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As a follow up to my first post about my research trip to the Alabama Department of Archives, I thought it might be interesting to share some cultural observations I experienced during my time in Alabama.

Coming from a northeastern lifestyle, the first aspect in cultural differences was how relaxed and laid back life is down there.  I began my trek towards the Capitol complex a little before 9:00 a.m.  Trudging up an elongated hill on which the main street runs, I (no lie) did not see one other person walking or driving along the hill. 

It was like a ghost town!

Having worked in downtown Philadelphia where life starts sometime before 7:00 a.m., it was almost peaceful, the sense of calm the city of Montgomery has in the morning.

Also, if I only came away from this trip with one piece of information, it's that I LOVE bread pudding.  Who knew?  This, along with the very meaty and fried menus of most of the eating establishments, all lent to a very down-home, comfortable lunch and dinner time atmosphere.

Finally, the people epitomize the saying "Southern Hospitality."  From a stranger's simple "hello," to the plentiful advice any person you talk to will lend, people there are not strangers, but fellow people helping one another through life. 

I wanted to share this cultural information to give a glimpse into a society that is so much different than any I had experienced.  If there are any non-Southern kids reading this and tossing around the idea of a trip south, from one northeasterner to another, do it!  You won't regret it.

Overall, my second day of research began much like my first.  I requested the boxes that I had planned and attacked the information chronologically.  All in all, I came away from the trip with close to 100 documents.

I'm not sure if I will use all, half, or even a quarter of them, but what I do use will undoubtedly be pivotal in the writing of my thesis.
   
Coming away from this experience, I send you all a few pieces of research advice:

Go with a plan.
There is going to be more information than you'll know what to do with.  Know what you're looking for, and focus on it.

Don't be worried by what you're missing; focus on what you have.
Again, there is going to be more information than you'll know what to do with.  You can't worry about what's in the next box.  Make the most of what you have.

Take pictures.
Now, it's really up to your own personal preference, but I found it especially beneficial to take digital pictures of the documents I wanted to keep.  This is for a number of reasons: 

1. It is fast! You can quickly move through documents, and you don't have to stop to make photocopies.
2. From my experience, the archivists prefer it, as they don't have to be bothered in assisting you with questions surrounding duplicating (i.e. if it can be photocopied, how to do it, etc.)
3. It's free!

Be flexible!
I don't think I can say this enough:  there is going to be more information than you'll know what to do with.  I know I said to go with a plan and focus on what you plan on looking at, but also at the same time, be flexible.  If you have a feeling about a certain box, or find a piece of information that may lead you off the path you planned, go with it!  I probably wouldn't have found the legal filings that are most likely the best pieces of information I discovered without being flexible.
 
It is easy to get overwhelmed, and if you're ever in this situation, you most likely will be.  I hope my experience and tips can help you in research experiences of your own to overcome that feeling!

Writing this blog and recording my experiences have not only given me a chance to spread my advice to you all, but also have given me a chance to reflect on my own time in Alabama.  I hope you all had as much fun reading as I've had writing!

Since I finished my internship with VOICES of September 11th and moved back to campus, I reflect often on my time spent there and what I learned this past summer. Working with an organization that caters to a victim population is difficult because talking about certain aspects of that population can be touchy. I learned about, wrote about, and spoke about death on a daily basis. Because this topic was touched on so frequently within the organization, typical conversations focused on very personal details concerning a family member or loved one's last moments. It taught me that though tragedy may occur at any moment, life does move on and the world does not stop because of one individual's personal struggles. In doing research about the intimate details of September 11th, I encountered stories about phone calls from the airplanes seconds before they struck the towers, finding remains or personal tokens among the Ground Zero rubble, and survivors who had to leave their friends and colleagues behind as they escaped the collapse. These details sometimes made me pause in my work and take a deep breath because it was such heavy material. Though I have ultimately decided not to pursue a path in social work or psychology, I learned a lot about trauma and what happens to individuals who experience it.

My time with VOICES, though only three months, will not be soon forgotten. I learned how to work in a small, nonprofit setting as opposed to a corporate office, and I decided I liked that atmosphere a lot. I enjoyed tasks that I could take my own direction with, while also incorporating guidance and insight from a supervisor and peer research assistant. It was just enough independence. Also, after working with VOICES, I feel more up to date on our nation's history. I was only ten years old when September 11th occurred, so I never got the chance to learn intimate details about what actually happened that day. I also did not know much information about other events we studied - such as the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 or the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois shootings - and thus learned a great deal about surrounding issues involved. The research project I worked on felt a lot like school, which was a comfortable and familiar setting for me, and in working with such a great staff, the entire experience was well-rounded and very educational.

Though I do not foresee myself working with an organization that caters to victims of trauma, I now regard September 11th and its many, extensive consequences in a new light. That day will forever hold a different meaning for me than in the past, as I now feel that I understand just a small but important portion of what happened to affected family members and friends of those in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, or the planes. I hope that with my experience, I can continue to feel grateful for the life I have lived - as it has been fortunate - and that I can continue to recognize that others may experience seemingly impossible obstacles due to a tragedy and that we must reach out and help those people as fellow citizens and neighbors.

Hello!  My name is Drew McGehrin.  I am currently a senior in the Schreyer Honors College double majoring in Religious Studies and History with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies.  This summer, I received summer enrichment funding from the College of the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network to conduct research towards my senior honors thesis.  In this blog post (and the next one), I will chronicle the few days I spent doing the research.

But first, a few surrounding details.

The topic of my thesis may help in describing this whole experience!  I am writing on the 1985 Supreme Court decision, Wallace v. Jaffree, and the religious, racial, and political impact it made on its time and on the future.   One of the major figures in the decision, and a key player in my paper, is Governor George Wallace of Alabama--the Wallace of Wallace v. Jaffree.  The Governor's papers are housed in the Alabama Department of Archives in Montgomery, where I spent my time conducting the research.

The first day of my research was a huge success.  I can confidently say that "Southern Hospitality" is much more than just a cliché.  The people there were extremely helpful and engaging and really made the first day memorable.

Well that, and the hot, sticky, Alabama weather.
 
After registering with the Alabama Department of Archives, I requested the specific boxes that I decided to work on that day, those that I previously chose to view before my trip down.
 
Before I go into the detail of my research, I do want to pass along the most important piece of information my thesis advisor gave to me before I left: Go into the archive with a plan.  Know what you are looking for, and use this as a foundation for your plan of attack.  Keeping this in the back of my head as I began my research kept me grounded, especially as I opened my first box.

The first box released a musty, stagnant smell, leading me to believe I was the first to view these in a very long time.  At first glance, I was extremely overwhelmed.  Papers upon folders upon newspaper clippings were all strewn about with no sense of order.
 
It seemed as though I was in for a very long day.  Very quickly, however, I began to separate what I needed from any extraneous documents.  If you take on a project like this, you will probably know what I mean by getting into a groove with the research.  After this first box, I began to fall into my groove and really began a focused route of attack through my documents.

Towards the end of the day, I had my first breakthrough.  Almost by chance, I stumbled upon information telling me that the original and copied legal filings for Wallace v. Jaffree, and the cases that led up to the ruling, all were housed in the archive.
 
This box was a gold mine in itself.
 
My strictly planned out research on George Wallace's stances on segregation led me to this almost unrelated box of pivotal information.  This instance really shows that no matter how much you plan, you may still get the best information by simply stumbling through almost unrelated documents.
 
So be flexible!

Be sure to check back for my next post that will have some final thoughts (and some cultural notes) on my summer research experience!

I first set foot on South African soil on January 30^th, 2012. I'd slept a surprising amount on the flight from New York, and arrived feeling rested but mostly high on the excitement of being there. Africa! In the weeks leading up to the trip, I continuously felt like some unforeseen force would come bursting into my life and prevent me from going, but no such thing happened. I am not one to be overly cautious or expect the worst, but I felt like I was simply too lucky for it to be possible. I was selected as an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) student by Dr. Erica Smithwick, a professor in the Geography Department to work with her research team in three coastal nature reserves in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. Although I certainly didn't have much experience with any of the above (my majors are International Politics and Spanish), I was interested in all things environmental and had some knowledge thanks to my father, a biologist and horticulturist. The description I was given said that the trip would present "significant cultural and physical challenges" and I didn't know what that meant, but it smelled like adventure and that's what I was after.

I got exactly what I wanted. I had a number of close encounters with venomous snakes, bats, impossibly large bugs, etc. I cannot imagine a better opportunity for someone with a passion for traveling and environmental science, as you can see from my previous blogs from Barcelona, Spain, where I studied language and culture, and Los Angeles, CA, where I interned with the Reef Check Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to marine and reef conservation).  Sound awesome? It was.

The two subjects we were investigating were: 

• At what scale(s) dues nutrient availability limit vegetation production in post-fire ecosystems?
• How much carbon is stored in coastal, subtropical African forests? 

The fact that we were working on two different projects afforded me the opportunity to experience very diverse environments. The grasslands and forests are found in close proximity to one another in the Dwesa, Cwebe and Mkambati reserves, but present incredibly diverse landscapes. Perhaps the landscape I enjoyed the most, however, was that of the ocean. Feel free to check out my video post to hear more about the research and get a view of the Indian Ocean in Mkambati, or follow me on Twitter @ariannasimpson!

I recently posted an entry referring to my experience in Dr. Sam Hunter's Leadership and Innovation Lab. This lab is categorized under a larger field known as Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I/O psychology is the study of human behavior in the workplace. In addition to an experiment relating to leader errors, I also participated in a research project in which all of the lab members worked to code books for leader errors. We searched through over one hundred biographies on political leaders for errors. Some of the leaders included Theodore Roosevelt, Lenin, and Mussolini. While it is no surprise to most people that political leaders make mistakes, it was interesting to discover how leaders make an error and ultimately react to that error. Viewing leader errors through two different channels has shown me the value of studying this occurrence.

In addition to the projects that we work on in the lab, the graduate students have also been especially encouraging in preparing us for graduate school and teaching us about the world of research. The graduate students read and revise personal statements and CVs of lab members several times each semester. For me personally, I was unsure of how to write a personal statement before entering the lab but with the help of a few graduate students, I now have a more professional personal statement. Furthermore, graduate lab coordinator, Lily Cushenbery, hosts a graduate school night every year for all psychology undergraduates to help prepare for the transition to graduate school. A PowerPoint of the presentation can be downloaded here. Also, two of the graduate students have been assisting me in starting my honors thesis project on identifying ways to make teams more creative.

Although I have only been in the lab for one semester, I feel that I have learned an extraordinary amount about I/O psychology and the importance of the field in a short period of time. My experience in the lab has fostered my interest even more and I look forward to working on more projects and an exciting future in I/O psychology beyond the lab. Although leadership and innovation still excite me as a much as the next person, I doubt that I will ever be able to view them in the same manner again. While all of us can enjoy the luxuries of a great leader or a groundbreaking innovation, there is much more to be discovered than meets the eye. Working in the Leadership and Innovation Lab has given me a fresh perspective on two prevalent concepts and has shown me the value of digging a little deeper for knowledge.

Psychology has been of great interest to me for about five years. While psychology is an interesting subject, it is also very broad and one can specialize in a number of different subfields. I discovered Industrial/Organizational Psychology in an introductory course in spring semester of my sophomore year. Loosely defined, Industrial/Organizational Psychology is the study of human behavior in the workplace. While I am interested in most aspects of psychology, I/O psychology particularly appealed to me due to its importance and practicality. This enthusiasm for the field ultimately brought me to working in Dr. Sam Hunter's Leadership and Innovation Lab.

Leadership and innovation are words that we seem to encounter on a daily basis through a variety of means. They are, in a sense, catchwords in the collective conscience that play on people's creative senses. This is best evidenced by company slogans such as Toshiba's, "Leading Innovation," or simply, 3M's, "Innovation." Using these catchwords can get people excited about a company or a certain product. Leadership is also at the forefront of our minds at all times. It would be equally surprising to see one of those clichéd motivational posters featuring the word "LEADERSHIP" accompanied by an inspiring photo and encouraging quote in an elementary school as in a CEO's corner office. While the common image of innovation may be a product that will revolutionize the world and leadership may be portrayed as a great president leading a nation to supremacy, it is also important to look at these ideas within the daily operations of organizations. How does a leader react to an error he or she has made? Can conflict be beneficial for a team pursuing a creative outcome? Are there certain types of people that are more vulnerable to a destructive leader? These are some of the research questions that we tackle in Dr. Hunter's Leadership and Innovation Lab.

One of the projects I worked on last semester was an honors thesis project supervised by Andrea Hetrick. The project pertained to leaders reacting to their own errors. In this project, each participant was told that he or she is the manager of a local department store and has made an error that his or her followers are upset about. The "manager" then discussed the error with a subordinate (played by a confederate) in his or her "office". As a psychology major and participant in a handful of studies, I can say that this experiment is as real and as interactive as they come. For nearly all of the studies, the "manager" took the role seriously and gave a genuine answer that one would expect if the situation were to actually take place. I enjoyed seeing the different strategies that students used to react to the errors.

Working in an I/O psychology lab has given me a better perspective of what I/O psychologists do and why it is important. It has provided me with an opportunity to conduct and learn more about research. While one can learn about a subject from a lecture or a textbook, it is more inspiring to actually participate in the research itself. Next week, I will post an entry pertaining to another lab project and more about the lab in general.

Episode 35 of Liberal Arts Voices is dedicated to undergraduate research opportunities and pre-law enrichment experiences. Multicultural Equity Programs Director Earl Merritt and undergraduate liberal arts students Carshena Culmer and Jason Bundy join this podcast to talk about a variety of enrichment programs.

Earl Merritt begins the program by discussing the ways in which he encourages students to take advantage of the variety of research and enrichment programs on and off campus.  He tells students to start their first year at Penn State with a plan.  For Earl, it is never too early to begin to think about how participating in an undergraduate research project or pre-law program can better prepare you for your future career. 

Psychology and Communication, Arts & Sciences double major Carshena Culmer talks about her participation in a pre-law program at Northern Illinois University through the Council on Legal Education Opportunities (CLEO).  At the pre-law program, Carshena received LSAT preparation, training from current law school students, and had the opportunity to network with faculty and professionals in the field.  Carshena discusses how participating in this program gave her confidence in her ability to succeed and inspired her to continue to pursue her goal of attending law school.  Carshena also explains how her PSYCH and CAS majors set her apart and gave her an advantage in the program.

Lastly, Jason Bundy reflects on his participation in the 2011 CIC Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), which enabled him to perform his own research project under the supervision of faculty member Dr. David Puts. Jason explains how his interest in the patterns of human relationship formation eventually led him to study evolutionary biology and anthropology.  His summer research project focuses on how monotonicity of male voices impacts the listener in categories like attractiveness and physical dominance.  This research project gave Jason the opportunity to create a hypothesis, design a study, apply for IRB approval, run participants, and write an extensive research paper.  Jason talks about how his participation in this research experience will better prepare him for graduate school.

"Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 35 "Undergraduate Research and Pre-Law Opportunities"

To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.

This week, I had the good fortune of revisiting my exploration of utopia from this summer by attending a speech presented by the library to kick off the gallery exhibition of the Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection in the Special Collections Library. The exhibition was created in honor of the Society for Utopian Studies' annual conference recently held here at Penn State.  Dr. Nathaniel Coleman, of Newcastle University, UK, gave a presentation entitled "Representing Utopia: Images of Ideal Places?" which he presented at the conference earlier in the week.  Dr. Coleman is a senior lecturer in architecture at Newcastle University and has attended the University of Pennsylvania, the City College of New York, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had architecture practices in both New York City and Rome, Italy.  I tend to think of the study of "utopia" as a literary pursuit, so I was interested to find out that the speaker was an architect.  If you recall from my previous post, however, a category focusing on architecture was planned on being included in the exhibit (and it is! Go check it out!). Though I was initially drawn to this section of the collection by the beautiful pictures, it turns out that architecture is, in fact, quite an important part of utopia, starting with the very first Utopia by Thomas More, who designed his own island to house the society he described.

Unsurprisingly to me, after my previous brief foray into utopian studies, Dr. Coleman started his talk with a discussion of the definition of "utopia."  It might seem silly to you that a debate about the very definition of "utopia" is still occurring. This debate can really be traced back to the etymology of the word itself.  In his writings, More left the term purposely vague to describe his own version of utopia. Defining the term sets the foundation for the study of the works it inspires.  Dr. Coleman specifically was trying to find a way to define "utopia" in an architectural sense, and he spent some time explaining the differences between ideal, visionary, and utopian.  To the best of my understanding, his idea of utopia must include some kind of social component--utopias must find a way to move society forward.  A design can be "ideal" or "visionary," but to be "utopian" there must be an additional social component.

Dr. Coleman developed his theory on architectural utopia by discussing French architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux's work.  In all honesty, I had never heard of Ledoux before, but it became readily apparent why his works are still considered "utopian."  In his talk, Dr. Coleman debated if and how Ledoux's ideas, particularly his famous Saltworks design, qualify as utopian.  The Saltworks was a town centered on the salt industry that was very similar to Ledoux's theoretical town of Chaux.  Both towns share a focus on industry and a set up that is reminiscent of the Panopticon (a jail consisting of a circle of cells surrounding an observation area, so the prisoners always feel watched even when no one is at the post).  Dr. Coleman explored the utopian and dystopian connotations that accompany the authoritative aspects of Chaux and the Saltworks.  

Dr. Coleman's talk was illuminating and it really opened my eyes to the multidisciplinary approach that one can take to the concept of utopia.  Architecture can be a distinctly utopian practice, especially in city planning, though it still remains tricky to define and identify.  I encourage you all to get out to the Special Collections Library Exhibition Hall, 104 Paterno Library and check out the "This Way to Utopia" exhibition going on now!

While in Mexico I worked on my first professional lab analysis project. I worked with two professors, both respected archaeologists with decades of experience and volumes of published research. Working with both professors was a great experience. Dr. Anne Cyphers is a faculty member at the Mexican National University and the other professor, Dr. Ken Hirth is a Penn State faculty member. I would like to thank both of them for the opportunity to work with them. The experience was very rewarding.

When I left for Mexico I knew exactly what I would be doing in the lab. I knew what the research entailed and what the objectives were. What surprised me was how much I enjoyed living in Mexico. While in Mexico I lived in a dorm at the lab I worked in. Despite the language and cultural barriers I made fast friends with the other analysts who were part of the project. Valentina, Juan, and Estaban became not only great friends, but they also humbled me with their hospitality. Becoming accustomed to the culture was a challenge but I had a great time during the process and was lucky to have such patient teachers.

As any traveler can tell you, or an anthropologist for that matter, stepping into an unfamiliar culture is both exciting and frustrating. While I was in Mexico I would frequently tell my hosts "todos es nuevo". Everything is new. The customs, lifestyle, language all of it was a brand new experience. Living in a different country really shows the truth in the cliché saying: "there is a new life down every road." I would recommend all liberal arts majors to think about studying abroad if they have the chance, not only for the new experience, but also to gain a different perspective on their life and culture.

Beyond being in a completely different culture I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with a Mexican family. Working and living with other analysts provided an experience that cannot easily be duplicated. As an anthropology student, this living arrangement was perfect. I was totally immersed in a different culture, living the life of a local. In general, I was lucky as a traveler to find such wonderful people to help me.

My name is Sam Shortle. As a senior this past year I opted for a full course load and lots of research projects. One of these research projects turned into a travel research grant from the University President's Office. As an archaeology and anthropology student specializing in Mesoamerica, the travel grant allowed me to go to Mexico to perform research. My research objectives were to use computer imaging methodologies to generate three dimensional models of artifacts and to use the models to analyze artifact dimensions. The resulting data can be used to answer questions about craft production and trade in central Mexico around 2,000 years ago.

Aside from the research objectives, I also went to Mexico with the goals of improving my Spanish, meeting Mexican archaeologist, and doing some informal ethnography. Learning Spanish and meeting Mexican archaeologists are crucial steps in my academic career as I plan on working in Mexico in the future. It is also important to find interesting projects to work on. Making contacts with established investigators is the best way to find projects and people to work with. Thus this trip was far more than a research travel grant but also a chance to build professional skills and relationships.

I am primarily interested in studying trade and the economy in Mesoamerica. Looking at the production, distribution, and use of different artifacts provides data that can be used to study what sorts of economic systems and relationships existed in the past. This type of research is very exciting and can provide great insight about the human experience. Working on projects that develop my skills as an analyst is a great experience and an essential step toward a professional career.

I would like to thank the President's Office and the College of the Liberal Arts for this opportunity. I would also encourage all liberal arts students to get into the field and get experience before graduation. All it takes is a little extra effort.

While browsing some of the collections housed at the Penn State library, I found myself pulled to the Allison-Shelley Collection of German Literature in English Translation. Though this may sound like a random choice, I was interested in German translations because I'm working with two as primary texts for my honors thesis: Goethe's Faust and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. Because of this personal connection, I wanted to take a look at some of the other works in translation that we have on hand, and the collection did not disappoint. I found out that the collection houses some of Goethe's work, as well as a very large children's collection.

Exploring this collection at length was really quite fun, as I adore children's books to begin with and these were particularly awesome children's books. There were also some cool adult books, particularly Goethe, so let's start with that. First of all, can you say original German publication of Goethe's Faust? It was truly amazing to see one of the small, square copies of Faust as it was originally published. Next to this tiny copy is Sylvia Plath's own copy of the English translation of Faust. Yes, that Sylvia Plath. Her own hand-written annotations are inside it. Next to this copy owned by a famous person lies a copy that is owned by a non-famous person: me. This is your standard, modern-day Norton Edition of the English-translated Faust that can be purchased by college students across the nation at this very moment. I thought it fun to show the progressions of subsequent publications of Goethe's work. It was also fun to let my own copy share the table with such greatness in the literary tradition. Take a look at the slideshow at the bottom of this post to see photos of each text.

On to the children's books! One thing to be said here is that there is no end to the creativity when it comes to German-translated children's stories. Let's start with a well-known classic: Hansel and Gretel. The illustrations in this book are beautiful and well done, but perhaps the best aspect of this edition are the pristine dolls that accompany the text and match the illustrations of Hansel and Gretel exactly. The dolls and illustrations make this copy of Hansel and Gretel unique and beautiful.

No discussion of German-translated children's literature is complete without mentioning the Brothers Grimm. They essentially created the fairy tale genre with their written collection of German children's stories. It is safe to say that the translation of these into English shaped children's literature for us as well. A copy from the first English printing is in our collection, published in two editions: the first in London in 1823 under the title German Popular Stories and the second in 1909. This second publication was a limited edition with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. This copy is significant not only because it is a limited publication, but because the library actually has one of the original, hand-drawn chapter illustrations. The figure is a cute little imp-like creature.

The English-translated German pop-up books were perhaps the coolest things I have seen recently in the library. This might sound strange to you, but trust me, if you see them, you would understand. Pop-up books dating from the late 1800's to early 1900's are totally awesome and you must see them for yourself. There was one pop-up book from 1932 of German fairy tales (I've chosen a picture from "Jack the Giant-Killer" to show the pop-up style). The best pop-up book, however, is from 1891 and called Look Alive! It's filled with short stories that are accented by moving illustrations. My personal favorite was the one of Santa, who is actually, along with the Christmas tree, a German import. The illustration of Santa coming through the door to surprise the children is simply adorable.

Comic books are another amazing German import accessible at the library. Early comics came to us via the German tales of Max and Moritz: two obnoxious children in constant trouble. Their stories, coupled with many pictures of their exploits, basically started the comic tradition. The author of Max and Moritz, Wilhelm Busch, wrote another comic-book-like tale called The Mischief Book, which we also have in our collection. Pictures and rhymes are paired together in what is clearly a comic book style. All these exciting German imports make me glad that I decided to explore the Allison-Shelley collection and even happier that I picked translated German books for my thesis. I hope you all have a chance to explore this collection at some point!

I grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania and am a mother of three living with my spouse in Unionville, Pa. I am a junior at Penn State, working towards my BA in Women's Studies and Art double major with a concentration in painting and a minor in Latina/o Studies. My artwork celebrates my Puerto Rican and Cuban ancestry from a feminist perspective and combines my academic interests as well.

I enjoy fusing together the historical and contemporary academic research from a feminist pedagogical standpoint, processed and reflected through my artwork. My art  centers on my personal experiences as a feminist Latina in a way that articulates a larger vision of cultural consciousness and intersectionality, where issues of class, race, and gender inform and challenge our understanding of power and solidarity.

My process is layered with writing, research, and actively working thru and into my paintings with body, cultural context and intellectual backbone. I mostly work with acrylic and oil paints as well as mixed-media in abstraction. In each of my paintings, I try to formulate a language that is expressive of a raw emotional state of a given moment. This creative process has allowed me to find my voice and discover new aspects of myself, both personally and academically. I try to complicate understandings of the self - how our identities are lost and regained, created and re-invented, contested and negotiated in making sense of the new, the old, and our historic and contemporary realities. I envision art as a language that creates space for conversation about shifting migrations of racial and gender identities. I have been quite fortunate to find such an enriching dialogue between my Women's Studies and Art majors.

In June of 2011 I was afforded the opportunity to participate in an embedded education abroad program to La Habana, Cuba. This trip was the culmination of a course cross-listed in the Women's Studies, Anthropology, and African and African American Studies departments, titled "Latin America & Caribbean Cultures: Race & Gender in the Americas." This academically intense environment offered an opportunity to see a new perspective, different from what I have learned in the classroom and in my personal life.

Learning how to be an ethical being and true to your raw soul is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks in life.  Growing into ourselves, learning who we are, and admitting to our shortcomings takes courage.  In fact, it may take a lifetime to figure ourselves out.  Can we be alone with ourselves at the end of the day and enjoy the company we keep even in the barest of moments?  Are we honestly good people?

After reading Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy through an ethical lens with Dr. Sherry Roush in her Italian course, I began to ask myself these moral questions.  One cannot help but evaluate themselves while reading The Divine Comedy. 

The reader follows all of Dante's ethical dilemmas and learns moral lessons as Dante takes the pilgrimage through the underworld and beyond.  Along the way, Dante the pilgrim learns of the roots of sin, righteous zeal, and the suffrage involved in the purging of sin to reach one's ultimate happiness/goal, among many other things. 

Dante's arduous odyssey indirectly demands the reader to re-evaluate their own conscience and face their fears that are often horribly uncomfortable.  However, it is out of this discomfort that we have the most potential for growth.  The pilgrim is subjected to horrid discomfort in order to differentiate good from evil.  Sometimes we must see the ugly in order to learn how to be good. 

Perhaps one of the lines from the Comedy that spoke to me most was from Canto XXII when the soul of St. Benedict says to Dante, "The flesh of mortals is so weak: on earth a good beginning does not last as long as the oak's springing to the acorn's birth " (ln. 85-87, pg. 230, Musa). 

We as mortals are indeed weak, but we can work to be good, because we have the free will to make that choice.  We only hope that we can have the courage to choose good, and seek the path of righteousness in our own life and take up our challenges just as Dante is called to do in the comedy.        

The aforementioned message, among many other moral messages, jumped out at me upon completing The Divine Comedy.  I felt so inspired.  I knew I had to share this with others, and make this brilliant text, with its valuable lessons, more accessible to non-literature and Italian students.  Hence, the birth of my Capstone project for the Italian department.

For my Capstone project I have decided to share Dante's epic tale the best way I know how to share something special to me, and that is through the medium of dance.  Specifically, I am currently organizing a dance production inspired by Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. 

In addition to studying Italian at PSU, I am also a dance major through integrative arts.  At the end of the last spring semester I held auditions for my Capstone project.  I currently have twelve dancers who are now educated on the comedy thanks to Dr. Roush, who came in and guest lectured to my cast on the comedy.   

I am truly grateful for Dr. Roush and the College of the Liberal Arts.  Thanks to the generosity of the Italian department and the College of the Liberal Arts, I have been able to buy equipment this past summer and build set pieces for my Capstone production.













I am very, very excited to have the opportunity to combine my passions at Penn State and I hope you can make it out to the show, which is entitled, Lost in the World, the Journey of Bea!    The show will take place this December, 2011, and the proceeds of the show will benefit Penn State Project Haiti.  Look for posts to come with more details on show times and venue!  

Because of a life-long interest in fantasy and sci-fi literature, the Special Collections Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection sounded interesting to me immediately, so I decided to find out as much as I could about it.  Little did I know that I would stumble upon a veritable gold mine of information about utopia studies, founded by Arthur Lewis.  Not only do we have one of the premier utopia collections in our library, but we are also hosting a conference for the Society for Utopian Studies in October. Talking with Sandy Stelts, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, I was quickly engrossed by our discussion of "utopian" books and the debate over the definition of a utopia.  When looking at some of the books in our extensive collection, I found many familiar authors such as Lois Lowry, Ayn Rand, Ursula K. LeGuin, Margaret Atwood, and Terry Goodkind.

So first things first: what is utopian literature?  Well, to the best of my understanding, the term "utopia" comes from Thomas More's novel Utopia, a description of a fictional society published in Latin in 1516.  The term "utopia" comes from a play on Latin roots, as "topia" translates to "place," but the "u" sound can come from either "ou" which means "no" (translation: nowhere) or "eu" which means "good" (translation: a good place).  This means that a utopia is generally seen as both a good place and one that is entirely fictional, and therefore unobtainable.  I have seen the differentiation between "utopias," as a general term for fictional societies and "eutopias" as the counterpart to "dystopias," which are negative futuristic views of society.  The literature overlaps a lot with the science fiction genre, especially in more recent works.  

So now that we've defined the genre enough for our purposes, it's time to talk a bit about the Arthur O. Lewis collections at Penn State.  I decided to focus my attention on the literature being pulled for the exhibition this October.  The literature will be organized into the following seven categories: architecture, gender and gender relations, travel and imaginary voyage, 18th century, communities, Arthur O. Lewis, and post-colonial.  I got to see first-hand some material being considered for each category and I will break them down and share some photos in the slideshow below.  

Architecture: The architecture section is important for the exhibition because it provides some very cool pictures of futuristic-looking buildings and designs of sustainable but non-existent societies. The Architecture category gives a visual representation of the ideas of idealistic societies living in authors' heads. It provides a guide to societies that can never be. 

Gender and Gender Relations: There seems to be a lot of gender-related utopias that conceive of possible societies and future worlds based on feminist ideals or worlds without one gender or the other.  The books investigate parts of our society that we take for granted and aspects that are affected by gender constructs. The covers for this section were some of the most interesting, so I made sure to include some in the slideshow below.  

Travel and Imaginary Voyage: This section has the advantage of making up a niche of the utopian genre. Specifically, these texts seem to always find the nowhere and provide awesome descriptions and illustrations of it.  The idea of seeking out or stumbling upon a utopian society makes one wonder what other kinds of societies may be out there.  It is the ultimate "the grass is always greener," if you will, unless of course one comes across a dystopian society.  

18th Century: Due largely to the work of Lyman Tower Sargent, a Utopian Scholar writing a bibliography of utopian works and currently residing in the State College area, our library's utopia collection is kept very up-to-date, and thus many of the texts are modern works.  The 18th century works in our collection show the significant range of the works available in our library.

Communities: This section was one of the strangest and most fascinating. My favorite by far was the Communities Directory, which was basically a phone book for communes and community-centered living (think the Amish if you have no other frame of reference for this).  The idea of communities here is the real-world application of utopian thinking. It's building the Sci-Fi futuristic perfect society and applying it to the world we have today. It's an interesting idea and one that I find fascinating, for it goes beyond the literature. 

Arthur O. Lewis: The Arthur Lewis part of this collection shows off the private collections of the man that started it all. Lewis was a founding figure of Utopian studies and just happened to be an Associate Dean Emeritus of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. His work helped to establish the Society for Utopian Studies. Because he was such an important figure for utopian studies, a section of this exhibition is devoted to him. Some of the books in this section that I saw were owned by Lewis himself. It's cool to see his own preferences within our collection.  

Post-Colonial: The post-colonial literature seems similar to the feminist literature because both envision a world in which particular historical disadvantages could be rendered irrelevant or a world in which fewer differences exist between people. It's interesting to picture a world that does not have the kind of problems that were caused by colonialism in the first place or a utopian world in which injustices could be recovered.  

I hope from this post, you get a sense of how enthralling utopian literature can be. The reasons for writing utopian literature are many and varied and totally interesting. So please enjoy the utopian collection and try to make use of it if you can, because we have so many great works available.

After looking at many different areas in the library, anyone can quickly see that there is a lot of Penn State memorabilia and trivia all over the place.  From the (recently moved!) stuffed lion in the lobby to the pictures and information all about the library and exhibits on past Penn Staters, we can see that there is so much out there to learn about our school.  But how often do we actually go out of our way to learn about the rich history around us?  In this post I want to let you know about our school's history and where learning more about Penn State is possible.

When on my tour of the Special Collections section (blogged about in my last post), I mentioned the cold storage and the collection of both black and white and color photographs.  Many of these photos are of Penn State and the surrounding area, as are much of the maps in the map room.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gone around Rec Hall looking at the photographs of old sports teams and therefore, I can't be the only one who finds older photos to be interesting and enlightening.  That being said, I was intrigued by the photo collections, a growing number of which have been posted online, and I believe that many of you will find them both entertaining and enlightening as well.

When looking at the online database, it seems to reflect the spirit one sees all around Penn State. Specifically, there are lots of pictures featuring PSU athletics, which Michelle mentioned was also the case for the pictures in storage.  This makes sense though, since it's pretty easy to photograph sporting events and teams.  My favorite pictures are those that show the evolution of the Nittany Lion mascot, which are featured prominently in the athletics pictures.  Picture collections, whether online or in person, are a great way to see the documentation of our University's history, and not to mention just fun to page through and see what those before us were doing.  

Another fun resource found on the library's web pages is a catalogue of all the digitized copies of La Vie, the Penn State yearbook (copies of the yearbook are also in the special collections library).  When I accessed the yearbooks online, I went right to the oldest copy (naturally) to see all the differences between the first and more recent yearbooks.  I think my favorite page of the old yearbook was the "Yells" page, which listed the chants for each of the classes from '89 to '92.  The '89 yell goes: 

"Haec! Hoc!

Eighty-Nine!

Every Time!

Roo! Rah!"

I'm not kidding.  Now, the yearbook did not detail whether or not this was a serious chant, but I'm personally quite glad that we have our "We are!" instead of "Roo Rah!" It was also crazy to see the small amount of people in each class.  It's a far cry from the many campuses, medical centers, law schools, and thousands of undergraduates and graduates alike that now populate the Penn State community.  The design, of course, is quite different as well.  No photographs grace the pages, and cute plate designs decorate many of the introductory pages.  Looking at the 2000 yearbook online, the graphics, photographs, and geometric use of text immediately catches the eye, which contrasts strongly with the whimsical designs and some hand-written entries in the 1890 yearbook.  Combined with the lengthier list of fraternities (and the addition of sororities), the amazing list of student programs, and the extended text in general, it is easy to see how our alma mater has progressed.  You can check out the yearbooks online for yourself by visiting the Penn State Libraries' website.

Another way to see the progress of our university is to see the physical expansion of the school through the buildings, architecture and landscaping.  The Penn State Landmarks are highlighted on the library website along with many more historical pieces focusing on Penn State, from its presidents to the history of the Nittany Lion.  The oral histories on the page in particular seem like a unique and amazing resource to be examined.  You can find all of these sources on the Penn State Libraries' website.  

I hope that with this post I have ignited a little interest in Penn State history in all of you.  I think we sometimes take our school and all of its amazing history and resources for granted, and we should be sure to take the time to discover all our school and our library have to offer-- often these resources are at our very fingertips with online access.  So go forth and learn!

As I mentioned briefly in my previous post this summer, and covered more extensively in my posts this past fall, I have previous experience in working with Special Collections libraries. This, combined with the total book nerd part of my personality that led me to major in English in the first place gives me quite a fondness for any place that stores, works with, or has a collection of large amounts of rare books. Conveniently enough for my book loving self, such a place  exists right on the Penn State Campus and is accessible for all undergraduate students. I met one of the archivists in the special collections part of the library, Michelle, and she took me on a guided tour of many of the places in the library that special collections encompasses.

We started in the main room of the Paterno library special collections, which generally has displays open for the public to enjoy. Currently, a Civil War display is up and running, with many facts, photos, and interesting memorabilia from the time period. Pictures of the display will soon be on Flickr as well. After browsing the display, Michelle and I headed up to the third floor of Pattee library, where the Fred Waring's America and the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora are housed.

Fred Waring was a bit of a Renaissance man, who made a name for himself in music, television, and radio as well as being a connoisseur of comics. Many of Waring's music and memorabilia are on display, but the most interesting part of his collection that I saw was behind the scenes. In the Waring back room, there were all kinds of recording equipment, everything from records to disc, wire, tape, kinescopes, videotape to a large soundboard, which is used to convert all of the other types of recordings into things that can be listened to and appreciated in the digital age. I was amazed that such a small back room could be full of so many different types of audio recordings (and the gigantic soundboard, of course). The whole Fred Waring collection is worth seeing, but just knowing that our library hosts that kind of technological power is amazing.

After leaving the Fred Waring collection, Michelle took me to see the Charles Blockson collection. This one we only stopped at briefly, because it has more limited hours and therefore was not open when we went to see it. Once inside, I saw a room full of all kinds of memorabilia, from figurines to books to displays all about Africa and the African Diaspora. Though we only stayed a short while, I'd love to go back during open hours and explore the room at my leisure.

It was only after touring these two collections that we got to the really cool stuff. Not to say that the collections weren't cool, and I would highly recommend checking them out, but this is when Michelle took me behind the scenes. We went to the map room, which intuitively houses maps, and apparently those of Central Pennsylvania get a lot of use around here. We went into a room that housed a lot of the records of Penn State itself - records on buildings and the people who shaped Penn State over the years. And this is where we encountered one of my favorite types of book storage: movable bookshelves. At the push of a button and pull of a lever, these shelves collapse on themselves to create more room for storage. Michelle confessed that she thought they were fun too. Though this is quite a digression from the point of this post, I couldn't help but mention the bookshelves.

We traveled down into cold storage, which, trust me, was quite cold, and full of all kinds of good stuff like color photographs (the black and white ones are kept upstairs because they need to be accessed so often) as well as things like VHS tapes and other forms of media. Many of the pictures are logs of the campus and surrounding areas. Central Pennsylvanian history is apparently a very popular and researched subject.

Outside of cold storage was another storage room for books, in which Michelle specifically showed me the collection of older fantasy and sci fi books.  We looked at these books mainly because their covers were so ridiculous. Between that and Michelle's favorite illustrator/author Edward Gorey, we had quite a good time going through the books in this area. As my dream in life pretty much consists of spending as much time as possible being surrounded by books, this was a little slice of heaven for me.

I absolutely loved my tour of the special collections library here at Penn State. Besides the rooms I saw, there are also three warehouses full of material. All of these things are at our disposal as undergraduate students. Though one who wants to work with the special collections materials in the library probably needs to have a clear idea of what materials they want to work with, it is completely worth it to check out special collections materials the next time you research a topic. Thanks again to Michelle for my tour of all things special collections! Check out the special collections website for more information.

The first time I posted for LAUS@PSU, I wrote about my experiences researching in Special Collections libraries in Philadelphia for a Penn State professor.  This summer, however, I'm staying in State College and I'm looking for resources a little closer to home.  In this respect, the Penn State Libraries deliver.  One of the newest and most innovative features to be rolled out by PSU libraries is LionSearch.  It is a search engine that combines all the other searches in the library-- the CAT and all the journals searches so it is easy to find any material in the libraries on a particular subject. One search, all potential possibilities.

In order to test out this new search engine for hyping and creative purposes alike, I decided to search for a random topic that I find interesting and see where LionSearch takes me. I decided to search "Prometheus" as my keyword. I am currently quite invested in the myth of Prometheus in all its forms, as I am planning to write my senior thesis about adaptations of the Prometheus myth. Unsurprisingly, this keyword search turned up 34,928 results. Both the myth and the name "Prometheus" are quite well known, especially in scholarly circles, so the barrage of results is no shock. Luckily, the LionSearch sidebar provides me with ways to narrow down my search.

Under the "Refine your search" sidebar, I decided to check the "Items in the library catalogue" box and the search was narrowed down to 3,087 results, which is a much more manageable than the nearly 35,000 that bombarded me before. In order to play around a bit more with the search results, I returned to the sidebar.

I started with the "Content Type" selections, which showed me that the materials that showed up for my search of "Prometheus" range from books, the most common (2,875 materials) to kit (whatever that is) which only turned up one item. Interested in this mysterious "kit" I looked for it specifically. Turns out it is a children's book, a collection of illustrated creation myths from all over the world. What earned it the label of "kit" I think is because that the one on the University Park campus is both a book and an audio CD. Also, James Earl Jones is a narrator for the CD, so I think I might need go to listen to this recording.

After going back to my original search of materials in the library catalogue, in order to find out what else may be lurking around the library, I checked out the feature called "Author" and saw that after Aeschylus, the author of "Prometheus Bound," one of the first and longest documentations of the Promethean myth, the next author with the most work incorporated in the search was Ludwig Van Beethoven. Curious, I pursued this next. After including only Beethoven in my search, I found that most of his work held in the library and responsive to the keyword search "Prometheus" is audio recordings of his music for the ballet "The Creatures of Prometheus." Most of these recordings seem to be available in the Arts and Humanities library, but there is at least one online resource. I followed up on this online resource, and I am currently listening to "The Creatures of Prometheus" on my computer as I type this. Oh, and this material is also available as a CD.

With new background music accompanying me, I forayed back to the search page and checked out the languages available for "Prometheus" texts. I didn't follow up on any strange language texts, mostly because I would be unable to understand them even if I did, but plenty of languages were represented. English swept the top prize with 2,993 materials and German came in second with 106 titles (I actually find this fact interesting because I am reading some German works in translation for aforementioned Prometheus thesis, but I digress). The list goes on, with representations of Greek and Latin works and many European languages, until we get to some rather random inclusions, such as Bengali and Church Slavic (?).

I then took a look at the genres represented (did you know that "controversial literature" is a genre?) which quickly showed me that pretty much anything you can imagine is covered here. I was interested that the top genre was biography, as Prometheus is a figure of myth, so I took a look and quickly found my confusing factor-- a publishing company called Prometheus Books. I would like to believe that this speaks to the pervasiveness of Promethean legend in modern culture, and I also note that these could easily be weeded out in a more direct and less ramble-y search than mine.

The last two filters also prove interesting and useful in a search with actual direction: a regional search and a time period search. The time period search alone shows me the way that Prometheus was represented through the ages. All the filters on the site are easy to use and manipulate, and just from this post you can see the interesting directions exploring LionSearch and the Penn State libraries can take you. So use the new technology well, post your feedback, and enjoy your explorations!

During my research I have had the opportunity to work with the diaries Vever kept in 1878 and 1900. This has provided me with a view of both his young adult life, as he was born in 1854, and his life in middle age. Two separate blog entries will provide a look first into his life in his mid-twenties, then into his life in the mid-forties. Vever filled his diaries with details about his personal and social lives, and the beginning of his career. With his brother Paul, he ran the family jewelry business, the Maison Vever, founded by his father when the family moved to Paris from Nancy during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In the 1878 diary, Vever focuses mainly on his preparation for the Paris World's Fair of that year. He also discusses other jewelers and their creations, as well as paintings and objets d'art that he acquires as a young art collector.

For a young, relatively affluent Parisian bourgeois, life couldn't seem to get any better. He visited the Opera almost every night, where he would watch the performances (which he critiqued afterwards in his diary) and often go backstage to visit the performers. As a twenty-four year-old man, he paid most of his attention to the women, with whom he would exchange small portraits--similar to the way we exchange business cards or friend someone on Facebook.

Indeed, the diaries recount in detail Vever's private life, including accounts of the many women he visited along with the one steady "girlfriend," Henriette, to whom he was not yet ready to commit. Although he would never explicitly kiss and tell, it was obvious that he knew how to charm a woman. His social life also included visits to cafés with his male friends and frequent dinners with his friends and family.

It has been fascinating for me to learn how modern Vever's life seemed, or maybe just how much things have stayed the same over time. While technology is different now and we send e-mails and text messages when he was sending letters, Vever's life seemed remarkably similar to my life at twenty years old. His journals made me realize that the past is not a foreign concept that we can never fully understand or relate to, but a previous time that has only just evolved in to the present.

At Lector, our motto is "elevate the conversation." The key concepts that separate Lector from regular student blogs or the course-discussion systems on Angel are focus and exposure. Labeled as a virtual book club, Lector is the first of its kind among American universities: a hub for students to talk about the books they read in class, expanding upon discussions from class or making their own observations. Although it operates on WordPress, Lector has its own URL, which gives it strength in terms of branding. Unaffiliated with any particular class or content, Lector has the markings of a strong brand: abstract and broad, yet official. Unlike other student blogs, which can be randomly titled and scattered from subject to subject, Lector's central home for these comments promotes solidarity and a form of legitimacy: it has all the markings of a professional website, and it seems as though that helps the students take it more seriously. The students who participate in Lector are not assigned topics; they either bring up aspects of the texts that gnaw at them, or respond to others' comments. Although the students are required to post at least once a week, they post with a zeal that has defied our expectations. Each student produces substantive, worthwhile content each and every week.

We can only "elevate the conversation" if we can affect the conversation--and we can only affect the conversation if we can get our arguments into the hands of the people. Lector's other great strength comes from the chance of exposure. In my experience, professors have assigned blog-like tasks to be posted on Penn State's Angel course-management system. Normally, these experiences have not gone so well, due to either problems with the Angel interface or a lack of motivation--what's the point of posting to a website when no one can see your work? Lector makes sure that students have the opportunity to make comments that the world can see and interact with. Moreover, anyone and everyone are encouraged to contribute in some way, by commenting on the students' remarks. This feature is currently open to the public, and therefore must be policed by my fellow administrators and myself, but it allows outside parties to contribute to the classroom conversation. Parents and family members have the opportunity to share in their students' activities; alumnus who miss strong, intellectual conversation can participate; and we're even trying to get some professionals to weigh in on the discussion (Mr. Gladwell, we're looking at you!).

If asked to describe Lector in one word, we would say: promise. Lector has promised to accomplish so many things: to elevate the conversation, to provide students with a platform to have their voices heard, to shatter restrictions on intellectual conversation, and to prove to alumni that age-old adage, "you can always come home again" holds true. Right now, Lector is in its infancy. We only cover one reading list for two small sections, but we chose to begin with readings that cover issues with vast contemporary importance. As of the writing, we have over 5,000 hits, a number that greatly exceeds our expectations. Not all of these hits can be from ours students; it shows that people are taking notice. The eyes of the academic world are focused on Penn State to determine the legitimacy of a virtual book club, and it's up to us to remind the world that books matter. We invite you to check out our website. If you're familiar with the books we're discussing, or the topics they're based upon, feel free to chime in on the students' remarks. Follow us on twitter (@Lectorbookclub) or "like" us on Facebook (search "Lector: A Virtual Book Club"), and watch as the social network and intellectual network combine.

Welcome to the new frontier in reading.

The National Model African Union is an annual conference held at Howard University in Washington D.C. at which students from across the country are invited to participate in a simulation of the real African Union and discussions about current issues facing Africa. The focus of the conference centers on intra-African relations and international affairs. The Model African Union gives students the opportunity to participate, as individuals and in teams, while conducting research on the political issues of a specific African nation. Each university is assigned a different country every year and this year, Penn State University was assigned to represent the interests of Malawi within the African Union.

As the Model AU's Faculty Advisor and Trip Coordinator, Dr. Abrokwaa introduced me to the benefits of participating in the Model AU while I was enrolled in AAA S/HIST 192. After making the decision to attend the conference, I met with Dr. Abrokwaa to decide which committee would be right for me. Every student is assigned to a particular committee meant to maximize their educational experience. As I am an International Politics Major, Dr. Abrokwaa felt that it would be to my advantage to serve on the Technical Committee on Economic Matters. This would provide me with a chance to learn about Malawi's role in the global market and how the latter affects international relations and foreign policy.

Following my committee assignment, I was ready to begin preliminary research about the current economy of Malawi. Guided by the Model AU's Handbook, I learned how to create and format a formal resolution (just like the ones submitted in the actual African Union). Soon, I submitted a final copy to the Executive Council of the Model AU at Howard University.

Finally, February came around and we were ready for the conference. Shortly after we arrived in D.C., we headed to Embassy Row for our briefing at the Malawian Embassy. This briefing was designed to answer any questions or clarifications we had in order to best represent the interests of our assigned country. The briefing was definitely a highlight of the trip. Various members of the embassy were present at our meeting, including specialists in investments, agriculture, water and sanitation, communications, tourism, and gender equality.

The conference officially kicked off that evening at Howard University where we met the other students involved in the conference from across the United States. It was that evening that the council sessions began for the first time and we received copies of all submitted resolutions. The next morning we attended our day-long Executive Council and Ordinary Committee Sessions. Each committee worked on assigning resolutions to agenda topics; establishing the order of consideration for agenda topics; introducing and debating resolutions; adding amendments to resolutions; and finally, working together to pass resolutions. My fellow Malawian delegate in the Economic Committee and I worked alongside delegates from the African countries of Nigeria and Togo to merge our resolutions in order to create a single, more powerful resolution. This condensed resolution was eventually submitted to the secretariat for potential adoption. Sunday concluded the conference with the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. During this time, all submitted resolutions were voted on and adopted as final resolutions and certificates of recognition/participation were given out in the closing ceremony. In addition to my participation in the Model African Union, I also got to see a lot of Washington D.C. when the committees were out of session. It was a lot of fun to wander around D.C. and try some new restaurants.

In all, The Model AU helps students gain knowledge in various fields such as African studies, political science, international politics and relations, economics, social sciences, etc. More importantly, it shows participants that an understanding of African development is an important part in the comprehension of globalization in the 21st century. The Model AU allows participants to develop an understanding of current politics and economics of African countries and gives students a chance to represent the interests of a specific country. By understanding these individual needs, we can take important steps toward globalization.

I feel very fortunate that Dr. Abrokwaa chose me to participate in the National Model African Union conference. It is something that I wouldn't have found out about otherwise, and I feel that I have gained exponentially from the experience. Not only have I gained knowledge and grown as an individual, but the Model African Union has also opened many opportunities for me to further my career goals. I would recommend that anyone interested in any of the areas mentioned above inquire about participation in the Model African Union.

If you are interested in participating in this opportunity there are a few more things you should know. First of all, it did not cost anything to participate in the Model AU this year. The conference was generously funded by various Penn State University organizations, offices and departments. Contributors included the Africana Research Center, the AAA S Department, the Liberal Arts Associate Dean's Office, the Liberal Arts Minority Programs Office, and the Vice Provost for Educational Equity's Office. You might also be wondering if participation in the conference is limited to AAA S majors or minors. That is not the case at all. Students in all majors are encouraged to participate. There are various committees (including committees focusing on government, economics, security, technology, etc.) within the Model AU, which cover areas in a variety of different majors in the College of the Liberal Arts.

For more information, visit the African & African American Studies Department website.  In the meantime, take a look at some photos from the 2011 National Model African Union Conference.

At the conclusion of my Sophomore year, I declared my major in Psychology. After having explored what felt like dozens of majors, I had finally found one that I was excited about. Moreover, I knew that it was time to begin thinking about how I would fulfill my honors college requirement of a senior thesis. In the fall of my Junior year, I met with a number of professors doing research in psychology. After much consideration, I chose to complete my thesis in Professor Keith Nelson's lab. His lab is devoted to research in the cognitive developmental area. Studies done in Prof. Nelson's lab usually investigate language and cognitive developmental interventions for typically developing children as well as those with autism, all of which interested me.

My first semester of research in the lab was spent doing transcribing and coding for a few of the graduate students' projects. This gave me the basic experience necessary to understand how research at a major university works. I also worked with Professor Nelson to conceptualize a research study for my senior thesis. For my research study, I would use a computer program developed to teach young, typically and atypically developing children their native language or one of several second languages. In the program, a student creates a sentence from a list of words, after which an animation of the sentence is displayed. However, instead of using this program on its intended audience, I would use this program to teach simple Swedish words and phrases to English speaking college students. Moreover, I would speed up or slow down the rates of presentation within the program to see how participants learn a new language at varying presentation speeds. Furthermore, working memory scores would be compiled for each participant to see the relationship between working memory, rate of presentation, and second language acquisition.

The conceptualization of a research study is far from the most difficult aspect. Putting my study together took a number of steps. First, I had to get approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB), an organization whose job is to ensure that research is ethical and safe for those involved. Then I had to select and gain access to the proper materials with which to test my variables. Most importantly, I had to apply for funding before I could purchase any materials or have money for compensating subjects. Next, I had to post flyers around campus to recruit participants. Finally, I had to train other lab members in the proper procedures for running subjects. Without guidance from the graduate students working in the lab, I would have been clueless as to how to complete any of these steps.

At last it was time to begin running subjects in my study. I chose to run 24 participants through 8 sessions of the study. While the hours spent running subjects through the study were tedious, it was great to work one-on-one, teaching intrinsically motivated students a new language. This was my favorite part of the entire experience. On several occasions I passed a former participant somewhere around campus only to hear them yell out a "pojken!" or another Swedish word they learned in the study.

While I have just finished collecting data for my senior thesis, the hardest part is about to begin: the writing. Along with the written thesis comes the presentation of my data at the Undergraduate Exhibition in April. To think that a few semesters ago I didn't have a major is shocking. My undergraduate research experience has taken me from being a clueless new Psych student to feeling like a full-fledged research psychologist. While I am not sure where I will end up after graduation, I know for sure that my research experience is going to be invaluable.

Last Spring I took my first French history class with Professor Willa Z. Silverman. I was excited for the course, FR351, but even more excited about the honors option that Professor Silverman and I had come up with. My favorite historical French period is the "Belle Époque," which is understood to have begun in the late 19th century and flourished until World War I. This period of peace and prosperity is often associated with a certain "joie de vivre," a French expression that means to take pleasure in life. Tourists from all over the world started traveling to France to experience new forms of art and architecture, to visit the 1900 world's fair, and to embrace the French way of living at the time.

I had such a craving to know what this time period was like and how tourists from all over the world perceived France during their visits. Professor Silverman told me about a unique collection of diaries in the Special Collections Library here at University Park. These diaries were written by tourists traveling to France during the 19th century; they were exactly what I always hoped I would find!

After spending hours and hours in the Special Collections room I compiled several interesting papers, and even taught my class some of the information I had gathered over the semester; information that related directly to our class. Professor Silverman must have noticed my enthusiasm for this type of work because she approached me once the class was over with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She has been researching a man named Henri Vever, who was an upper-class jeweler from the late 19th century. A significant amount of the information that she has compiled on him came from a collection of his personal diaries. Unfortunately, in this day and age, diaries that are hundreds of years old are not in ideal condition, however invaluable they may be as documents. To solve this problem she asked me if I would be interested in transcribing the diaries to develop an electronic copy of the collection. I immediately accepted and was so excited. Not only did I get to read his diaries, I got to work with each word as I transcribed, and I got to know Henri very well.

I am a Junior at Penn State now, and I am a French and Spanish major with a Political Science minor. I am a Schreyer Honors student and a Paterno Fellow, both of which have led me to amazing opportunities like the one I described above. Outside of my academic world I have been a Spirit Leader for the past two years on the Rules and Regulations committee for THON. THON has also been a huge motivator and joy throughout my Penn State career.

This semester I am looking forward to continuing my research with Professor Silverman, and I am excited to post more details on some up-and-coming projects that we are going to start once the transcription process is over.

Though my summer internship gave me a lot of interesting experience and insight into the work that goes on in academia, one thing it did not bring me was credits, as I would have to pay for a summer term to get those.  I was hoping, however, that if I did a good job with my research internship over the summer, I would get offered a position with the Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) here at Penn State, of which Hester Blum was the director at the time.  Luckily, this worked out perfectly for me, and I became the undergraduate intern for CALS last year when I came back for the school year. 

My internship with CALS last year pretty much amounted to completing one big project per semester.  Fall semester, I researched the other English departments in the Big Ten, looking specifically for those researching and teaching in American lit to compare with our program and boost funding.  Spring semester was a busy time for CALS, as the C-19 conference (a conference about 19th century American literature) was coming in May. To contribute to this, I compiled the conference program detailing the events of the weekend to make the conference run more smoothly. I really enjoyed my time with CALS this past year and working with Hester from summer to spring. I kept my internship with CALS for this school year as well, and the new director Sean Goudie and I have already gotten started on some new projects for this year, which I look forward to continuing as the year progresses.  One such project is working with the Centre County Libraries on their Centre County Reads program, to which I am very excited to contribute.

After spring semester ended last year, I was on my way for starting my summer internship.  For this first internship with Hester Blum, I was taken on as a preliminary researcher of sorts.  Since I live in the Philadelphia suburbs, I was able to take the train into Philadelphia during the summer to go to many of the libraries there and put together a bibliography of works that looked suitable for Hester's project, to make her research easier and more direct when she got to these libraries herself.  Hester's project had to do with polar exploration in the 19th century, particularly artifacts printed in exotic locales, such as on board ship.

When I decided to be an English major freshman year, the one problem I had with my chosen field was my lack of knowledge of where a degree in English could take me.  I've heard my share of "living in a box" jokes to know that many consider the post-graduation opportunities for people in my major to be slim.  I was determined that this would not stop me from pursuing the major that I truly enjoy, so I went on the quest for an internship in my field that would give me some background into what I could do with my beloved English degree after graduation.  Before recounting my tale, let me say a little about myself now.  I'm Rachael Green, a junior in Schreyer majoring in English and Psychology.  As I did when I was a freshman, I still think I will probably pursue a career in English upon graduation.  One career that I considered as a freshman (and that I am still considering) is a position in academia.  To test out this potential career path, I stumbled into an internship that allowed me to glimpse the research that those in academia conduct. 

"Only a life lived for others is worthwhile" Albert Einstein

I pose this question after just returning from the CIC Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) conference held at The Ohio State University from 7/22-25/2010. This event is part of the capstone experience for some 464 students who have participated in an eight-week research internship attracting students in numerous disciplines who aspire to graduate study. The goal of SROP is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who will enroll and seek graduate degrees at CIC universities. Penn State University had a cohort of 31 students participating in this activity. There were three students from the College of the Liberal Arts in the aforementioned group. During the conference I met four other Penn State students participating in SROP at University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Ohio State University. These students participated in poster sessions and discussion roundtables; networked with faculty and SROP alumni; and attended a recruitment fair.

We had the opportunity hear Astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as the keynote speaker. He shared his experiences as a young person growing up in New York. His early passion to understand and study the universe was a driving force directing his achievements. He is a frequent guest on the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and hosts PBS's show NOVAscienceNow.

These SROP participants have a leg up on the process of getting admitted to graduate schools because they have shown the initiative, commitment, and the desire to make a difference by engaging in the research process. Some of these students will continue to be involved in research when they return to their home institution. Over 59% of these students will graduate by fall 2011 with GPAs of 3.4 or above.

If you have not been involved in research, you should consider connecting with the faculty in your major this fall to open this new vista. Check with your advisor or faculty to learn more about research experiences in your major.

Take a look at some of the photos taken at the CIC Summer Research Opportunities conference:

On Wednesday, April 7, various CLA students participated in the Undergraduate Exhibition, held in the HUB Alumni Hall. Offered by the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Schreyer Honors College, the exhibition provides students with an opportunity to present their research to other faculty, staff, and students, as well as the general public. 


We congratulate all of the Liberal Arts students who participated in the exhibition, but particularly the award winners from our college. Mackenzie Kagel (psychology) won the Social & Behavioral Sciences category for her poster, "Spatial Development:  How Parent-Child Interactions, Gender and race Play a Role." Erin Collins (French, German, and international studies) won the second place prize in the Public Scholarship category; her project was entitled "Islamkunde in NRW: A Source of Integration or Division?" 

CLA students also received three of the University Libraries Awards for Information Literacy at the exhibition.  Samantha Bernecker (Psychology, World Campus) won first place for her poster, "Patient Attachment Style and the Therapeutic Alliance." Buthainah Al Thowaini (English) received second place for her project, "The Status of English in the Islamic World."  And Allison Baker (Psychology) received an honorable mention for her poster, "Asian-American Acculturation and Subjective Well-Being." Great work, everyone!

Check out some photos from the event: