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Awards

Etiti Akhame-Ayeni ’14 received a Class of 1938 Fellowship to travel to Senegal. Etti also received a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for the 2013-14 academic year.

Laura Brush ’13 will graduate as a Buckeye Public Service Scholar.

Kierra Campbell presented in the annual PIT “Works in Progress” Conference for Undergraduate Research on her project “From the Tragic Mulatto, To the Eroticized Individual.” Kierra also received a Hayden B. Renwick Award for academic achievement.

Georgia Cavanaugh ’14 has been selected as a 2013-2014 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Malaysia.

Jonathan Colgan ’13 led a team, Cellbreaker, to second place in the technology track of the Carolina Challenge. Along with a monetary prize, the team was invited to join a start-up accelerator called Groundwork Labs, which is funded by the state’s mechanism for cultivating entrepreneurial activity, the NC idea grant.

Casey Crow ’15 received the Class of 1938 Study Abroad Fellowship.

Giovana Espejo was accepted to participate as an intern with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy.  Her internship will take place November through January of 2014.

Amanda Furbert ’14 was awarded the Burgess McSwain Travel America Fellowship for the summer.

Lauren Hovis ’13 received the 2013 John O’Cansler Service Award that recognizes academic excellence, integrity of character, and commitment to a campus faith-based group.

Alexis Inez Brown ’14 is a recipient of the Michael L. and Matthew L. Boyatt Award Fund in the amount of $2500, for the purpose of studying abroad in Puebla, Mexico for the summer of 2013.

Kelsey Jost-Creegan ’14 received a Humanity in Action Fellowship for the summer of 2013. The Fellowship brings together international groups to explore national histories of discrimination and resistance, as well as examples of issues affecting different minorities today in an effort to consider potential solutions and promote human rights worldwide.

Hallie Kirkman ’15 was selected as a Phillips Ambassador for Summer 2013. ’15 was selected as a Phillips Ambassador for summer 2013. She was selected for academic achievement and commitment to activities, serivce and leadership roles in the classroom and community. She will be studying at CET Harbin.

Ellen Murray ’15 was selected as a Phillips Ambassador for summer 2013. She was selected for academic achievement and commitment to activities, serivce and leadership roles in the classroom and community. She will be studying at CET Kunming.

Rita Phetmixay ’13 received the Frances L. Philips Travels Scholarship of $9,000 for individual travel this summer. She was also admitted into UCLA’s Master’s of Asian American Studies Program, matriculating in Fall 2013, and was awarded the Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, which will cover her fees and tuition, in addition to providing an $18,000 stipend.

Alex Piasecki ‘15 has been selected as one of 18 students to be a GLOBE scholar through Kenan-Flager Business School. Alex will spend her junior year abroad in Europe and Asia as part of the program.

Raymond Sawyer ’14 is the recipient of a Fulbright Student Award to South Korea for 2013-14. He is also an inductee into the Order of Omega, a Greek leadership honor society, and into Gamma Sigma Alpha, the National Academic Greek Honor Society. He was further awarded the Hayden B. Renwick Academic Achievement Award.

Emily Whitfield ’14 received the Sterling A. Stoudemire Award for Excellence in Spanish, a Chancellor’s Award presented to the best student in the Spanish department each year. She also received an award from the Thomas Henry Wilson, Sr. Undergraduate Research Fund in Romance Languages to fund her summer field research in the Bolivian Andes. In addition, she will be co-leading Nourish-UNC’s summer 2013 project in Bolivia, a collaborative development initiative carried out in conjunction with a local nonprofit called El Programa de Desarrollo Integral Interdisciplinario (PRODII).

Miranda Wodarski was selected as a recipient of the 2013 Thomas Henry Wilson, Sr Undergraduate Research Award from Romance Languages Department.

 

Phi Beta Kappa

Claire Archer

Georgia Cavanaugh

Emma Harver

Mattis Hennings

Sarah Johnson

Kelsey Jost-Creegan

Megan Koilparampil

Sean Lanberg

Charlotte Lindemanis

Anna Melillo

Lauren Oswald

Cate Parker

Chelsea Phipps

Lindsay Rosenfeld

Elizabeth Willis

 

Boyatt Award

The Michael L. And Matthew L. Boyatt Award Fund generously provides scholarships for study abroad and is administered by the Study Abroad Office in consultation with the curriculum in Global Studies. This year, awards were presented to the two following majors:

Karla Ontiveros is studying at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires for the Spring 2013 semester. A junior Carolina Covenant Scholar born in Durango, Mexico, but a North Carolina resident, she is pursuing a double major in global studies and political science with a minor in social and economic justice. Karla selected the Universidad Torcuato Di Tello because it offers internationally recognized programs in her majors. Further, its location in Argentina will enable her to gain an insider’s perspective on a country that has undergone tremendous political and economic change. After graduation, Karla hopes to join the Peace Corps and later work for USAID. In addition, she plans to attend graduate school to prepare for work in the nonprofit or government arenas. She received an award of $2,000.

Linden Wait will participate in the CIEE Arabic Language program in Amman, Jordan during Spring semester 2013. A junior from Jefferson, North Carolina, she is a Carolina Covenant Scholar pursuing a double major in global studies and political science with a minor in Arabic. This semester will mark a return to Amman for Linden and will give her the opportunity to delve deeper into the culture while immersing herself in an intense language learning environment. Linden notes in her application essay, “Achieving proficiency in Arabic will prove to be highly beneficial to my pursuit of a career in diplomacy and conflict resolution in the Middle East.” After graduation, she plans to volunteer for an NGO or nonprofit organization in the Middle East focusing on conflict resolution or the advancement of political and human rights for women. Eventually, she would like to parlay her education and experience into a career with the US Department of State. Linden received a Boyatt Award of $2,000.

 

Research

 

Five of our students presented research at the Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research.

Layla Quran presented her research “A Masterpiece of Resistance: The Impact and Role of the Arts in Palestine,” supervised by Dr. Sarah Shields (History).

“The goal of my research was to discover the current impact and role of the arts in Palestine (particularly the West Bank occupied territory). I attempted to understand the attitude towards the arts in the area, the obstacles it faced, and the importance, or lack thereof, of the arts in the lives of the Palestinians. My research included interviews with nearly 50 Palestinian artists, including musicians, actors, dancers, and photographers, in 10 major Palestinian cities. I filmed all of the interviews and many of the concerts, theatre productions, art exhibitions, and rehearsals of the artists I met. I determined that funding is one of the biggest problems facing artists across Palestine, concluding that the Palestinian Authority does not provide adequate funding for the promotion of culture and the arts. Another problem facing the arts is the Palestinian city of Ramallah and its transformation into a cultural center, while towns and villages of the West Bank are not exposed to music and consider it far from a means of political resistance. In terms of the role of the arts, a majority of artists considered their art as a mean to express their lives under occupation, though many simply perform out of enjoyment of their craft.This research will demonstrate the artistic talent of the Palestinians and provide valuable insight into means of peaceful expression for Palestinians living under military occupation.”

Mattis Hennings presented his thesis research “The Migration-Development Nexus in Jordan,” advised by Dr. Sarah Shields (History).  For more information on his research, visit our 2013 Honors Thesis Graduates page.

Wendy Song presented her research “Perceptions of Oral Health in Peru,” supervised by Dr. Amanda Thompson (Anthroplogy).

In 2000, the Pan American Health Organization identified Peru as a country with one of the worst oral health profiles, with 95% of the population affected by tooth decay and a 5.6 DMFT index. My research investigated the underlying factors affecting oral health in Peru. My research methodology involved the Health Belief Model to examine the perceptions of susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy. I sought to determine the impact of these beliefs on oral health behavior, specifically on preventative hygiene. Through qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, I found the key factors of poor oral health to include excessive sugary beverage consumption, limited dental physician care, and little concept of preventative practices. Aggravated by lack of access to purified, potable water, Peruvians customarily drink sugary sodas or juices rather than pure water. Cost and time constraints, due to occupations and the extensive waiting period to see public dentists, are the main barriers to dental care. Moreover, regular cleanings and check-ups from dentist are luxurious expenditures, and thus visits to the dentist only occur as a last resort, upon unbearable pain or agitation. It is essential to understand the root causation of poor oral health in order to confront these issues with evidence based intervention methods. Further research should investigate cost-effective preventative oral health measures, such as water fluoridation or oral health education.

Erica O’Brien presented her thesis research “Of Computers & Cape Town: An Evaluation of Computer Education in Cape Town, South Africa,” supervised by Dr. Janice Anderson (School of Education). For more information on her research, visit our 2013 Honors Thesis Graduates page.

Lindsay Rosenfeld presented her thesis research “The Body in Remembrance: Dhikr in Moroccan Sufism,” supervised by Dr. Della Pollock (Communication Studies). For more information on her research, visit our 2013 Honors Thesis Graduates page.