Study abroad in Europe offers glimpse of world war history

A group of Randolph students recently spent two weeks in Europe learning about two wars that challenged and changed the continent, as well as the world.

History professor Gerry Sherayko and communication studies professor Jennifer Gauthier led the students on an international study seminar titled “Museums, Memorials and Memory: Britain and the Two World Wars.”

They visited a variety of sites that memorialize World War I and World War II in England, Belgium, and France, including the Churchill War Rooms, Coventry Cathedral, and Flanders battlefield, as well as other historic sites. The journey allowed students to take an in-depth look at the way war is memorialized.

“By studying and having discussions about these war memorials, we have learned a lot about how each nation and its people remember the past, as well as how public memories have contributed to the construction of a British national identity,” said Phuong Tran ’15. “Without being on the site and experiencing the memorials ourselves, we would never be able to understand how the British cherish and value their past.”

You can view some of the photos from the international study seminar in this Facebook photo album.

Evolution, psychology, and physical attraction

Open up almost any magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults, and you can find numerous articles about how to be attractive, either through the way one dresses, acts, or talks.

Two Randolph students are working on scientific research into the topic of attractiveness. But their work is designed to lead not to more dating advice, but to an increased understanding of how concepts of attractiveness have evolved.

Sandeep Poudyal ’16 became interested in the topic in an evolutionary psychology class in which he learned that there have been many evolutionary explanations for heterosexual physical attraction, but there are fewer explanations on homosexual attraction. An idea for a research project began brewing.

“I thought it would be fun to explore some more stuff about heterosexual attraction, and find some new information on homosexual attraction,” he said. He proposed a summer research project with Dennis Goff, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology. He also invited Lauren Mason ’16, who wanted research experience to help prepare her for graduate school.

Goff explained that many aspects of physical attraction can be explained by the evolutionary impulse to reproduce. Women evolved to seek strong mates who would be interested in supporting and protecting children, while men have an evolved attraction toward characteristics that signal fertility.

The group’s goal is to design an experiment that would gauge the influence of various characteristics on physical attraction. For the past few weeks, they have been reading articles to get ideas. “We’ve been doing a literature review and looking at possible studies to replicate,” Mason said. They plan to look at how facial characteristics, voice, and personal traits such as humor or intelligence affect attraction.

They will measure the physical attraction associated with those characteristics by administering questionnaires that people will complete. For example, they might play two voices and ask participants which one is more attractive, or they show a picture and ask the participants to rate the face for attraction.

Poudyal said the group plans to administer the survey to a few people this summer to collect pilot data. This will set the stage for more in-depth research with more participants in the fall. The same survey would be administered to homosexual and heterosexual participants to yield a broader scale of data.

The students have enjoyed the summer research, especially the ability to work closely with a professor who helps them develop ideas. “You don’t have to compete with anyone else for the personal attention that you very much want from a professor,” Poudyal said.

He added that the project has helped him confirm his plans to continue researching and earn a Ph.D. after college. “I definitely know that this is what I want to do in the future,” he said. “That is why I decided I want to do research this summer. You learn so much that you didn’t know anything about in the beginning.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s fun.”

"The Play's the Thing" in this Summer Research project

When Grace Gardiner ’15 puts pen to paper, she usually writes poetry that focuses on an image. But when English professor Gary Dop asked if she would like to write plays with him and another experienced playwright this summer, she jumped at the opportunity.

Gardiner is working on several plays for a Randolph College Summer Research Program project titled “The Play’s the Thing: A Communal Creative Jaunt through Dramatic Structure.” She and Dop began the summer by examining the dramatic structure in existing plays, then they set out to craft their own.

When Dop was interviewing for a position on the faculty, he taught a practice class on the opening image of a play. “That stuck with me,” Gardiner said.

Dop and Gardiner are meeting regularly with Jim Peterson, a Randolph English professor who retired last year, to read and discuss the plays that they are writing.

Gardiner’s play is about a college student who is accused of rape but has no idea whether he is guilty because he had blacked out on the night of the alleged assault. The play portrays him searching his soul and wondering whether he really is capable of harming someone. At the end of the play, the audience may have opinions, but not a definite answer, about his guilt or innocence. “It’s more about his journey,” Gardiner said.

Dop said handling the question in this way requires mastery of complex storytelling, and Gardiner is doing it well.  “We don’t know how to feel about the protagonist. He is, at moments, an unlikeable character, and that makes the journey more interesting to watch,” he said. “We’re wrestling with his guilt or innocence as well.”

Dop described the play he is writing this summer as a “postmodern magical realist surrealist absurdist play” as well as an over-the-top comedy that tells the story of a character looking for a job. “It’s certainly a non-traditional kind of drama,” he said. “I’ve played with conventions in some of my scripts, but never this much.”

Gardiner said the project has helped her expand her knowledge of how to structure and tell a story. “In a play, you can’t just take a step back and describe an image. It focuses on the dialogue and the characters’ actions,” she said. “That has been added to my arsenal of writing skills.”

Later this summer, they will send their plays to the National Playwright Center for critical feedback. They also will participate in a high school summer playwriting class that Dop has taught for a couple of years. Gardiner also hopes to organize a reading so people can experience a small performance of her play.

How the liberal arts made Ayn Dietrich '04 a spokesperson for the FBI

Every day, Ayn Dietrich ’04 talks with reporters about high profile cases involving federal investigators, from suspected terrorist activity to searches for missing children. She previously served as an intelligence analyst and the person who briefs the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the attorney general on important cases.

Friday afternoon, she gave Randolph College Summer Research students an insider’s view of that world. While on campus for her 10-year reunion, Dietrich spoke in the weekly Summer Research seminar.

“I love working for an organization whose goal is to protect those who are in this country and Americans overseas,” she said. “I take it as a real honor to spread information about what we do and clear up misunderstandings.”

Dietrich, a public affairs specialist for the FBI Seattle division, showed video clips of various interviews she gave to media, and she described the process of preparing for the interviews—which sometimes involves having an hour or less to master the facts of a case.

She also described the variety of jobs she has performed for the FBI and how her liberal arts background qualified her to find success in those positions. “I couldn’t have experienced this if I didn’t have the versatile background of a liberal arts degree,” she said.

Dietrich majored in international studies and minored in communication studies and Spanish at the College. She also worked in the White House one summer and in Spain for two summers during her college career. When she went to graduate school at Columbia University, she was able to finish in one year, and her thesis was adapted from a paper she began in her senior year at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.

“You wouldn’t think that in a small college I could write a paper about  how state owned enterprise in China contributes to the failure of China to create a really robust security system,” she said, noting that a larger university might have a professor who specializes in that topic and could advise her. “But I value because what I had here, because instead of one professor who was an expert who could guide me, the College gave me five.”

She added that the College’s emphasis on writing and communicating continue to serve her daily.

As an undergraduate, she was editor of The Sundial, the student-run newspaper, and served in Student Government while also playing tennis and being active in other activities. In her working life, she has continued to be involved in the community by teaching Zumba and mentoring a teenager. “My ability to do all that came as a result of being a well-rounded student and pushing myself in different areas,” she said. “This school still challenges you to be well-rounded.”

Athletic and theatre summer camps available at Randolph College

Randolph College has numerous day camps available for local families looking for ways to enrich the summer months for their children and teens.

Sports Camps

Beginning June 2, the College will hold several athletics camps throughout the summer allowing participants to sharpen their skills in basketball, lacrosse, tennis, and horseback riding.

The season begins and ends with equestrian camps at the Randolph College Riding Center. The first begins June 2 is designed for ages 6 and up. There will be other equestrian camps for specific age groups throughout the summer.

Basketball and tennis clinics for boys and girls and a lacrosse camp  for boys will take place on the Randolph College campus beginning in July.

For a full schedule and more information on athletic camps, visit http://www.randolphwildcats.com/information/summer_camps

Theatre Camp

The two-week WildCat Theatre Conservatory from July 28 through August 9 will help participants develop creativity, confidence, and communication while learning about theatre, too. Professional performers will teach classes in acting, musical theatre, improvisation, production, and the creation of original theatre. The camp is open to students in grades K-12.

For more information and registration for WildCat Theatre Conservatory, visit http://www.wildcattheatreconservatory.org

What are Randolph College students doing this summer?

Randolph College students are making good use of their time out of school this summer. Now that the semester has ended and warm weather abounds, they are spreading throughout the world to study, work, and conduct research. Here are just a few things they are doing:

On Sunday, 12 students departed for Europe for a two-week summer seminar about the way British museums and monuments tell the stories of World War I and World War II. They also plan to visit WWI battlegrounds in Belgium and France. History professor Gerry Sherayko and communication studies professor Jennifer Gauthier are leading the trip.

Other students are studying in the Netherlands, the Caribbean, and Korea this summer.

For many Randolph students, the summer is an important time to get hands-on career experience through internships.

Hannah Neifert ’14 is working in development and arts management at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She received the Donald P. Baiocchi Lyric Opera Internship in Chicago, which is sponsored by Amanda Fox ’67 and Matthew Fox.

Teague Nelson ’14 is participating in Preservation Institute: Nantucket, a summer program that teaches students about historic preservation and historical research. A.J. and Lynne Coppage Land ’60 sponsor an internship in the program for one Randolph student each year.

Meanwhile, Dina Velazco ’16 is interning as a financial assistant for Embutidos Semosa in Venezuela, and Mark Patterson ’15 is working for Go Measure 3D, a company located about 30 minutes from Randolph providing three-dimensional scanning services.

Other student interns include a muralist in Baltimore, Maryland, a risk management analyst in Vietnam, and a news desk assistant in Pennsylvania.

More than 20 students are doing research in the Randolph College Summer Research Program.

Throughout this summer, check back with the Randolph College blog to read more about what Randolph students are accomplishing and learning around the world.

Members of the Class of 2014 inducted into Phi Beta Kappa

Last weekend, 14 members of the Class of 2014 were welcomed into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. An induction ceremony was held Saturday, the day before their Commencement.

The newly inducted members are:

John Grundy ’14
Glenna Gray ’14
Kavya Pradhan ’14
Katherine Bickley ’14
Emma Bartholomew ’14
Tsubasa Watanabe ’14
Brittney Via ’14
Hin Doan ’14
May Nwe Soe ’14
Jim Kwon ’14
Emily Rist ’14
Julia Kim ’14
Angelina Carilli ’14
Amy Jacobs ’14

Randolph College is one of only about 280 colleges in the nation with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1916, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College received the first Phi Beta Kappa charter granted to an independent woman’s college in the South, and the Delta Chapter of Virginia was officially installed the following year. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa recognizes a student’s high achievements in scholarship and maintenance of a balanced program of study in the liberal arts.