Student Scholar Spotlight – Sophia Milen

June 28, 2024 by artsciweb

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sophia Milen

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Sophia Milen

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

Sophia Milen

My program of study is “Social Media and Political Science.” When I was graduating high school, one of the questionnaires that my school asked me to fill out was titled “Your Future.” The final question asked me: What is your dream job? I remember sitting in my English class staring at this question. After some time, I wrote down “Social Media Specialist in the White House Office.”

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the intersection of social media and politics has fascinated me. I was destined for a Model UN conference in high school, only for it to be delayed for a week due to a sickness, then for it to be postponed until further notice due to an epidemic, and finally canceled, due to a pandemic. Guess how I found out that it was canceled? Through an Instagram post, published by the host organization.

Then, for the following eight months, I was pushed to learn online, communicate online, and watch politics online. In becoming intimate with the political landscape on social media, I saw that these two were inextricably connected and were begging to be understood. Thus, with the ever-increasing number of people online combined with the rising percentage of politically active citizens, I knew I had to studythis combination of subjects.

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sarah Lange

June 28, 2024 by artsciweb

Student Scholar Spotlight – Sarah Lange

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Student Scholar Spotlight – Sarah Lange

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

Sarah Lange

After witnessing a pressing need for addiction advocacy while scribing in rural emergency rooms around Knoxville, I created the “Addiction and Behavioral Neuroscience” major through the College Scholars Program. I noticed that, despite the opioid crisis disproportionately affecting East Tennesseans, stigmas prevailed in our region that discouraged at-risk individuals from seeking care. Determined to address this health disparity, I now study the biological and socioeconomic basis of addiction and its best course of treatment, combining sociology, genetics, biochemistry, philosophy, neuroscience, and public health courses to evaluate how we can treat addiction not only at an individual level, but as an entire system.

My program examines the therapeutic and pharmaceutical strategies for addiction treatment with a complex understanding of an addiction’s behavioral and neurobiological effects on the brain. My effort to merge scientific with psychological and philosophical perspectives focuses on treating patients as people rather than diseases. My effort to apply scientific coursework to community initiatives highlights my holistic approach to healthcare and underscores my humanist perspective on patient care.

The Universal Language

June 27, 2024 by artsciweb

The Universal Language

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The Universal Language

Mark Twain said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. If so, that might explain how two musically inclined college scholars more than a decade apart ended up collaborating on a cultural diplomacy project in Colombia.

Jay Raman (’97) and Anne Buckle (’11) only met a few years ago, but they followed strikingly similar paths. As college scholars, they both designed programs blending international relations with music and spent semesters abroad in Europe. Raman continued his studies at Harvard Law School, while Buckle pursued a master’s degree in arts advocacy from Harvard’s School of Education.

Raman joined the Foreign Service after two years as a lawyer. His work has focused on cultural exchange, including programs that bring US artists overseas to engage with foreign audiences.

Buckle was a two-time State Department intern, and she came very close to joining the diplomatic corps herself before opting to move to Nashville to pursue a career in music

These parallel paths finally intersected when Raman came across an article about Buckle in the w magazine that described her Three Chords project, which helps young refugees express themselves through music. Raman was posted to the US Embassy in Colombia, a country that is still emerging from decades of internal conflict. When Raman learned about Buckle’s work with vulnerable communities, he reached out to see if she might be willing to share her talents with Colombian youth.

She immediately agreed and was matched with the embassy’s Youth Ambassadors program, which provides skills training to young social leaders from under-served populations.

One afternoon, Buckle logged onto a Zoom platform with 18 Youth Ambassadors and two mentors. After a brief icebreaking session, they began to write. Over the course of three hours, she coaxed them into expressing thoughts and ideas that slowly coalesced into music. By the end of the session, they had written a brand-new song from start to finish, emphasizing their role as global changemakers.

Buckle’s method opens up a world of possibilities for cultural exchange. Instead of just performing for an audience, she engages with them to help them discover something new and original. This is an incredible resource for diplomats like Raman, who work to communicate US culture and values to foreign audiences.

Another great American writer, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote that “Music is the universal language of mankind.” Buckle and Raman’s project shows that music isn’t just a way to communicate. It is also one of the most effective tools we have to build cross-cultural understanding.