Honors Program
- On Friday, June 24th, Dr. Jeremy Wells and Dr. Rebekah Dement led a student Excursion to a Kentucky Shakespeare performance of Richard III. A comment from Chemistry and Biology senior Tien-Lu Huang aptly encapsulates the experience: “I really did enjoy this Excursion. I don’t think I would have gone to the play by myself ever, and I would have missed out on knowing that such things even existed.” Further, all participants indicated they would be extremely likely to recommend the experience to a friend or to participate again in the future. A joint effort of the English Department and the Honors Program, this Excursion included 7 Arts & Letters students, 1 Business student, 2 Education students, and 2 Natural Sciences students. Thanks to Excursions Funding, students were provided with a copy of the text, transportation to the park in Louisville where the play was performed, and a meal before the performance. Dr. Sandra Patterson-Randles offered a lecture via Zoom prior to the Excursion to provide cultural context for the play, and, as observed by Theatre senior Jaime Young-Irvin, students found the lecture beneficial: “I think I found the pre-excursion discussion to be the most beneficial. It put everything to into even greater context than my previous experience Shakespeare allowed.” Other students also noted growing in confidence and knowledge; Education sophomore Rachel Wood said the Excursion “was a great way to reintroduce Shakespeare to those of us that had been failed in high school when it came to discussing his plays,” and she concluded, “I feel more confident about my understanding of Shakespeare and how I’ll be able to convey that to my future students.” In addition to Rachel and Jaime’s observations, participant responses to the Pre- and Post-Excursion Surveys also reflect this growth. Students were asked to rate their confidence reading and discussing works by Shakespeare. Prior to the Excursion, two-thirds of students said they “somewhat agreed” with the statement, “I feel confident in my ability to understand works by Shakespeare.” One-third said they “strongly agreed.” After the Excursion, the “somewhat agree” total dropped to 60% while “strongly agree” went up to 40%. Similar numbers characterized students’ responses to the statement, “I feel confident in my ability to discuss the works of Shakespeare with others.” Prior to the Excursion, 17% said they “somewhat agreed” with the statement while another 25% weren’t sure. After the Excursion, the number who weren’t sure dropped to 10%. The number who said they “somewhat agreed” increased to 40%, an improvement of 23 percentage points. (“Zounds,” we hear the Bard exclaiming from beyond the grave.) Meanwhile the trip to see Richard III helped at least a couple of students feel a greater sense of belonging at IU Southeast. 85% said they “strongly agreed” with the statement “I feel like I belong at IU Southeast” prior to the Excursion. That number went up to 90% afterward. The Duke of Richmond ends the play by predicting “smiling plenty and fair prosperous days.” Based on the plenteous smiles they saw, Dr. Wells and Dr. Dement hope the excursion will lead to future collaboration with Kentucky Shakespeare. Such comments as those below indicate students found the experience to be undeniably fair and overwhelmingly prosperous: Bella Thompson, Interdisciplinary Studies junior: “One of the most beneficial aspects of going to this event was spending time with students and instructors who had an appreciation for great works of literature, which prompted great discussions. I really appreciate the opportunity to participate in this excursion, and I would love to participate in more events like it in the future! I am particularly grateful that I could attend an event that so closely aligned to my major, and have so much fun doing it!” Kara Wright, Journalism sophomore: “I loved seeing the play and comparing it to the original text! I also enjoyed the conversation that took place on the ride home because Bella, Ashlynn, Andrew, Dr. Dement, and I got to reflect on the performance while it was still fresh on our minds.”Ellis Sigafoos, English senior: “I thought every aspect of this excursion was well planned and accessible. The discussion and historical background prior to seeing the play was very helpful and the play itself was wonderful. The actors really made the story come alive and Richard was delightfully awful. I also very much appreciated the free food and that travel was included! Thank you so much for organizing this. It was wonderful to get to have the opportunity for a literature-specific extracurricular activity and I had a great time. The only thing I would have added would have been perhaps more time to discuss the play itself with our group before/after the performance, which it sounds like would be a natural inclusion if this idea goes on to become a summer course. I’m excited to see where this goes, and thank you again!”
- The IU Southeast faculty seemingly swept the 2021 Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching (FACET) awards. For the category of Skills Across the Curriculum: Rebekah Dement and Steffany Maher collaborated and won in that category. Rebekah is a Lecturer of English and Steffany is an Assistant Professor of English Education at IU Southeast. Read more ⬈
- Honors Program Director and English Lecturer, Rebekah Dement has been featured as Faculty Innovator. Read more ⬈
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