FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — The IUPUI Honors College will host its fourth annual open house showcasing the research, creative activities, scholarship and community service projects of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ Honors Scholars.
The IUPUI Honors College Showcase takes place from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 17, on the lower level of University Library, 755 W. Michigan St.
“The Honors College Showcase provides a look into the lives of IUPUI honors students,” Honors Scholar Mary Ankenbruck said. “While honors students are known for excelling in the classroom, we also do so much more — service, civic engagement, research and studying abroad, just to name a few. Attending the Honors College Showcase gives the campus a chance to see what we are really up to when our heads aren’t inside textbooks.”
At the showcase, Ankenbruck, a junior political science/international studies major, will share her research study on how the personality scores of residents of a particular state affect the policies enacted within that state.
“We do so by testing newly available statewide Big Five personality t-scores for the 48 contiguous U.S. states alongside state-by-state analysis of policy areas including marriage equality, abortion rights and gun rights,” Ankenbruck said.
The showcase provides the opportunity for talented students such as Ankenbruck and John B. Flowers to share their activities and accomplishments with the campus and the wider community, said Jane Luzar, founding dean of the Honors College.
“This is our fourth year sharing the activities of our Honors Scholars with the campus community through our annual student showcase,” Luzar said. “We are very excited to give our students the opportunity to talk about their research, international, service and community engagement activities.”
Flowers is among the Honors Scholars who will share their study abroad experiences at this year’s showcase. The junior engineering student will present a slideshow of his experiences as an exchange student from July through December at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Campus life in Australia included living in an international house where he was one of only two Americans out of 160 residents.
“I made friends with people from very different walks of life, and therefore improved my internationalization skills,” Flowers said.
His international study has resulted in stronger ties to both students, faculty and staff across the IUPUI campus.
“I have made several connections and strengthened others by the sheer amount of work that needed to be done in order to make (the) trip possible,” Flowers said. “I worked closely with faculty from Study Abroad, the Honors College, the (department) of mechanical engineering and many others. My personal involvement on campus has skyrocketed since returning, and I am now more active than I have been in the last three years.”
The showcase is free of charge and open to the public. Additional information about Honors College and the showcase is available online.