March 2015 | honors.missouri.edu

No way they’d rather be

Importance of involvement

True/FalseA condensed history

The final lapA senior ’s experience

explorateUniversity of Missouri Honors College Newsletter

- -

Honors humanitiesAn academic family

Healthy foodEating right can reduce stress

MU’s atheltic budget

in this issue3

7

Announcements

Sports: The final lapA senior ’s experience

9 MU’s athletic budget

5 No way they’d rather beImportance of involvement

explorate | 2- -

FacebookUniversity of Missouri Honors College

Twitter@MUHonors

explorate contributors

editorJacob Renie

staff reportersMorgan Magid

Lauren PettersonKelsie Schrader

faculty advisorMegan Boyer

- -

explorateexplorate (ex-plo-raht) is a plural imperative form of the Latin verb explorare, “to ex-plore.” Drawing on the Hon-ors College motto, Explore. Dream. Discover., explorate invites students to seek out every opportunity available to them.

- -- -

- -

- -

11 News: True/FalseA condensed story

Cover photo by Lauren Petterson

13

Faculty: Honors humanitiesAn academic family

15

Healthy foodsEating right can reduce stress

3 | explorate- -

AnnouncementsHonors Advising

How to schedule an appointment with a General Honors Advisor:Honors College Students may schedule an advising appointment by calling (573) 882-3893. When you call to schedule an appointment, please have your registration date and time available. You can find your registration date and time in your MyZou student center. We will try to meet with you one or two days before your registration time so that we have a clear indication of what classes will still be open for enrollment at the time of your registra-tion date.

Walk-in General AdvisingWalk-in advising is available on the second floor of Lowry Hall for non-medopp questions at the following days and times: Monday-Friday: 9:00am-11:00am and 2:30pm-4:30pm

Walk-in advising is also available in the Honors Learning Community. Advisors will be available to meet with stu-dents in the main lounge of Schurz Hall at the following days and times: Thursday: 2:30pm-4:30pm

LSSP Symposium March 13-15, 2015: Schedule is Up and Registration is Open

We are gearing up for the 2015 Life Sciences & Society Symposium and are excited to announce that the schedule is now available and registration is open! All details can be found on the Symposium website at http://lssp.mis-souri.edu/epigenetics.

This year’s Symposium will focus on the emerging science of epigenetics and its implications for human health, behavior, and society. Epigenetics (meaning above genetics) is the branch of science that studies the regulation of genes and other genetic material. Epigenetic instructions are required for each cell in each organ to work appro-priately, and these instructions may be dependent on the parent of origin (mother or father) and can be altered by the environment—some alterations may even be passed to subsequent generations!

The 2015 LSSP Symposium will explore what epigenetics means, discuss how epigenetic effects work, and explore examples of how the environment (e.g. diet, toxins, stress, social trauma) can affect genetic expression. Several speakers will focus on the implications of epigenetics for human health and medicine, while others will explore the history and social implications of the fast-evolving field of epigenetics research.

We have a great interdisciplinary lineup of speakers coming, including neuroscientist Tracy Bale (Penn), pediatric cancer researcher Joya Chandra (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), environmental epide-miologist and autism researcher Irva-Hertz Picciotto (UC Davis), cancer researcher Shuk-mei Ho (University of Cincinnati Cancer Center), historian Ted Koditschek (University of Missouri), science journalist Annie Murphy Paul, geneticist and philosopher Massimo Pigliucci (CUNY), biochemistry professor Oliver Rando (University of Massachusetts Medical School), and epidemiologist Shanna Swan (Mount Sinai School of Medicine).

The Symposium schedule is here: http://lssp.missouri.edu/epigenetics/scheduleSpeaker bios and talk abstracts are here: http://lssp.missouri.edu/epigenetics/speakersYou can register for the Symposium here: http://lssp.missouri.edu/epigeneticsAlso, please check out our Affiliated Events including a library exhibit open March 5th-30th titled Generations: Reproduction, Heredity and Epigenetics, a related lecture by anthropologist Karthik Panchanathan on March 9th,

and the Distinguished Lecture Series talk by developmental psychologist Sir Michael Rutter on March 17th. See http://lssp.missouri.edu/epigenetics/events for details.

Please follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lsspmu) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/decodesci) for regular Symposium updates. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Symposium!

Office of Service-Learning

The Office of Service-Learning has two new, exciting opportunities for Honors students to earn academic credit for summer and/or fall 2015.

***NEW*** Mental Health Awareness Education, Marketing & Social Media InternChildren’s Grove is looking for a student who enjoys the act of creation to help spread the mission of the organiza-tion (spreading healthy mental health community attributes like kindness, empathy, understanding and accep-tance) through the marketing of note cards, trees and butterfly benches.

As a virgin organization, students will be empowered to help establish further identity and branding. Of primary in-terest is a student that can establish good social media communication and marketing through website, Facebook, and Twitter. Secondarily marketing note cards to 3-4 retail businesses as well as online, and marketing Kindness Trees and Butterfly Benches to schools, businesses, hospitals, and faith organizations.

A student will be offered the ability to make a difference and create synergy with a concept and a dynamic volun-teer team.

***NEW***Cultural Orientation Instructor

Refugee and Immigration Services is seeking an intern to serve as an instructor for refugee orientation classes per-taining to one of the most important issues in attaining self-sufficiency: transportation.

Imagine that you are in a new place, unable to communicate in the language, with no knowledge of where to go or how to get there. Even the most basic human needs are difficult to accomplish with these disadvantages. Newly ar-riving refugees find themselves in such a situation. In this position, you will be an essential part of a team that aims to improve these lives every day. Interns will develop a greater knowledge of resources in the Columbia community, and will gain new perspectives by communicating with people from around the world.

Responsibilities include: classroom management and instruction regarding available forms of transportation and basic traffic safety; addressing concerns about living in and getting around Columbia; following (and adapting) lesson plans with provided materials; as part of the lesson, accompanying students on a bus route to demonstrate how to use the bus system; following up with students after lessons to ensure their understanding of the material; meeting with staff and curriculum developers to enhance or improve the lessons. Competitive candidates will possess strong interpersonal skills, should be comfortable communicating with non-native English speakers, and should have an open mind with a positive attitude. The ideal intern should be compassionate and self-motivated with a willingness to learn.

PLEASE NOTE: Prior knowledge of the Columbia bus system is preferred; additional training may be required to become more familiar with it (primarily the Gold route).

To learn more about how you can earn credit for either of these new internship opportunities, or to see our full list of available opportunities for summer or fall, sign up for a non-profit workshop at this link: http://tiny.cc/muserves Workshops run through April.

explorate | 4- -

5 | explorate- -

While college can provide a unique experience for each student, being busy is equally spread. Each student likely finds him or herself in a situation fac-ing a week filled with three tests, two papers, one presentation, five meetings and a ten-hour work-week. For many students, most weeks are busy, but man-ageably so, with the occasional hectic week thrown into the mix. For some, though, such as Honors stu-dents Kate Hargis (sophomore) and Natasha Brew-er (junior), nearly every week is a hectic week — and that’s just the way they like it.

When teachers, students and parents told Hargis and Brewer to get involved in college, neither took the suggestion lightly.

Hargis, who is a sophomore studying mathematics and political science, is a member of a sorority at Mizzou, a site leader for Mizzou Alternative Breaks, an executive board member on Tigers Advancing Political Participation, and a member of Mizzou Outreach Student Recruitment team. She recently ended her involvement with MSA, and she is also currently an intern with the Associated Students of the University of Missouri.

Brewer, a junior studying journalism and entrepre-neurship, is a also a site leader for Mizzou Alterna-tive Breaks as well as a member of the Entrepre-neurship Alliance, the Griffiths Leadership Society for Women, and the Language Partners program. She is also a workshop director for MU Entrepre-neurs and was recently selected to be a Journalism Ambassador. In addition to these organizations, Brewer works part-time for the Multicultural Cer-tificate on campus, as well as for Shaffer and Asso-ciates in Columbia.

Both students admit that they are fairly busy on a regular basis, but both agree that they knew they wanted to be as involved as they are even before

they started school at Mizzou.

“I am someone who likes to stay busy, and I knew that college would be a good place to do that,” Har-gis said. Brewer agreed, commenting that she was super involved in high school, so she knew she wanted to be super involved in college as well.

Hargis and Brewer both see many benefits to get-ting involved. One benefit is that involvement al-lows students to explore their interests, which al-lows them to grow and learn about themselves.

“I think (being involved) teaches you more about yourself than you will ever know, pushes you to your limits, and introduces you to hundreds of new ideas,” Hargis said.

Brewer agreed, adding that being involved molds the college experience to each individual student and makes it more personal. “You learn more, and you find your own way,” she said. “Involvement makes college worth your money.”

For many students, however, there are multiple challenges to getting involved, not the least being simply knowing where to start. Brewer said that, for her, the best starting place was Orgsync. Using this website, she was able to type in topics related to her own interests—such as entrepreneurship or women’s leadership—and organizations at Mizzou that were related to these interests popped up. She was then able to narrow down the many options to ones she believed she would be interested in.

However, noting that one of the biggest barriers to involvement is taking the first step and actually go-ing to a meeting or an event, Brewer stressed the importance of trying new things. “Meeting new people is scary,” she said, “but it’s worth your time.

Hargis agreed and suggested that students go with friends to the first couple of meetings if they are

There’s no way they’d rather beHonors students Kate Hargis and Natasha Brewer on the importance of involvementBy Kelsie Schrader

explorate | 6- -

Natasha Brewer was recently accepted into the Entrepre-neurial Scholars and Interns Program. She was the only female from Mizzou to be accepted into this program.

Kate Hargis recently ended her involvement in Missouri Student Association. She was a member of this organiza-tion for a year and a half, first as a Senator, then as an Outreach Coordinator and finally as Deputy Chief of Staff.

worried about meeting people. Moreover, she add-ed, trying new things really does pay off.

“I would have never become a site leader if I didn't kind of go out on a limb and apply for MAB,” she said. “I was hesitant at first. I am someone who cherishes breaks and free time more than anything so I didn't want to give up an entire to week to ex-haust myself more. But I just forced myself to try something new and I'm so happy with where it landed me!”A final barrier to involvement is time management. How, students ask, is it even possible to get As and still be super involved in college, maintain a part-time job, hang out with friends, and get enough sleep?”

“A lot of checklists,” Hargis said jokingly. “It’s defi-nitely a challenge,” she continued, “and I sometimes question myself when a busy week rolls around but I manage.”

For both Hargis and Brewer, completing every-thing can sometimes lead to late nights and early mornings, but both also know their limits. “Getting enough sleep is a challenge,” Hargis said, “but I also

recognize that it’s a priority. You can’t do anything if you’re tired.”

Brewer agreed, adding that she sets limits for her-self each day. “I give myself a specific amount of time for each homework assignment, and if I don’t finish, I stop and do it the next day.”

While time management is essential for any col-lege student, it’s not something that can be taught. “Everybody’s so different in how they do it,” Brew-er said. What works for her might be completely wrong for someone else.

Most importantly, however, is self-care. “It’s impor-tant to note that we all have different limits,” Hargis said. “If we don’t take care of ourselves, we cannot possible take care of others. So don’t try to over-whelm yourself with organizations and social activ-ities just because it makes a resume look good,” she said. As both Hargis and Brewer advise: Do what you are genuinely interested. It really will make the college experience that much better.

All photos by Kelsie Schrader

7 | explorate- -

Being a cross-country runner for Mizzou means that you get no breaks. Instead of the usual one season that college ath-letes have, you get three. That’s right you go from cross-country in the fall to indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring and, depending on how you do, into the summer. You could literally be running from August till June with July being used as a training month before you start again. So how do you get school done, let alone graduate with de-partmental honors? Well it’s a fast ride but it comes down to two things: balance and planning. At least that’s what senior runner Courtney Wood recommends.

She said she spends at least 20 hours a week running, but it’s probably more and she’s not even including the time spent traveling to meets around the country. It’s a commitment, but she rec-ognizes that.

“You learn to balance things a lot,” Wood said. “I do a lot of homework on trips. If we have an eight-hour bus ride you can get your readings done. You have to fig-ure out the right balance.”

For her that means creating a calendar detailing a whole semester’s worth of homework, tests and meets. Because there is often overlap between meets and assignments, she tries to work ahead because she knows how exhausted she will be afterwards.

She described how last year the team traveled to California and she ran at around midnight, just to wake up at 5 a.m. to go to another race. Despite this she loves it.

“I love cross-country a lot because the courses are all different,” Wood said. “The places are exciting and the team is a little bit smaller and so it’s really fun to get to know all the cross-country girls.”

This family atmosphere has always mattered to her, ever since she was little and first started running. For the Wood family, cross-country was just some-thing that you did. Her parents actually ran for the same team in high school and her uncles, cousins and sisters all ran as well.

Wood said, “I always loved it and it was a kind of interesting thing to do and I think especially when my sisters and my cousins did it, cause we would run together.”

She feels the same way about her teammates.

“I think just the family atmosphere on the track team and the cross country team is just something that you can’t really find,” Wood said. “Coming to col-lege and continuing to run you automatically have a family of people to hang out with, that you’re going to like. And everyone is weird, but you’re weird together and it’s perfect to be a part of the little cross-country family. I came

The final lapBy Jacob Renie

SPORTS

Photo by Clayton Hotze

explorate | 8- -

in with 17 friends that I knew I could count on if I needed to study or rides or something like that.”

She said indoor is a little harder, but not because she doesn’t like her teammates as much, but because it’s harder for her to focus.

“It’s really boring indoors for a cross-country kid like me because we have to do so many laps,” Wood said.

Outdoors she runs the steeplechase and it’s a completely new situation.

“I really like steeple (more than indoor),” Wood said. “I can’t tell you if I love cross-country or steeple more. I kind of en-joy them both for the same reasons.”

For her, the barriers and obstacles provide a welcome relief to the repetitious laps.

Wood said, “It’s a little different than running around the track and so I really, really enjoy it too.”

When running, whether it be outdoors or in, Wood has a routine that she sticks to. She doesn’t call it a superstition, but she always wears a certain pair of socks that a cross-country teammate made for her. She also wears Mizzou ear-rings and face tattoos during the races. She said she always brings extras for the other girls.

“I think the more Mizzou stuff you can be wearing the cool-er you look,” Wood said.

It’s funny hearing that from someone who originally wasn’t even supposed to attend here.

“I had a rocky start coming here,” Wood said. “I didn’t origi-nally choose to come to Mizzou. Where I was going to, the

head coach got fired. It was a big deal and I had to go some-where and I knew people that came here.”

When she got here, she found that the university didn’t of-fer her intended major: physical education. Luckily she also planned on teaching biology and so entered the school as a bio major. From there she changed to chemical biology before finally settling on health sciences.

“I hated bio chem,” Wood said. “Not that the program sucked, it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy all of the intense science classes.”

Throughout it all she said her advisors and the athletic de-partment supported her. They helped her find what she wanted to do and prepared her how to best handle it. And while she would eventually graduate with departmental honors, she originally took quite a few honors classes.

“I’ve always like honors classes better,” Wood said. “And one of the reasons I started picking them my freshman and sophomore years was because they are actually smaller and even though it was a little more intense of a schedule, it’s a lot better to have a teacher that’s really focused on you.”

In her spare time Wood likes hiking and crafts. She is really proud of the holiday decorations she and her roommates made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But most of the time she’s resting, recovering from the hustle and bustle of being a three-sport honors athlete.

“It went by really fast … I don’t feel like I’ve been here for four years,” Wood said. “I just love Mizzou.”

Photo by Jeff Curry

Photo by Jeff Curry

How MU’s athletic budget stacks upBy Morgan Magid

MU athletics are one of the university’s biggest eco-nomic and popularity draws. There are over 500 stu-dent athletes who represent the university on its 18 teams.

To keep such a large operation growing, MU athlet-ics set a budget of 85 million dollars for this 2014-15 school year. This money is divided between scholar-ships for athletes, coaching salaries, facility develop-ments and other various expenses such as travel.

MU has not always had such a seemingly large bud-get. In 1998, during former athletic director Mike Al-den’s first year on the job, he worked with only 14 million dollars. According to collegeAD.org, Alden ranked among the top 10 fundraising ADs in college sports.

Football coach Gary Pinkel has been another major factor in raising money for MU athletics. The football team’s budget in 2013 was 18 million dollars - a pro-portional number when one considers that it draws in a majority of the ticket sales and general revenue for the entire athletics department.

In numbers published by USA Today, the 2013-14 fiscal year showed MU having revenue of 76 million, actually allowing the budget to operate on a surplus. About 89 percent of ticket sales from this year came from football and men’s basketball. The same year, the expenses came to about 70 million dollars.

While these numbers may seem high, this is nothing in comparison to the rest of the Southeastern Confer-ence. Out of the 14 members in the conference, MU ranked eleventh in terms of revenue and twelfth in terms of expenses. However, its revenue ranked thir-ty-fifth in all of Division One schools.

The move to the SEC has definitely benefited MU’s department. After 2013, the university’s first year in the SEC, MU earned 20.7 million dollars from the con-ference. The addition of the SEC Network will most

likely increase this number, although this amount has not been released yet.

In its annual release of college athletics budget, USA Today’s numbers are very telling about how MU dis-tributes and earns its money and how it stacks up to other colleges and universities.

One interesting aspect of MU’s budget is that its stu-dents and university itself does not pay money for its athletics department, unlike eight other members of the SEC. For example, students at the University of Florida contribute 2.5 million dollars a year towards athletics.

The revenue of the department comes from many other sources. Almost half of the money MU made in 2013 came from licensing and rights alone. Another third came from ticket sales.

For expenses, 8.5 million dollars went towards schol-arships and 28.7 million paid for coaching and staff.

As the athletics department’s website says, “The University of Missouri does not receive institutional support for operational and debt service funding to-wards its intercollegiate athletics program.” Much of this money comes from the Tiger Scholarship Fund.

TSF has helped raise over 200 million dollars in fa-cility fundraising efforts according to the fund’s site. This means adding more seats to the crown jewel of MU athletics, Farout Field, renovating Mizzou Arena again, and improving the golf course and the gym-nastic teams/Golden Girls’ complex.

With so many different contributors, MU athletics department will continue to grow, keeping alive and well for thousands of future Tigers.

9 | explorate- -

- -explorate | 10

0"20"40"60"80"

100"120"140"160"

Alabama"

Misso

uri"

Texas"A&M

"

Florida"

Kentu

cky"

Georg

ia" LSU"

Tennessee"

Arkansas"

Ole"Miss"

Mississippi"State"

South

"Carolina"

Auburn"

2013

%Reven

ue%(in%millions)%

Southeastern%Conference%

SEC%Athle<c%Revenues%via%USA%Today%

0  20  40  60  80  

100  120  140  

Alabama  

Arkansas  

Auburn  

Florida  

Georgia  

Kentu

cky  

LSU  

Mississippi  State  

Missouri  

Ole  M

iss  

South

 Carolina  

Tennessee  

Texas  A&M

 2013

 Expen

ses  (in

 millions)  

2013  Athle5c  Expenses  via  USA  Today  

By the numbers

Graphics by Morgan Magid

11 | explorate- -

For two Columbia natives, film has become a life long passion that accumulates every year in the True/False film festival.Since 2003, David Wilson and Paul Sturtz have run the now time-honored festival that incor-porates much more than a couple of nonfiction movies.

The pair opened Ragtag Cinema in May 2000 to start their tradition of bringing film into Co-lumbia. However, it wasn’t until the summer of 2003 that the idea for the festival was truly born. The festival earned its unmistakable logo and title during a brainstorm session between Wil-son and Sturtz. Other names including “Doc Doc Goose” and “Truth or Consequences” were suggested before the True/False moniker and unmistakable encircled T/F design were estab-lished. Another graphic designer, Mikey Lising, would design the final product that same sum-mer.

During its inaugural weekend from February 13-15, 2004, the festival sold well over 4,000 tickets. The festival contained 29 documenta-ries and took place at three venues in the heart of downtown Columbia: The Blue Note, Ragtag Cinema and the Missouri Theatre.

In his 10 year anniversary commemoration book, Sturtz describes the 2004 venues as “a crumbling movie palace, a vaudeville theater turned rock club, and a communal living room filled with seating culled from a dozen surplus

The Condensed History of True/FalseBy Morgan Magid

All photos by Morgan Magid

auctions — all within two blocks of each other.”

The three venues of the first True/False fes-tival were perfect for the still small-scale cel-ebration of nonfiction storytelling. Their cen-tralized downtown location proved critical to the festival’s success.

The first year of the festival also brought about the True Vision Award. Sculptor Larry Young created the actual physical award. The award is given to someone “whose work shows a ded-ication to the creative advancement of the art of nonfiction filming.”After its initial success, the festival has only continued to grow in terms of size and success.

Many venues have been added over the years. The biggest addition came in 2008 when the Missouri Theatre underwent renovations. Also that same year Ragtag moved its location to Hitt Street, increasing its space.

Although it’s not downtown, the festival added three screens at Stephens College to its list of venues.

However, in 2012 the festival ended its part-nership with Stephens College to put the fes-tival back in the heart of downtown Columbia. To make up for the loss in seating, Jesse Au-ditorium was added and the 400-seat venue named the Picturehouse rose from a trans-formed Methodist Church downtown.

2007 saw the birth of the True Life Fund, which donates money to the subjects of one documentary each year, and the March March, a costumed parade anyone can participate in.

Clearly, the festival has grown exponentially in its twelve years. Ticket sales have increased by nearly 1000 percent from 2004 to 2013, going from 4,400 to 43,500. This years 2015 festival featured 38 films and 36 bands throughout the wide variety of fes-tivities as this Columbia tradition continues to flourish.

- -explorate | 12

As mid-term exams approach, many students be-gin to experience heightened levels of stress. This can lead to poor eating and sleeping habits, which actually increase stress. Cindy Foley, a Registered Dietician at the Wellness Resource Center, shared information about reducing stress for students.

Foley regularly works with students on a one-on-one basis to manage their nutrition intake and says that many students come to her with con-cerns about stress. Along with other staff mem-bers at the Wellness Resource Center, Foley edu-cates students about health and wellness with different visual resources. The Wellness Resource Center uses the model of the ‘Wellness Triangle,’ which encourages students to “lead a healthy life by eating nourishing food, being regularly active, and getting quality sleep.” Balancing these compo-

nents can reduce stress, which in turn may help students to do better in their classes.

Foley says that being stressed does affect how people’s bodies intake nutrients.

“(The body) can absorb fewer nutrients. It can ac-tually have need for more nutrients as a result of stress,” Foley said.

Resources from Hy-Vee Registered Dietitian, Paula Vandelicht, state that foods that contain B-vita-mins, Vitamin C, Calcium and Magnesium all help to reduce stress.

“Your body responds to stress by … releasing a cas-cade of brain chemicals and hormones that may stimulate appetite, particularly for carbohydrates

Preparing for Mid-Terms with Healthy EatingThe relationship between stress and eating right

By Lauren Petterson

All photos by Lauren Petterson13 | explorate- -

foods (usually sweets),” Vandelicht’s studies say.

The Wellness Resource center also provides resourc-es that give advice on practicing habits like cutting out caffeine, eating breakfast and identifying situa-tions that cause overeating. These habits can reduce stress and improve overall health.

Foley explained that an important part of getting the right nutrients is planning out times to eat. Accord-ing to Foley, eating about every three and a half hours is healthy for students, if they choose the right foods to eat. For some students who have busy schedules, finding time to eat may be stressful, but Foley says that taking time to sit down and eat meals can be beneficial.

“Actually, eating can be relaxing (for peo-ple) if they slow down and pay attention,” Foley said. “You don’t have to be eating a lot, but just let you body have adequate nutrients on a regular basis. (This) is the best way to de-stress the body, physically.”

As for students who are restricted to eating in dining halls and other places on campus, Foley says that there are many options for

students to eat healthy. Using resources, such as the ‘Zoutri-tion’ website, which discloses nutrition information on many dining hall options, can help students to monitor their nutri-ent intake and make conscious decisions about their eating habits. Foley also said that sev-eral of the managers at dining halls are registered dieticians and may sometimes be able to help students to get the healthy foods that they need.

According to Foley, healthy eat-ing that involves a proper bal-ance between the different food

groups can overall reduce stress, which can in turn allow students to be more focused. Foley also said that getting adequate sleep can help students to stay focused on their studies.

As mid-term exams arrive, Foley advised students to maintain a balance between their restorative sleep, food intake and exercise to reduce stress. For more specialized information on nutrition, the Wellness Resource Center offers personal consultations to students.

Cindy Foley is a Registered Dietician at MU’s Wellness Resource Center. She provides students with information about nutrition and also works with the MU Farmer ’s Market.

- -explorate | 14

the Renaissance, The Early Modern World and The Modern Era. The se-quence can be taken over the span of four consecutive semesters. Profes-sor Rachel Harper, the Coordinator of the Honors Humanities Sequence, expressed her passion for the classes she teaches and her students.

She said, “I love working with the stu-dents. I love working with the texts. I get to teach alongside great faculty.

An Academic Community of Literature, Art, Music and Friendship

I mean, I think one of the things that I love most ... (is that) I get to go to hear wonderful lecturers on this cam-pus lecture and teach things that they love, that they enjoy, that they’ve studied a long time from so many dif-ferent departments.”

From philosophy to music lectures, stu-dents receive varying perspectives on dis-cussion topics. Harper explained that the pro-fessors in the sequence enjoy learning from one another through-out their time teaching together.

This honors sequence is labeled as challeng-ing by some, but Harp-er said that this should not be associated with students’ GPAs.

“What I think is chal-lenging about the class-es is that (students are) reading difficult texts and they’re asking dif-ficult questions, not only about the texts, about the works of art and the music that they listen to, but they’re

The oldest course in the Honors Col-lege, The Honors Humanities Se-quence, actually predates the foun-dation of the University of Missouri Honors College itself. Founded in 1954 as a course based on big books and great ideas, the sequence asks the ‘big questions’ about topics such as suffering, love and what it means to be human. The sequence involves four different courses including The Ancient World, The Middle Ages and

FACULTY

Exploring The Honors Humanities Sequence

By Lauren Petterson

Photo credit

15 | explorate- -

asking questions about themselves and what they believe,” Harper said.

As a humanities course, the series prods at stu-dents opinions on top-ics and is not centered around memorizing terms or plot sequenc-es. Professors aim to provoke ideas from students and foster a greater sense of hu-manity in them. Harper said that this type of liberal arts education is important to any ca-reer field.

The course also cre-ates a sense of com-

munity between students who take the course. According to Harper, students are able to connect with each other on the basis of their love for the class, its professors and the texts in the class that they are able to study outside of their major.

Another part of the sequence that is unique is that students are able to experience four semesters with the same professors, if they choose to complete the entire sequence. Harper said this allows her to see students develop over the course of two years, which creates personal relationships between professors and students.

The long-term existence of the se-ries also allows for former students to feel a connection to the sequence after they complete it.

“I will say that I keep in touch with students for many years often af-ter they’ve graduated,” Harper said. “And the humanities sequence has enriched their lives in ways that I’m probably not even aware of. In fact, earlier this week I got a letter from someone who had taken the humani-ties sequence in the 1960s, and said he owes a tremendous debt to the se-quence. To be involved in something like that is, you know, pretty exciting.”

Harper encourages students to join the sequence as a way to enhance their learning experience at the Uni-versity of Missouri. The Honors Hu-manities Sequence will begin its cycle again with The Ancient World in the Fall 2015 semester.

A student created a magazine clipping col-lage the analyzed two different works from the sequence for their final project. Often these projects analyze two pieces of work on the same type of platform.

explorate | 16- -All photos by Lauren Petterson

March 2015 | honors.missouri.edu

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

— Source Unknown