dean's scholar program - College of Liberal Arts - Purdue University

C l a r e n C e e .
D a m m o n
Dean’s scholar
Program
B e n e f i t i n g
f r o m M e n t o r s h i p
2 0 0 7 – 2 0 0 8 P a r t i c i P a n t s ’
c e l e b r a t i o n a n d b a n q u e t
a P r i l 6 , 2 0 0 8

The Dammon Dean’s Scholar Program
offers the opportunity for students
to study one-on-one with a professor dur-
ing their first year at Purdue. Scholars are
free to choose research projects involving
any area in the College of Liberal Arts.
Dean’s Scholar projects expand students’
understanding of specific disciplines, de-
velop their academic connections, and test
their personal career choices. In addition,
scholars benefit from having professors as
their mentors.
C l a r e n C e e .
D a m m o n
Dean’s scholar
Program
2007–2008
Participants’
Celebration and Banquet
April 6, 2008
1:00 p.m.

C l a r e n C e e . D a m m o n
Dean’s scholar Program
The Clarence E. Dammon Dean’s Scholar
Program is named for a former Purdue
University speech professor, registrar, and director
of admissions who died in 1957 while employed
at Purdue. At the time of his death, the Purdue
University Board of Trustees voted
to defer the fees for his chil-
dren, who would be attend-
ing the University a few
years later. Clarence’s
son, Jim Dammon, and
Jim’s wife, Marilynn,
named the Clarence
E. Dammon Dean’s
Scholar Program in
2003 with a gift that
honors Jim’s father
and expresses gratitude
to Purdue University.
(continued)

(continued)
Jim earned his degree in
mechanical engineering and is
now vice president of engineer-
ing at Fairfield Manufacturing.
Marilynn graduated from
Purdue with a degree in social
sciences and was honored
in 2000 as a distinguished
alumna in the College of
Liberal Arts. The Dammons
also own King’s Hill Stable,
which Marilynn operates.
Marilynn helped establish THE
CHAPS (Therapy, Health and
Education through Children
and Horses as Partners)
therapeutic horseback riding
program for individuals
with disabilities. The former
teacher is active in the Duncan
Community Hall. She also
served as secretary for the
Purdue Alumni Association and
president of the Liberal Arts
alumni board.

The Dean’s Scholar Program,
which began in 1976, selects
approximately 35 first-year
Liberal Arts students based on
standardized test scores, grades,
and recommendations from their
high schools. Recipients receive a
$2,000 stipend and assist faculty
mentors with research. In recent
years, students have directed
dance productions to learn about
dance therapy, studied com-
munication between the elderly
and healthcare providers, and
researched infant development.
The Dammons have also set aside
a large gift in honor of Marilynn’s
father. The H. William Bottomley
Scholars Program benefits
mechanical engineering students.
“The Dammons’ estate gift is
one that will make a difference
for years to come in the lives of
liberal arts and mechanical en-
gineering students. It is deeply
gratifying to see our alumni
invest in the future by creating
opportunity for new genera-
tions of Boilermakers.”
France A. Córdova
Purdue University President
“Selection as a Dammon
Dean’s Scholar is one of the
highest honors the college can
bestow on its students. The
opportunity to work one-on-one
with a faculty member gives a
student a unique perspective
on academic life. And as one
of those faculty members, I can
attest that the opportunity to
work with a Dammon Dean’s
Scholar is both satisfying and
enriching.”
John J. Contreni
Justin S. Morrill Dean of the
College of Liberal Arts

Department of CommuniCation
Paige
B a i l e y
Noblesville, Indiana
Assistant Professor Jakob Jensen
Ms. Bailey is assisting Professor Jensen with his research on
health and advertising. The project involves coding grocery store
food items in an attempt to determine the significance of health-
oriented labels on packaging in today’s health-conscious society.
aPril
B o B e c k
Syracuse, Indiana
Professor Glenn Sparks
Ms. Bobeck is working with Professor Sparks on his longitu-
dinal survey study of incoming Purdue freshmen. The survey
deals with electronic technology and relationships. She will have
the opportunity to contribute to the second-wave survey through
data collection, input, analysis, and drawing conclusions.

StePhanie
G r e B e
Vernon Hills, Illinois
Assistant Professor Melanie Morgan
Ms. Grebe is assisting Professor Morgan with her research in an
off-site community in West Lafayette. She is involved with data
collection: specifically, transcribing single-sentence messages,
timing messages with a stopwatch, and rating messages in terms of
quality.
Kayla
l o v e l e s s
West Lafayette, Indiana
Professor Steve Wilson
Ms. Loveless is participating in Professor Wilson’s study of an
intergenerational learning program in Lafayette. The program com-
ponents include high-quality early childhood education, parenting
classes, and home visits by family workers. Ms. Loveless is working
with culturally diverse families, observing the early childhood educa-
tion center, and making home visits with the family worker. She
is also collecting data from questionnaires, videotapes of mothers
playing with their children, and interviews with parents. Finally, she
will be involved in helping code the degree to which mothers display
responsiveness and/or intrusiveness during the videotaped play
periods and establishing inter-coder agreement for these judgments.

Department of Communication Continued
rebeCCa
l u m l e y
Hardinsburg, Indiana
Assistant Professor Samuel McCormick
Ms. Lumley is assisting Professor McCormick on a project re-
searching the history of the term “passive aggression.” She is study-
ing military, psychiatric, and popular usages of this term. Among
her primary tasks is the analysis of correspondence between vari-
ous editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
since the 1950s. In so doing, she hopes to identify their attitudes
toward passive aggression and isolate and explain the criteria they
have used to determine it as a mental disorder.
JaCqueline
m c G l y n n
Indianapolis, Indiana
Professor Brant Burleson
Ms. McGlynn is working with Professor Burleson and graduate
student Graham Bodie on research examining how supportive
messages affect thoughts, feelings, and performances of people
giving public speeches under anxiety-provoking conditions. She is
creating a report that serves as an insider’s critique of the research
process as well as an analysis and interpretation of the subject
matter. The content of her report will develop from a journal kept
throughout the duration of the research process.

Department of english
Jamie
G o e d d e
Carmel, Indiana
Associate Professor Emily Allen
Ms. Goedde is studying the writings of Jane Austen. Her project
began by attending the first weeks of ENGL 411A (Jane Austen) in
order to enhance her understanding of the literature and provide
the appropriate historical, literary, and cultural background. Her
readings and discussions will yield a final scholarly paper.
JaKob
m i l l e r
Cedar Grove, Indiana
Associate Professor Samantha Blackmon
Mr. Miller’s project is studying the political satire of Terry
Pratchett. He is tracking the trend of Pratchett’s political refer-
ences through the Discworld series, including both the frequency
and blatancy of such references and how they have changed over
the series’ history. He will also attempt to determine the author’s
general political viewpoint.

Department of english Continued
Ms. Poe, in conjunction with scholar Kathryn Shupryt, is partici-
pating in an archival research project focusing on Victorian British
material, particularly print periodicals. The project will be tied
to Professor Allen’s current research on Victorian pageantry. Ms.
Poe’s research will culminate in the online publication of a mini-
archive.
brittany
P o e
Carmel, Indiana
Associate Professor Emily Allen
Kathryn
s h u P r y t
Dyer, Indiana
Associate Professor Emily Allen
Ms. Shupryt is working with fellow scholar Brittany Poe on a
research project focused on Victorian British print periodicals.
Through the project, Ms. Shupryt will have the opportunity
to learn hands-on basics of doing historical research. The final
project will consist of an online publication of a mini-archive.

max
v a n d e v a a r s t
Wayne, New Jersey
Professor William J. Palmer
Mr. Vande Vaarst is working with Professor Palmer on the
creation of a largely autobiographical novel. The piece incorpo-
rates motifs from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby to create a
modern parable about the dangers of chasing after one’s dream
long after the dream itself has died. They hope that when the
work is finished, Where Things Lie will be considered for profes-
sional publication.

Mr. Faulkner first will research immigration and secondary edu-
cation of young Hispanic men through critical readings. He will
then work with Sunnyside Middle School in Tippecanoe County
to organize a Day on Campus for sixth-grade Hispanic youth in
order to increase their interest in remaining in school and help
them see themselves as future college students. Mr. Faulkner
will identify activities on campus that would be of interest to the
students as well as identify Purdue students to serve as role models
during the visit.
Department of foreign
languages anD literatures
ian
F a u l k n e r
Romney, Indiana
Professor Patricia Hart
VaneSSa
G r e G G
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Professor Patricia Hart
Ms. Gregg is researching the immigration patterns and secondary
education of young Hispanic women, first through critical read-
ings. She will then work with Sunnyside Middle School to organize
a Day on Campus at Purdue for sixth-grade students. The purpose
of this campus visit is to increase Hispanic women’s interest in re-
maining in school and help them see themselves as future college
students. Ms. Gregg will identify activities of interest on campus
and Purdue students who can serve as role models for the visit.

elizabette
J o h n s o n
West Lafayette, Indiana
Associate Professor Patrice Rankine
Ms. Johnson is examining the issue of selfhood through reading
Greek literature. She is reading a number of Greek works and will
then read the same tragedies again but through the later transla-
tion by the Roman philosopher Seneca. Her project involves a
comparison of the perception of the self in each culture and time
period.
Department of
health anD Kinesiology
elizabeth
h o F F a
Carmel, Indiana
Professor Howard Zelaznik
Ms. Hoffa is working in the laboratory of Professor Zelaznik.
She is researching movement-timing control and is involved in
a project examining the learning of movement timing with the
non-dominant limb.

Department of history
alexanDra
h o l l i d a y
Connersville, Indiana
Associate Professor Melinda Zook
Ms. Holliday, along with scholars Christopher Shaffer and
Lindsey Simpson, assisted Professor Zook in preparing for her
spring 2008 class on Tudor England. Her tasks included develop-
ing a bibliography of useful books for the class, compiling a list of
relevant films, and creating PowerPoints for class lectures.
JeSSiCa
h u r s t
Valparaiso, Indiana
Assistant Professor Michael A. Ryan
Ms. Hurst is working with Professor Ryan on a study of the works
of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and their influence on the
perception of the Medieval Era. The project will result in a final
scholarly paper comparing a variety of works from both authors.

anDrew
k e n n e d y
Batesville, Indiana
Associate Professor Michael A. Morrison
Mr. Kennedy’s project is focused on the British band Yes as a
vehicle to explore the evolution of art rock as a genre, the musical
influences that shaped it, and the reception Yes albums received
by the public at home and in the United States. Mr. Kennedy’s
research will result in a multimedia presentation that melds audio,
video, and text clips to explore the music of Yes, its public recep-
tion, and the band’s contribution to the genre and will be pre-
sented as a part of class lecture in History 371 (Society, Culture,
and Rock and Roll).
anDrew
m a n n i n G
Goshen, Kentucky
Associate Professor Melinda Zook
Mr. Manning assisted Professor Zook on preparations for her
spring 2008 History 103 class (Introduction to the Medieval
World). Andrew prepared and presented a lecture for the class on
the film Braveheart, focusing on the difference between the stories
portrayed in the film and the historical account.
0

Department of history Continued
ChriStoPher
s h a F F e r
Indianapolis, Indiana
Associate Professor Melinda Zook
Mr. Shaffer worked with fellow scholars Alexandra Holliday and
Lindsey Simpson in helping Professor Zook prepare for her spring
2008 class on Tudor England. Mr. Shaffer prepared PowerPoint
slides for the course as well as selected scenes from films on
Medieval and Renaissance England to be used during lecture.
linDSey
s i m P s o n
Lafayette, Indiana
Associate Professor Melinda Zook
Ms. Simpson, in conjunction with Christopher Shaffer and
Alexandra Holliday, assisted with the preparations for Professor
Zook’s spring 2008 course on England under the Tudors. Ms.
Simpson searched through various forms of media including books
and films for relevant information to be used during class lectures.

heiDi
t r a P P
Valparaiso, Indiana
Professor Gordon R. Mork
Ms. Trapp is assisting Professor Mork with revisions of a scholarly
paper titled “Religion and Genocide: Reforming the Oberam-
mergau Passion Play.” She is doing background research on the
subject, particularly the role of the former Archbishop of Munich,
Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). Ms. Trapp’s skills in
the German language as well as her familiarity with Germany are
significant assets for this project.
benJamin
W e l l m a n
Bryant, Indiana
Associate Professor Michael A. Morrison
Mr. Wellman’s project is a documentary that examines the
intersection of politics, counterculture values, and music in the
late 1960s. His documentary will primarily focus on San Francisco,
the spiritual Mecca for the counterculture, and will culminate in
the Monterey Pop Festival during the “Summer of Love” in 1967.

Department of philosophy
margaret
J u d d
Indianapolis, Indiana
Associate Professor Daniel Smith
Ms. Judd is studying the philosophies of Frederick Nietzsche and
Søren Kierkegård. She is reading and discussing various works in-
cluding Genealogy of Morals and Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche,
as well as Fear and Trembling and Sickness Unto Death by Kierkegård.
Jeremy
d o v e r
Mr. Dover is learning about common law in general and examin-
ing it both historically and empirically in connection with one
common law doctrine. He is reading the history of common law
and coding a set of state common legal opinions that focus on the
common law tort of alienation of affections. He will then analyze
this data and write summaries of the patterns and variations dis-
covered in comparing this doctrine in various state court systems
and the differences that exist from state to state.
Department of
politiCal sCienCe
Skokie, Illinois
Associate Professor William McLauchlan

emily
F i n c h
Indianapolis, Indiana
Professor James McCann
Ms. Finch is researching the way Democrats and Republicans
reach out to the Spanish-speaking Latino community during the
2008 campaigns. She is reviewing political communication that
comes through e-mail newsgroups, Web sites, and other kinds of
correspondence with an eye on investigating how the major par-
ties are attempting to mobilize Latinos.
KelSey
l i n d a u e r
Evansville, Indiana
Associate Professor Rosalee Clawson
Ms. Lindauer is working on a project with Professor Clawson to
examine the portrayal of popular social welfare programs in news
magazines. Specifically, she is analyzing the race of people pic-
tured in news articles about Social Security and Medicare. She is
testing the hypothesis that Caucasian citizens are overwhelmingly
used to illustrate these popular programs. This research is im-
portant because it demonstrates that well-liked welfare programs
are associated with white people, whereas unpopular welfare
programs geared toward the poor are disproportionately linked
with black people.

KaVeh
a k B a r
Warsaw, Indiana
Professor James Nairne
Mr. Akbar is investigating the evolutionary determinants of
memory in a laboratory setting. He is assisting with the design of
an experiment and helping to conduct the sessions.
Ms. Padgitt is working with scholar Janelle Washburn as an as-
sistant in the Purdue Babylabs. Her duties include calling parents,
caring for siblings of participants, and learning how infant data
is collected by shadowing graduate students. Ms. Padgitt will also
have the opportunity to assist Professor Hollich with data analysis
of his project studying the validity of a laboratory-based measure
of infant vocabulary.
Department of
psyChologiCal sCienCes
Kathryn
P a d G i t t
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Assistant Professor George Hollich

Janelle
W a s h B u r n
Lafayette, Indiana
Assistant Professor George Hollich
Ms. Washburn, along with scholar Kate Padgitt, is assisting Pro-
fessor Hollich in his infant language development research. Her
work will consist of using the database, interacting with parents,
caring for siblings of participants, and learning how infant data is
collected. Ms. Washburn will also assist Professor Hollich in analyz-
ing data from a previous research project about the individual
differences in language development.
Department of
soCiology anD anthropology
emily
B r e s l i n
McCordsville, Indiana
Professor Kenneth Ferraro
Ms. Breslin’s research examines the chronic inflammation
mechanism — whether excess adipose tissue is linked with the
elevated levels of C-reactive protein associated with physical dis-
ability. Her project includes a critical literature review of research
on the relationships among obesity, C-reactive protein, and dis-
ability and will involve preliminary data analysis from the National
Social Life Health and Aging Project. The project will result in a
brief paper.

Department of speeCh, language,
anD hearing sCienCes
graCe
s c o t t
Columbus, Indiana
Assistant Professor Oliver Wendt
Ms. Scott is working with Professor Wendt on a research project
investigating the effects of speech-generating devices (SGD) on
natural speech development in children with severe autism. Most
children with autism are non-speaking and need an alternative
means of communication to interact with their social environment.
Ms. Scott will assist in researching how SGDs can be used to facili-
tate speech and communication development for these children.
patti anD rusty rueff Department
of Visual anD performing arts
nataSha
G r e G o r y
Osgood, Indiana
Continuing Lecturer Laura Bittner
Ms. Gregory is investigating the design elements in retail stores
that entice college-aged consumers to enter. She will visit several
clothing stores and observe and document the store layout and
design elements. The project will result in a presentation of her
observations and conclusions about successful design elements.

traCy
m a t z
Des Plains, Illinois
Professor Carol Cunningham-Sigman
Ms. Matz is working with Professor Cunningham-Sigman on in-
vestigating international dance technology performance projects,
designing posters and flyers for dance technology performances,
and designing and implementing graphics into dance technology
performances in the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization (a
virtual reality theater).
elizabeth
m i l l e r
Moline, Illinois
Visiting Instructor Sigrid Zahner
Ms. Miller is working with Ms. Zahner on a ceramics project. She
is exploring the ceramic materials and processes used in creating
wheel-thrown and handwrought pottery and sculpture.

C l a r e n C e e . D a m m o n
Dean’s scholar Program
For more information about the Dammon
Dean’s Scholar Program:
Glenda Crippen,
Associate Director of Honors
Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education, Room 1175
(765) 494-3678
www.cla.purdue.edu/honors
gcrippen@purdue.edu
an equal access/equal opportunity university
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