FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2008
Contact: Anika Perkins
(662) 329-7119

MUW Offers Engaged Learning

By Anika Mitchell Perkins

Research and engaged learning is not just for science students. It is an approach to learning that is relevant to many disciplines and students. At Mississippi University for Women, the academic colleges are providing undergraduates in all fields many opportunities to apply their learning to authentic problems and work with faculty in and out of the classrooms.

Dr. Sandra Jordan, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said research on learning indicates that the best way for students to learn is by doing.

“Research requires students to apply what they have learned in systematic ways to new situations in order to create new knowledge,” Jordan said. “It is learning on the highest level. Students working side-by-side with credentialed scholars and field practitioners apply the processes of discovery and the rigors of their discipline to find creative solutions.

“Participation in MUW’s undergraduate research and engaged learning
opportunities prepares students to enter challenging graduate programs
and rewarding careers. This type of learning experience sets our students apart from the pack when it comes time to apply for jobs or to top-notch graduate schools.”

College of Arts and Sciences

Students in MUW history courses routinely conduct research with primary sources. During the recent fall semester, students in HIS 329 (High and Late-Medieval Europe) used manor court rolls and visitation records of 15th century monasteries to reconstruct aspects of medieval peasant and monastic life. They can cover topics from family history to financial history.

Allakie Smith, a history major, interned last spring with the Billups-Guth Archives in Columbus. “It’s the best thing I’ve done here,” she said.

She organized and preserved a deposit of papers of the Chowder and
Marching Society, an organization of women in Columbus formed after
World War II who put on entertainment for returning veterans to help them re-enter civilian life. Smith also conducted research to present these documents in their broader context for the use of future scholars. That work led to a paying position at the archive this fall.

Tanvia Fields, who recently graduated with a degree in social science,
completed a political science internship in summer 2007 with the office of Sherman Carouthers, the mayor of Okolona.

She handled a variety of administrative tasks, attended meetings as a representative of the mayor's office and witnessed the frontline of political cooperation, including efforts to qualify as a megasite for development in conjunction with the Toyota plant going up near Tupelo and racial tensions over who gets to use the new football stadium being built near town.

Irene Miller attended a seminar this past summer titled “Leaders on Leadership ’07: Critical Issues in the Age of Globalization” in Washington, D.C. The participants were encouraged to navigate the city on their own and schedule an appointment to meet with someone or some organization that interested them. Miller and a friend met with Jackie Payne, director of Governmental Relations for Planned Parenthood.

“The experience was amazing,” she said. “We were instructed to only consume fifteen minutes of the professional’s time, but Mrs. Payne allowed us an hour,” she said. “I was so inspired and had already learned much about lobbying and grassroots mobilization.”

She also met with Latoia Jones from College Democrats of America, White
House Fellows and staff of the Organization of American States.

In the department of Sciences and Mathematics, two faculty members carry out research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Ross Whitwam, professor of biology, and Dr. Brandon, assistant professor of microbiology, have used their funding from the NIH’s National Center for Research Resources Infrastructure for Biomedical Research program (NCRR-INBRE) to fully equip a lab on campus with equipment and reagents to carry out molecular biology research.

Dr. Whitwam works on yeast prions. Prions are infectious proteins that are associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases in mammals,
although the yeast versions Dr. Whitwam’s lab works on are harmless to
humans. Dr. Brandon works on molecular trafficking in Shigella, a bacterium associated with dysentery, although Dr. Brandon works on a less pathogenic variant.

The research in both Dr. Whitwam's and Dr. Brandon's labs is primarily
carried out by the MUW students Whitwam and Brandon recruit to work on
independent projects under their mentorship. The students are excited to
work on projects that relate directly to human health concerns, and they get the chance to use the same equipment and protocols being used in major research institutions.

Dr. Whitwam and Dr. Brandon have taken their students to a number of national and regional scientific conferences where they present their own research and listen to other researchers present. Their labs have gone to the national American Society for Microbiology meeting in Toronto, the national Genetics Society of America meeting in Princeton, N.J.; the annual Southeast Regional Yeast meetings in Birmingham, Ala., and Hattiesburg; and annual Mississippi Academy of Sciences meetings in Olive Branch, Starkville and Vicksburg.

Brandy Roberts started as a summer research student in the laboratory of Dr. Brandon, where she worked on a project in bacterial pathogenesis. She presented a platform presentation at the Mississippi Academy of Sciences and was awarded first prize as best undergraduate presenter. She is now working toward her doctorate in biology at Mississippi State University.

Students who have worked in Dr. Whitwam's and Dr. Brandon's lab have
gone on to medical school, veterinary school, dental school, graduate school, high school teaching positions and research technician positions.

College of Business

The consumer behavior class conducted a series of focus group studies
for the Columbus Lowndes Public Library to determine why people were and were not patronizing the library. In addition, they also singled out the
African-American population because the library director wanted to make
a more focused effort in attracting that population of the market.

“The project was just awesome because we were doing an actual, real-world project,” said Dr. Anne Balazs, professor of marketing. “Throughout the process we treated the library as our client. I was able to teach the students how to get the client to open up needs and how to bring the entire process to life-start to finish. They were not just hearing about it from a book, they were actually doing it.”

The students met with the library director to determine his needs. They
developed questions to ask during the focus group sessions and were in
charge of finding participants for the study. They conducted four focus group sessions, created a transcript, interpreted the results, created a client portfolio of the results and suggestions for action and did an official presentation to the client.

College of Education and Human Sciences

The Department of Psychology and Family Studies teaches statistics using real world data and SPSS, which is the most commonly used social science stat package, so all of the department’s students have some exposure to the applied use of stats in research. The students also have to take a research course which requires that they write a real research proposal to complete the program requirements in both majors.

Psychology student Nicole Dilg is applying for a study abroad program in New Zealand where she will take courses in psychology to supplement
MUW’s program.

Dr. James Roth, associate professor of psychology, is conducting a student research study that focuses on reactions to hearing “unwanted or unpleasant” messages.

Victoria Holcomb competed statewide for and was selected to participate
in a paid internship at the University Medical Center in Jackson. She helped with a neural physiological study that may be published with her name included among the authors.

With the new lab and equipment in health and kinesiology, MUW has one of the best equipped human performance labs in the southeast. Students are able to measure energy production via a Parvomedics metabolic cart, conduct stress test using state-of-the-art 12-lead ECG, measure blood
lactate, measure hematocrit, measure body composition using hydrostatic
weighing and calipers and measure peak and average power production
using the Monark Wingate ergometer.

By the time the students graduate, they are able to operate every piece of equipment in the lab and evaluate the results.

Students in health and kinesiology also participate in the American College of Sports Medicine research conference at a regional or national level.

A former student, Josh Pounders, was listed as a coauthor on research on the effects of saddle height on anaerobic power production in cycling that was presented at conference and will be published in the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.”

Mary Margaret Crowson is currently working with Dr. Will Peveler, assistant professor of health and kinesiology, on research involving warm-up protocols for the 30s Wingate sprint test for her honors research project.

College of Nursing and Speech Language Pathology

The Baccalaureate Nursing Program has long felt that research is an integral part of the educational process, according to Dr. Sheila Adams,
dean of the College of Nursing and Speech Language Pathology, who said
the research strand is seen throughout the baccalaureate curriculum.

Research components begin in the junior year with article reviews and
emphasis on learning and teaching the most up-to-date practice guidelines which often find their foundation in evidenced based practice. Then in each semester of the senior year, students have a designated research course that is taught by the dean of the college.

“The course serves a dual purpose,” Adams said. “Students learn the research process under the direction of a faculty advisor while they learn to work in groups. Since all of nursing requires that individuals work within groups and handle the day to day conflict, this aspect of the curriculum has often been viewed by employers as a strength for the job applicants.”

Upon, completion of the research, each student takes part in a formal
research presentation day. The research findings are showcased within
the MUW academic community. This practice also supports professionalism and presentation skills.

“Graduates of the baccalaureate nursing program are well prepared for
additional higher education. Many do not initially see the value of what they have learned; but over time, they come to understand that the research piece is just another tool that sets them apart as MUW graduates,” Adams said.

MUW’s speech-language pathology program provides a unique learning
experience by allowing outstanding seniors to participate in a clinical
practicum in the MUW Speech and Hearing Center. Participating students
are selected by the Undergraduate Clinical Practicum Committee. Selection is based on academic performance and a personal interview.

Undergraduate practicum allows students to provide speech-language
therapy to clients in the Speech and Hearing Center under the direct supervision of an SLP program faculty member. Through the clinical
experience the student not only provides clinical service to the client but also gains invaluable knowledge and skills typically reserved for graduate students.

Ina E. Gordy Honors College

Megan Stoner, a senior English major, has been active in both international study and the Honors College. Twice she has studied abroad in London--once with the summer 2004 study abroad program and again through Huron University in spring 2006.

In addition to study abroad, she has participated in scholarly activity in the Honors College. She currently is working on her senior honors project titled “The Femme Fatale vs. The New Woman: Anti-feminism in Victorian Art and Poetry.” For this project she did independent primary research in London.

Stoner also has been active on the conference scene. In addition to attending the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in fall of
2005, she will deliver a paper on “‘You are What You Eat’: The Consumer Culture of Food in Mary Harron's American Psycho” this fall at the honors conference. Earlier this year, she delivered a paper on “‘We're All Just Floating’: The Use of Existentialism in ‘Objects in Space’” at the SW/TX Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, N.M.