Temple Honors Program | Temple University
Alumni Newsletter
Fall 2015
Battle of the Wits | Temple Honors Alumni Homecoming 2015
Saturday, October 10 | 6–9 p.m.
Tuttleman Learning Center at Temple University
Register Now
Join your fellow Honors alumni in celebrating Homecoming 2015 as we welcome you back to campus for a night of colorful conversation in the Honors Battle of the Wits! See how the panelists stack up against each other when questioned by hosts Seth and Brad.

Panelists include:
  • Rebecca Alpert, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, CLA
  • Jeffrey Boles, Assistant Professor, Legal Studies in Business, Fox
  • Jason Chein, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, CLA
  • Laura Levitt, Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies and Gender, CLA
The $10 in advance/$15 at the door registration fee includes talk, open bar and light bites. Friends and family are welcome. For more information on Battle of the Wits, click here.
Honors Trivia!
Foley
Photo Credit: Brian Foley, Class of 1997
 
You think you know Honors? Give it a shot with these trivia questions. The closest response to the correct answer will win two free tickets to Battle of the Wits and some sweet Honors swag!
Play Here
Alumni Spotlight
Angela Washko, TYL ’09
Interviewed by Eileen Owens, CLA ’10

Your recent work explores how women are viewed in what's typically thought of as the male-dominated world of gaming. How do games like World of Warcraft reflect our larger cultural issues? And why choose gaming to explore these problems?
I chose to work inside of World of Warcraft because for nine years I played World of Warcraft and I intimately knew the social culture of the space very well as I’d been participating in it for so long.
Heather Lemare
Angela’s website
 
In terms of how the social space in WoW reflects our larger cultural issues, I think this speaks to a misunderstanding of games in general. A lot of people who don’t play these games look at the fantasy landscapes of WoW and wonder, “How could there possibly be conversations about race, gender, economics, politics and sexuality in a mountainous landscape full of cow-people, trolls, goblins, orcs and elves!?”
But really, World of Warcraft has a rich social culture that is supported by the chat design of the game itself and informal organizing within its large communities. I ended up talking with players about these issues in the game because I’d been asked to get back in the kitchen and make players sandwiches so many times that it seemed to make sense, being an artist, to start investigating how this phenomenon had emerged when the politics outside of the screen didn’t manifest in the game’s design. So I started to facilitate conversations in major gathering areas (cities) in the game space as a way to try to both understand the formation of a language of exclusivity in the otherwise accessible space and also to bring greater visibility and safety through solidarity to players who also felt marginalized by the communal languages that had formed throughout servers in World of Warcraft.

I chose gaming to explore these problems because I was/am a gamer and I was witnessing these issues as they emerged. When I started my projects inside games (around 2010), there was very little public media discussion about issues within gaming culture, so it felt as though it was an unexplored territory. It was really exciting to work in there and even when people were frustrated that we were talking about feminism, they were still largely excited to have a validating platform (my “research project”) to express their feelings about these issues inside of a space they cared a great deal about (WoW).

To read Angela’s entire interview, click here.
Honorables Make Great Interns!
By Laura Craig, Assistant Director of Internships and Experiential Education
Just because you’ve graduated doesn’t mean you can’t stay connected to student life. Hiring an Honors student as an intern is a great way to give back to Temple and grow your own organization. Here are three tips for building a great internship experience.
  1. Keep them engaged: No one enjoys an internship where they sit in the corner and read BuzzFeed. Set detailed goals for how an intern can benefit your organization, including:
    • Developing new talent pipelines
    • Getting assistance on a specific project
    • Filling gaps as your organization grows
    Typically, students intern 10‒20 hours a week during the academic year and 20 hours or more during the summer semester. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average intern hourly wage is $17.20 for bachelor’s level students. We review paid internships in the OwlNetwork to ensure that they pay minimum wage for the amount of hours worked and also abide by the NACE Position Statement on unpaid internships. If offering an unpaid internship, consider how to help with transit, parking, meals, locating housing, purchasing required attire/materials or participating in off-site events.

  2. Start them off right: You would be amazed to see what having their own space and supplies does for an interns’ pride in their work, so try to get those things in order ahead of their start date. In the first week, line up a few lunch or coffee meetings for them to meet colleagues so they feel welcome.

  3. Make it worthwhile: Make time in your schedule for regular check-in meetings with your interns and ask them to prepare a brief overview of their work for the week. Speaking of projects, don’t assume that your interns will know the most efficient way to get the job done. Take extra time when assigning work to articulate the tools they will need to do the project, your preferred product outcome and where they can find more information. Interns can be excellent at:
    • Conducting and organizing research data
    • Offering marketing or promotional insights
    • Providing direct service to customers or clients
    • Representing your organization at larger events
    • Creating content for online and print outlets
    If you’re ready to take the next step, think about offering an opportunity for students with Merit Scholarship Summer Educational Stipends. These students have a $4,000 stipend to support them in unpaid internships during the summer semester of 300 contact hours or more. If you have questions about tailoring an opportunity to your organization, get in touch at laura.craig@temple.edu or (215) 204-4474.
Temple University logo
Honors Program
204 Tuttleman Learning Center
1809 North 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6073
honors.temple.edu
Stay Connected
Facebook   Twitter   Instagram   Flickr
Update your contact information
Contact Honors
Visit the Honors Blog
Give Now button