Word of Honor

Volume 1, Issue 2
Spring 2006
Word of Honor
C C A C
H O N O R S
P R O G R A M
Inexorable
D i r e c t o r ’ s
The National Collegiate Honors Council Northeast
Conference (NE-NCHC) “Renaissance, Recreation,
and Recovery” comes to Pittsburgh in April, and
CCAC is participating in a big way. Most importantly, four CCAC Honors students Faith Hill, Ashley Montrenes, Samantha Phillips, and Angela
Sperl have been selected to present their Honors
contract projects at the conference.
Faith Hill, a sophomore social science major from
North Campus, will present her Honors contract
project completed with Cheryl Graham-Eason in
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. In her paper “Bonding and Bondage: Nurturing a Serial
Killer,” Faith examined the possible relationship
between nature and nurture in the development of
a serial murderer, paying particular attention to
recognizable, common patterns in the offender’s
history: biological or medical (nature) and/or his
socialization (nurture). Faith wondered whether
patterns would emerge, suggesting the need for
follow-up study.
Ashley Montrenes, a freshman education major
from South Campus, is presenting a paper entitled
“Tosca Recovered.” As part of Ashley’s Honors
contract in Children’s Literature with Julia Fennell,
she is interning with the Pittsburgh Opera Educational Foundation. Ashley will layout and edit a
publication for the Tosca educational workshop
entitled Teen Tosca, which will recast the Tosca
story into a current teen magazine. Ashley is
bridging the hundred-year gap between Puccini’s
first performance of Tosca in Rome in 1900 and
teenagers in Pittsburgh in 2006.
N o t e s
by Rosemarie Fox McShane
Samantha Phillips, a sophomore business major
from Allegheny Campus, is presenting a paper she
developed as part of her Honors contract in Ruth
Feather’s accounting class: “African American
Certified Public Accountants: Challenging Professional Barriers in the Job Market. “ Samantha
researched discrepancies in the certification requirements, inequities in education, and discrimination in hiring and promotion practices, which
disadvantaged African Americans pursuing careers as Certified Public Accountants, as well as
the accomplishments of John W. Cromwell, Jr. and
Mary T. Washington, the first African American
male and female CPA’s.
Angela Sperl, a second-semester sophomore at
North Campus, will graduate in May with a degree
in psychology. Angela’s presentation is based on
the Honors contract she completed with Anne
Louise Dailey in Human Growth and Development. Angela’s paper “Modified Replication of the
Study ‘Life Markers in Biographical Narratives of
People from Three Cohorts: A Lifespan Perspective
in its Historical Context.’” The original 2001 study
was published in Human Development. Using
autobiographies and interviews from three cohorts
based on age, Angela investigated the influence of
generational difference on perceptions of historical events and issues of control.
CCAC Honors has been actively involved in conference planning, and we are excited for our students
to share with other Honors students from all over
the Northeast.
-Julia Fennell
Honors Forum Set for April 28, 2006
The Honors Forum recognizes the CCAC
Honors Community and provides an opportunity for Honors students and faculty to
share their Honors projects. The evening
will include student presentations of Honors projects, the awarding of Honors cords
and certificates to graduating Honors students, and the display of artistic Honors
projects from this academic year. The Honors Forum will be held on April 28, 2006,
from 6-8 pm in the Student Service Center
Auditorium on Allegheny Campus. The college community is welcome to join us in
celebrating the accomplishments of our
Honors students and faculty. Refreshments
will be served. Rosemarie McShane, Representative of the Dean of Student Development at Allegheny Campus, wrote the
poem “Inexorable” (right) after attending
the 2005 Honors Forum.
From under the low dark deep eves
of a front porch
I stand spell bound
watching the softly drifting white
snowflakes
mixing with the pink petals of a
redbud tree
on the path in front of me.
Freak spring flurries
surprise even the birds
who insist on signing anyway
from former pastel limbs now fuzzy
and white.
Perhaps they are singing spring
carols.
They cannot not sing.
It is what they are, songbirds.
I think of Honors Night
and students amazing us with their
academic prowess,
and astonishing themselves with their
insights
as to the nature and beauty of
learning,
the art of learning,
the risks taken, the lessons learned,
instructors, whom they are effusively
grateful to,
pulling light and wisdom out of them,
igniting them, not filling them up as
buckets, with facts alone.
No sponges here, no inkblotters
inversed and backwards,
but creative listeners who hear with
their hearts
and passionately run with knowledge.
These are Scholars
of politics, photography, design,
metals, history, science,
whatever is served to them.
They cannot not learn.
It is what they are, scholars.
V o l u m e
1 ,
I s s u e
2
P a g e
2
Each semester four Honors students and their contracts will be featured in “Word of Honor.”
A l l e g h e n y
Honors student: Jeremy Shields
N o r t h
C a m p u s
She returned to school with the
intention of upgrading her business skills to remain competitive
and completion of the Honors projects. He
has used the projects as an opportunity to
prepare for his dream of being a professional songwriter. Each of Jeremy’s Honors
projects has built on the last. First, Jeremy
compiled a collection of forty songs he
wrote and sent them to the Library of Congress for copyright; then he designed a
website to promote his songwriting and to
sell his music (http://
www.shieldsong.com). His final project is
to sell one of his songs.
Jeremy enjoys the challenges that the Honors Program presents through the creation
In Jeremy’s spare time, he enjoys cycling,
camping, fishing, traveling and living.
F e a t u r e d
S t u d e n t
in sales; however, Faith’s desire
to learn more about Anthropology
assisted in her in changing her
career path. She plans to transfer to University of Pittsburgh to
pursue a M.A. in Anthropology.
Faith’s other interests include
animal rescue, ballroom dancing
and non-Western medicine. Faith
has two teenage children, three
cats and three guinea pigs.
L e a d e r s h i p S e m i n a r
M a r c h 2 5 - 2 6
There is still time to enroll in
Leadership I: SDS 104H-AC01:
1 credit. This course is open
to all Honors and Phi Theta
Kappa students. Leadership 1
is part of the Phi Theta Kappa
Leadership Development Program and will be taught by a
Phi Theta Kappa certified instructor. The weekend seminar brings together Honors
S t u d e n t
Jeremy Shields will graduate from CCAC in
May with an associate’s degree in business
and an Honors degree. He plans to transfer to Robert Morris University in fall 2006.
This semester Jeremy is completing an
Honors contract in Principles of Selling with
Professor Anthony Lucas. He is making a
sales presentation package, which will
include Jeremy’s original songs that will be
sent to potential customers, such as recording companies, producers, artists, publishing companies and songwriters.
C a m p u s
Faith Hill is a sophomore social
sciences major at North Campus.
Faith’s Honors contract is in
Foundations of Education with
Professor David Palcho. Her contract explores existentialism as a
theme in fictional literature. She
will be analyzing The Stranger by
Albert Camus.
F e a t u r e d
students from all four campuses. We will provide a continental breakfast and a lunch
both Saturday and Sunday as
well as the opportunity to explore leadership theory and
application. The class will meet
Saturday and Sunday, March 25
and 26, 2006 from 8:00-4:30.
“The wisest mind
has something yet to
learn.”
-George Santayana
Honors student: Faith Hill
Honors Night at the Opera
April 4th
The Honors Council is pleased to announce Honors
Night at the Opera. All Honors student have been
invited to join the CCAC Honors Community for Tosca
by Puccini at the Benedum Center on April 4th at 7:00
p.m.
At 6:00 pm, those interested may attend a pre-opera
talk given by Christopher Hahn, Artistic Director of the
Pittsburgh Opera.
At 5:30 pm, those interested may meet for a backstage
tour offered by the Pittsburgh Opera Educational
Department.
V o l u m e
1 ,
I s s u e
B o y c e
2
P a g e
C a m p u s
F e a t u r e d
Kristine Ray has been at CCAC for
three semesters. She is a liberal
arts major who would like to get a
degree in professional writing from
LaRoche College. Kristine’s Honors
contract is in Introduction to Theatre
with Professor Constance Koepfinger. She is researching the experiences of teen mothers who pursue
higher education, incorporating her
findings into a paper and a one-act
play.
Honors student: Kristine Ray
S o u t h
Kristine’s career goal is to either
C a m p u s
Ashley Montrenes is a sophomore
liberal arts major. Ashley’s Honors
contract is in Children’s Literature with
Professor Julia Fennell. Her project
applies what she has learned through
her internship with the Pittsburgh Opera to Rosenblatt’s theory of aesthetic
reading she studied in Children’s Literature. Ashley has collaborated with
Dr. Marilyn Egan at the Pittsburgh
Opera Educational Foundation in creating teaching materials for Xerxes
and Tosca.
3
s t u d e n t
become an editor or writer. She is
planning on transferring to LaRoche
College at the end of the spring ‘06
semester to complete her bachelor’s degree.
Kristine’s interest include writing
and reading, especially plays by
Tennesse Williams.
She is a full-time student who is
raising a daughter while also working. She says, “I’ve been told it
can’t be done. I’m proof it can.”
F e a t u r e d
S t u d e n t
Ashley plans to continue her education
at Carlow College in Pittsburgh to obtain a degree in secondary education
in both math and English. She hopes
to remain in an Honors Program after
transferring to Carlow.
In her spare time Ashley enjoys rollerblading, painting, photography, music,
drawing and reading. One of her favorite authors and books is Gary Larson– The Far Side, but she also says,
“There are so many to choose from!”
Honors student: Ashley Montrenes
Web-enhanced Honors History course
offered Fall ‘06
Would you like to know more about the events
unfolding in the world today?
Register for HIS213H “Twentieth Century
World History.” Enrollment is limited to 17
students.
This course is an examination of the major
trends and contemporary movements in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas since
1900 including the two world wars; social and
political revolutions; nationalism, imperialism
and de-colonization; fascism and communism;
the creation of new states; global conflict and
peace building.
Students will meet four times throughout the
semester for Saturday sessions (9:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.). Saturday sessions include field
trips to places of interest in the Pittsburgh
area. The remainder of the course work is
done via independent study and through the
use of the CCAC blackboard site, under the
instruction of Jacqueline Cavalier, Assistant
Professor of History.
“We learn more by
looking for the answer
to a question and not
finding it than we do
from learning the answer itself.”
-Lloyd Alexander
NOW AVAILABLE
HONORS BLACKBOARD SITE
Honors Program
Contact Information
Honors Program Office
South Campus
D-317
1750 Clairton Road
West Mifflin, PA 15122
Phone: 412-469-4303
Fax: 412-469-6009 Attn: Julia Fennell
E-mail: honorsprogram@ccac.edu
Honors Council
Dr. Wendy Weiner, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Allysen Todd, Dean of Arts and Sciences
Julia Fennell, Honors Program Director
Campus Coordinators:
Jacqueline Cavalier, Allegheny Campus
Rodger O’Toole, Boyce Campus
Helen Schlatterer, North Campus
Elizabeth Jo Dallas, South Campus
Emily Grazulis, Secretary and Word of Honor Editor
CCAC Honors Students
Allegheny Campus:
Cristina Amann, Sean Barry*, Gladys Bonse*, Cynthia Clark,
Roy Clawson, Mia Crow, Beverly Damron, Derek Davenport, Jamie Donaldson, Julie Dulski, Charles Eberenz IV,
Autumn Edwards, Lawrence Ejindu, Ifeanyi Ezenwa, Jason
Giulieri, Jessica Lepore, Joanna Littlefield, David Louis, Taryn
McCreary, Katie McGrath, Marcy Mountain, HuyTu Nguyen,
Samantha Phillips*, Dierdre Price, Robert Quarles IV,
Jennifer Reisdorf, Alia Shakir, Jeremy Shields*, Stephanie
Spano, Karina Steren, Ryan Winterhalter, Flo Wivell
Boyce Campus:
Robin Bennett, Matthew Brown, Aaron Butler*, Phillip
Caruso*, Marybeth Delane, Erin Gallentine, Nicole Kuiros*,
Jodi Lilly*, Matthew Mesina, Daniel Miller, Melissa Mitchell,
Donna Moreau, Janine Muri, Cody Musser, Christine
Myers*, Paula Obricki, Sandra Patz, Kelly Perrine, David
Peters*, Nicoline Puskar*, Kristine Ray*, Brianna Richards*,
Jill Shaffer, Veronica Smalls, David Stout, Julie Taylor,
Francisco Velastegui, Nora Weimer, Faith Zuzek
North Campus:
Current Faculty Honors Contract Mentors
Ruth Feathers, Anthony Lucas, Carl Mazetti
Latimer Gerle*, Holly Glenn*, Michael Gruber, Emily
Harper, Faith Hill*, Jinhee Kim, Dan Kimmons, Mary
Laipple, Michelle McGrath, Brian Morgan, Amanda Papa*,
Jasmine Persinger, Angela Sperl, Laura Virostek*
Boyce Campus
South Campus:
Jesse Almasi, Mark Bell, Gerry Dinnen, Barbara
Kendig, Constance Koepfinger, L.R. Murthy
Laura Amick, Laura Berard, Kimberly Bousquet, Lanette
Braxton, Emily Dawson, Walter Gillis III, Vincent Harvey,
Melissa Higgins, Catherine Hewitt*, Helenanne Hochendoner, Bruce Irish, Matthew Koceski, Kimberly Laberdee,
Jennifer Mayle, Marcia Mineo*, Ashley Montrenes*, Frank
Morganti*, Donna Neiport, Joanna Obuzor, Deanna Pavlik,
Amanda Pisarcik*, Denise Rogan*, Lauren Salopek, Jennifer
Saunders, Michelle Scott, Tracy Simpson, Danette Stromyer,
Michael Trimble
Allegheny Campus
North Campus
John Abdalah, Barbara Brown, Lila Nettrour,
David Palcho
South Campus
Debbie Conway, Julia Fennell, Barbara Lax, Bonnie
Ordonez, Lindy Whyte
* Spring 2006 Honors by Contract students