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Exca ibur

Gannon University

Honors Program

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Table of Contents

Honors Classes: First Impressions ____________________

Gannon’s New Arabic Program Set for Round Two _______

EVITA __________________________________________

Ambassador David Dunford _________________________

A New Organization Uniting Students on Campus ________

References _______________________________________

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This year, as with every year, a new

batch of freshman have congregated to the

Gannon campus. Of those students, some

of them, myself included, become part of

the honors program here. Now, to get in

the program, they had to be honors stu-

dents in high school. Therefore, they have

some experience with more focused and

intense classes. However, how do they

feel about college honors classes? How

do they compare to high school? What do

they think about the Honors Program as a

whole? I interviewed several honors stu-

dents to find out.

I first talked to Meghan Robick, Bi-

ology major, who had this to say: “You

know, it really is not overly terrible. My

classes in high school were definitely very

difficult, and so are these ones, but I

thought I would be studying all night eve-

ry night. I’m still studying a lot, but not

to the point where I don’t have time for

other things. I’d like to relax a bit more,

but I’m doing fine with my current class

load.”

Looking to find out more beyond

the classwork itself, I talked to Sarah

Magyan, Freshwater and Marine Biology

major. She had this to say: “On the

whole, my honors classes are very differ-

ent to my regular classes. My normal

classes are just taught, we just listen and

take notes. My honors classes are mainly

discussion based. We talk about issues

more than just taking notes on them. I al-

so feel like those discussions are where I

got a lot of the points that go towards my

grade, since most of my honors teachers

grade participation. I have also had less

tests than my normal classes, I’m guess-

ing because we are getting points for par-

ticipation and don’t need extra tests. Al-

so, just a side comment about the pro-

gram, it seems like for certain honors

classes, the spots are limited and the clas-

ses are hard to get in to. Maybe I just had

bad luck scheduling.”

Honors Classes:

First Impressions By Corey Griffith

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Cassi Kiser, currently a Chemistry

major, had this to say about the Honors

Program itself: “I actually really enjoy be-

ing a part of the honors program. There

have been many fun events that I have at-

tended through the program. My favorite

so far have been the game nights that were

held. It was a lot of fun to go there with

my friends and play Scrabble or Go

Fish. I also liked all of the honors spon-

sored service events that I have done so

far, like at the animal shelter. I also like

the priority scheduling for classes we get

from honors. The honors housing is really

nice too. I will be living in the honors

housing next year as well, and am looking

forward to another year of it.”

So there you have it. People are ad-

justing well to their new environment and

classes. It is a new and a different experi-

ence, but it is something that these stu-

dents are more than capable of han-

dling. They are being challenged, but it is

a challenge that they readily and openly

accept.

There is a little-known course of-

fered here at Gannon, one that teaches stu-

dents an entirely new language that most

of us have never been exposed to in our

lives. The Arabic 101 class, taught by Dr.

Baugh, has brought the Arabic language

back into our curriculum. Arabic 1 was

offered first semester this school year, and

most students have returned for Arabic 2

this semester. Learning Arabic was once a

small part of a history course, but it is now

an entirely separate entity meant to expose

students to the basics of Arabic. It pro-

vides them with a building block to ex-

pand on, and smashes the ignorance most

people in United States carry regarding

the language.

In the first semester’s Arabic class,

every single student came in with a non-

Arabic background. They all worked as a

team, learning together and helping each

other. Foreign exchange students even

came in to help as mentors. The Professor,

Dr. Baugh, has spent upwards of ten years

in Egypt where she developed her

knowledge of the language. The students

learned Egyptian Arabic from among all

of the different types because it is the most

Gannon’s New Arabic

Program Set for

Round Two By Nicole Simonetti

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well-known, and the one Baugh has the

most experience in. Learning a new lan-

guage isn’t easy, and in most foreign lan-

guages there are many parallels and com-

mon words shared with English, but Ara-

bic is a whole new ball game.

For starters, there is an entirely new

28 letter alphabet to learn, along with cor-

responding marks that were used by be-

ginning students to pronounce and identi-

fy words easier. These marks are called

tashkil, which indicate places where short

consonant and vowel sounds are left out

but understood to be there. They are al-

most always cut out in written words in

Arabic-speaking countries, but it’s inter-

esting that the Quran keeps them in for

clarity’s sake. Another difference is that

the written language is read from right to

left, which is completely opposite from

the way we are all ingrained to read. Alt-

hough there was a learning curve, work

produced results. Students made their way

through the alphabet, and learned vocabu-

lary associated with the letter combina-

tions. The online textbook helped their

understanding of spoken Arabic, and to

see how the deep, throaty sounds are

made by native speakers. Despite this

whole new language and culture the stu-

dents are exposed to, it is surprisingly ac-

cessible.

One of the students that was in the

“guinea pig” class for the Arabic program,

Shefali Amin, is a pre-med major. For her

it served as a welcome break from the dai-

ly grind of biology classes, and expanded

her horizons to a new way of life and lan-

guage. She even worked her spring se-

mester classes around Arabic 2 because of

how much she loved it. Kyle Volkman,

the Excalibur chair, took Arabic 1 and is

currently in Arabic 2 as well as the ROTC

program. He hopes to use his newfound

understanding of the language to be val-

ued above other soldiers, and to make

practical use out of it in the field.

No matter what the students plan to

use Arabic for, there is always merit in

learning another language. Being bilin-

gual is advantageous for job searching,

and for simply opening minds. Arabic will

continue to be offered, but only one sec-

tion at a time from Arabic 1 to Arabic 4.

The next section of Arabic 1 will be of-

fered in the fall semester of 2017. Hope-

Carolyn G. Baugh, Assistant Professor,

History Program

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fully by then the interest will be high, and

current freshmen will be juniors and have

room in their schedules to fit it in. There is

no limit to who can take this course, and

the students that do leave with a broad-

ened world view, basic understanding of

Arabic, and new friendships forged

through learning a unique and different

language together.

At the end of April, Gannon’s

Schuster Theatre will be putting on the

production of the historical rock opera,

Evita.  The lyrics were written by Tim

Rice and music composed by Andrew

Lloyd Webber, who are also the master-

minds of other musicals such as Joseph

and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus

Christ Superstar.

The story is based on the Argentine

historical political figure Eva Peron.  The

musical begins with the announcement of

Eva’s death in 1952.  The rest of the per-

formance is flashbacks of her life from the

1930s onwards.

 Like the actual life

of Eva Peron, the

show depicts how

a poverty stricken

girl at fifteen

clawed her way to

being a top Argen-

tinian actress and then the wife of Juan

Peron, President of Argentina.  Her meth-

ods were not conventional and have re-

ceived as much hate as praise.  She used

manipulation of men to get to the top, but

her influence on the citizens once she got

there demonstrates why she was loved and

remembered.  Eva Peron had been raised

as an illegitimate child without a dollar to

her name.  Once she received the riches

and power with Juan Peron, she gave back

to the people of Argentina.  She fought for

rights of the low class, donated exponen-

tial amount of money, and spoke elegantly

of change, which garnered a lot of affec-

tion from the people.  Tragically, she died

in 1952 at the age of 33 due to cervical

cancer.  Over three million people attend-

ed the funeral, filling the Argentinian

streets for miles in every direction.  Her

impact on low class and women’s rights EVITA Cast Rehearsing

EVITA By Molly Cooke

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have been immortalized by the beautiful

interpretation done through this musical.  

Jax Vadney, the director of Gan-

non’s production of Evita, will be a

unique take on the musical.  The overall

artistic theme is for the story to feel like a

dream.  The projections used will be hazy,

and the props will be minimal.  This al-

lows the focus of the performance to be

on the talent of Gannon students accom-

panied by a live orchestra.  Unlike a typi-

cal proscenium stage most expect when

seeing a theatrical performance, Gannon’s

production will be done with an alley set

up where the stage is in the middle and

the audience are on both the west and east

sides of it.

The talent used are done by fellow

Gannon students such as Alizabeth Leng,

Zak Westfall, Michael Haas, and more.

 The Honors Program also has representa-

tion in the performance, such as Cassie

Bielecki with prop design, Emily Scifo as

stage manager and projection operator,

and myself stage managing and operating

lights.

The performance is free to Gannon

students and will be counted as an Honors

event credit. The dates of Evita are April

21-23 and April 28-30 at 8 pm, along with

May 1st at 2 pm.  It is a great way to get a

credit achieved and relax before finals.

Last semester, former Ambassador

David J. Dunford traveled to Gannon

University to spend some time on campus

and to give several talks on topics that

mostly centered on the Middle East.

Those readers who are in the Honors pro-

gram here at Gannon will probably re-

member the talk that Ambassador Dun-

ford gave titled “Making Sense of To-

day’s Middle East,” during which he

talked about current issues involving the

modern Middle East. In his talk, Ambas-

sador Dunford discussed ideas such as

some reasons why struggle and strife are

common themes throughout the Middle

Zak Westfall (left) and Allie Leng (right) with

additional cast rehearsing for EVITA Ambassador

David Dunford By Kevin Kauffman

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East, and a little about what can be done

by our government in response. For exam-

ple, he talked about the propagation of

frustrated youth in the area that are now

connected by social media, and also

whether our president should put troops

on the ground in the Middle East. While

his talk was much more encompassing

than I can relate here, it should be known

that his talk was engrossing and well pre-

sented.

About the Ambassador

As can be inferred from the topic of Am-

bassador Dunford’s talk, his area of exper-

tise the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Currently, Ambassador Dunford is an Ad-

junct Instructor at The University of Ari-

zona and teaches classes focusing on top-

ics such as the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the

Middle East Business Environment, and

Globalization and Global Government.

Before his time in the United States For-

eign Service, Ambassador Dunford

worked briefly in Spain and Korea. How-

ever, during the period of time during

which Ambassador Dunford was active in

the Foreign Service, he worked mostly in

the Middle East and Northern Africa. Alt-

hough he served in both Helsinki, Finland

and Quito, Ecuador; he spent a lot of time

as an Ambassador for Middle Eastern

countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, and

Egypt.

After he retired from the U.S. Foreign

Service, Ambassador Dunford held posi-

tions such as the Director of Egyptian Af-

fairs in the Department of State in Wash-

ington DC; the Deputy Assistant U.S.

Trade Representative in the Executive Of-

fice of the President; international busi-

ness consultant for clients such as major

U.S. oil companies, defense contractors,

telecommunications companies, policy

research institutions, and universities; the

coordinator of the Transition Team for the

Establishment of the Bank for Economic

Cooperation and Development in the Mid-

dle East and North Africa

(MENABANK); Senior Ministerial Liai-

son to Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs at

the Coalition of Provisional Authority in

Baghdad; the Chairman of the Board of

the Association for International Practical

Training; and has co-authored a book ti-

tled Talking to Strangers: The Struggle to

Rebuild Iraq’s Foreign Ministry. Ambas-

sador Dunford’s curriculum vitae is over-

flowing with experience related to the

Middle East and Northern Africa, and

gives testament to many years of accumu-

lated knowledge with respect to that area

of the world.

Gannon University

Ambassador Dunford’s time here at Gan-

non University was facilitated by Dr.

Bomberger of the Honors Program, some-

one many of our readers are certain to

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know. Although Dr. Bomberger was in

charge of the Ambassador’s stay here, his

visit was at the behest of the university’s

Academic Affairs Department. The Coun-

cil of Independent Colleges (ICA) has a

Fellowship program that

focuses on bringing pro-

fessionals to universities

in order to expose the stu-

dents and faculty to

knowledge that was

gained in the field through

experience. The idea be-

hind it, as Dr. Bomberger related to me, is

that there is a kind of knowledge that can

be gained from academics and book learn-

ing, but the knowledge gained in the field

is much different. Gannon University spe-

cifically focuses on globalizing the aca-

demics here at the university level and, as

a result, focus on bringing in professionals

in fields that operate on a global scope.

Ambassador Dunford was recommended

by the ICA as someone who is well liked

by his audiences and who is incredibly

knowledgeable about the Middle East.

While he was here, Ambassador

Dunford had an incredibly packed sched-

ule during which he did everything from

meet with ROTC students to talk about

the culture of the Middle East area, to giv-

ing an address at Northwest Pennsylvania

Collegiate Academy, a local high school

located on State Street in Erie. Dr. Bom-

berger stated that the Ambassador’s visit

was a great success, and that he had many

wonderful things to share with everyone

here. A particular quote of Ambassador

Dunford’s that Dr. Bomberger was fond of

was, “People want to play checkers in a

world that is multi-dimensional chess.”

Dr. Bomberger explained to me that this is

meant to relate that people are much too

focused on the easy answer, plan A, while

in reality the world is messy and having a

plan B and a plan C are always a good

idea. Overall, Ambassador Dunford’s vis-

it here to Gannon was an enlightening

one, and students are urged to be on the

lookout for the ICA’s next guest.

Ambassador David Dunford

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Many colleges across the country

have a Residence Hall Association, or

RHA, that unites students who live on

campus. In the fall of 2014, Yih Tsao and

a couple Residence Assistants (RAs) had

the idea of bringing this organization and

the affiliated student unity to Gannon, and

the first step was to hold elections for

RHA offices. Sophomore Julia Ferringer

applied in the spring of 2014 for the posi-

tion of RHA President, and has served as

president since her election. I had the

pleasure of meeting with and talking to

Julia about the idea of the Residence Hall

Association, its mission, and its plans for

the future.

The mission of Gannon’s RHA is to

unify the students by providing social

events, service events, and friendly com-

petition amongst the housing units. An im-

portant, new idea that is currently being

organized and implemented by the RHA is

a House Cup. Our readers may recall the

Hogwarts House Cup in the Harry Potter

universe, and it is certainly not a coinci-

dence that they share the same name. The

RHA House Cup is based on the Triwizard

Tournament that Harry Potter took part in

during his fourth year at Hogwarts. At

Gannon, students gain points for their

housing unit by participating in RHA-

organized events and by winning RHA-

organized athletic competitions. Each

housing unit has a different House Color

to represent them, the specific colors are

listed at the bottom of this article. Alt-

hough the House Cup is still in its infancy,

the RHA’s goal is to have the competition

be fully embraced by students living on

campus in the near future.

To date, the RHA has hosted a New

Student Mixer outside of North Hall, a

kickball tournament, and a Frosted Formal

Dance: all of which have been well re-

ceived, especially by Freshman students.

As the RHA continues to grow, it hopes to

continue expanding its vision of enhanc-

ing the campus living experience.

How to Get Involved:

Pool Tournament

The RHA is hosting a pool tourna-

ment on April 9th and 10th at 1 P.M. each

day. The first will be a one-on-one compe-

tition to determine the finalists from each

A New Organization

Uniting Students on

Campus By Kyle Volkman

11

residence hall. The second day will be a

one-on-one competition to determine the

victor out of the pool of finalists from the

day before.

Apply for a Leadership Position

The RHA applications for executive

board positions (excluding President and

Vice President) are still open, but the

deadline is April 1st! Anyone who misses

the deadline but is still interested in RHA

can contact Yih Tsao at

tsao002@gannon.edu. The application can

be found on Residence Life's EngageU

page.

Residence Hall Colors

Finegan: Forest Green

Wehrle: Black & Red

North: Fire Orange

Harborview: Black & Yellow

Lubiak & Freeman: Purple

Small Apartments: Royal Blue

Excalibur Team

Nicole Simonetti ____________________________________Committee Chair

Kyle Volkman _______________________________Retiring Committee Chair

Molly Cooke _____________________________________________Publisher

Sarah Magyan ____________________________________________Publisher

Corey Griffith _______________________________________________Editor

Kevin Kauffman _____________________________________________Editor

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References

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Ambassador Dunford photograph on page retrieved from

https://sgpp.arizona.edu/sites/sgpp.arizona.edu/files/user_photo/picture-159-1385060647.jpg

Map of the Middle East on page retrieved from

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gC&biw=1600&bih=805#tbm=isch&q=Map+of+the+middle+east&imgrc=65wFMhSTrlNVbM%3A

Evita Poster from page retrieved from

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