Young Alumni Spotlight – Maya Bian

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Young Alumni Spotlight – Maya Bian

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Young Alumni Spotlight – Maya Bian

Understanding Care in Non-traditional Settings

Maya Bian (’20) graduated from UT and the College Scholars Program in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Five months before then, she had been in China conducting ethnographic research for her senior project. Bian’s research, generously supported by endowments to the College Scholars Program, had been concerned with the experiences of elderly residents living in the long-term care facility her grandfather lives in. How were meanings of care shaped, articulated, and practiced within such a non-traditional institutional care setting in China?

“The influence of College Scholars on the formation of this question and the interdisciplinary design of my research was substantial.”

“The influence of College Scholars on the formation of this question and the interdisciplinary design of my research was substantial,” Bian said. “I was seeking to understand how the interaction of Chinese philosophical thought and China’s socioeconomic and political context played out in the arena of care and well-being.”

Her project, as personal as it had been academic, was rewarding and illuminating, and she continues to build upon her work as a College Scholar in her current master’s program. Bian just started her second year as a Yenching Scholar at Peking University—which has been entirely online due to the pandemic—where she studies China studies with a research focus on eldercare and care work.

“This next year, I will be focused on writing my master’s thesis, where I hope to explore the efficacy of state attempts to regulate what it means to care through the law and official discourse,” Bian said. “Upon graduating from the Yenching Academy, I plan to work in a caregiving capacity to ground my academic experiences with a greater empathy for and understanding of the labor of care, which seems particularly

Eventually, Bian would like to return to school for an MD and/or a PhD in medical anthropology.

“I pursue this path with immense gratitude for the College Scholars Program, not only because the program encouraged and supported me in pursuing the varied interests that have led me to where I am now, but also because it taught me that doing so will make me a better student, researcher, and community member.”

Student Scholar Spotlight – Zoe Ward

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Zoe Ward

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Zoe Ward

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Zoe Ward

I was awarded the Gilman Scholarship which is a national scholarship for undergraduate students to intern or study abroad. The scholarship expands access to foreign study by supporting students who might not otherwise be able to participate due to financial constraints. Gilman scholarships are typically awarded to low-income and first-generation students often from less advantaged regions who present academic achievement and rigor.

I have not been able to study abroad with my Gilman Scholarship just yet because of travel restrictions during COVID-19, but I have deferred my program to summer 2022. I plan to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to study global health and development policy with the School for International Training (SIT). The program provides me the opportunity to study in the world capital of public health and sustainable development organizations. With the program, I will meet with experts from international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and UNAIDS. I plan to use the connections and experiences that I gain from this program to further my research for my senior project on effective governmental policies to combat infectious disease outbreaks.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sebastian Van Horn

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sebastian Van Horn

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Sebastian Van Horn

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sebastian Van Horn

This summer, I took a job with the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. Out of nine shows that ran throughout the season, I worked on three out of four Shakespeare productions: Pericles, Richard III, and Comedy of Errors. My job backstage was wardrobe, which can be defined as a crew meant to carry out the vision of the costume designer. I maintained the costumes, repaired any notes, and executed quick changes – costume changes that can happen in as little as 30 seconds.

This summer was beneficial because, while I have worked on more than 10 productions within the past two years, I have not branched outside of Knoxville and the local theatrical scene. My time in Utah presented me with the challenges of stepping outside of my comfort zone (notably a solo drive across the country), working with a new theatre, and collaborating with a conglomerate of new people. I spent a lot of time alone while I relearned how to do a job that stopped during the pandemic, but I also made plenty of new friends and memories that I will cherish for the rest of my career.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Konrad Szymanowski

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Konrad Szymanowski

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Konrad Szymanowski

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Konrad Szymanowski

I am a junior in the College Scholars program, and I focus on international and cross-cultural sociolinguistics. This past April, I participated in the 25th annual EURēCA event hosted at UT, submitting a research project titled: “What’s the Price of Nuclear Energy? Negotiations of the Chernobyl Disaster in German Literature and Culture in the Late 1980s.” Under the guidance of my German mentor, Professor Stefanie Ohnesorg, I submitted my project to the College of Arts and Sciences, Humanities category, creating a detailed poster and presenting my research to several faculty mentors (over Zoom, of course). My research entailed literary and cultural analysis of two German narrative texts written in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of 1986, in which I discussed the main themes relating to: the consequences of uncontrolled nuclear energy, government mismanagement and irresponsibility, and collective public culpability for disasters. I argued about the importance of situating the German sociopolitical context of the Cold War by focusing on German texts; why Chernobyl in particular aroused intense public debate in Germany about nuclear energy and responsibility; and the striking ability of literature and media to provoke important discussions about moral and ethical dilemmas and issues. Ultimately, I was awarded for my research and presentation, receiving an Award of Excellence in the Humanities category, as well as an OURF Gold award.

While this particular subject of research lies outside the direct scope of my academic interest, studying firsthand the power of situatedness, the influence of literature and popular media, and the specific German context of these narratives provided me with a deeper insight into how I will approach my final senior undergraduate thesis. I intend to research the sociopolitical situation of linguistic minorities in Europe, in particular Germany, and the relevance of historical literature surrounding this topic will play a fundamental role in my thesis. My experience at EURēCA has provided me with a more dedicated, focused sense of what I can accomplish through motivation and attention to detail, and I look forward to stepping into the more professional world of research in my near future!

Student Scholar Spotlight – Emily Pope

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Emily Pope

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Emily Pope

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Emily Pope

In spring 2021, I was invited to the virtual National Council on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) conference. This honor included creating a poster, a small speech, and gathering resources to share concerning a play I wrote in summer 2020 called Callaway. The conference itself included hundreds of college students from around the nation in dozens of different fields of study, and I feel proud to have been selected to represent the UT College Scholars among this advanced cohort of students.

During this process, I was able to network with students from fields vastly different from my own, and I found that our projects often had more in common than I would have thought at first. The NCUR conference also gave me the confidence I needed to continue pursuing my production of Callaway as my senior thesis project. The questions my peers asked of me led me to reflect on obstacles in my project, and the interest they expressed showed me that my project was worth continuing.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Hannah Morris

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Hannah Morris

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Hannah Morris

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Hannah Morris

This summer I worked as a teaching fellow for Breakthrough Collaborative, a national leader in education equity that provides empowering educational experiences for traditionally underrepresented students on their path to college. It is also an AmeriCorps program. Breakthrough admits students in middle school and partners with them until they graduate from college. I specifically served as a teacher in the academic summer program. I taught an interdisciplinary course that focused on identity, diversity, justice, and action. I worked with my students to identify a community issue they were passionate about and create an action plan for seeking justice. I also was the head of the Community Novel Committee. This role includes leading a committee that implemented a program-wide reading curriculum. We read Punching the Air by Yusef Salaam, who is one of the Exonerated Five.

Serving with Breakthrough Collaborative was an incredibly valuable learning experience that aligned perfectly with my program. The goal of my program is to combine an understanding of policy with an understanding of childhood education. By teaching with Breakthrough, I was able to get hands on experience in the field of education, but I was also exposed to the nuance of educational policy in particular. I developed important teaching skills, classroom management techniques, educational advocacy, and more. My experience at Breakthrough furthered my desire to pursue educational equity.

I am also working towards educational equity in the Knoxville community. In spring 2021, I started as an intern with the high school program at Thrive Lonsdale, which serves 9th-12th grade students in the Lonsdale neighborhood. In this role, I provide academic support, mentoring, and tutoring to traditionally underrepresented students. Further, this semester, I am helping launch a college preparation program that starts in ninth grade and works with students through the college application and acceptance process.

Working at Thrive was the first place I realized that I was passionate about educational equity, and that passion has been solidified the more than I have gotten involved with the organization. It was working here that first encouraged me to pursue an interdisciplinary major through College Scholars, and in my experience at Thrive, I learned the power of both intervention and prevention in the pursuit of educational equity. Working in the Lonsdale community has also demonstrated the impact of environmental factors on education, such as access to nutritious foods or safe play spaces.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sherry Ludington

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sherry Ludington

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Sherry Ludington

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sherry Ludington

As a senior in the College Scholars program, I took full advantage of the internships and opportunities available to me this past summer. My efforts to become a documentary filmmaker have led me to two conclusions: first I need to be a good storyteller, second, I need to know how to do it all: filming, editing, lighting, audio, etc. I accepted an internship with UT in the communications marketing department creating videos to “tell the stories” of students while promoting the various clubs and organizations they participated in. I also had the opportunity to help host a group of journalist students and their professors from Serbia…I am working on a documentary of their trip and will be traveling to their country in December. Additionally, I worked with the university’s TVC commercial production unit along with Clinton Elmore filming plays and creating training videos. What many do not realize is the vast amount of professional video equipment acquired by the university over the past two years is astounding. As a result, I now feel confident about my skills and abilities to create content in the film industry as I arrive to the finish line of my College Scholars journey.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Diego Lourenco

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Diego Lourenco

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Diego Lourenco

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Diego Lourenco

I recently became a Peer Coach for UT’s brand new First Year Studies Program, the UT Success Academy, which was started due to the lack of retention in our Black and Latinx male populations. According to the university’s retention data, Black and Latinx males are far less likely to receive a degree, in comparison to their peers. The UT Success Academy is designed to help increase retention, from when students first get to campus, all the way through to graduation. First year students who are a part of this program must engage in activities that, according to data, a “successful student” does. For example, attending tutoring/supplemental instruction sessions, joining a student organization, meeting with academic advisors, creating an academic success plan, and more. If by their senior year of college, they remain in good standing with the program, on top of their renewable scholarship, they will earn an all-expenses-paid, study abroad experience in South Africa. The first cohort size is 215 students, and the goal for next year is 200+. We want to keep expanding the program every single year and continue to help students with their transition into college life.

The role of the Peer Coach is to mentor, advise, and help with the college transition into a primarily white institution for these incoming minority students. I have a group of eight freshmen students that I advise. A few of my responsibilities include hosting events for my mentees to attend, co-facilitating a First Year Studies class, helping the students to make sure they’re meeting their goals and staying on track with the program. Since I’ve become a Peer Coach, I’ve gotten to meet and know so many different freshmen students and learn about their lives. Seeing incoming freshmen come to the university and being able to help them with their transition into college is an amazing experience for me; especially considering how difficult it is to make that transition as a minority student at UT. I wish there was a program like this when I was a freshman at the university. Overall, my goal is to have a positive impact on these students and ensure their time at UT is worth it. Already, only full two weeks into the semester, students have come to me expressing their concerns about college, their fear of failure, and their thoughts on leaving. Our goal is to make sure students are staying in college, and to make Rocky Top feel like home. That’s exactly what I plan to do in my role as a Peer Coach.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Thais Lloyd

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Thais Lloyd

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Thais Lloyd

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Thais Lloyd

Hello all! During the spring 2021 semester, I took time off from school to re-center and refocus myself, and luckily, I was able to do just that! I submitted a proposal for my first ever solo exhibit through Gallery 1010 in downtown Knoxville. It was accepted and my exhibit, Men Say Things to Me, was on display September 17-19, 2021.

The idea of the exhibit was to show people how female-presenting folks experience sexism in everyday interactions, from someone commenting on their clothing to saying that childbearing people are failing if they do not have more than two offspring. This fits perfectly into my program, titled “Women in Art with an Emphasis on the United States,” because it brings together all aspects of my studies into one experience. I designed my program to help me curate, execute, and paint exhibits that focus on true representation of the female-presenting form, and this exhibit does just that.

With the help of my family, I cleared out our back shed and converted it into a painting studio so I could work on the 12 pieces included in the exhibit. Originally, I requested my exhibit to be in November so that I would have more time to execute each piece, but it was slotted for mid-September, so I have really had to learn how to appropriately budget my time and finances in order to make sure that I am going to be able to meet my deadline. Even though at the time of this writing, the exhibit is yet to happen, I have already learned so much about what goes into curating an exhibit and what it means to make a collection of works that flow together and are impactful to the viewer.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Ashley Leininger

September 29, 2021 by bharve20

Student Scholar Spotlight – Ashley Leininger

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Ashley Leininger

Featured student work during their time as a college scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ashley Leininger

I was an intern this past summer at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. My job was a keeper assistant, so I essentially followed the keepers around their shifts to learn and to help. I got to do many exciting things such as training, shifting animals (moving animals from one enclosure to another), creating enrichment for animals, and giving keeper talks. One of my favorite things was getting to learn each animal’s personality as well as their care routine. It was an absolutely amazing experience.