Excalibur - GU Honors - April 2016
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Transcript of Excalibur - GU Honors - April 2016
1
Exca ibur
Gannon University
Honors Program
2
Table of Contents
Honors Classes: First Impressions ____________________
Gannon’s New Arabic Program Set for Round Two _______
EVITA __________________________________________
Ambassador David Dunford _________________________
A New Organization Uniting Students on Campus ________
References _______________________________________
3
4
6
7
10
12
3
This year, as with every year, a new
batch of freshman have congregated to the
Gannon campus. Of those students, some
of them, myself included, become part of
the honors program here. Now, to get in
the program, they had to be honors stu-
dents in high school. Therefore, they have
some experience with more focused and
intense classes. However, how do they
feel about college honors classes? How
do they compare to high school? What do
they think about the Honors Program as a
whole? I interviewed several honors stu-
dents to find out.
I first talked to Meghan Robick, Bi-
ology major, who had this to say: “You
know, it really is not overly terrible. My
classes in high school were definitely very
difficult, and so are these ones, but I
thought I would be studying all night eve-
ry night. I’m still studying a lot, but not
to the point where I don’t have time for
other things. I’d like to relax a bit more,
but I’m doing fine with my current class
load.”
Looking to find out more beyond
the classwork itself, I talked to Sarah
Magyan, Freshwater and Marine Biology
major. She had this to say: “On the
whole, my honors classes are very differ-
ent to my regular classes. My normal
classes are just taught, we just listen and
take notes. My honors classes are mainly
discussion based. We talk about issues
more than just taking notes on them. I al-
so feel like those discussions are where I
got a lot of the points that go towards my
grade, since most of my honors teachers
grade participation. I have also had less
tests than my normal classes, I’m guess-
ing because we are getting points for par-
ticipation and don’t need extra tests. Al-
so, just a side comment about the pro-
gram, it seems like for certain honors
classes, the spots are limited and the clas-
ses are hard to get in to. Maybe I just had
bad luck scheduling.”
Honors Classes:
First Impressions By Corey Griffith
4
Cassi Kiser, currently a Chemistry
major, had this to say about the Honors
Program itself: “I actually really enjoy be-
ing a part of the honors program. There
have been many fun events that I have at-
tended through the program. My favorite
so far have been the game nights that were
held. It was a lot of fun to go there with
my friends and play Scrabble or Go
Fish. I also liked all of the honors spon-
sored service events that I have done so
far, like at the animal shelter. I also like
the priority scheduling for classes we get
from honors. The honors housing is really
nice too. I will be living in the honors
housing next year as well, and am looking
forward to another year of it.”
So there you have it. People are ad-
justing well to their new environment and
classes. It is a new and a different experi-
ence, but it is something that these stu-
dents are more than capable of han-
dling. They are being challenged, but it is
a challenge that they readily and openly
accept.
There is a little-known course of-
fered here at Gannon, one that teaches stu-
dents an entirely new language that most
of us have never been exposed to in our
lives. The Arabic 101 class, taught by Dr.
Baugh, has brought the Arabic language
back into our curriculum. Arabic 1 was
offered first semester this school year, and
most students have returned for Arabic 2
this semester. Learning Arabic was once a
small part of a history course, but it is now
an entirely separate entity meant to expose
students to the basics of Arabic. It pro-
vides them with a building block to ex-
pand on, and smashes the ignorance most
people in United States carry regarding
the language.
In the first semester’s Arabic class,
every single student came in with a non-
Arabic background. They all worked as a
team, learning together and helping each
other. Foreign exchange students even
came in to help as mentors. The Professor,
Dr. Baugh, has spent upwards of ten years
in Egypt where she developed her
knowledge of the language. The students
learned Egyptian Arabic from among all
of the different types because it is the most
Gannon’s New Arabic
Program Set for
Round Two By Nicole Simonetti
5
well-known, and the one Baugh has the
most experience in. Learning a new lan-
guage isn’t easy, and in most foreign lan-
guages there are many parallels and com-
mon words shared with English, but Ara-
bic is a whole new ball game.
For starters, there is an entirely new
28 letter alphabet to learn, along with cor-
responding marks that were used by be-
ginning students to pronounce and identi-
fy words easier. These marks are called
tashkil, which indicate places where short
consonant and vowel sounds are left out
but understood to be there. They are al-
most always cut out in written words in
Arabic-speaking countries, but it’s inter-
esting that the Quran keeps them in for
clarity’s sake. Another difference is that
the written language is read from right to
left, which is completely opposite from
the way we are all ingrained to read. Alt-
hough there was a learning curve, work
produced results. Students made their way
through the alphabet, and learned vocabu-
lary associated with the letter combina-
tions. The online textbook helped their
understanding of spoken Arabic, and to
see how the deep, throaty sounds are
made by native speakers. Despite this
whole new language and culture the stu-
dents are exposed to, it is surprisingly ac-
cessible.
One of the students that was in the
“guinea pig” class for the Arabic program,
Shefali Amin, is a pre-med major. For her
it served as a welcome break from the dai-
ly grind of biology classes, and expanded
her horizons to a new way of life and lan-
guage. She even worked her spring se-
mester classes around Arabic 2 because of
how much she loved it. Kyle Volkman,
the Excalibur chair, took Arabic 1 and is
currently in Arabic 2 as well as the ROTC
program. He hopes to use his newfound
understanding of the language to be val-
ued above other soldiers, and to make
practical use out of it in the field.
No matter what the students plan to
use Arabic for, there is always merit in
learning another language. Being bilin-
gual is advantageous for job searching,
and for simply opening minds. Arabic will
continue to be offered, but only one sec-
tion at a time from Arabic 1 to Arabic 4.
The next section of Arabic 1 will be of-
fered in the fall semester of 2017. Hope-
Carolyn G. Baugh, Assistant Professor,
History Program
6
fully by then the interest will be high, and
current freshmen will be juniors and have
room in their schedules to fit it in. There is
no limit to who can take this course, and
the students that do leave with a broad-
ened world view, basic understanding of
Arabic, and new friendships forged
through learning a unique and different
language together.
At the end of April, Gannon’s
Schuster Theatre will be putting on the
production of the historical rock opera,
Evita. The lyrics were written by Tim
Rice and music composed by Andrew
Lloyd Webber, who are also the master-
minds of other musicals such as Joseph
and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus
Christ Superstar.
The story is based on the Argentine
historical political figure Eva Peron. The
musical begins with the announcement of
Eva’s death in 1952. The rest of the per-
formance is flashbacks of her life from the
1930s onwards.
Like the actual life
of Eva Peron, the
show depicts how
a poverty stricken
girl at fifteen
clawed her way to
being a top Argen-
tinian actress and then the wife of Juan
Peron, President of Argentina. Her meth-
ods were not conventional and have re-
ceived as much hate as praise. She used
manipulation of men to get to the top, but
her influence on the citizens once she got
there demonstrates why she was loved and
remembered. Eva Peron had been raised
as an illegitimate child without a dollar to
her name. Once she received the riches
and power with Juan Peron, she gave back
to the people of Argentina. She fought for
rights of the low class, donated exponen-
tial amount of money, and spoke elegantly
of change, which garnered a lot of affec-
tion from the people. Tragically, she died
in 1952 at the age of 33 due to cervical
cancer. Over three million people attend-
ed the funeral, filling the Argentinian
streets for miles in every direction. Her
impact on low class and women’s rights EVITA Cast Rehearsing
EVITA By Molly Cooke
7
have been immortalized by the beautiful
interpretation done through this musical.
Jax Vadney, the director of Gan-
non’s production of Evita, will be a
unique take on the musical. The overall
artistic theme is for the story to feel like a
dream. The projections used will be hazy,
and the props will be minimal. This al-
lows the focus of the performance to be
on the talent of Gannon students accom-
panied by a live orchestra. Unlike a typi-
cal proscenium stage most expect when
seeing a theatrical performance, Gannon’s
production will be done with an alley set
up where the stage is in the middle and
the audience are on both the west and east
sides of it.
The talent used are done by fellow
Gannon students such as Alizabeth Leng,
Zak Westfall, Michael Haas, and more.
The Honors Program also has representa-
tion in the performance, such as Cassie
Bielecki with prop design, Emily Scifo as
stage manager and projection operator,
and myself stage managing and operating
lights.
The performance is free to Gannon
students and will be counted as an Honors
event credit. The dates of Evita are April
21-23 and April 28-30 at 8 pm, along with
May 1st at 2 pm. It is a great way to get a
credit achieved and relax before finals.
Last semester, former Ambassador
David J. Dunford traveled to Gannon
University to spend some time on campus
and to give several talks on topics that
mostly centered on the Middle East.
Those readers who are in the Honors pro-
gram here at Gannon will probably re-
member the talk that Ambassador Dun-
ford gave titled “Making Sense of To-
day’s Middle East,” during which he
talked about current issues involving the
modern Middle East. In his talk, Ambas-
sador Dunford discussed ideas such as
some reasons why struggle and strife are
common themes throughout the Middle
Zak Westfall (left) and Allie Leng (right) with
additional cast rehearsing for EVITA Ambassador
David Dunford By Kevin Kauffman
8
East, and a little about what can be done
by our government in response. For exam-
ple, he talked about the propagation of
frustrated youth in the area that are now
connected by social media, and also
whether our president should put troops
on the ground in the Middle East. While
his talk was much more encompassing
than I can relate here, it should be known
that his talk was engrossing and well pre-
sented.
About the Ambassador
As can be inferred from the topic of Am-
bassador Dunford’s talk, his area of exper-
tise the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Currently, Ambassador Dunford is an Ad-
junct Instructor at The University of Ari-
zona and teaches classes focusing on top-
ics such as the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the
Middle East Business Environment, and
Globalization and Global Government.
Before his time in the United States For-
eign Service, Ambassador Dunford
worked briefly in Spain and Korea. How-
ever, during the period of time during
which Ambassador Dunford was active in
the Foreign Service, he worked mostly in
the Middle East and Northern Africa. Alt-
hough he served in both Helsinki, Finland
and Quito, Ecuador; he spent a lot of time
as an Ambassador for Middle Eastern
countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, and
Egypt.
After he retired from the U.S. Foreign
Service, Ambassador Dunford held posi-
tions such as the Director of Egyptian Af-
fairs in the Department of State in Wash-
ington DC; the Deputy Assistant U.S.
Trade Representative in the Executive Of-
fice of the President; international busi-
ness consultant for clients such as major
U.S. oil companies, defense contractors,
telecommunications companies, policy
research institutions, and universities; the
coordinator of the Transition Team for the
Establishment of the Bank for Economic
Cooperation and Development in the Mid-
dle East and North Africa
(MENABANK); Senior Ministerial Liai-
son to Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs at
the Coalition of Provisional Authority in
Baghdad; the Chairman of the Board of
the Association for International Practical
Training; and has co-authored a book ti-
tled Talking to Strangers: The Struggle to
Rebuild Iraq’s Foreign Ministry. Ambas-
sador Dunford’s curriculum vitae is over-
flowing with experience related to the
Middle East and Northern Africa, and
gives testament to many years of accumu-
lated knowledge with respect to that area
of the world.
Gannon University
Ambassador Dunford’s time here at Gan-
non University was facilitated by Dr.
Bomberger of the Honors Program, some-
one many of our readers are certain to
9
know. Although Dr. Bomberger was in
charge of the Ambassador’s stay here, his
visit was at the behest of the university’s
Academic Affairs Department. The Coun-
cil of Independent Colleges (ICA) has a
Fellowship program that
focuses on bringing pro-
fessionals to universities
in order to expose the stu-
dents and faculty to
knowledge that was
gained in the field through
experience. The idea be-
hind it, as Dr. Bomberger related to me, is
that there is a kind of knowledge that can
be gained from academics and book learn-
ing, but the knowledge gained in the field
is much different. Gannon University spe-
cifically focuses on globalizing the aca-
demics here at the university level and, as
a result, focus on bringing in professionals
in fields that operate on a global scope.
Ambassador Dunford was recommended
by the ICA as someone who is well liked
by his audiences and who is incredibly
knowledgeable about the Middle East.
While he was here, Ambassador
Dunford had an incredibly packed sched-
ule during which he did everything from
meet with ROTC students to talk about
the culture of the Middle East area, to giv-
ing an address at Northwest Pennsylvania
Collegiate Academy, a local high school
located on State Street in Erie. Dr. Bom-
berger stated that the Ambassador’s visit
was a great success, and that he had many
wonderful things to share with everyone
here. A particular quote of Ambassador
Dunford’s that Dr. Bomberger was fond of
was, “People want to play checkers in a
world that is multi-dimensional chess.”
Dr. Bomberger explained to me that this is
meant to relate that people are much too
focused on the easy answer, plan A, while
in reality the world is messy and having a
plan B and a plan C are always a good
idea. Overall, Ambassador Dunford’s vis-
it here to Gannon was an enlightening
one, and students are urged to be on the
lookout for the ICA’s next guest.
Ambassador David Dunford
10
Many colleges across the country
have a Residence Hall Association, or
RHA, that unites students who live on
campus. In the fall of 2014, Yih Tsao and
a couple Residence Assistants (RAs) had
the idea of bringing this organization and
the affiliated student unity to Gannon, and
the first step was to hold elections for
RHA offices. Sophomore Julia Ferringer
applied in the spring of 2014 for the posi-
tion of RHA President, and has served as
president since her election. I had the
pleasure of meeting with and talking to
Julia about the idea of the Residence Hall
Association, its mission, and its plans for
the future.
The mission of Gannon’s RHA is to
unify the students by providing social
events, service events, and friendly com-
petition amongst the housing units. An im-
portant, new idea that is currently being
organized and implemented by the RHA is
a House Cup. Our readers may recall the
Hogwarts House Cup in the Harry Potter
universe, and it is certainly not a coinci-
dence that they share the same name. The
RHA House Cup is based on the Triwizard
Tournament that Harry Potter took part in
during his fourth year at Hogwarts. At
Gannon, students gain points for their
housing unit by participating in RHA-
organized events and by winning RHA-
organized athletic competitions. Each
housing unit has a different House Color
to represent them, the specific colors are
listed at the bottom of this article. Alt-
hough the House Cup is still in its infancy,
the RHA’s goal is to have the competition
be fully embraced by students living on
campus in the near future.
To date, the RHA has hosted a New
Student Mixer outside of North Hall, a
kickball tournament, and a Frosted Formal
Dance: all of which have been well re-
ceived, especially by Freshman students.
As the RHA continues to grow, it hopes to
continue expanding its vision of enhanc-
ing the campus living experience.
How to Get Involved:
Pool Tournament
The RHA is hosting a pool tourna-
ment on April 9th and 10th at 1 P.M. each
day. The first will be a one-on-one compe-
tition to determine the finalists from each
A New Organization
Uniting Students on
Campus By Kyle Volkman
11
residence hall. The second day will be a
one-on-one competition to determine the
victor out of the pool of finalists from the
day before.
Apply for a Leadership Position
The RHA applications for executive
board positions (excluding President and
Vice President) are still open, but the
deadline is April 1st! Anyone who misses
the deadline but is still interested in RHA
can contact Yih Tsao at
[email protected]. The application can
be found on Residence Life's EngageU
page.
Residence Hall Colors
Finegan: Forest Green
Wehrle: Black & Red
North: Fire Orange
Harborview: Black & Yellow
Lubiak & Freeman: Purple
Small Apartments: Royal Blue
Excalibur Team
Nicole Simonetti ____________________________________Committee Chair
Kyle Volkman _______________________________Retiring Committee Chair
Molly Cooke _____________________________________________Publisher
Sarah Magyan ____________________________________________Publisher
Corey Griffith _______________________________________________Editor
Kevin Kauffman _____________________________________________Editor
12
References
Sword from page one retrieved from
http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/z7c/axj/z7caxjpTA.jpeg
Swords from page two retrieved from
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081128161234/witcher/images/0/08/Crossed_swords.png
Ambassador Dunford photograph on page retrieved from
https://sgpp.arizona.edu/sites/sgpp.arizona.edu/files/user_photo/picture-159-1385060647.jpg
Map of the Middle East on page retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ambassador+Dunford&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-
Ad-
dress&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje8M3fju7LAhWBOiYKHUiHAX0Q_AUICC
gC&biw=1600&bih=805#tbm=isch&q=Map+of+the+middle+east&imgrc=65wFMhSTrlNVbM%3A
Evita Poster from page retrieved from
http://smplayers.homestead.com/evita.logo.B_W.jpg