Newsletter Archives - Page 10 of 11 - College Scholars Program

Alumni Profile – Cody Swallows

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

Alumni Profile – Cody Swallows

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Cody Swallows

Cody Swallows is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. As a College Scholar, Cody studied the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory with a special emphasis on anxiety and fear. Working in the behavioral neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Matthew Cooper, Cody and colleagues found activation of serotonin 2A receptors is necessary for acquisition of learned fear. Their findings were recently published in Behavioral Neuroscience. As part of his studies, Cody also coordinated with Cole Neuroscience on a clinical research project concerning dementia characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease. He studied under physicians Dr. John Dougherty and Dr. Monica Crane. Cody has continued research efforts in Memphis, spending the summer of 2012 in the Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Working under the mentorship of Dr. David Solecki in the Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Cody studied the molecular mechanisms of granule neuron migration. Granule neuron progenitors give rise to medulloblastomas, a collection of brain tumors that are together the second most common cancer in children. Cody found that several gene targets of ZEB1, a transcriptional repressor that is upregulated in many epithelial cancers, are repressed in granule neuron progenitors and actually represent novel markers of granule neuron differentiation. As the molecular biology of these cells is poorly understood, this is a crucial step toward a better understanding of medulloblastomas. Cody is currently reviewing malignant brain tumor resections at St. Jude in an effort to elucidate factors that determine patient outcomes. Cody currently plans to enroll in a medical research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2013 and begin a career in neurosurgery upon graduation in 2016.

In Memorium

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

In Memorium

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Harry C. Jacobson, July 13, 1931 – June 6, 2010

Harry C. Jacobson, who passed away on June 6, 2010, was the founding Director of College Scholars in 1973. Dr. Jacobson, who was Professor of Physics and Astronomy, earned the Ph.D. in theoretical physics at Yale University where he was a student of the distinguished theoretician and philosopher of science, Henry Margenau. In 1964 Physics Department Head Alvin Nielsen personally recruited Dr. Jacobson to add theoretical strength to the infrared spectroscopy program which at the time was the strongest area of departmental research. In addition to his outstanding research Dr. Jacobson immediately established himself as one of the finest teachers in the department in both introductory and upper division courses. He could be counted on to receive outstanding student ratings in any course he taught. Former Department Head Dr. William Bugg indicated that he could “unashamedly assign him to trouble spots in the curriculum where he invariably delivered quality results.”

In the 1970s, Dr. Jacobson became Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts, now Arts and Sciences, and the Director of College Scholars. Dennis Perkins, who was a College Scholar at the time, writes, “But what was wonderful and sweet about him was his constant excitement about books and ideas. He almost was bubbly when he asked us to read an article by Derek Bok, or when The Closing of the American Mind, and Habits of the Heart were published. He wanted us to take that kind of intellectual joy, too. He was always proud of the speakers he invited – their variety and the depth of their learning impressed him as a learner, I think, and whether we were listening to a lecture on cantilever barns or the Bhagavad Gita, he was equally excited about making us excited. Of course, he was the best listener.”

Dr. Jacobson was one of the founding fathers of the John XXIII University Parish Catholic Center. He was a member of the committee that drafted the proposal to the Diocese of Nashville to establish a University parish and to provide funds to construction of a Catholic center at UT. He was the first president of the parish council and was an active contributor to parish life throughout his time in Knoxville.

Alumni Profile – Dr. Priscilla Frase

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

Alumni Profile – Dr. Priscilla Frase

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Priscilla Frase graduated in August 1994 with a BA in College Scholars and a BS in Biology. For her College Scholars senior project she wrote a casebook entitled “Scientific Ethics for High School Students” which was published by the Institute for Chemical Education at the University of Wisconsin in 1997. Her project also resulted in a peer-reviewed article, L. M. Barden, P. A. Frase and J. Kovac, “Teaching Scientific Ethics: A Case Studies Approach,” American Biology Teacher, 59, 12 (1997). After a year working in a research lab at UT-Memphis she entered medical school, earning the M.D. in 2000. During her final year she won the Bland W. Cannon Award given to students who “demonstrate a high degree of respect, empathy, compassion and humanism for the patients on the part of the physician in addition to a high degree of scholarship.”

Following her residency in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, she accepted a position as a Hospitalist at Horizon Medical Center in Dickson, TN. In 2009 she married Thomas Glorioso. They reside in Nashville with a variety of pets.

Priscilla writes: “I am grateful for my days as a College Scholar, because it was during that part of my life that my experiences were the most diversified. I spent time reading classical literature, studying abroad, writing books, taking trips into the Smokies, mentoring others in the Liberal Arts advisory center, going to football games, visiting “The Strip” and basically getting the most out of everything UT had to offer me. . . I am grateful I was able to create a concentration that allowed me to complete my requirements for medical school while exploring other academic fields. I learned how to complete a complex task, my undergraduate thesis, if you like, and am very proud of the publication that resulted. “

Alumni Profile – Kelsey C. Roy

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

Alumni Profile – Kelsey C. Roy

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Kelsey Roy graduated in 2011 having completed a College Scholars program in “Children’s Book Narrative and Illustration.” Her senior project resulted in the children’s book Nemanee. She is currently working as a writer and illustrator and maintains a blog called Kelsey C. Roy Illustrations (http://kelcroyillustrations.blogspot.com)

I contacted Kelsey to ask for information for this newsletter and some reflections on her experience as a college scholar. Her comments are worth reprinting in full because they epitomize the College Scholars program.

I was always an unconventional student. I attended 3 different universities for my undergrad and studied everything from art to exercise science. On the side I was involved with competitive ballroom dance, choir, set painting, kayaking, caricaturing and writing/illustrating an original comic strip for the student paper. In short, I am someone with many passions, and they all seemed to point in different directions. This led me to be rather niche-less in the beginning of my collegiate career. I couldn’t find a major that “fit” me. There are so many times that I feel like students get stuck trying to “fit” a major. I refused to do that. Then, someone suggested College Scholars to me. And thus I found my solution.

Suddenly, (well not suddenly, the application took forever) I found myself surrounded by other people living niche-less college existences. It was a niche for the niche-less. In fact, we dubbed College Scholars the “Major of Requirement” in reference to Harry Potter’s “Room of Requirement”; it only appears when you need it. Meaning, those who need College Scholars find it. The program allowed me to finally put all of my vast number of interests and passions into one, coherent, exciting direction: Children’s Book Narrative and Illustration. Without CS, I would never have been able to graduate in four years. I would still be in school now instead of pitching my book to literary agents and signing contracts with publishers. College Scholars allowed me to get the education I needed and wanted as well as allowing me the opportunity to gain experience in the field I have chosen. Without this program and the help of faculty members who graciously made themselves, their knowledge and their resources available to me, I wouldn’t have published my first book before graduating college (before I was 23). In turn, publishing this book has allowed me the opportunity to speak both at local and out of state schools about my work and how UT’s College Scholars Program helped me get to where I am now, an author/illustrator. I am continuing to learn more and more about the children’s literature market and how the publishing world works, but I am miles ahead of so many others out there thanks to CS. I am currently illustrating my third book, The Banana Police, written by author Katy Koontz, to be published this November.

And as a final comment, it is important to me to say that I couldn’t have gotten to where I am without the support of my fellow scholars. I have much to owe to my mentor, Marcia Goldenstein, and the rest of my defense committee for all they have given me, but it is the scholars themselves who really made the program what it was for me. They inspired me, they teased me (after all, all I had to do was ‘draw pictures all day’), and they treated me as their over-scheduled, over-stressed, and over-achieving equal. No matter where my career may take me, reading my book aloud to them will always be one of my absolute favorite and most dear memories. I miss them.

Alumni Profile – Kevin Burdette

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

Alumni Profile – Kevin Burdette

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On the evening of March 23, 2012, my wife and I were in the audience at the George Mason University Center for the Arts in Fairfax, VA, to see the Virginia Opera production of The Mikado with College Scholars alumnus Kevin Burdette playing KoKo, the comic lead. As the review in the Washington Post said,

(It) was a rollicking funny, energetic and cheerful production. Much of the credit goes to bass Kevin Burdette . . . Burdette has a wonderfully resonant voice and splendid diction, but in this role his vocal talents were eclipsed by his acrobatic clowning and miming skills. He groveled, quivered and danced his way through the ever-more convoluted plot with exquisite abandon, bringing the whole cast along with him.

As a College Scholar, Kevin Burdette developed a program in Music and History with an emphasis on opera, culminating with a senior thesis entitled “Drawing Circles around Society: Societally Marginalized Groups and their Treatment within Opera.” He was accepted by both Columbia University Law School and The Juilliard School; Columbia was willing to defer his enrollment, so he went to Juilliard first, for its two-year masters program, ultimately splitting his two years up with a year as a young artist with the Opéra National de Paris. After a handful of years as a full-time opera singer, and after six years of deferral, he attended Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent Scholar and where his College Scholars thesis provided the seed for his major writing assignment, an article entitled “Intertext and Stereotypes in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: An Examination of the Dialogue over Law and Societal Change in Richard Wagner’s Music-Drama”. After earning his J.D., he passed the New York bar exam and began work at a Debevoise & Plimpton, a New York City-based law firm, all the while trying to juggle law practice with opera. Finally, after practicing for a few years, he resigned from his law firm to pursue singing full time, with great success. He has worked as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, Opéra de Montréal, New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and the Spoleto Festival USA, as well as with many regional opera companies and orchestras including Opéra de Québec, Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Virginia Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Toledo Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Lyric Opera of San Antonio, Nashville Symphony, Utah Symphony Orchestra, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

In 2011, Kevin married Natalia Lizette Cortez who is associate general counsel at Teach For America in New York. Kevin’s father, Dr. Edwin G. Burdette, is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Tennessee.

More information about Kevin Burdette can be found on his website http://www.kevinburdette.com. You can find his upcoming engagements on the website. If you have an opportunity to hear him sing, by all means take it.

Current Scholars – Paolo Vignali

September 3, 2012 by bharve20

Current Scholars – Paolo Vignali

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Paolo Vignali

Paolo Vignali represented the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the College Scholars Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) Program this summer. The POE program provides an invaluable translational, summer research experience for students preparing for careers in biomedical science, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, and public health. The primary goal of the program is to encourage students to pursue careers in cancer research. Paolo returned from the POE program motivated to take a wholehearted, new direction not only in his thesis, but also in his future career. At St. Jude, Paolo worked under Dr. Doug Green in the Department of Immunology, studying the effects of nutrient deprivation in cancer by mimicking the intratumoral hypoxic microenvironment. Cancer cells present with an altered metabolism of nutrients, most notably with an “addiction” to glucose
and glutamine. Cancer metabolism is becoming a topic of increased interest within cancer research because many studies have linked a tumor’s viability and metastatic potential to its extracellular microenvironment.

Paolo’s participation in the POE program has inspired him to write an academic review of cancer and chemotherapy. His thesis will investigate the history of chemotherapy, the mechanisms cellular transformation, and the current evolution of chemotherapeutic interventions to treat the “undruggable” cancers and to reduce the deleterious effects of current interventions. Most significantly, Paolo’s experience at St. Jude has motivated him to pursue an MD/PhD in oncology and immunology. Paolo looks forward to returning to St. Jude to participate in the POE Program in the summer of 2013.

Ensuring the Future

Alumni Profile – Cody Swallows

In Memorium

Alumni Profile – Dr. Priscilla Frase

Alumni Profile – Kelsey C. Roy

Alumni Profile – Kevin Burdette

Current Scholars – Olivia Jones

Current Scholars – Paolo Vignali

Current Scholars – Brianna Rader

Current Scholars – Marissa Landis