Hendrix Odyssey Program
Project Funding
October 2012
The Odyssey Program has provided
more than $2 million in competitive grants to faculty and students to support
projects around the world. The Committee
on Engaged Learning (CEL) awarded $54,492.32
in Odyssey grants to 19 projects proposed by faculty and students in the
October 2012 cycle. The grand total for funding since the Odyssey Program’s
inception in 2005 is $2,156,122.83.
The funded projects show the
intellectual curiosity of Hendrix students for the world around them as they
explore the songs of Appalachia, the ethics of the perfume industry
southeastern Europe and modern cinema.
The grant recipients include:
Megan Barker
Teaching High School Students Proper
Makeup Techniques
Category: SP
Sponsor: Dr. Constance Campbell
“True theatrical makeup should
enhance your features, not hide them,” Megan Barker said. She will return to
her alma mater, Little Rock Central High School, to teach students makeup
techniques that will give them the necessary skills to pursue careers in the
field. Barker will conduct workshops for 15 students to cover basic makeup
techniques, aging effects, and bruises. She will also assist the students with
makeup when they put on their spring production.
Emily Barrett
Habitat for Humanity- Spring Break Build
Category: SW
Sponsor: Dr. Wayne Oudekerk
During Spring Break, Emily
Barrett will lead 25 Hendrix students on a service trip to Slidell, La., to
assist the local Habitat for Humanity chapter. They will work with the Epworth
Project, which is helping to rebuild areas damaged by recent hurricanes. During
their trip, the students will connect with local residents and learn about the
unique cultural, historical and political circumstances that have impacted the
area. “This cultural exploration with strengthen the students’ connection with
the service work and allow them to situate themselves as part of the larger
rebuilding and revitalization efforts,” Barrett said.
Anna Broadwell-Gulde
Dynamic Balance: An Acroyoga Workshop
Category: SP
Sponsor: Dr. Kristi McKim
“A dynamic partner yoga practice,
AcroYoga blends elements of yoga, Thai massage therapy, and the playfulness of
acrobatics,” said Anna Broadwell-Gulde. She will build on her personal interest
in the practice and her professional interest in teaching by conducting a
two-day AcroYoga workshop at Hendrix. She notes that the practice has gained
popularity over the last ten years. Trust
and communication between the partners is essential as they work together to
create perfectly balanced poses.
Linh Chuong and
Helen Mealy
Public Art for Social Justice
Category: AC
Sponsor: Dr. Anne Goldberg
Linh Chuong and Helen Mealy will
create eight pieces of public art that focus on issues of reproductive justice
for women in immigrant and minority communities. “The content of our artwork
will celebrate women’s rights and choices, and will encourage the continued
importance of honest public discourse as well as protective legislation
surrounding issues of equality and social justice,” they said. Chuong will work
in watercolor while Mealy will paint on canvas as they explore the topic of art
activism and increase their skills as artists.
Ben Duvall-Irwin
Ballads, Mountains, and Murders: Songs
of Appalachia
Category: SP
Sponsor: Dr. Jose Vilahomat
To understand Appalachian folk
music, Ben Duvall-Irwin will visit heritage centers and museums in North
Carolina. The music and lyrical themes of the music have been greatly
influenced by geography, and many ballads have remained unchanged since they
were brought over by settlers from the British Isles. “I wish to gain a more
complete understanding of the genre through artistic, historical, and cultural
lenses by comparing any patterns within the music to any historical or cultural
patterns that I can find,” Duvall-Irwin said.
Vincent Gammill
New Critics/New Directors/New Films
Category: SP
Sponsor: Dr. Kristi McKim
Vincent Gammill, Catelyn Gibbs,
Rane Peerson, William Repass, Adelia Shiffraw, Emily Smith, and Lance St.
Laurent will join Dr. Kristi McKim for a film festival in New York. Now in its
40th year, the New Directors/New Films festival is co-presented by
the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of the Lincoln Center. After
screening films, the students will produce articles of film criticism in
conjunction with the undergraduate film magazine Film Matters. “The immediacy of this critical approach represents a
way of viewing and responding to film unavailable in the classroom, a new mode
of spectatorship and criticism,” they said.
Tresor Mukiza
Micrurus Phylogenetics
Category: UR
Sponsor: Dr. George Harper
Tresor Mukiza will explore the
genetics of the Eastern Coral Snake and the Texas Coral Snake. They have been
considered subspecies of one species, but there are differences between them.
“We seek to determine whether the DNA of these organisms supports or refutes
the conclusion that they are two distinct species.” Mukiza said. For the
project, Mukiza is conducting genetic analysis using shed skins of coral snakes
obtained from zoos and serpentaria in Louisiana and Tennessee.
Safia Nawaz
Something Smells Wrong
Category: UR
Sponsor: Dr. Mark Sutherland
Safia Nawaz will gain an
understanding of the interplay between business, science, and ethics during her
study of perfumes. She will compare a range of fragrances ranging from designer
to celebrity to low-end to determine the basic consumer value of each one. “ I will
determine whether the quality justifies the cost of each fragrance by
chemically analyzing the number of different scents in each one, the
composition of the fragrance in terms of ethanol percentage versus actual
scents, and more qualitatively, the lasting power on skin,” Nawaz said.
Brittany Ross
Internship at NIH
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Leslie Templeton
After hearing neuroscientist Dr.
Douglas Fields give a lecture at Hendrix, Brittany Ross contacted him about
being an intern at his lab at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,
MD. She will work with him for four months in the Laboratory of Developmental
Neurobiology. “In Dr. Fields’ lab, I will be examining the molecular mechanism
of impulse activity in the nervous system during development in relation to
learning and memory, focusing on the interactions between neurons and glia
which are the two major types of nervous system cells,” Ross said.
Dr. Jay Barth
Travel for POLI 306 (Ark. Pol. &
Govt: Practicum)
Category: PL
Students in POLI 306, Arkansas
Politics: Practicum work with entities engage in the biennial session of the
Arkansas General Assembly, which requires travel to Little Rock several times a
week. This Odyssey grant helps defray transportation expenses for the students.
Dr. Constance
Campbell
Student Attendance and Participation at
the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) Conference and Stage
Expo
Category: SP
Dr. Constance Campbell will take
a group of students interested in theatre design and technology to the annual
Conference and Stage Expo of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology
in Milwaukee. At seminars and presentations, the students will learn the latest
developments in technical material and techniques. They will also exhibit their
own design and technical work at the conference.
Prof. Rynnett Clark
Student Teaching
Category: PL
Rising fuel costs have placed a
burden on student teachers who must commute beyond the Conway area for their
placements. The three colleges in our community all seek placements for
student teachers, and it’s not always possible for our local school systems to
accommodate all candidates. Thus, travel is often required both out of
necessity and also in order that our student teachers may experience different
communities and school situations. The Odyssey grant will help defray
some of their travel expenses.
Dr. Karen
Fannin
Festival of Winds Honor Band
Category: SP
Hendrix will host the fourth
Festival of Winds Honor Band, a select group for high school students. The band
members will work with a guest conductor and then present a concert. Two
Hendrix students will serve as co-chairs for the festival, planning and
organizing the event, preparing music, and helping with publicity.
Dr. David
Hales
Student Travel to American Chemical
Society National Meeting
Category: UR
A member of the chemistry
department will accompany Brandi Gist, Cheryl Mathis, Rob Weingold and Qin Yin
as they present their most recent research at the spring national meeting of the
American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif., this spring. They will also
attend technical sessions and society functions to learn more about chemistry
and to make personal and professional contacts.
Dr. Kiril
Kolev
Contemporary South-Eastern Europe
Category: UR/GA
Dr. Kiril Kolev will take five
students for a two week exploration of Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia and
Greece. They will learn about successful democratization, ethnic and religious
conflict, civil war, economic crisis and the future of the European Union.
Prof. Matthew Lopas
Promoting and Installing Lopas One
Person Show in New York
Category: PL
Prof. Matthew Lopas has a
one-person show from May 6 to June 20, 2013 in New York City at the
Narthex Gallery. The Narthex is a not for profit gallery in Saint Peter's
Church at 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street. His student assistant will learn
how to produce, promote, and organize a fine art gallery show, from designing
the promotional materials to installing the art.
Dr. Jennifer
Peszka
Psychology Research: The Relationship
between Technology Use and Sleep Quality and Quantity in College Students
Category: UR
Dr. Jennifer Peszka and her
research assistants will examine the relationship between technology use in the
few hours before bed and sleep quality, sleep quantity and next day sleepiness.
The students will learn to use objective measures of sleep quality and sleep
quantity called cardiopulmonary coupling and other data collection.
Prof. Brigitte Rogers
American College Dance Festival
Association: "Southern Premiere"
Category: SP
The Odyssey Program and the
Department of Theatre Arts and Dance will team up to send members of the
Hendrix Dance Ensemble to this year’s American College Dance Festival. Held at
Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss., the festival emphasizes the importance
of dance in higher education and provides a wide assortment of classes,
lectures and performances by leading experts. The festival offers an intensive
study of dance movement and theory, along with class instruction and
performance feedback from renowned dance professionals. The 15 student
participants will work in leadership positions as choreographers, as well as in
artistic positions as performers for two dance pieces that will be adjudicated
at the festival.
Dr. Damon
Spayde
Travel to 2013 April Meeting of the
American Physical Society
Category: UR
Dr. Damon Spayde
will be the faculty mentor to a group of seven students presenting research at
the national meeting of the American Physical Society in Denver, Colo., in
April. He will organize practice sessions for the students, make travel
arrangements for the group, and give them guidance at the conference.