August 29, 2008

• Junior sociology major Lauren Hamlett participated in a summer research program on Population, Health and Aging at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.  The program was funded by the National Institute on Aging. Students from a variety of sociology and health care-related backgrounds were selected to participate in the program, and work on developing ways to solve the health and population problems that our country faces today. Hamlett plans to continue research in this area in the Sociology Research Methods course this semester. 

August 22, 2008

• Two sociology majors presented their research as part of the American Sociological Association Honors Program at the annual meetings of the ASA in Boston, July 31 – Aug. 4. Tristine Baccam, senior sociology major, presented her paper, "Deriving Self-Image: A Study of Upper and Upper Middle Class Students and How They Construct Self Image," at a roundtable on demography. Her research was done as part of a class taught by Sandi Nenga, assistant professor of sociology. Phillip Cantu '08 presented his paper, "Activists on the Margin: High Risk Activism in a Needle Exchange Program," at a roundtable on social deviance. His research was done as part of a capstone class under the direction of Maria Lowe, professor of sociology.

• First-year student Cathrin Winsor was a finalist in a video contest sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. The contest asked entrants to make a video about "Why Are You a Democrat in 2008?" To see Winsor's video, go here

• Three Southwestern students received the Freeman-Asia Scholarship for the fall 2008 semester. All three – Kyle Mathis, Tyler Rankin and Lindsay Waldrop – will use their awards to study in China. Mathis is a junior majoring in political science, Rankin is a junior majoring in communication studies and Waldrop is a junior doing an independent major in Chinese. Freeman-ASIA scholarships, which range from $4,000-$5,000, are designed to support American undergraduates with demonstrated financial need who are planning to study overseas in East or Southeast Asia.

• Two Southwestern students have received the Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship for the fall 2008 semester. Alicia Burns and Hailey Easley were both awarded $4,500 through the program. Burns will use her scholarship to study abroad at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Easley will use her scholarship to study abroad in India. Burns is a senior majoring in biology and Easley is a junior majoring in anthropology. The scholarships, which are highly competitive, enable U.S. undergraduate students with financial need to pursue academic studies abroad. The program is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.

August 15, 2008

• Carissa Fritz, a junior chemistry major, has been named an American Chemical Society Scholar. She will receive a $5,000 toward her studies at Southwestern this year. Fritz is the first student from Southwestern to receive this honor. Fritz presented a poster about her research on copper (II) complexes at the American Chemical Society National Meeting held in New Orleans in early April. The poster was co-authored with Tammy Nguyen.

• iology student Delia Shelton is presenting a poster at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society Aug. 16-20 in Snowbird, Utah. The work was done in Professor Jesse Purdy's lab over the past 18 months and describes three experiments that test whether learning could be involved in the development of generalized strategies of defense in mummichogs, a common baitfish inhabiting the shallow coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The poster was one of nine accepted for the ABS sponsored Genesis Poster Competition for Undergraduates. Shelton will be flying in for the meeting from Costa Rica, where she is doing research at a field station.

May 9, 2008

• Seniors Lindsey Albracht and Rory Aguirre have been accepted into the French Teaching Assistantship program sponsored by the French Ministry of Education. Albracht will spend seven months teaching in the Toulouse region and Aguirre will teach in Nancy/Metz.

• Senior Jessica Hager will be staying at Southwestern next year as an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer working out of the Office of Civic Engagement.

• Sarah Holifield has been selected to have a “This I Believe” essay aired on Houston’s Public Radio station, KUHF. She will visit the studio to record her essay this summer.

• Sophomore physics major Pelham Keahy has been selected to participate in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program (SULI) sponsored by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). He will spend eight weeks this summer working with researchers at the center, which is operated by Stanford for the U.S. Department of Energy.

• Sophomore physics major Sean Smith has been selected to participate in the Research Internships in Science and Engineering program (RISE) sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service. The program gives students in biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering and physics the chance to spend a summer working with German doctoral students on their research projects. Smith will spend the summer conducting theoretical physics research with a doctoral student at the University of Geissen.

May 2, 2008

• Kinesiology students Lauren Arrowood, Ben Hoffman and Eric Sterner won top honors for undergraduate research at the 29th annual meeting of the Texas Regional Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine held in Odessa in February for their paper analyzing the effects of treadmill use in space.

• Juniors Hannah Adkison and Charles Prince, and seniors LaToya Alexander and Jeremy Battle attended the Engaged Diversity Student Leadership Workshop held at Dillard University in New Orleans April 4-6. Also attending the workshop were Sue Mennicke, director of intercultural learning, and Ron Swain, senior advisor to the president. The program was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

• Sophomore Rob Atkinson participated in a debate held at Southern Methodist University April 25 on whether the United States should have a Department of Peace. Atkinson, who is national communications coordinator for the Student Peace Alliance, argued in favor of the proposal. To read a release about the debate, click here.

April 25, 2008

• Four Anthropology students presented papers at the Southwestern Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting in Fullerton, Calif., April 10-12. Shauna Davidson presented “Orphan Care in Senegal,” Tricia Dickson presented “Little Emperors Wear Prada: The One Child Policy and Globalization in Shanghai,” Lauren Griebel presented “The Other Side of the Islands: HIV/AIDS in Fiji,” and Casey McAuliffe presented
“Young Mothers and a Young Anthropology Student.”

• Twenty-three students from Southwestern have been named to the 2008 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. The students were selected for the publication based on academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success. The students selected from Southwestern were LaToya Alexander, Rob Atkinson, Tristine Baccam, Peter Borhauer, Caitlin Buck, Rachel Die, Delilah Dominguez, Ricardo Levario, Robert Lockwood, Chelsea Marshall, Amanda Mohammed, Stacy Neumann, Kevin O’Neil, Nicole Powell, Charlie Rivas, Delia Shelton, Grace Stafford, Coralie Taylor, Darlene Thompson, Kalie Trueper, Denielle Waite, Doak Worley and Kristin Yeung.

• First-year students Mauricio Lafuente and Francisca Lopez have been selected by Houston's NPR affiliate, KUHF, to have their "This I Believe" essays aired. The essays were written and submitted as an assignment for a college writing class taught by Michael Wolfe, assistant professor of music. To link to the radio affiliate’s web-site, click here.

• Sophomore Charles Prince recently presented his paper titled "Crafting Educational Policies in Zimbabwe: Moving Beyond Modern Colonialism" at the Tenth Annual Africana Studies Research Colloquium held at Bowling Green State University.

• Student Rachael Die presented “A Vicious Cycle? The Use of Violence in the Mapuche Land Reclamation Movement” at the 16th Annual Latin American Studies Symposium at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Ala., March 14-15.

April 18, 2008

• Senior Mary Kierst presented her paper, "A Study of Congressional Decision Making: The 2001 USA PATRIOT ACT and the 2006 Renewal," at a poster session of the 2008 Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago, Ill., on April 5. Her paper is the result of a Mundy project with Tim O'Neill, professor of political science.

• Richard Denman, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, and student programming contest teams “su-root” and “su-pirata-informatico” competed in the CCSC Mid-South conference at Arkansas Technological University April 4. “Su-root,” comprised of students Stephen Foster, Bobby Potter and Tommy Rogers, placed second while “su-pirata-informatico,” comprised of Sarah Doty, Lane Hill and Carl West, placed eighth. In all, over 20 teams from four states competed. If any students are interested in participating or for more information about the program, contact Denman at 512-863-1594 or denman@southwestern.edu.

April 11, 2008

• Three students in the chemistry and biochemistry department presented their research at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans. Radhika Kainthla, senior biochemistry major, presented "Photoexcitation of daunomycin leads to oxidative DNA damage that is dependent on molecular oxygen" in collaboration with Maha Zewail Foote, assistant professor of chemistry. Carissa Fritz, sophomore chemistry major, presented "DNA binding and cleaving properties of intercalating copper(II) complexes" based on her work with Foote and Gulnar Rawji, associate professor of chemistry. Megan Mullins, senior political science major, presented "Kirkwood-Buff derived force fields for mixtures of thiols in water" in collaboration with Nikolaos Bentenitis, assistant professor of chemistry.

April 4, 2008

• Eight sociology majors from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology will be presenting their research at the 2008 annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Society in Richmond Va., April 10-12. Students presenting their research are: Tristine Baccam, “Rebuilding the House that Jack Built: Comparative Analysis of Immigration and Residential Crowding in the US”; Megan Collins, “Bureaucratic Traditions, Consensus and the Role of the Media in the American Civil Liberties Union Central Texas Chapter”; Lauren Cox, “Trabajadores Unan!: Leaders, Collective Identity, and Conflict Resolution among Latino Immigrant Workers”; Rachael Die, “Communities of Color Fighting Toxic Contamination: A Case Study of Grassroots Environmental Justice and Community Advocacy”; Sarah Fankhauser, “Guardian Angels at the Grassroots: A Study of the Factors that Shape Individuals Into Activists”; Cody Faulk, "Fighting the Religious Right in Texas: How Political Activist Organizations Recruit and Maintain Members in the Fight for a Division Between Church and State”; Anne Olson, “Which Side Are You On? An Examination of the Recruitment Tactics of a Local Education Union”; and Nicole Powell, “Examining Social Class: Comparisons Between Attitudes and Composition of a College Campus and the United States.” The papers resulted from individual research projects in the sociology capstone seminar under the direction of Maria Lowe, and the Research Methods course taught by Edward L. Kain.

March 15, 2008

• Three student ecologists, Sarah Hensley, Colin Kyle and James McDonough, presented their research on invasive applesnails at the Texas Academy of Sciences meeting in Corpus Christi on Friday, March 7th. Hensley’s presentation titled "Small snails grow up fast" received an Honorable Mention award in the undergraduate competition for oral presentations. Professor Romi Burks served as Section Chair for the Freshwater and Marine Section of the Academy.

Senior Alison Kuo received the first Fayez Sarofim Passion for the Arts Award. The award was created to honor graduating seniors who exhibit the same passion for the arts that Sarofim has. The award comes with a $500 cash prize and, beginning next year, will be presented annually at the Honors Convocation.

March 7, 2008

• Students Colin Kyle and James McDonough have received a grant of $1,500 from the Texas Academy of Sciences. The grant will be used to examine the relationship between applesnails and another exotic, invasive species – the taro or “elephant ear” plant.

February 29, 2008

• Four Southwestern students have been selected to receive Sumners Fellowships beginning in the fall of 2008. The fellowships, which are awarded by the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation of Dallas, are $5,000 per semester or a total of $10,000 per year. Students recently selected to receive Sumners Fellowships are Sarah Gould, Emily Gutzmer, Heather Lesieur and Luis (Fermie) Reyes. Students are selected for the fellowships based on their academic history, extracurricular activities, and leadership experience. In addition to assistance with tuition, students selected to receive Sumners Fellowships have access to other programs sponsored by the foundation, including a distinguished lecture series; a variety of public policy, leadership and civic participation programs; and several educational and internship opportunities in Washington, D.C.

February 15, 2008

• Senior chemistry major Robert Lockwood presented his poster titled “Ethanol Elimination Rates From Time-Discrete Blood Draws in Impaired Driving Cases," at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Washington, D.C., this week. Lockwood worked on the project during an internship with the Bexar County Forensic Toxicology Laboratory in San Antonio. Southwestern graduate and internship supervisor Mike Frontz coauthored the paper.

February 8, 2008

• Senior Jessica Ratcliffe was one of three students selected statewide to receive a scholarship from the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators (TASPA) for the 2007-2008 school year. She received the award at the organization’s annual conference in Austin in December. This is the eighth year in a row that a student in Southwestern University’s Teacher Certification Program has received a TASPA scholarship – something no other university in Texas has been able to accomplish. Ratcliffe hopes to teach 11th grade U.S. History and coach a high school cross country team.