On May 22, the Judson College Honors Program committee and Judson community heard presentations by three June 2014 graduates: (left to right) Liz Bosarge, Chelbie Greenhaw, and Rebecca Malphurs.
Bosarge, Greenhaw, and Malphurs are three of six distinguished Honors Program graduates who will be recognized at the College’s June 28 commencement ceremony. Other June graduates of the Honors Program are Kim Johnson, Riley Tunnell Lovejoy, and Charlene Farmer, who presented projects in 2013. The Honors students are nominated for the program by faculty members who note their outstanding accomplishments, including a required minimum GPA of 3.5. Each of the Honors Program participants designs independent, original research that exceeds the graduation requirements for her discipline. Participants submit written work and present their findings to the Judson community in an open defense. The projects are bound and catalogued in the Judson College Bowling Library collection.
The 2013-2014 projects include research regarding John Milton’s claim that Paradise Lost was divinely inspired; an intergenerational study focusing on changes in students’ attitudes and beliefs through relationships with residents at a local nursing home; a study of treated water purification options using marketable fungi to address estrogen contamination; a study of quantum dot nanothermometers for use in potential medical applications; an analysis of the evolution of female characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works; and an investigation of the damaging Megacopta cribraria (kudzu bug) affecting Alabama.
A list of the June 2014 graduates’ projects follows:
Liz Bosarge – “Paradise Lost: Milton’s Divine Classic”
Chelbie Greenhaw – “‘Filling the Basket of Life:’ The Central Importance of Intergenerational Relationships for Understanding Quality of Life in Young and Elder Adults”
Rebecca Tyne Malphurs – “The Evolution of Fitzgerald’s Females: Exploring New Perspectives of Judy Jones, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, and Jordan Baker”
Charlene Farmer – “Laccase Activity and Degradation of 17-a-Ethinylestradiol using Lentinula edodes and an Oak Mountain State Park Coral Mushroom”
Kim Johnson – “Quantum Dot Nanothermometers for Measuring the Heating of Magnetic Nanoparticles During the Application of a Radio Frequency AC Magnetic Field”
Riley Tunnell Lovejoy– “Molecular Analysis of Diet and Symbiotic Bacteria of Megacopta Cribraria”
Of the presentations, Vice President and Academic Dean Dr. Scott Bullard noted that “it was inspiring to see the beauty of the results of a Christian liberal arts education. The presentations – whether in the Sciences, Social Sciences, or Humanities – posed and often answered difficult questions that are of interest to persons from a variety of academic disciplines. The research was original, and – perhaps most importantly – in many cases impacted the lives of our neighbors here in Perry County.”