Alumni Newsletter
Summer 2014

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Message from the Director

Dear Honors Alumni, Ruth Ost

At last, the first Honors Alumni Newsletter since the formation of Temple University Honors in 1987. We thought it was about time to create an Honors network!

I'll start with our biggest news: our beloved administrative assistant Jackie is celebrating her 35th year at Temple, 24 on the front lines of Honors! In other news, physics hero Dieter Forster is the Honors Professor of 2014—could an appearance on The Big Bang Theory be in his stars? Honors alumni Jason Chein, Jeff Boles and Crystal Harold are now teaching in the Honors Program; students love their courses. And you former lounge nappers will be glad to know that new furniture is en route for the Honors Lounge (any bids on those vintage couches and chairs, or should we turn them into HonorsHenge?).

As for the usual day-to-day, students are still amazing us with all the things they do, likewise the faculty (Google "John Raines and the unsolved FBI break-in"). The Honors staff is still on call in times of crisis, say when an Honorable gets a B+. By the Honors October Homecoming Gathering (see below), the furniture will be broken in. We hope to see you then, but it would be great to see and/or hear from you sooner.

Best always,
Ruth Ost
Senior Director, Temple University Honors Program

P.S. The entire Honors crew, Jackie, Amanda, Brad, Musu, Zach and Seth, send their best, too.

Save the Date:
Temple Honors Alumni Homecoming Gathering

Saturday, October 11 | 6 p.m.
Honors Lounge | 204 Tuttleman Learning Center, Temple University
Join your fellow Honors alumni for a lecture and informal cocktail reception after the Homecoming game. To learn more or to RSVP, contact honors@temple.edu.

Alumni Spotlight- Alix Gerz

Graduation Year: Journalism 2003, History 2007
Hometown: Lititz, Pennsylvania
Current Location: Philadelphia, PA (East Falls neighborhood)
Current Position: Director of Communications and Brand Marketing, Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation

What is one of your favorite memories about Temple Honors?
Oh gosh, everything. All my memories of Temple are pretty much inextricably linked to Honors. I will say that the experience of living on the Honors floor in Johnson Hall (during the days of no-air conditioning, I might add) throughout my freshman year really set the stage for an incredible college experience. The friends I met in Honors were and are quirky, brilliant, passionate, curious and best of all, loyal. I’m friends with many of them today.

Read Alix's full interview.

Professor Spotlight: Crystal Harold

School/College: College of Liberal Arts Crystal Harold

Department: Psychology
Temple Honors alumna: Yes
Graduation Year: 2000, Psychology

What course/s do you teach in the Honors Program?
I currently teach HRM 3904: The Leadership Experience – Leading Self, Leading Others, Leading Communities.

What is your favorite thing about teaching Honors courses at Temple?
I love that Honors allows me to teach a course where a primary emphasis is promoting student self-awareness, growth and development of a personal leadership philosophy. Because this class is an elective, there isn’t a set curriculum that I have to follow. This allows for extraordinary freedom to let the course sort of organically unfold in a way that I think really maximizes student learning and development.

Read Professor Harold's full interview.

Have Opportunities for Interns or Volunteers?

Beginning this summer, University Honors students were offered Summer Educational Enhancement stipends to spend the summer advancing their educational goals through funded experiential-learning opportunities. These stipends are intended to offset the costs of pursuing such unpaid opportunities, and may be used for approved study abroad, faculty-mentored research or unpaid internships.

If you, your company or someone you know would like to support this program by providing an internship, volunteer opportunity or research position, we would love to hear about it! Let us know at honors@temple.edu.

Learn more about the Summer Educational Enhancement stipends.

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Alumni Newsletter Summer 2014