Honors Quarterly
Eastern Michigan University’s Honors College Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 2
A Message from the Director
December 2015
In this issue:
• A Message from the Director
• Meaghan Lynch Shadows State Representative
• Mellendorf Attends PR Conference
• Barry Talks Perfectionism in Second Stare Lecture
• The Honors College is Getting a New Home!
• A Brief History of Starkweather Hall
• Honors Students Develop BHSO
• Students Integrate Math and Art
• Khalil Boussi Excels in EMRAP Program
If the fall semester were a book, it would have been a read so compelling as to fly from beginning to
end. In the blink of an eye, the first chapter raced by filled with Honors Orientation, First Four, the
Common Read and the Honors Ice Cream Social. This was followed by pages and pages filled with
the lure of fall walks around campus, informal meetings with friends, engaging learning opportunities
and a vast array of activities. Now, days away from finals and Commencement, I find myself reluctant
to read the final words of the story of fall 2015! I must not be ready for it to be over!
Truly, The Honors College has been a busy place this fall, and we have been blessed with terrific support! From classes to events and activities, our students, faculty, advisors and staff have offered unprecedented support. We have been able to offer nearly 100 Honors sections in addition to contract
opportunities for our students. Being in a class limited to 20 students offers an exceptional learning
The Honors College
Director, Rebecca Sipe experience, and this fall we have extended that possibility to over 1,600 students!
Make no mistake: Honors professors are exceptional! Not only do they teach our classes, they also
spend extensive hours working with students on research, independent studies, contracts, advising and mentoring. In addition, our departmental Honors advisors, faculty fellows and academic advisors work tirelessly to assist our students as they
navigate the complexities of university life. Administrators across campus have gone that extra mile to help us offer classes,
schedule faculty and support undergraduate research!
Though I lament how quickly the story has moved, I also find it a great opportunity to think ahead to winter 2016 when The
Honors College will make its fourth major move in its three decade history. Our program began in Jones/Goddard back
in 1984 and rapidly grew from just a few students to hundreds. From Jones/Goddard, the emerging program moved to
offices in Wise Hall before coming to Starkweather Hall in the early 2000s. In January of 2016, we will again migrate across
campus as we take possession of our new home. This lovely new facility will more than double our programming space,
offer a commercial kitchen and meeting space, as well as workshop and study spaces. In addition, it provides a beautiful
auditorium/performance space that will house Honors Commencement and lectures as well as performances offered by
the music and dance, communications, media and theatre arts and creative writing departments.
As this year draws to a close, we in The Honors College are exceedingly grateful to all who have contributed to the college
and to our amazing students—donors and supporters who give of their time and energy—in addition to all noted above.
We look forward to welcoming all to The Honors College at EMU located at 511 W. Forest in winter!
As always, be safe and Soar Higher!
Becky Sipe, Director of The Honors College
Meaghan Lynch Shadows
State Representative
Meaghan Lynch was awarded the
opportunity to shadow David
Rutledge, a state representative for the
54th House District, Wednesday in
Lansing as part of a program hosted by
The Honors College.
The sophomore, a double major
in political science and public and
nonprofit administration, won the
second annual “A Day in the Life”
competition.
“I learned a lot,” Lynch said. “And the
visit gave me my first real look into
what a career in public service is going
to look like. It really reminded me of
why I wanted to get into this field in
the first place.”
After a meet-and-greet and lunch,
Lynch sat in on the Government
Committee Meeting and was
announced to the Full House.
Rutledge said he originally became
involved in the program because he
appreciated what Eastern Michigan
University was doing with its
undergraduate population and the
support it gave to The Honors College.
Last year, he shadowed now junior
public relations and communications
major Andrea Mellendorf on EMU’s
campus.
http://www.emich.edu/honors/
The
application
process
included
an essay explaining
why the applicant
believed himself or
herself to be the best
representative of The
Honors College.
Lynch said she
applied for the
opportunity because
of her interest in state
government and the
functioning of legislature.
“I learned a lot about how legislatures
function on a day-to-day basis,
what kinds of things Michigan
representatives do, the structure of
debate and what kind of arguments are
discussed at the state level,” she said.
Lynch said she wanted to meet
someone who was an integral part
of the legislature process. She said
Rutledge was supportive of EMU and
her education.
“If I learned anything from him,
it would be to keep in touch with
your roots, to care about the people
around you and to work hard and take
initiative—good things will come your
way,” Lynch said.
Rutledge said the program is special
and “speaks to the quality of EMU.” He
said he hopes that he can add to Lynch’s
academic experience by participating
in the program.
He said he was impressed with Lynch’s
interest in public service.
“I was also impressed with her
enthusiasm, the way she could
articulate what her goals are, her vision
and why she wanted to participate
in this particular day at the capitol,”
Rutledge said.
Mellendorf
Attends PR
Conference
The Honors College co-funded Andrea
Mellendorf ’s trip to Atlanta, Ga., for
the Public Relations Student Society
of America National Conference.
The conference, Nov. 6-10, is the largest
national gathering of PR students.
The junior public relations major said
the conference provided her with a
unique opportunity to grow in her
field.
“As an [executive board] member for
Eastern Michigan University’s chapter
of PRSSA, it provided a priceless
networking experience that enabled
new connections and relationships
to be made with my PRSSA peers at
other institutions,” she said.
Mellendorf, who has been elected to be
president of PRSSA next semester, said
her favorite session was the Chapter
President’s Leadership Workshop.
“This workshop gave me the
opportunity to make connections with
other chapter presidents, strengthen
my leadership skills, gain advice and
share about my own chapter to my
peers,” Mellendorf said.
Barry Talks Perfectionism at Second Star Lecture
by Rebekah Kakos
Professor Patrick Barry, President
of the Eastern Michigan University
Alumni Association, told 300 students
on Tuesday night in the Student Center
Ballroom that they can’t be perfect, but
they can be “damn good.”
Barry, from the Department of
Communication, Media and
Theatre Arts, was the second
speaker in the Star Lecture
Series, hosted by The Honors
College. He spoke about the
pursuit of perfection.
Perfectionism is a common
struggle for many Honors
students and Barry said he has
dealt with it his entire life. He
wanted to address these issues
and provide advice on how to
deal with them.
Barry differentiated between “healthy
perfectionism”
and
“unhealthy
perfectionism.”
He asked the students to write down
their idea of the perfect place, day and
person and to discuss what they wrote
with students around them.
Barry asked if any of the students
had listed Barbie as his or her perfect
person.
“Research shows that for a lot of young
girls, Barbie is their first impression
of what ‘perfect‘ should look like,”
Barry said. “Perfectionism is not only
applied to schoolwork and careers,
but our body image as well. Unhealthy
perfectionism could lead to chronic
anxiety, depression, OCD and eating
disorders.”
He said perfection is idealized.
“Everyone’s definition of perfection
is different,” Barry said. “As a society,
we tend to idolize celebrities and aim
to be similar to them. But each time a
celebrity has a scandal or receives bad
press, we realize that these ‘perfect’
people really aren’t perfect.”
Barry said that while people experience
perfect acts and moments, those acts
and moments might not be there all
Upcoming Lecture Dates
A Life
Well-lived:
Improving Race
Relations on
Campus, within
the Community,
and in the
Workplace
Dr. Doris Fields
Jan. 19
7 - 8:30 p.m.
The Language
That Separates
Us
Dr. T. Daniel Seely
March 8
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Leadership is a
CHOICE
Cheyenne
Luzynski
Feb. 9
7- 8:30 p.m.
the time.
“There are a lot of mixed messages
of perfection in our society,” he said.
“We’ve all heard the saying ‘practice
makes perfect.’ And then people
say, ‘no, it’s not practice that makes
perfect, it’s perfect practice that makes
perfect.’ ”
He said his favorite quote is
from Homer Simpson: “No
one is perfect. That is why
pencils have erasers.”
Reem Yassine, a freshman
international affairs major,
said she thought the
presentation helped her a lot.
“As a freshman, you come in
with all these expectations,”
Yassine said. “You want to
maintain or do better than
you did in high school and
you put a lot of pressure on yourself.
So this presentation actually helped
out a lot.”
Ryan Hayley, a freshman secondary
education major, said he realized he
doesn’t have to please others, just “be
perfect to yourself,” he said.
Barry is an EMU alumnus and has
taught for 44 years, 11 of which have
been at EMU.
Barry’s tips for dealing with
perfectionism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Be the authentic you
Ask for help
Collaborate and cooperate
Take calculated risks
Set priorities
Cultivate calm and patience
Change up your routine
Give yourself permission to
make mistakes at times
• Strive for excellence instead
of perfection
The Honors College is
Getting a New Home!
The Board of Regents approved the
purchase of Holy Trinity Chapel, 511
West Forest Avenue, to be used by The
Honors College program.
The university’s purchase of $940,000
speaks to EMU’s commitment to
investing in student success.
“This is an outstanding property
and is in excellent condition for
transformation to The Honors
College,” Interim President, Provost
and Executive Vice President
of Academic and Student
Affairs, Kim Schatzel, said
in a statement. “Closing on
this property reflects the
University’s overall strategy
to raise our academic profile,
along with our continued
efforts to enhance academic
facilities across campus.”
Now, the size of The Honors
College facility will match
the growing number of
students enrolled in the
program.
Rebecca Sipe, director of
The Honors College, said
the space factor is the biggest
benefit. The program will be
moved from 8,000 squarefeet to 21,000.
“We will have places for multiple things
to happen at one time, independently,”
Sipe said.
The facility will have the ability to
accommodate classes, workshops,
meetings, recitals and luncheons
simultaneously.
In addition to housing The Honors
College, the new building will serve
many other departments, including
To celebrate the move, students
shared the aspects of the new
facility they’re most excited for.
“The possibilities are endless
because we have so much space,”
said Caitlin Baumer, a graduate
experimental psychology student.
“This will help create a stronger
Honors community.”
Want To Get Involved in The Big Move?
The Honors College has
opportunities for Honors alumni
to take a more active role in the
move. The Foundation is offering
donors the opportunity for name
recognition. To donate, please
contact Rae Anne Yuskowatz, the
director of development with the
Foundation, at (734)487-8040.
music, dance and theater.
The Honors College will now also be
more accommodating to students.
Students living on and off campus will
have a quiet place to study and relax.
“We will be able to honor the needs
of the students who come to us,” Sipe
said.
The center will also give The Honors
College the opportunity to become
an even more integral part of the
university.
“The Honors College is here to serve
the university,” Sipe said. “It’s here as
a source of innovation. It’s here as a
center for diversity. Those are things
we’re going to carry with us. Now we’ll
just have more space and the ability to
bring it all to fruition.”
Honors Building: $1,000,000
Gallery: $150,000
Main Auditorium: $100,000
Reception Area: $75,000
Administrative Center: $50,000
Advanced Classroom: $25,000
Conference Room: $10,000
“I’m most excited to be one of the
first students who are able to use the
new facility,” said Gabrielle BurgessSmith, a senior public relations
major.
“The fact that there are bathrooms
on every floor!” said Virginia
“Ginny” Harder, a faculty fellow.
“[I’m excited for] the change in
scenery,” said Brent Duddles,
a junior secondary education
mathematics major.
A Brief History of Starkweather Hall
Every visitor to Eastern
Michigan University’s
campus
stops
at
Starkweather Hall to
learn about its famous
reputation.
The building, which is
the oldest on campus, is believed to
be haunted by Mary Ann Newberry
Starkweather, the local philanthropist
who donated $10,000 of the $11,000
needed to construct the building. She
intended for the building to be used
as a religious center, as specified by
the first ninety-nine-year lease. And
in the beginning, it was; the Students’
Christian Association was located
in the building. The organization
sponsored lecture series which focused
on topics of social and philosophical
interest.
The students from the association
worked with Professor Pease and
Principal Sill, of Pease Auditorium
and Sill Hall, respectively, to raise and
secure the funds for Starkweather.
Later on, the Young Womens Christian
Association turned the building into
its campus home. The program gave
young women a place
to study, rest and
socialize. They, like the
Students’ Christian
Association, had a
focus on religion.
All offices related to
religion were moved
out of the office in
1973 upon request
of the university. In
1977, a committee
of religious groups
appeared before the
Board of Regents in the hopes that
Starkweather would be used once
again as a religious center.
There was much controversy over
the use of the hall all through the
late 1970s. Religious organizations
fought EMU administration, saying
Mary Starkweather’s legacy was being
betrayed with the non-religious uses of
the building.
In 2007, The Honors College moved
into Starkweather Hall under Director
James Knapp.
‘I don’t believe in geographic
determinism, but I think that
Starkweather provided a home to The
Honors College at a very crucial time,”
Sipe said.
Before moving into the building, The
Honors College worked out of a little
office in a residence hall. It moved
from there to Wise Hall.
When the program was first moved
into Starkweather, it only occupied
three of the offices.
Due to the growth of the program, The
Honors College now utilizes most of
Starkweather Hall.
“It gave us the space, as a much smaller
program, to be able to be that service,
be that center, be that source of
innovation,” Sipe said.
Besides Mary’s presence, the building
is also known for its beauty. The Detroit
architectural firm of Malcomson
and Higginbotham designed the
Romanesque Revival style building.
The land was donated by the city of
Ypsilanti.
Starkweather Hall earned listing in
the National Registry of Historical
Buildings and Places in 1977.
It will continue to be an integral part of
both The Honors College and Eastern
Michigan University’s history.
“This will be the fourth move of The
Honors College and I think it’ll be the
final move,” Sipe said.
Honors
Students Integrate Math and Art
Students
Rachel Robinson and Kyle Linford,
students, are bringing art into
Develop BHSO Honors
math classes.
Honors students now have the
opportunity to participate in a new
Honors community, the Black Honors
Student Organization.
BHSO President and Founder,
Brandie Bentley, said reaching diverse
populations within Honors programs
is a nationwide problem. BHSO assists
The Honors College with that task.
“[BHSO] works to establish an
environment where students can
express their dual identities and be
confident that they will be supported
and celebrated in both,” Bentley said.
Bentley said the organization also
helps to “increase cultural awareness”
in students.
Students in the organization can get
involved in community service, listen
to speakers and attend Honors and
campus events.
Jaren Johnson, BHSO social media
manager, said that while The Honors
College provides students with
intellectually stimulating resources, it
still needed to offer diversity resources.
“Academic prowess is vital to our
college community,” Johnson said.
“However, if it isn’t coupled with
cultural competency, the atmosphere
for comprehensive learning becomes
nonexistent.”
This coming winter the BHSO will be
leading an Alternative Spring Break
trip for Honors students this winter.
http://www.emich.edu/honors/
The program, which runs every Friday
of the 2015-16 school year, is focused
on analyzing how student learning
develops.
Linford is a senior studying secondary
education mathematics.
“Often times, students see math as
rote memorization and not something
that can be incorporated into their
lives or even other subjects like art –
Rachel and I are working to change
that viewpoint,” he said.
The two have been working at Sabbath
Middle School in River Rouge as part
of the Eastern Michigan University’s
Art Integration Grant. They teach
three classes of eighth grade math
classes. Every lesson plan they put
together involves an art integration
piece.
Linford said the experience has been
educational and rewarding.
“I love getting to work with the
students and help them develop
their mathematical understanding
by working through these engaging,
critical thinking activities,” he said.
“We work on perfecting the lesson
to make it fun and engaging for
our students,” Robinson, a senior
secondary education mathematics
major said.
Robinson said she’s learned that it’s
fairly easy to incorporate art with
math through the experience.
“At first I was hesitant, but now I see
that the art pieces catch students’
interest and make the math more
applicable,” she said.
The lessons weren’t perfect in the
beginning.
“Since teaching in the beginning of the
semester, I had to devote more time
to thinking about creative and fun
ways to get students interested in the
math,” Robinson said. “With Kyle’s
help, we have created and presented
some really awesome lessons that
got students out of their desk and
moving around the classroom.”
Robinson’s favorite lesson included
the following aspects: having
students move through a life-size
coordinate grid to learn about
different types of transformations;
having students create polygon
monsters and mandalas; and having
students share what they see, what
they think, and what questions they
have about that week’s art integration
pieces that I show on the overhead.
Linford said he’s learned that math
education is not a black and white
experience.
“Math education needs to be active
and alive,” he said.
Linford said interacting with the
students has been an amazing
experience.
“It has been so rewarding getting
to know the students and see their
learning and relationships develop,”
he said.
Khalil Boussi Excels
in EMRAP Program
Khalil Boussi represented Eastern
Michigan University in the Emergency
Medicine
Research
Associates
Program.
Through the program, the senior
biology and psychology major got realworld clinical experience and earned
college credit.
His work through the internship aided
clinical investigators in their ongoing
research efforts in a live emergency
department setting.
Boussi worked with students from the
University of Michigan at St. Joseph
Mercy Hospital to enroll patients in the
studies that doctors were conducting.
He now volunteers at five hospitals
as a medical scribe, which helps him
to continue developing his clinical
experience.
As a scribe, Boussi shadows doctors as
they visit with patients. He takes notes
for the doctor and then follows and
inputs patient paper work throughout
the rest of the day.
“You’re doing that part of the doctoring
for the doctor so that they’re able to
see more patients during that shift,” he
said.
The EMRAP internship helped him
earn the scribe position.
“The majority of the kids that are there
are working full-time and are already
graduated. I haven’t met many other
people who are still in school and are
doing it,” Boussi said.
After landing the job, Boussi was sent
to Chicago for training.
He said his training, which he did with
people from all over the country, was
intense.
“Before, I knew what scribes were just
from my exposure to the hospital,” he
said. “But I have a lot more respect for
what they do now that I’ve become
one because it’s not an easy job.”
Boussi said the job has given him more
insight into how ER doctors operate.
“I think it showed me more of the
reality of what being a doctor would be
like.”
He is currently applying to medical
schools in Michigan. While he is
working in an ER now, he said he
would like to focus on neurology in
his own practice because he wants a
relationship with his patients.
Boussi said he would love to work with
Alzheimer’s patients,
as it would be a great
way to help with a
“terrible disease.”
Before coming to
EMU and starting
his science courses,
Boussi said he was
not exactly “the
most academically
inclined.”
“I started getting
my experience by
volunteering
and
[at] my internship
and I’m hooked at
this point,” he said.
“There’s nothing else
I want to do.”
He said The Honors College has
been an immense help in his college
career, particularly the counseling he’s
received.
He said his main connection to
The Honors College is Katherine
Augustaitis, an advisor.
“She’s honestly my favorite person on
this campus because she knows her
stuff,” he said. “She’s so good at listening
to you and giving positive feedback.
And, she had relevant experience.”
The Honors College has also pushed
him academically.
“I was able to go to a conference just
because The Honors College thought
what I was doing actually mattered,” he
said.
The requirements of The Honors
College have added to his overall
experience at EMU.
“I wouldn’t have gotten into research
if I didn’t have to do a thesis,” he
said. “That’s been one of my favorite
experiences of being at Eastern.”
The Honors College Mission
The Honors College at Eastern Michigan University serves the university
community by empowering academically talented and motivated students to
reach their full personal, scholastic, service and leadership potential through
challenging coursework with engaged peers and faculty and through extra-curricular activities that foster international and diversity awareness and a commitment to civic engagement.
Support Honors @ EMU
Alumni and community supporters are invited to contribute their time or
make a financial contribution to support The Honors College.
To learn about opportunities to give to The Honors College, visit:
www.emich.edu/honors/giving
Honors Quarterly Mission
The mission of The Honors Quarterly is to develop active relationships with
individuals both inside and outside of the university, and to promote students’
academic success through recognition of their achievements. Please send us
news updates for upcoming editions at emuhonors_alumni@emich.edu. We
welcome your ideas and input!
Stay in touch!
Phone: 734-487-0341
Fax: 734-487-0793
emuhonors@emich.edu
emuhonors_alumni@emich.edu
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