University of Michigan-Flint Spring 2013

In This IssueFive Win Maize and Blue!

Dr. Thum Wins Teaching Aw ard

Interview w / Marianne McGrath

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Five Honors Maizeand Blue Winners!

Dear Students, Colleagues, andAlumni;

Welcome to our first issue of the Honors Discovery Newsletter.Whether in print or electronic format, we will do our best tobring you timely information about the Honors Program, itsstudents, and alumni. We hope you enjoy this inaugural issue,and we welcome story ideas and feedback.

Sincerely,Laura L. StaudacherAdministrative SpecialistUniversity Honors Program

Dr. Thum Wins DistinguishedProfessor AwardBy Vera Anderson

The Dr. Matthew Hilton-Watson Distinguished Professor Awardis presented to one outstanding faculty member who hascontributed significantly to their students through individualteaching style and attitude toward teaching. The criteria are asfollows: good lecturer, must keep the students interested, mustbe academically active and student friendly, encouragestudents to learn and ask questions, and is willing andavailable to help.

Dr. Thum accepted the Distinguished Professor Award withgreat humility, noting that Matt had been a good friend as wellas an esteemed colleague. "It was a great honor for me toaccept an award named after Matt. He was beloved by hisstudents. We team-taught Honors 156 for about sevenyears. He and I co-wrote an article on a French Canadian

By Miyako Jones Five Honors students wereawarded the Maize and BlueDistinguished Scholar Awardthis Spring, which is the highestacademic award available tograduating seniors. JoshuaConnelly will begin his MBA inthe Fall while Alison Martin andZachary Murphy will be startingdoctoral programs in PhysicalTherapy and Philosophyrespectively. Caitlin McCarthyand Kelsey McMahan intend togain valuable life experiencebefore starting their programs inMedicine and Education. Their ambitions do not endthere. In five years, Kelsey andZachary hope to be educators;Alison and Caitlin would like tobe helping others as medicalprofessionals; and Joshuaintends to be successful in thefield of marketing. These students will be takingaway a variety of memorableexperiences, from broadenedhorizons to lasting friendships.Kelsey's most memorableHonors Program experience isrelated to her off-campus study.She "grew immensely" and"learned from every moment"while living and working inAustralia. It is an experiencethat she is very grateful to havehad. Alison also had a wonderfulexperience interning for twomonths at the Harkness Centerfor Dance Injuries in New YorkCity where she was able toobserve and participate inathletic training and physicaltherapy services. The graduates greatlyappreciate the personalattention and guidance that theywere given as members of theHonors Program. Caitlin fondlyremembers the exuberant phonecall she received from Dr. Thumupon her acceptance and states

author (Gabrielle Roy); it was agreat experience. He was agreat loss to all of us when hedied suddenly at a very youngage. In accepting the award, Ifelt that I was honoring awonderful friend whose energy,life and spirit changed us all." Dr. Hilton-Watson (known toone and all as "Dr. Matt")taught French and Spanishand specialized in FrenchCanadian literature. He playedan important role in theInternational Global StudiesProgram and joined Dr. Thum

in accompanying the Honors students on an unforgettable tripto Montreal. Dr. Thum, has been teaching at UM-Flint for over 30 yearsworking in the English Department and leading her students tounderstand the approach and organization to investigating andwriting formal research papers. She is known for her ability tomotivate her students to understand the structure of anyresearch project, encouraging them to analyze an intellectualquestion and to clearly and logically express themselves. After receiving her appointment as Director of the HonorsProgram, student attendance in the program climbed to 200students, all of whom go on to make significant contributions intheir fields. All of the UM-Flint Honors students get published;many present papers at conferences and symposiums and/orget published in relevant periodicals. To date, 100% of Honorsgraduates applying to medical, professional, and graduateschools have been accepted. Dr. Thum works closely with each student as they select anoff-campus project (usually abroad), choose a mentor, and helpidentify and confirm travel and living arrangements. The Off-campus study project has frequently involved the Honorsstudents in cutting edge research projects, which have resultedin incredible papers and an exceptional resume long beforegraduation. This is an outstanding record for any honors program at aninstitution of any size. For a small regional campus, it isphenomenal. What makes it the outstanding program that it is?The answer is simple; Dr. Maureen Thum and her dedication toher students. There is no doubt she exemplifies all qualitiesrepresented by this special award. Dr. Thum modestly references the works of her good friend Dr.Matthew Hilton-Watson when discussing her recent award, butthe record shows that she has met and exceeds each of thecriteria necessary to be considered for selection.

Kenya, Daniel Tucker

New York, New York, Alison Martin

that the program "fostered greatrelationships" between herselfand professors that have givenher "great mentors, greatconnections, advice, and greatreferences" for furthering hercareer and education. Thissense of community has had asignificant impact on their lives. These students also appreciatethe special opportunitiesavailable to Honors studentssuch as presenting at colloquiaand extensive help withgraduate school preparation andbelieve that these things havegiven them an edge over othergraduate school applicants.

Congratulations to our Spring2013 Maize and Blue graduatesand good luck with all of yourfuture endeavors!

Off-Campus Photos

Listening to Dr. Thum talk about Dr. Matt and what this awardrepresents, it quickly becomes obvious that Dr. Matt waspassionate about teaching and about his support andinvolvement in the Honors Program. No doubt he would havestrongly approved of this year's recipient of the award named inhis honor.

Dr. Marianne McGrathProfessor of Psychology/Honors Advisor By Vera Anderson

Honors council representative andstudent mentor, Dr. MarianneMcGrath, is an example of whyUniversity of Michigan-FlintHonors Program graduatesare among the most successful inthe country. Marianne is a leadingmember of the PsychologyDepartment with over 20 years ofoutstanding service on ourcampus. Though she grew up inthe Chicago area, she is

University of Michigan to her core. She and her family live inAnn Arbor, but she is fiercely loyal to the Flint campus and herstudents. As a teacher and researcher, Marianne's interests are centeredon gender and age differences in empathy and pro-socialbehavior, especially as it relates to people comforting others,particularly the "nature versus nurture" aspects. She hasconducted original research with children (7 to 10 years of age)to discover if specific parenting styles employed by the motherpositively or adversely affect the development of empathy andcaring in their children. Dr. McGrath currently teaches three in-depth Psychologycourses that address the needs of the Honors students. Herenthusiastic support of the program led her to the HonorsCouncil. The Honors Council assists the Honors ProgramDirector in policy development, curriculum approval, andapproval of student off-campus study proposals. The Councilmeets monthly during fall and winter semesters. One aspect of Marianne's participation in the Honors Programthat she finds most rewarding is supervising the Honors thesisin Psychology. Dr. McGrath described three specific projectsas examples of the quality of research and excellence in thework produced by the students of our Honors Program. One Honors thesis involved an in-depth examination of theeffects of media graphic violence on children's aggressivethoughts and behavior. The student, Haneen Afaneh, carefullycompared and contrasted key theories (desensitization, sociallearning), explained how brain function is affected by watching

France, Emily Krueger

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violence, and concluded her thesis by highlighting interventionsfor children who have been exposed to aggression andviolence. Another Honors thesis proposal and off campus experienceinvolved Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) for use in specialpopulations, such as people diagnosed with schizophrenia.Hilary Long is currently at the University of Texas HealthScience Center researching CAT alongside her mentor, Dr.Natalie Maples. CAT is part of a broad treatment approachdesigned to help people with mental illness to improve functionin everyday settings. CAT enables people to successfullynavigate 'real-life' settings in the community and to reducehospitalization. A final example of dedication and persistence is the proposalcurrently being revised by Amelia Fonger. Amelia is interestedin Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism. At first, her interestsfocused on the effects of video game use and attention deficitdisorder. At present, partly as a result of her summerinternship, she has broadened her interests to include childrenon the autism spectrum. "I look forward to seeing how thisstudent weaves her interests into an interesting and importantthesis." Dr. McGrath sees her primary role as Honors advisor andmentor as someone who carefully listens to the student, learnsabout their interests, and assists them in their search forclassic theory and research, and cutting-edge work in the field.Dr. Marianne McGrath is an outstanding example of thesupport our research and teaching faculty give the HonorsProgram students. Thanks in large part to our faculty and theirefforts; the UM-Flint Honors Program has become one of thepremier honors programs in Michigan.

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