Northern State University Honors Newsletter Spring 2023 Honors Student Presents Three-Minute Thesis at Upper Midwest Regional Honors Conference in Iowa Mayson Sheldon, a senior criminal justice major from Mandan, North Dakota, participated in a new category, Three-Minute Thesis Competition, at the Upper Midwest Regional Honors Conference in Ankeny, Iowa, held March 30-April 1, 2023. Sheldon had to discuss her thesis, “Measuring Fear of Crime on Campus: A Study of a Small Midwestern University” in under three minutes to compete against seven other students from different universities. Sheldon said she got involved in this new category through the encouragement of Dr. Bockorny, who nominated her for the competition. She thought the most difficult part of discussing her thesis in such a short amount of time was “narrowing down my project into facts and findings and deciding what elements to eliminate.” Sheldon said that “participating in this new category was a unique experience and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to compete because of the limited number of students who were selected.” Although challenging because of the time restraint, Sheldon said she learned a lot from the competition and feels that it will help her prepare for her thesis defense. Sheldon’s research analyzed what factors contribute to the fear of crime on campus among students, faculty and staff. When asked what she found most surprising about her research she was surprised she “did not find any significant relationship between media consumption and fear of crime among students, staff, and faculty on campus.” Sheldon thought that presenting at the conference would be good practice for answering questions for her thesis defense. She believes the Honors Program has given her many great opportunities to work with staff and connect with members of the community. Sheldon stated that without the help from Dr. Bockorny and the Honors Law Opportunity Program, she would not have been able to attend the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law in the fall.
Honors Newsletter 2 Northern State University Jennifer Kilber, 2013 graduate, received her B.S. in Business and Marketing at Northern. While at NSU, Jennifer was active in the Honors Club and Business Club. She was also a Gypsy Days royalty candidate. Kilber is the current Marketing Lead at Agtegra Cooperative in Aberdeen. Prior to this she had different roles at Agtegra, including marketing intern, fertilizer logistics coordinator, dispatch trainer, agronomy and marketing analyst. Jennifer enjoys gardening, golfing and growing flowers for her side business—Gem Bloom Flower Co. Kilber’s thesis was titled Seven Tips for Managing Generation Y. She found “citing all the research sources properly” the most challenging. Kilber most enjoyed “partnering with Dr. Barclay and Dr. Ohmer on the research, writing, publishing in the Journal of Management Policy and Practice, and presenting the research at the International Business Conference.” Her favorite Honors activities were the club meetings and get-togethers. She felt the Honors Program helped her by developing her leadership skills and challenged her to get outside her comfort zone, which prepared her for her career. Her favorite Honors memory was the trip to National Honors Conference in Boston. “We ate so much yummy Italian food!” Her advice to current Honors students: “try different career paths by following your interests and passions while you’re young in your career to make sure you set yourself up well for a long-term career in a field you enjoy.” NSU Honors Alumni in Action Charles Fitzgerald, 1997 NSU graduate with a B.A. in Economics and Finance and a minor in Political Science, is the current Senior Managing Partner and Co-Founder at V3 Capital Management. While at Northern, Fitzgerald played football, was an RA, and worked for the Exponent. After graduation from NSU he held various roles at Prudential, JP Morgan and High Rise Capital before branching out and starting his own company. He lives in Texas with his wife, Katie, and identical twin sons, Owen and Charlie. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends, watching football, and his work. Fitzgerald’s thesis included research on Upper Midwest Equity. He found the most challenging part of doing the thesis was binding the report when he was finished. At that time the students had to do it themselves. Luckily, today’s students don’t have to worry about that with all the technology and the NSU Print Shop. His most enjoyable part of the thesis was “sharing it with everyone when it was done.” When asked about Honors activities he found most enjoyable, Fitzgerald stated, “Interacting with my professors.” He felt that the NSU Honors Program helped him by giving him “confidence to be able to meet challenges in the workplace.” His favorite Honors Program memory was graduating In Honoribus. He has some advice for current Honors students: “Find a field to work in after college that gets you excited to go to work every day.”
Honors Newsletter 3 Northern State University The Common Read Committee has chosen The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for The Larry and Julie Poeppel Family Common Read Lecture in 2023. The event will take place on Sept. 27, 2023. This will be the 14th year of the NSU Common Read program and it has grown into the largest academic event on Northern’s campus, attracting internationally recognized authors. The event is supported through a generous endowment by the Poeppel family. The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, tells the story of a young AfricanAmerican mother who died in 1951 of cancer. It goes on to talk about her legacy: medical research that was done on her living cells without her or her family’s knowledge. Two members of Henrietta’s family will deliver the Larry and Julie Poeppel Family Common Read Lecture on Sept. 27, 2023, in the Harvey and Cynthia Jewett Theater. They will discuss medical research that Henrietta has helped with and issues of informed consent, medical ethics, HIPAA and communication in modern medicine. Honors Students Attend Regional Conference The Northern students who attended the Upper Midwest Regional Honors Conference include: • Ai (Andy) Qiang • Jessica Splichal • Kayla Jensen • Kendall Kelly • Mayson Sheldon • Mckenzie Hassebroek • Randi Schuster During the conference, the students attended different breakout sessions including Utilizing Role-Playing Games to Develop Critical Thinking Skills, The Leadership Challenge, Connecting to Community through Intentional City Exploration, The Whole Person is the Whole Point, and True Greatness Starts from Within, to name a few. There were also student poster presentations, a 3-minute thesis competition, and roundtable discussions. 2023 Common Read Book Selected Pictured left to right: Mayson Sheldon, Mckenzie Hassebroek, Kendall Kelly, Jessica Splichal, Kayla Jensen, Randi Schuster, and Qiang (Andy) Ai.
Honors Newsletter 4 Northern State University Northern State University student Megan Fastenau presented her research at the Legislative Poster Session on Feb. 7 in Pierre. Fastenau, a sophomore biochemistry major from Aberdeen, attended the session along with Drs. Susan Citrak and Jon Mitchell, Northern faculty members. Fastenau’s project, “Bacteriophage Isolation against Actinomycete Gordonia rubripertincta and Bioinformatic Characterization of the Bacteriophages MossRose and Eliott,” aims to isolate and purify novel bacteriophages and then annotate its genome. The findings are expected to help further understand bacteriophages and their host specificities. Fastenau said her experience in Pierre was amazing. "I showcased my research on bacteriophages to various legislators and toured the capitol building. This opportunity wouldn’t have been possible without Dr. Citrak, Dr. Mitchell, and the support of NSU," she said. "I worked with Dr. Mitchell to isolate the genomic DNA of a bacteriophage from a soil sample. Along with isolating the bacteriophage, I will annotate the sequenced genome. NSU has an incredible science building with advanced technology to make research possible for undergraduate students like myself. With that said, I hope to come back to Pierre again with more information discovered on bacteriophages!” NSU student attends Legislative Poster Session in Pierre New Honors Coordinator Position Created—Meet Konnie Anderson For the first time, the NSU Honors Program has a permanent part-time Program Coordinator. Konnie Anderson was hired to help establish and maintain communication with admissions, students, prospective students and the Foundation. Some of Anderson’s duties include: handling purchasing and travel documents; event planning; marketing; writing, editing and distributing a semi-annual newsletter; checking Honors theses formatting; and collaborating with Honors students to help develop and achieve program and club goals. She also assists with major Honors Programs, including the NSU Common Read. Anderson came to NSU from Minnesota. She has a B.A. in Spanish Education and an M.S. in Educational Leadership. She is a 29-year veteran teacher that still wanted to be involved in education in some capacity. She and her husband, Lance, farm near Bristol and have three children. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, playing cards, reading, traveling and spending time at the lake.
Honors Newsletter 5 Northern State University Upper Midwest Regional Conference Seven NSU students attended the conference, held March 30-April 1, 2023, at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa. Of those seven, three presented their research: Mayson Sheldon, Mckenzie Hassebroek, and Qiang (Andy) Ai. Sheldon presented her thesis, “Measuring Fear of Crime on Campus: A Study of a Small Midwestern University.” Sheldon, originally from Mandan, N.D., said she chose to come to Northern because of the supportive staff, community and opportunity to conduct undergraduate research in her field. She decided to present at the conference because, “I wanted to practice answering questions for my defense. I also wanted to show students from other schools the data I collected and get them thinking about how data from their schools might differ.” One thing that stood out to Sheldon about her research was that “I did not find any significant relationship between media consumption and fear of crime among students, staff and faculty on campus.” Hassebroek, originally from Westport, S.D., is majoring in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Social Work. Hassebroek’s thesis examines food insecurity at Northern. It observes if students who are attending the university are experiencing food insecurity and if there is a need for a food pantry on campus. “This was my first time presenting my research, so it was a little nerve-wracking. By attending the conference, I had the opportunity to share my research and also the opportunity to talk to other students that attend different universities at the conference and learned how their schools are helping students that are experiencing food insecurity, and I hope I can bring some of these ideas and initiatives to Northern.” Hassebroek said she chose to come to Northern because it is a small college. Pictured: Left to right: Mayson Sheldon, Kayla Jensen, Jessica Splichal, Mckenzie Hassebroek, Randi Schuster, Kendall Kelly, and Qiang (Andy) Ai. Ai, a math education and mathematics major, presented his thesis, titled, "The Connection between Basic Arithmetic Skills and Further Mathematic Ability." Ai’s research analyzes “if the use or non-use of calculators affects students' math ability during math learning and testing, and it also determines if an increase in basic arithmetic skills through daily arithmetic practice quizzes improves students' achievement in other mathematics skills.” Ai, who is from Shanghai, China, and Watertown, S.D., said, “The most challenging part was finding a school and class to complete the experiment. This is the research that will require students to participate. It was hard to find a public school to support the project, so I had to use my personal relationship with multiple private schools to complete this experiment.”
According to the Active Minds (https:// www.activeminds.org/about-mental-health/ statistics/), 39% of students in college experience a significant mental health issue, 67% of people ages 18-24 with anxiety or depression don’t seek treatment, 1 in 5 adults have a diagnosable mental health illness, and 50% of the population will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. These are alarming statistics. Sophomore Randi Schuster from Roslyn, S.D., double majoring in special education and elementary education, knew mental health was a problem on campus and wanted to bring awareness to it on campus and show support for those who suffer from a wide variety of mental health issues. “The mental health tree was something that I thought of after doing the Out of the Darkness walk here in Aberdeen. It made me truly think about what was going on around me and how I could bring awareness to campus about mental health,” Schuster stated. “I decided that I wanted to do something where people could write down what they were feeling, people's names, or whatever they felt like writing. I decided that I wanted to do a ‘tree’ of sorts, and put it in the Student Center. I thought that doing hearts would be a cute addition and really show support and love.” Besides letting students and staff write their thoughts or names down, she also had resources from many different places in Aberdeen and on campus that people were able to take. Schuster thought “this also helped establish the community and support that we have. My hope is that people see the tree and know that they are not alone! I plan to continue doing this and making it bigger and better to show that mental health is not something that people are going through alone and to break down the stigmas behind it.” Mental Health Awareness Tree Northern State University Honors Newsletter 6 Mental health awareness tree with messages of love and caring to show support for those suffering.
Northern State University Honors Newsletter 7 1. December 2022 In Honoriibus grads 2. Mental Health Awareness table 3. Honors bake sale to raise funds to adopt a grandparent through Beyond the Balloons 4. Mckenzie Hassebroek presents at Upper Midwest Regional Honors Conference 5. Mayson Sheldon is ready to discuss her research at the Upper Midwest Regional Honors 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Honors Newsletter 8 Northern State University Northern State University Honors Newsletter 8 Newsletter is edited by: Honors Coordinator Konnie Anderson, with assistance from students Andy Ai, Jessica Splichal, Kayla Jensen, Kendall Kelly, Mayson Sheldon, Mckenzie Hassebroek, and Randi Schuster; and NSU Communications and Marketing Department. Have a story idea? Send to: kristi.bockorny@northern.edu Give Now Follow the link https://northern.formstack.com/forms/nsu_online_giving_form Select “Other” under the Designation tab and specify “Honors Program” in the Special Notes tab to support Honors Housing Scholarships, NSU Common Read, and Honors Student Travel. Update your contact information with the NSU Foundation to hear about Alumni events in your area. Contact Information Dr. Kristi Bockorny Director of the Northern State University Honors Program kristi.bockorny@northern.edu Kendall Kelly “pies” Dr. Bockorny in the face for GiveNDay. 2023 Spring Awards Banquet
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