time. Her teaching and research interests are in family, gender roles and medical sociology. In 1995 she became a full-time administrator in the Honors College. Morgan also teaches an Honors seminar called Community Citizen, the goal of which is to address community issues and needs in the context of an academic course. In this one-hour, letter-graded credit class, students participate in and analyze volunteer experiences at organizations of their choice. Class readings, discussions and reflection will lead to a more sophisticated view of community outreach and of connections between academic, career, community and personal interests. During the 50th anniversary of the OU Honors Program in 2014, Morgan was presented with an “Extraordinary Service to Honors Students” award.

ANDREANA PRICHARD, PH.D.

Andreana Prichard joined the Honors College faculty in 2011 as the Wick Cary Assistant Professor of Honors and African History. She received a doctorate in African history from Northwestern University. Prichard is an historian of 19th- and 20th-century East Africa, where she focuses on the intersections of gender, religion and politics. She has published articles on affect and nationalism in 1960s Tanzania and abortion and religious communities in 1920s Zanzibar. She currently is working on a book project titled Sisters in Spirit: Christianity, Affect, and

Faculty Profiles


Community Building in East Africa, 1860-1970. Future research plans include a history of “mass hysteria” at faith-based boarding schools in East Africa (see “Tanganyika laughter epidemic”) and an historical anthropology of a faith-based NGO operating in Oklahoma City and northern Kenya.

Prichard teaches the courses Sex and Love in African History: Historical Themes and Topics, Images of Africa: Africa Through the Eyes of the West, Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa, Modern African Lives: African History Through Biography and Autobiography, and Africa and the Urge to Help: Humanitarianism in Historical Perspective; she also developed and led the 2013 Journey to Tanzania study abroad program.

Prichard currently is serving a three-year term as the historian on the Historic Preservation and Landmark Board of Review of Oklahoma City’s Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission. The Commission works in an area that includes the Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, medical center and surrounding neighborhoods to rehabilitate an important part of Oklahoma City. Prichard does yoga and spends lots of time with her Great Dane mix, Lincoln. She lives with her boyfriend in Oklahoma City, where both are involved in their Neighborhood Association and where they spend time gardening, canoeing, and exploring the city’s many new restaurants on scooter.

SARAH W. TRACY, PH.D.

Sarah W. Tracy is associate professor of the History of Medicine and Food Studies. Before joining the Honors College faculty in 1999, Tracy earned a doctorate in history and sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon joining the faculty, Tracy created the Medical Humanities Program which consists of an eight-year BA/MD and a Medical Humanities minor. She continues to serve as director of

the Medical Humanities Program. Tracy’s research focuses on food and drink habits in America as they pertain to health and chronic disease from 1800 to the present. Her books include Alcoholism in America from Reconstruction to Prohibition (2005) and Altering American Consciousness (2004). Tracy currently is writing a biography of nutritional physiologist and epidemiologist Ancel Keys (1904-2004). Keys helped shape the western diet by developing the K Ration during WWII; conducting starvation and rehabilitation experiments to guide postwar re-feeding efforts in Europe; pursuing global epidemiological studies of diet and heart health; and championing the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet in bestselling cookbooks.

Faculty Profiles


R yan Fritz, class of 2018, came to OU from Carrolton, Texas, as a National Merit Scholar. He currently is pursuing a double major in economics and accounting. While OU was

initially among his last choices for college, he was won over by a tour of the university through the National Scholars office. It was on this tour that he found out about the Honors College, meeting with Melanie Wright, Ph.D., and learning about such programs as Honors at Oxford and various research opportunities. “I liked the quality of treatment that National Merit Scholars receive at OU, and education through the Honors College seemed like that of a small university,” Fritz says.

Even before attending classes at OU, Fritz participated in the OUtdoor Adventure First Year Trip during the summer of 2014. In this experimental orientation program, experienced upper-class student guides led Fritz and other entering first-year students on a backpacking expedition through the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico. It was, at times, challenging and “miserable,” but not without merit. “Getting to the top of the first peak, the feeling of conquering it, was the most amazing experience.” He describes the trip overall as “a transformation,” adding, “We really connected with each other. By the end of the trip, we were best friends.” Fritz returned to the Pecos Wilderness in 2015 as a First Year Trip guide.

As an OU Honors student, Fritz has taken full advantage of various study abroad programs. He participated in the Journey to Latin America program, visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to take classes and experience a foreign culture. For the summer of 2015, Ryan enrolled in the Honors at Oxford program. Once in England, he took Rich Hamerla’s World War I class, where he was able to see the incredible World War I Museum in London. “The best thing was the history, the connection to the the place. It was definitely worth the price.” The program was intellectually engaging but also fun, allowing him time over four-day weekends to visit Dublin and Edinburgh.

Fritz also has been involved in the Honors College’s Informal Reading Groups program. During his freshman year, he participated in groups that met to discuss Gerald F. Davis’ Managed by the Markets: How Finance Re-Shaped America and the Utopian sci-fi classic Island by Aldous Huxley. He was inspired to lead his

own group, and in 2015 he chose Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar with his co-moderator Andrew Anderson. For Fritz, the most important aspect of the Honors College is the academic program it offers. “Without Honors Perspectives and Colloquia courses, I might not get writing classes.” Academic high points for Fritz include an Honors public speaking course, the semester at Oxford and the Presidential Dream Course, America: Renaissance or Decline? He notes, “I got a B in that class, but it was totally worth it!”

Student Spotlight

RYAN FRITZ

I liked the quality of treatment that National Merit Scholars receive at OU, and education through the Honors College seemed like that of a small university. — Ryan Fritz


Student Spotlight

B lessing Ikpa is a Norman, Oklahoma, native and graduate of Norman High School. She chose OU for her undergraduate degree because of its emphasis on international

opportunities. “I knew I wanted to study abroad and take international studies courses.” Taking advantage of these opportunities, she studied for a semester at OU’s satellite campus in Arezzo, Italy. “It was difficult to convince my mom to let me study abroad,” Ikpa says, because of the high costs usually associated with study abroad programs, but in Arezzo, she paid OU tuition and fees, took courses with OU professors, and was supported by OU staff and fellow students. “OU Arezzo seemed like a more relaxed setting,” nevertheless helping her to complete a minor in International Studies and learn Italian.

Ikpa is a member of the Honors Student Association, a participant in the Informed Citizens Discussion Groups, and was chosen to be a member of the review board for The Honors Undergraduate Research Journal 2016 volume. Although she didn’t apply to the Honors

College upon being accepted to OU, Ikpa eventually joined after taking several Honors courses. “I wanted more of a challenge and also hoped to strengthen my writing and analytical skills. I also wanted to meet more people.” She credits Julia Ehrhardt’s Contemporary Women’s Writing course with instilling in her a renewed love of reading. Her primary academic interests are in international human rights, global feminism, issues of race and intersectionality, and the criminal justice system. “I watched a lot of Law and Order as a kid,” she laughs. She is set to graduate in spring 2016 with a degree in criminology and minors in women and gender studies, international studies, and human relations.

Ikpa is a Ronald E. MacNair Scholar and is currently applying for master’s and doctoral programs in sociology and international affairs at such prestigious universities as American, Georgetown, Columbia and Boston University. After academia, Ikpa would like to work in

the field of international human rights for the United Nations, the Human Rights Campaign or a global nonprofit organization. In her free time, Ikpa enjoys exercising (yoga and an upcoming kick-boxing class at the Huston-Huffman fitness center), reading, and traveling, a passion ignited by her time in Arezzo.

BLESSING IKPA

I knew I wanted to study abroad and take international studies courses. — Blessing Ikpa


INCOMING MEMBERSJohn A. Kenney, Chair

Cynda Ottaway, Vice-Chair

Stanley Baker, M.D.

Steve Barhols

Leslie Batchelor

Susan Chambers, M.D.

Terri Cooper

Marsha Funk

Judge Sarah Hall

Blair Humphreys

Michael Kutner, M.D.

Craig Lavoie

Jason Sanders, M.D.

John Slay

Judge Ralph Thompson

FOUNDING MEMBERSW. DeVier Pierson, Chairman 2006 — 2015

Jane Harlow, Vice-Chair2006 — 2015

Michael Anderson, Ph.D.2006 — 2010

Charles Bethea, M.D.2006 — 2009

Richard Bohanon 2006 — 2010

Mary J. Brett2006 — 2012

Brad Carson2006 — 2010

Sarah Hogan2006 — 2015

Polly Nichols2006 — 2008

Jeanne Hoffman Smith2006 — 2015

Ralph Thompson2006 — present

Jim Tolbert2006 — 2008

Jean Warren2006 — 2015

From left: Dr. Stanley Baker, John Kenney, Dr. Michael Anderson, Steve Barghols, Dr. Michael Kutner, Judge Sarah HallIn Front: Terri Cooper, Marsha Funk, Jeanne Hoffman-Smith, DeVier Pierson, Cynda Ottaway, Judge Ralph Thompson, Jane Harlow, Jean Warren, Sarah Hogan.

HONORS BOARD OF VISITORS


W. DeVIER PIERSON — FOUNDING CHAIRMAN

Founding chairman of the Honors College Board of Visitors, W. DeVier Pierson graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in 1953 from the University of Oklahoma, earning his law degree from OU in 1957. He is special counsel for Hunton & Williams LLP in Washington, D.C.

DeVier Pierson is a native Oklahoman who has had a remarkable legal career. For more than a half century, he has served as counsel to a diverse group of clients, including one president of the United States, the U.S. Congress, a large number of major public companies and two sovereign nations. Pierson also brings a personal perspective to the great events of the 20th century. His boyhood and adolescence were marked by the Great Depression and World War II. He saw firsthand the effects of the Korean War, participated in the election of President John F.

Kennedy, and was in Dallas when President Kennedy was assassinated. As special counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson, he played an important role in the completion of the Great Society, the response to the social unrest of the 1960s, and the agony of the Vietnam War. Under Johnson’s administration, Pierson served as chief counsel of the Joint Committee on the Organization of the U.S. Congress. In 2011, Pierson was inducted into the Order of the Owl, a then newly established hall of fame recognizing outstanding University of Oklahoma College of Law graduates. He is an active OU alumnus, having served as a member of the OU Centennial Commission, as a trustee for the OU Foundation and as chairman of the Honors College Board of Visitors since its creation in fall 2009.

Although a loyal Oklahoman, Pierson has spent the past 40 years in Washington, D.C., in the practice of law. His legal career has spanned Watergate, the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Board of Visitors ProfileBoard of Visitors Profile

CHAIRMAN PROFILES

JOHN A. KENNEY — CURRENT CHAIRMAN

John A. Kenney graduated with distinction with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1971 and received a juris doctorate from OU in 1975. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Alpha Pi Mu, belongs to the Order of the Coif, and was on the

Board of Editors of the Oklahoma Law Review.Kenney’s practice involves litigation of complex business

cases, primarily those involving intellectual property and other technical and scientific issues. He has tried and handled cases, arbitrations and administrative proceedings and hearings in many state and federal courts in the United States, the Virgin Islands and several foreign countries. Over the years, this has included cases involving patents and other intellectual property, products liability, oil and gas, environmental, antitrust, securities fraud, and other contract and general business issues. He also advises clients concerning matters involving intellectual property law and products liability law. Kenney’s interest in protecting the intellectual property rights to both industrial and artistic works is personal as well as professional. Kenney

is an inventor of eight patents issued by the U.S. Patent Office. He also is a country music songwriter whose copyrighted works have been recorded by singer-songwriter and collaborator Bob Fraley for the debut album, “Bootjack Romeo.”

Kenney is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. His achievements have earned him inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, and Oklahoma Super Lawyers, which has named him to its prestigious list of “Top 10 Oklahoma Lawyers” for several years running. He was selected by Best Lawyers as “Oklahoma City Patent Litigation Lawyer of the Year” in 2012, “Oklahoma City Intellectual Property Litigation Lawyer of the Year” in 2014, “Oklahoma City Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (Defendants) Lawyer of the Year” in 2015, and “Oklahoma City Product Liability Litigation Defense Lawyer of the Year” in 2016, honors given to a single lawyer in each legal specialty in each community. He has been identified by Benchmark Litigation as a “Litigation Star.” He is a frequent speaker and continuing legal education teacher on matters related to trial practice, evidence and intellectual property law.


HONORS STUDENT ASSOCIATIONThe Honors Student Association is an official student

organization established specifically for students of the Honors College. HSA promotes fellowship among Honors students and faculty, encourages volunteerism and, most importantly, commits students to become active members of the Honors College community. Some of the goals of HSA include helping students to graduate cum laude, participating in service projects such as the Big Event, facilitating closer relationships between Honors College students, faculty, and staff and planning and participating in campus activities to promote Honors College courses and programs. Every student enrolled in the Honors College at OU is automatically a member of the HSA, but the title of “Active Member” is reserved for students who attend at least three meetings or events each semester. Active Members may run for officer positions in the spring.

This year’s HSA leadership has been extremely active in hosting events and student engagement activities. Likewise, active membership is at an all-time high, with average attendance for most events around 40 students and as high as 200 at events such as the back-to-school picnic and “Dessert Island”-themed end-of-semester bash at Oklahoma Memorial Union. Other HSA activities have included faculty lectures with Presidential Teaching Fellows Doug Gaffin, Ph.D., and Joshua Landis, Ph.D., an OU “Ghost Tour” and visit to the Chickasha Corn Maze for the Halloween season, movie-and-popcorn nights, Republican and Democratic presidential candidate debate watch parties, and a monthly Honors Trivia Night. The HSA executive committee also maintains an active OU Honors Student Association Facebook page and Twitter account for Honors students to stay up-to-date with HSA events.

Honors Student Association members

HONORS HAPPENINGS

HSA EXECUTIVE BOARD, 2015-2016

Derrick Jones, President

Jeffery Terry, Vice President

Jamie Franzese, Secretary

Dana Branham, Treasurer

Victoria Bergman, General Officer

Daniel Cartwright, General Officer

Stephen Lacina, General Officer


Honors Student Association members

Clockwise from top: An Honors at Oxford student dresses up for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party; students take time out for a group photo at OUtdoor Adventure in New Mexico; students browse titles at the Spring 2015 Informal Reading Groups Open House; 2015 Honors College faculty and graduates pose outside David L. Boren Hall.

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