Join us For Paint Night!

With the shift from in-person to online classes, many extracurricular activities have been indefinitely postponed. However, the honors council has been dedicated to keeping the honors community going by holding virtual events. Last semester we enjoyed events like a Halloween-themed movie/Trivia Night and Origami Night. This semester, we will be kicking off with a Virtual Paint Night to be held on Friday, February 26 at 6 pm via Zoom. Come join us and paint a beautiful lighthouse aided by one of our brilliant council members!

You do not need any experience with art to participate neither do you need to have any painting equipment at home! Honors Students who would like to participate can fill out a google form that will be linked below to have a paint kit shipped to them at no cost. Honors students on campus will have the paint kits shipped to them on campus as well. The paint kits will include some exciting acrylic paints as well as a few canvas panels. If you are interested in joining us, please fill out the form below by Tuesday, February 9 to ensure your materials arrive on time.

https://forms.gle/BTSddiK8ijgsv7VZA

We hope to see you there!

Professor Alexander Menrisky: An Exciting Addition to the Honors College

It is no surprise that the growth of the Honors College has come with new dynamic professors that are bound to enrich the honors experience for students. Dr. Menrisky, a Professor fairly new to the university, is one of these exciting additions that has become a part of the honors fabric recently.

Professor Menrisky is a full-time English and Communications Professor within the English department. He teaches classes like ENL 101 and 102, and recently Hon 301. According to Professor Menrisky, being able to teach students who are willing to learn has made his stay at UmassD wholesome. But the Honors college brings a different kind of connection with students that he appreciates. The ability to engage with and mentor students on a personal level is one benefit of the honors college that he particularly enjoys.

Professor Menrisky specializes in American Literature, particularly those of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, in conjunction with environmental humanities. Environmental humanities addresses prominent and persistent environmental problems using questions about ethnicity, values, culture, ethics, and so on. His intrigue in environmental humanities has grown through his interests in the ideas of identity and how identity through stories mingles with the narratives of the environment.

His research has flourished into publications, and notably into a new book coming out soon, published by Cambridge University Press. This book examines late 1960’s environmentalists who borrowed rhetoric from social movements organized along the lines of race, gender, and so on, thereby reducing these movements to identity politics rather than scientific philosophies. The book also examines the role that literature played in these reductions, and how the actions of these environmentalists have shaped present-day mainstream American Environmentalism.

His next book project is titled “Everyday Ecofascism: Contemporary Narratives of Climate and Consumption” which focuses on how explicit and casual expressions of American Ecofascism or anti-Native and anti-immigrant environmentalism have been brought on by American consumption be it food, drugs, or commodities.

Come next semester, Professor Menrisky will be teaching a new Honors 200 course, Hon 202-01B, a class that will be dealing with Environmental racism and Justice. Because the course is multidisciplinary, students will learn how to identify environmental racism in their different majors or concentrations and learn how they can implicitly and explicitly impact such racism and inspire justice.

Students will also be able to explore how racial issues like gentrification has pushed minority groups into paths of environmental harm. There will be an opportunity to examine this issue up close via the Acushnet river that has been contaminated by the dumping of a toxic chemical called Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) during the mid-20th century.

The homes near this river are occupied by minority groups who are there probably as a result of environmental racism. They are, therefore, disproportionally exposed to these toxins that can

lead to health complications such as cancer. Though the class will be held online next semester, Professor Menrisky hopes to create an engaging and stimulating environment for all students who participate.

We are grateful to have Professor Menrisky here as an integral part of UmassD and the Honors College.

Written By: Busola Awobode

Student Advisors: The New Assets to the Honors College

The conversion of the Honors program to the Honors college has come with some changes, one being new and dedicated student advisors. These advisors are here specifically to assist honors students with potential advising needs as the student numbers grow and the college expands. New to the college are Suzanne Melloni, The Director of Student Support Services and Kristin Kadlec, The Assistant Director who, since the beginning of this semester have served as advisors for students within the honors college.

Though they are new to the Honors college, Suzanne and Kristin have long been a part of the UMassD fabric. They are both UMassD alums and have worked with the university for some time as advisors, with Kristin coming up on five years here and Suzanne recently celebrating twenty-five years with the university. As student advisors they both endeavor to cater to the needs of each student. For Suzanne, advising is vital, and being an advisor at UMassD is particularly rewarding because she has the opportunity to help students at her alma matter. “It does the soul good to know that you are helping fellow corsairs reach their goals”, She says. She and Kristin are happy to be working with the honors students and are looking forward to many semesters with the college.

The role of these new advisors is not to replace the academic advisors assigned to each student by their department or college. Instead Suzanne and Kristin work with each student as well as their academic advisor to create a schedule for the student that caters to both their major requirements and their honors requirements comfortably. They also attend to honors specific advising issues such as choosing an Honors 200 class or Honorizing contracts that are required for Honorizing a class.

Aside from advising help, they act as tour guides for students, helping them navigate problems such as how to remove advising holds, and answering general questions about the completion of their program. They also hold workshops for the students throughout the semester. This semester, these workshops have focused primarily on getting the first-year students acclimated with university particularly because of the drastic shift in teaching modes. In these workshops, students are free to ask questions or engage in open discussion about concerns they may have regarding their schoolwork. However, upcoming workshops will also target sophomores and upperclassmen, and all students are encouraged to attend. Workshops for all students include guides to Honorizing courses, stress and anxiety workshops that will be held in conjunction with the university’s Counseling center for stress and anxiety, and Resume writing that will be held in conjunction with the University’s career center. Additionally, students can request to meet with them one-on-one to discuss honors specific or general problems that might be plaguing them in regard to their academics.

So, if you are a freshman struggling to adjust, a sophomore looking for an honors class to fit your schedule or an upperclassman trying to complete your honors requirements do not hesitate to contact either Suzanne Melloni (smelloni@umassd.edu) or Kristin Kadlec (kkadlec@umassd.edu) to schedule an appointment. Their contact information is also posted on the Honors College webpage and they offer help over Email as well as Phone or Zoom so that each student can opt for whichever they find more comfortable.

Take advantage of the opportunity uniquely provided you as a distinguished member of the Honors College here at The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

Written By: Busola Awobode

Welcome to the Newly Formed Honors Blog!

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the newly formed Honors Council Blog! It is with great honor that I share the Honors Newspaper has become virtual. Throughout the semester, our team will create content about the research our wonderful students are completing, introduce you to various Honors faculty, and even highlight some of the events the Honors Council helps to put on for everyone. 

Having been completely uprooted after Spring Break, the Spring 2020 newsletter was, unfortunately, never published. We hope that through this blog we can help shine a spotlight on all of the wonderful events each honors member is taking advantage of!

Traditionally, each newsletter begins with a Director’s welcome, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brianna Johnson, a senior Data Science Student. I first began my Honors journey four years ago and quickly found myself applying to be the Associate Student Director as a Freshmen. Although my tenure as Director is almost finished, I can’t help but reflect on all of the changes and opportunities that have been created throughout my time on the Honors Council. 

Between the countless Game Nights, Paint Nights, and our famous Six Flags Trips, I have been able to meet so many of our amazing students and connect with individuals who I may have otherwise never crossed paths with. The biggest change, however, has been with the conversion of the Honors Program to an Honors College. This change has created so many more opportunities that I know will only continue to grow after my time here on campus. My hope is that through this blog, and the many other wonderful events our faculty and Honors Council are creating, everyone in the Honors College will find areas of collaboration and inspiration!

Please feel free to browse through this blog, share with friends, or even send your own submission ideas to umassdhonors@gmail.com! If you would like to help out in creating content on this blog, please feel free to reach out or drop by an Honors Council meeting, which is every Tuesday night at 6pm. I sincerely hope that you enjoy viewing all of the opportunities available as an honors student and find your contributions being included throughout your time at UMass Dartmouth!

Sincerely,

Brianna Johnson

Student Director