Texas Tech Honors College

Topic: “On the Road with Diderot”

Under  financial strain, Denis Diderot decided to sell his library. When Catherine  II, Empress of Russia, learned of Diderot’s financial woes, she purchased the  library and requested that the books be kept in Paris until she needed them.  The Empress also requested that Diderot act as the library’s caretaker and  provided him with a yearly salary. Obligated by her kindnesses to visit  Catherine, Diderot traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1773 where he stayed  five months in the Empress’s palace.

Join us  for Professor Robert Zaretsky’s discussion on the reasons for Denis Diderot’s  trip to Russia and the impressions he took away from the visit five months  later.

 Biography  Robert Zaretsky is professor of world  cultures and civilizations in the Honors College and Department of Modern and  Classical Languages at the University of Houston. He has a BA in philosophy  from McGill University and a PhD in history from the University of Virginia. He  is the author or co-author of several books, including Nîmes at War:  Religion, Politics and Public Opinion in the Gard (Penn State 1995), Cock and  Bull Stories: Folco de Baroncelli and the Invention of the Camargue (Nebraska  2003), The Philosophers’ Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume and the Limits of Human  Understanding (Yale 2005); France and its Empire Since 1870 (Oxford, 2010),  Albert Camus: Elements to a Life (Cornell 2011); A Life Worth Living: Albert  Camus and the Quest for Meaning (Harvard 2013); and Boswell’s Enlightenment  (Harvard 2015). He is now writing a book, contracted by Harvard University  Press, on the remarkable visit made by the French philosophe Denis Diderot to  Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773. He lives in Houston with his wife  Julie, their children Ruben and Louisa, their dog Rosie and cats Misumi and  Zeus, and a half-dozen soon to arrive bantam chickens.

 Join us for lunch and a lively discussion proudly provided by the Texas Tech  University Honors College.

 Friday Lunch Discussion  Southwest Study  Lounge  Horn/Knapp  12:00 – 1:00 PM

The Honors Tutoring Corps is a service established by Dean San Francisco to provide tutoring services to Honors  College students who may need additional assistance.  Students requesting academic assistance communicate directly with their assigned tutor as to a time and location convenient for both tutor and student.

The subjects we currently have tutors for are:

Finance

Accounting

Business Calculus

Biology

Chemistry

Spanish

Fluid Mechanics

Solids

Numerical Methods

Dynamics

Circuits

Peace Corps Prep:

Focus on Women’s Health and Security

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Annette Sobel and Dr. Charlotte Dunham, Texas Tech University now offers Peace Corps Prep, a 15-hour certificate program housed in the Women’s Studies Program. The certificate is designed for undergraduate students who are planning to join the Peace Corps after college.

The course work includes:•    Courses in social sciences (anthropology, sociology, or political science)

•    Language courses

•    Courses that specifically cover the student’s area of emphasis: education, agriculture, health, or technology.

•    A one-month service learning project in an emerging nation

For more information, visit:

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/peacecorpsprep/index.php

http://www.peacecorps.gov/about/

About the Speaker

Dr. Charlotte Dunham is the Director of Women’s Studies and Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas Tech University. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in 1989. Her research focuses on the challenges faced by women providing dementia care to a close family member while employed in the labor force, which was supported by a grant from the Texas Work and Family Clearing House. She was a co-PI on a NSF ADVANCE-PAID grant, studying challenges faced by women faculty in STEM disciplines. Her most recent publication, “I just need someone who will teach me the ropes” focuses on the mentoring needs of women in STEM. Her most recent research is focusing on the well-being of older adults caring for orphaned children in the Cape Region of South Africa.

Join us for lunch and lively discussion proudly provided by the Texas Tech University Honors College.

Friday Lunch Discussion

Southwest Study Lounge

Horn/Knapp

If you love to read and to discuss what you read in an informal setting with other students, the Honors Book Club is the perfect place for you, and we would love to have you join us this fall.  We’ll read one book each month in September, October, and November (and possibly one short story in December), and will meet twice each month on Tuesday afternoons from 4:00-5:00pm in the Knapp Hall Southwest Lounge.  (The Honors College purchases copies of each month’s book for attending members.)  If you can make our meetings at the stated time, please email

[email protected]

to join, and feel free to visit our

Book Club webpage

to review a list of books we’ve read throughout the past six years.

Here’s a preview of our fall line-up:

• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

• Castle Rackrent, Maria Edgeworth

• Getting to Grey Owl, Kurt Caswell (Honors professor and resident creative writer!)

And here’s a list of our fall meeting dates:

• Tuesday, September 8

• Tuesday, September 22

• Tuesday, October 6

• Tuesday, October 20

• Tuesday, November 3

• Tuesday, November 17

What do gringos eating babies have to do with Michael Rockefeller?

School is back in session and we’re starting off this semester’s first Friday Lunch Discussion with one of our very own, Dr. Gary Elbow. A professor of Honors and Geography and former Associate Vice Provost, Dr. Gary Elbow, has been at Texas Tech University since September of 1970. Dr. Elbow has long been involved with the Honors College, having taught Honors courses since the early 1980s.

Dr. Elbow has led a fascinating life and traveled abroad extensively. He was born in San Francisco, California, but grew up in Tillamook, a small town in Oregon. He finished his B.S. in General Science at Oregon State College, went on to attain his M.A. at the University of Oregon in Geography, and finished his education at the University of Pittsburgh where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Geography. He lived in Guatemala for two years while working in the United States foreign aid program (USAID) and collecting data for his dissertation. He has as traveled to most Latin American countries, living in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.

Additional Reading:

G. Elbow, Do Gringos Eat Babies: Or A Geographer’s Adventures with Mayan Folklore

(PDF)

Thomas H. Johnson, Cultural Relativism

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/anthropological_quarterly/v080/80.3johnson.pdf

Carl Hoffman, “What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller,” Smithsonian Magazine,March, 2014

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/What-Really-Happened-to-Michael-Rockefeller-180949813/

Join us for lunch and lively discussion proudly provided by the Texas Tech University Honors College.

Friday Lunch Discussion

Southwest Study Lounge

Horn/Knapp

If you need tutoring, please don’t wait. Help is available. 

Individuals are available who can provide tutoring to Honors students in the following subjects:

    Chemistry 1308

    Physics 1403

    Biology 3416

    Dynamics 2302

    Circuits 3301

    German

    Political Science 2

    Biology 1404

    Calculus I & II

    Mathematical Statistics for Scientists and Engineers

    We are awaiting approval for a tutor in Accounting and Finance

There will be an information session on Wednesday, April 29th

Non-HAL students interested in doing an Honors thesis during the 2015-2016 school year must meet the following requirements:

Must be a junior or a senior.     Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis only.

Must have writing experience     (this usually means that the student has taken at least one     writing-intensive course).

Must have research experience.

Must have a thesis topic and a     Thesis Director (research mentor) in mind.

Must meet with Dr. Williams or     Megan Conley prior to submitting a thesis application.

Must submit a thesis     application to Megan Conley ([email protected]) by July 1 in order     to join the Honors Thesis Program in August 2015. Applications are     available online:  http://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/academicsandenrichment/thesis/201503Applications.pdf 

Must be able to take thesis     hours (HONS 3300 and HONS 4300) in back-to-back semesters.      Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis only.

HAL majors: chat with Dr. Brink     ([email protected]).

Not sure if you meet these requirements? Need more details?

Check out the website (

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/academicsandenrichment/thesis/

) and/or email Dr. Williams for an appointment to get more thesis info:

[email protected]