Scholar Recognition Day

Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 8:45 AMUTC -06:00


Luther College, Center for Faith and Life Lobby
700 College Dr
Decorah, IA 52101
United States

 

Scholar Recognition Day

Scholar Recognition Day offers the opportunity for students to meet Luther faculty doing what they do best--sharing their love of learning with others. It's also Luther College's time to publicly recognize those individuals for their achievements. Prospective students who have been awarded Dean's, President's, or Founders Scholarships will receive an invitation to this event. Parents are also invited and encouraged to attend.

Scholar Recognition Day Schedule

8:45 a.m. -- Registration - Center for Faith and Life Lobby

9:20 a.m. -- Welcome and Introduction to the Day

9:50 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. -- Academic Seminars for Students, Alternative Activities for Parents

11:30 a.m. -- Presentation of Certificates

12:30 p.m. -- Lunch with Luther students and faculty

1:30 p.m. (Optional) -- Campus tours, visits to first-year residence halls, auditions, and/or information about study abroad, honors, research opportunities, and internships.

Note: Overnight housing with a current student is available for Friday night. If you are arriving during the day on Friday, you may wish to schedule individual appointments. If you would like to arrange a Friday visit, call the Admissions Office at (800-) 458-8437.


Seminar Choices and Descriptions

A. Are You Deviant?  Sociological research has suggested that characteristics like the length of your fingers, the bumps on your head, or the amount of sugar you eat can predict your chances of doing criminal behavior. Is this true? Come evaluate your own characteristics and chances of becoming a criminal, and discuss the implications of this research.

B. Art: Body Source Code  - Art and Technology.  An interactive workshop exploring how technology can be employed by visual artists to 'draw with the whole body'.  Students are encouraged to visit http://youtu.be/kitljy3_ngE to see a demonstration prior to the workshop.

C. Chemistry Makes Scents.  The human nose is a very sensitive detector of odor. Explore with us the molecular characteristics that make one molecule smell fruity and another smell like sweat socks. Bring your nose!

D. Classical Mythology: What Your Teachers Never Told You.  Forget the happy bedtimes tales of Greek and Roman gods and heroes you read as a child. The real, unfiltered stories from classical mythology are full of sex, cannibalism, and brutal violence. Come discover why Zeus was not a kindly father-figure, how Jason really found the Golden Fleece, and why you should never wander through the woods alone at night.

E. Comics and Graphic Novels.  Reading comics as literature in college? Yes! In this seminar you will read selections from several contemporary graphic novels, learn some of the strategies for "reading" images, and even make a few comics of your own. No drawing experience necessary!

F. Computer Generated Images.  When you go to a movie or look at a picture in a magazine or online, it’s hard to tell which characters and scenes are real and which are computer-generated. In this workshop, we will explore some of the techniques used to create these computer-generated images.

G. Did Hobbits Really Speak English? J. R. R. Tolkien and the languages of Middle Earth.  J. R. R. Tolkien is best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he was also a linguist and an eminent scholar of Old English. We’ll examine how he applied the linguistic genius he developed as a lexicographer, a philologist, and an historical linguist to the shaping of the languages and alphabets of Middle Earth.

H. Fractals: Random and Predictable.  Fractals are self-similar subsets of Rn with "fractional dimension." We will explore two different constructions of a fractal: one based on a random process (rolling a die) and another that is deterministic.

I. Hate the Player not the Game: Socrates Against Misology.  It's his last day on earth, and all Socrates wants to do is talk with his friends one last time. Trying to soothe their sadness, Socrates offers his friends a persuasive argument that the soul is immortal, but when someone gives an equally convincing counter-argument, everyone gets depressed all over again. Rather than bolster his argument about the soul, Socrates tries to teach his friends that the argument (the Game) wasn't the problem so much as the fact that their souls (the Players) were too ready to believe anything, so long as it made them feel better about his impending death. In this session, we'll be reading from Plato's Phaedo and discussing Socrates' claim that critical thinking is a matter of life and death.

J. Human Anatomy.  We will use prosected (previously dissected) human cadavers to look at some of the major human muscles, arteries, nerves, and joints. We will also examine organs such as the human heart, brain, and lungs. This session is appropriate for anyone who has an interest in what the human body looks like inside.

K. Learning to Live Well in College.  Consider five wellness strategies that give you a much richer experience in college: 1, Getting connected; 2. Find time to be active; 3. Navigating the cafeteria; 4. Sleep, sleep, sleep; 5. Spiritual wellness.

L. Nursery Rhymes to Villanelles, Writing Poetry.  Everyone can write poetry! In this creative, hands-on workshop you will learn to write several different kinds of poetry that you can take away with you. All levels of writers, from beginners to advanced, are welcome.

M. Performing Arts: A Tragedy Like Macbeth.  A workshop exploring the transformation of Shakespeare's Macbeth into a dance theatre production.  This workshop is for dancers, actors, technicians and designers.

N. Research and Study Away Opportunities as Important Components of Your Luther Biology Program.  Tour biology research labs and visit with current biology students and faculty to find out about some of the collaborative research projects that are happening at Luther College.

O. “Seeing” the Nanoscale.  Imagine a world where your clothes that can change color with the touch of a button, and tiny medicine-dispensing robots live inside your body and send you updates on your health to your smart phone. Sound like science fiction? Nanotechnology is working to turn these dreams into reality. Scientists and engineers working on these kinds of technologies use precise tools to investigate and manipulate nanoscale objects, sometimes by moving individual atoms. So just how small is nano, anyway? Is there a limit to how small technology can be? Is it possible to make a motor out of only a few molecules? Learn about nanotechnology through hands-on activities involving everyday objects like refrigerator magnets and LEGOs.

P. Simulation in Health Care Education: What is It and How Does It Work?  Simulation is a hot topic in the education of health-care professionals and yet this practice has been used for over 100 years. Simulation encompasses a variety of practices including role-playing among students; use of special actors known as standardized patients, and use of anatomical models, virtual patients, and electronic patients. This seminar, conducted by a member of the nursing faculty,  will include a brief introduction to health-care simulation and provide an opportunity to participate in a simulation activity.

Q. So You Think You are Not Creative?  So You Think You are Not Creative? Creativity is essential to success in today's business world. Fortunately, creativity is a thinking skill that can be learned. Come learn how you can be creative on demand and develop new ideas for businesses and products.

R. Strategies for Working with Groups.  Join an interactive workshop in which students will explore some basic theories of group work, try some activities related to group work, and generate their own ideas for working with groups in their own schools or communities.  Students will be guided through analysis of various creative and healing group intervention strategies. No experience is required.

S. The Colonial Origins of Pakistan’s Terrorism Dilemma.  This presentation will discuss why military rule and an electoral politics organized around elite families have created the political crisis that has allowed terrorism to flourish in modern Pakistan.

T. The Supreme Court and Same-Sex Marriage.  This Spring the Supreme Court of the United States will hear two cases, which will enable the Justices to decide whether there is a constitutional right for two persons of the same sex to marry each other. In this session we will discuss where in the Constitution that right might exist and whether that is a decision best decided by the Supreme Court or by people and legislatures in each state.

U. Urban American and Serial Television: Critically Analyzing “The Wire”  Frequently hailed as a masterpiece of American television, "The Wire" shines a light on urban decay in contemporary America, creating a dramatic portrait of Baltimore's police, drug trade, shipping docks, city hall, public schools, and newspapers over five serialized seasons. This session offers an introduction to television studies, a short viewing, and a discussion about the show’s social contexts and aesthetic practices.

X. Yuck!  That’s disgusting!  Disgust is a universal human emotion. From open sores to cockroaches, the things that gross us out reveal important things about our evolved psychological nature. In this lab we will activate your disgust emotion (in a fun way!) and demonstrate how disgust is an adaptive system.

 

Registration is no longer available because the registration deadline has passed.