Hendrix Odyssey
Program
Project Funding
April 2017
As of April 2017, the Committee on Engaged
Learning has awarded $3,739,348.77 in Odyssey grants to Hendrix students and faculty
since the Odyssey Program’s inception in 2005. In this cycle, 21 projects were awarded
$81,374.20. Hendrix students will be conducting innovative research, discerning
their vocations in challenging internships, and exploring the world.
Thomas Alexander
Requiem by Maurice Duruflé: A First Performance 70 Years Later
Category: SP
Sponsor: Dr. Karen Griebling, Music
Thomas Alexander will prepare the Chapel Choir, a student-led
ensemble, for a special performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem on its 70th
anniversary. Dr. Karen Griebling will direct the performance of the composition
with the Hendrix College Chamber Orchestra. Alexander will play the pipe organ accompaniment
on the Greene Chapel organ.
Madeline Anderson
Training of the Mind and Body
Category: PL
Sponsor: Brianna Calver, Athletics
As an intern trainer at D1 Sports Training
Facility in Little Rock, Madeline Anderson will learn how coaches teach proper movements
of the body for athletes to improve their ability in their chosen fields. The facility
has a goal of producing top athletes of all ages who will succeed in any sport.
Maren Bollinger
American Model United Nations Staff Member
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Daniel Whelan, Politics
and International Relations
Maren Bollinger has been selected as
a staff member for the 2017 American Model United Nations conference in Chicago
this fall. She will assist delegations that are struggling to accurately represent
their assigned countries. Bollinger will create conference materials for the students
to use in their preparations. The topic is the UN’s actions regarding disaster risk
reduction in the context of sustainable development.
Donnesia Clark and Amanda Jimerson
Important Voices in the Civil Rights Movement
Category: SP
Sponsor: Jim Wiltgen, Student Affairs
This fall, Donnesia Clark and Amanda
Jimerson will lead ten other Hendrix students on a journey into the history
of the civil rights movement. Accompanied by Dean Jim Wiltgen, the group will visit
museums, churches, and memorials dedicated to civil rights. They will learn about
civil rights with a particular on the important figures and legendary sites associated
with the movement.
Mattie Crenshaw
Internship with Verizon Arena
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Megan Leonard, Economics
and Business
During her internship at Little Rock’s
Verizon Arena, Mattie Crenshaw will learn about the daily workings of the Administration,
Finance, and Box Office departments. After that, she will spend the rest of her
time with Operations, setting up stages, communicating with vendors, and helping
promote upcoming shows as she gains experience in event management.
Elizabeth Draper
Research Internship at Arkansas Children's Hospital
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Andres Caro, Chemistry
The Summer Science Program at Arkansas
Children’s Hospital allows participants to engage in an undergraduate research project
and participate in professional development opportunities. Under the guidance of
a physician, Elizabeth Draper will focus on Vascular Anomalies and Airway Disturbances,
resulting in a project that she will present to faculty and other summer program
participants. In addition, Draper will shadow physicians and learn about the different
units at the hospital.
Claire Frueauff
Arkansas Attorney General's Office Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Jay Barth, Politics and
International Relations
This summer, Claire Frueauff will return
to the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office to function as the first lead intern,
helping to direct the summer intern program. Frueauff will gain leadership skills
as she organizes intern activities and meetings and ensures that the program is
rewarding for both the interns and the members of the administration.
Jared Goff
Stead Scholars Program
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Laura MacDonald, Biology
As an intern with the Stead Scholars
Program at the Arkansas Department of Health, Jared Goff will delve into the world
of public health. He will also learn about clinical practice, investigative science
in the department’s laboratory, and health policy development.
Ginny Greer
Summer Immersion in Trial Preparation and the Legal Experience
at Rippy Law Firm
Category: PL
Sponsor: D. Lyle Rupert, Economics
and Business
Ginny Greer will further her interest
in the legal profession through an internship with a Conway attorney. Preparing
for cases involving child custody, contract rights, employment rights and personal
injury will give Greer an inside look at the legal process—including trials and
cases settled through mitigation.
Lillian Hammer
Research Assistant Position at the Cooperation Lab at Boston
College
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Lindsay Kennedy, Psychology
Lillian Hammer will explore developmental
psychology as a research assistant in the Cooperation Lab at Boston College. The
lab focusses primarily on understanding how children learn to be cooperative and
fair to one another. Hammer will help recruit participants, assist with experiments
and videography, and code and analyze the results.
Casey Hawkins
The Fund for American Studies Political Journalism Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Bill Gorvine, Religion
Casey Hawkins, editor-in-chief of The
Profile, will dive into writing about the national political scene this summer.
He will participate in the Institute on Political Journalism through the Fund for
American Studies, which will place him with an internship at a prestigious news
outlet in Washington, DC.
Vanessa Jasso
Administrative and Accounting Intern
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Lyle Rupert, Economics
and Business
Vanessa Jasso will build on tax and
accounting classes she has taken at Hendrix for an internship with a start-up company
in San Diego. Jasso will help the accounting team predict goals, sales, taxes and
many other financial implications at this crucial stage before the launch of the
company.
Hanna Liebermann
Exploring International Collaboration in Plant Science: A Botanical
and Lingual Expedition to China
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Ann Willyard, Biology
Hanna Liebermann will have three-part
experience this summer to build on her knowledge of botany and foreign language.
First, she will have an internship at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
Next, she will participate in the 19th International Botany Congress
in Shenzhen, China. Finally, she will explore the biodiversity of the country on
an exploration of the Qinling Mountains in Northern China. This project was also
funded by the Hendrix-Murphy Programs in Language and Literature.
Sarah Logan
An Internship with the American Foreign Service: Nepal
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Kiril Kolev, Politics
and International Relations
Sarah Logan has an interest in joining
the American Foreign Service. To explore this vocation, she will have an internship
this summer at the United States Embassy at Kathmandu, Nepal. She will help write
embassy cables, presentations and other materials used by policy-makers. Logan also
will be addressing the needs of Americans abroad and monitoring anti-fraud projects.
Cora McCain
Exploring Faulkner County's Past: A Summer at the Museum
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Brett Hill, Sociology
and Anthropology
Through her internship this summer at the Faulkner County Museum,
Cora McCain will get to experience many departments that work together to make the
museum a success. Her tasks will range from organizing and placing exhibits to helping
with educational programming.
Stone Paul
Peak Sports Management
with UCA Athletics Sports Management Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Lyle Rupert, Economics and Business
Stone Paul hopes to bring together his desire for a meaningful
career with his long-standing interest in sports. Through his summer internship,
he will learn how a sports management company functions, including negotiating with
potential clients and understanding the importance of advertising in getting a message
to the public.
Jordan Rausch
Learning Lasting a Lifetime
Category: PL
Sponsor: Laurie Waters, Athletics
Jordan Rausch will serve as captain
of the Hendrix Soccer team this year. Rausch will learn more about coaching, including
aspects of teamwork and sportsmanship, while playing for the semi-pro Little Rock
Rangers this summer. Hendrix Coach Jeff Trimble and Rangers Coach Jennifer Pfeiffer
will supervise Rausch through the process of obtaining a coaching license from the
United States Soccer Federation. She will also be coaching youth in summer camps
on soccer fundamentals.
Jack Rindahl
Complex Brain Function Lab Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Jennifer Peszka, Psychology
This summer, Jack Rindahl will work
in the Complex Brain Function Laboratory at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He will
help with experiments that measure children’s proficiency in areas such as memory,
attention and patience. He will gain skills in scoring neuropsychological assessments,
using diagnostic instruments and knowing the essentials of human subjects research.
Caralee Shepard
Wetland Conservation Management at Sandy Bottom Wetland Forest
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Joyce Hardin, Biology
MountainTrue is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to sustaining natural environments. As an intern, Caralee Shepard will
work to protect rare reptiles and salamanders by removing invasive plant species
from their Wetland ecosystem at Sandy Bottom Forest. She will get a look at a potential
career path involving the preservation of biodiversity.
Tejas Soman
Westcave Preserve Conservation Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Courtney Hatch, Chemistry
Tejas Soman is an Environmental Studies
major who will get a first-hand look into how conservation-based public policies
are implemented at the Westcave Preserve near Austin, Texas. As an intern, Soman
will help with conservation practices that are related to scientific research and
land management, under the direction of two conservation specialists at the public
preserve.
Garrett Sosbee
Today's Children are Tomorrow's Adults
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Sara Taylor, Psychology
Garrett Sosbee will bring a psychological
perspective to his internship this summer with the Faulkner County Justice Department
as a Volunteer Probation Officer for Juveniles. Sosbee will interact with the court-involved
youth of the area, co-teaching a life skills class, conducting drug screens and
serving as a mentor as he considers a career in counselling.
Emily Taylor Stone
Culture Independent Analysis of HSNP Thermophiles
Category: UR
Sponsor: Dr. Matt Moran, Biology
Thermophiles are microorganisms that
live in hot environments that are otherwise inhospitable to life, such as water
at Hot Springs National Park in Emily Taylor Stone’s hometown. She will collect
water samples from two types of systems, those capped by the popular area bath houses
and those uncapped and accessible by the public. Stone will isolate DNA from the
samples to help detect the presence of thermophiles, sharing her results with the
park service.
Marianna Thomeczek
Intern: Eating Disorder Coalition of Arkansas
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Leslie Templeton, Psychology
The Eating Disorder Coalition of Arkansas
is a nonprofit organization that promotes treatment, advocacy and professional support
for those who treat eating disorders in the state. She will serve as a Volunteer
Director tasked with seeking out educational and networking opportunities and managing
applications of providers who wish to join the coalition. This will give Thomeczek
the chance to learn about the mental health field as it pertains to eating disorders.
Alexis Truitt
Internship at the Faulkner County Juvenile District Court
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Jay Barth, Politics and
International Relations
Aspiring attorney Alexis Truitt will
get an inside view of the judicial process by interning as a Juvenile Court Volunteer.
She will work with juveniles as their cases are tried and help their families manage
the probation process. This experience will give Truitt a perspective about the
aftermath of a court decision upon the defendants, the families, and their caseworkers.
John Veon
Disturbance of Wintering Waterfowl by Traffic Noise
Category: UR
Sponsor: Dr. Maureen McClung, Biology
Studies on the impact of noise from
human activity on the behavior of birds have not focused on waterfowl. John Veon
will research how things like traffic noise can affect rural areas that waterfowl
commonly use as a wintering habitat. His study could help fill in the gaps of knowledge
about how wildlife respond over a gradient of noise based on the amount of
food availability and habitat quality, becoming part of an effort to aid in the
development of new techniques for waterfowl conservation.
Sarah Walker
Teaching English in Gashora, Rwanda
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Peter Gess, Politics and
International Relations
The Gashora Girls Academy of Science
and Technology in Rwanda focuses on educating girls who have traditionally had fewer
educational opportunities than their male counterparts. Sarah Walker will intern
as an English teacher at the school, which will help her discern her career path
as she considers teaching English as a second language abroad.
Zachary Wilson
Faulkner County Juvenile Court Internship
Category: PL
Sponsor: Dr. Sara Taylor, Psychology
As in inter with the Faulkner County
Juvenile Court, Zachary Wilson will sit in on court hearings and help with its mentoring
program. He has a particular interest in adolescent psychology that will further
his understanding a juvenile’s self-perception both before and after committing
an offense, along with learning how to help juvenile delinquents get back on the
right path.
Dr. Rod Miller
Senior Art Major Trip to NYC 2017
Category: SP
Dr. Rod Miller will take senior art majors on a trip
to New York City to view works of art first-hand and to see how contemporary art
is displayed in galleries. The experience will help them consider how their own
artistic endeavors fit within the contemporary world. What they learn on the trip
will contribute to the students’ research projects, their Senior Presentations,
and their own artmaking.
Rev J.J. Whitney
A Pilgrimage to the Community of Taize
Category: SP
Rev. J.J. Whitney, chaplain of Hendrix
College, will lead a group of student on a pilgrimage to the monastic community
Taizé, France. They will experience spiritual formation, cultural engagement, service
work and vocational discernment in the ecumenical community led by Catholic and
Protestant brothers from 25 countries. This trip is also supported by the Chaplain’s
Fund.