PAGE 10 // WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 4. 2009
SPECIAL PROJECTS
THE PENDULUM
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Associate professor of English Jean Schwind’s research includes how art shapes culture.
Goinf^ belvind the scenes of
FACULTY
Laura Wainman
Special
Projects Editor
RESEARCH
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Assistant professor of psychology Amy Overman, right, records
alumni Brian Smith's brain activity through an electrode cap.
College is akin to the production of a play. The students spend months learning
their lines and rehearsing. As the final performance nears, they begin to frantically cram,
spending night after night surviving on caffeine alone.
Finally, the big moment arrives, the curtain is raised and the audience prepares to
judge the performance. The limitation of the audience, though, is they miss out on 90
percent of the process, as they only view the finished product.
Just as a student's know/ledge cannot accurately be garnered from the final exam
grade, the work of a professor cannot be assessed from their time spent in the classroom
alone.
Students are aware of the "teacher" role their professors play, but what often goes
unrecognized is the months of research faculty members conduct.
w in siioiJiJ)
l*IU)l' KSS()KS PI KSIJK
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There Is a widespread belief
professors must either choose
to teach or do research, but
they simply Ccinnot engage
in both simultaneously. For
i:\KI. IIONK^Cirn, a
marketing professor and the
2008-2009 Distinguished
Scholar at Elon, this is
completely inaccurate as he
said he believes research
forms the basis of a university
and promulgates the growth
and development of both
faculty and students alike.
"I truly don’t think there
can be a university without
scholars, and you do not ‘
have scholars if research is
not being done,” Honeycutt
said. “Professors need to
be maintaining their own
knowledge in order to profess
knowledge to their students,
and the best way to do that is
to remain active in academic
endeavors.”
Honeycutt said he also sees
research as the best tool for
progress, particularly in fields
that are constantly changing.
“If 1 don’t stay abreast of
the changes in my field, I will
get left behind,” Honeycutt
said. “The greats are never
complacent, they are always
working toward improvement,
and I think that should be the
goal of every professor at
Elon. There is no better way to
accomplish that than through
doing research in your field of
study.” c::
According to Honeycutt,
the benefits of faculty research
extend beyond the personal
realm of the professor and
spill into students’ lives, as
well.
“Students whose
professors have taken on
research questions are getting
the most current knowledge
from professors who are truly
excited about their discipline,”
Honeycutt said. “These
individuals cire the ones who
go the extra mile to learn as
much about a topic as they
Ccm and are more likely to
have gotten input about their
teaching methods from other
colleagues. This is nothing but
beneficial to the students.”
Honeycutt finished his
fourth book last fall and is
currently working on several
articles, including one on
attempting to reduce turnover
in the sales force.
Most college professors spend very little time thinking about high school, but for
•IK \\ SCIIW IM), associate professor of English, it is a subject that is on her mind daily, especially its
representation in American film and fiction.
“Art not only reflects our culture, but shapes it as well,” Schwind said. “Portrayals of high school
in film and fiction also shape how we view secondary education and teaching, which as a teacher is a
subject I am very interested in.”
Schwind’s research subject is a fairly new topic to be included in fiction, since children served mainly
as income contributors before the Depression, and high school was something only wealthy families
could afford. This led Schwind to choose to use cultural materialism and new historical criticism to
examine this phenomenon.
“I am looking at published documents that discuss things such as how a high school should be
designed, both in terms of curriculum and architecture,” Schwind said.
Currently, Schwind is still debating what the finished product of her research will be. In the past,
she has written a series of articles as she goes along the research process and then compiles them into
a book to market once she is completely finished.
“Right now 1 am working on an article about the role of the foreign exchange student in film and
fiction regarding high school,” Schwind said.
Most of Schwind’s research is individual. But she does teach an upper level GST course on American
adolescence every other year, and she said students often undertake research projects that help her
with her own.
Surveys cire created by the dozen to evciluate how effectively students were prepared for college. But
what often goes unanalyzed is how students feel their college curriculum equipped them for the dreaded
“real world."
II\I.\\;\LK.KR, a leisure cind sport management, plans to change that.
Though Walker is currently writing a textbook, he has also undertciken a second reseeirch project with
the goal of creating a valid and reliable tool to measure how prepared college seniors feel to venture into
the workforce.
The idea stemmed from a simple survey conducted among the leisure and sports management majors
to assess what their career paths would be. Walker decided to expand the project to conclude what courses
were most valuable to Elon students and how the curriculum could be adjusted to best suit the needs of
future leisure and sport management majors.
“My plan is to write appropriate questions to measure the topic and have them reviewed by five or six
experts in the field before it is disseminated to students,” Walker said. “I will ask the students to answer
the survey twice, waiting about a month in between each set of responses to ensure that their answers
remain consistent. The long-term plan is to try and catch back up with the same set of students four or
five years down the road and ask them to re-evaluate the effectiveness of their college curriculum from the
perspective of the workforce.”
Walker reiterated Swimelcir’s sentiments of not merely doing research for research’s sake, but wanting
his results to help further develop the direction of the leisure and sport management major and the
students. He said he appreciated Hon placing an emphasis on combining teaching, research and service
in the classroom.
“I have always been interested in applying research because I am a pragmatic person,” Walker said.
“Maybe I am just an idealist, but I feel that my job as a professor is to always be thinking about what is best
for the program and our students. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our curriculum and
adjusting accordingly will cert£iinly benefit students down the road.”
SM’I \ S\\ IMKI, \U. a political science professor, has long been a believer in the power of images
and films as teaching tools, as she said they can help illuminate difficult topics more clearly for
students. Now she is putting her theories to the test as she studies how feature fijpis are useful in an
International Relations course.
“I am not going into this study assuming that the films will be useful, but rather attempting
to determine if they are and how so in order to learn how to better use films in college courses,"
Swimelar said. “I think that film is used often in the classroom, but perhaps not always to its fullest
extent. I think all professors, including myself, could benefit from having a deeper understanding of
how films can enrich the classroom experience and engage students more in the learning process.”
Swimelar's classroom has become her laboratory as she involves her current international relations
students in her research.
Throughout the course, students will watch five feature films, and produce film responses within
24 hours after seeing the film. Though Swimelar said she is not currently reading the responses for
anything other than grading purposes, she will review them after the completion of the course and
utilize what students gained from each film for her own research.
Essays written during the semester, as well as classroom discussions, will also be valuable to her
research at a later stage.
“I am not doing research just for research sake, but for the purpose of helping professors become
better teachers and students to become better learners,” Swimelar said. “Research forces you to be
more aware of how you teach and how students learn, which is what I am always aiming to improve
upon.”
Elon offers a variety of programs for professors to set up specific times to work on research, such
as the course release program, which allows a couple of professors in every department to drop one
course for the semester and spend that time researching.
“Elon promotes research aimed at improving teaching, whereas a lot of schools only want
pure academic research,” Swimelar said. “I think Elon is unique in the fact that it values both and
recognizes that opportunities must be given to ensure professors can produce quality research .”
University
officials
begin Night
BioBus
discussions
BIOBUS
from PAGE 1
Jackson, vice president
and dean of student life,
Keith Dimont, director
of automotive services,
Justin Peterson,
Student Government
Association president,
Duggins and others to
discuss the proposal’s
feasibility.
“We had one
meeting, but a really
good meeting,” Jackson
said. “(Miller) made
his presentation. No
decisions were made.
This was more of a
listening, framing the
question (meeting).”
Jackson said the
administration would
continue to look at the
issue of student safety
after 7 p.m., when the
BioBuses stop running.
“We didn’t make
any firm decisions,”
Jackson said. “We
might do some of (the
proposal) or we might
not. There are no clear
timelines.”
Extesnive planning,
discussion and logistics
need ironed out before
they can try even a test-
run of the system, he
said.
“I think it’s a logical
plan that the university
should consider if one
of its priorities is the
safety of its students,"
Duggins said. “However,
I’m not sure that we’ll
see the BioBus late at
night just yet. There
are numerous obstacles
that must be overcome
before a proposal like
this takes place.”
She said Miller raised
an important issue
about the university
needing to do more to
provide transportation
either through a
BioBus or by further
supporting SafeRides.
Jackson said he
wasn’t aware SafeRides
did not have enough
manpower or efficiency
to transport all of the
students who call in.
“We have a (new)
15-passenger vehicle
right now, with six
wheels,” Jackson said.
He said volunteers
would need to go
through training to
drive bigger vehicles
if they will be used.
Curently, SafeRide’s
only performs a license
check.
Jackson said he may
confer with the SGA to
turn over more student
opinion on the issue.
"Peterson said he
thinks SGA would
want to help with
this,” Jackson said.
“I suggested we do a
student referendum.”
Jackson said it’s up
to students to decide
how they want to spend
their SGA money and
fund such an effort.