Honors Colloquium

Dr. Valerie Blackwell is a professor in the School of Education at UMKC. She teaches courses such as Principles of Testing, Child Development, Educational Psychology, and Adolescent Development. Before discovering her love of teaching, Dr. Blackwell received a degree in business and spent 15 years working in this field. Eventually, she found her way into the teaching profession where she continues to work to this day. 

Much of her presentation centered on the subjective idea of happiness. One issue that Dr. Blackwell mentioned was that many people tend to set several goals and expect to find happiness once these goals are met. Then there are other cases where people are not able to determine what makes them happy. She then asked the Honors Colloquium group this very question. Some people responded with family and friends, others with hobbies they enjoyed such as crafting or eating. Dr. Blackwell then explained how happiness is not one specific goal or activity, but is constantly changing. What makes us happy at the age of twenty will not necessarily be pleasing to us when we are sixty. 

To clarify this, she gave us examples from her own life. When she was younger, she immediately decided to go into business in order to provide for her family. While this may not have been her passion, her family’s happiness is what she found made her happy most at this point. As her children grew older and thus more independent, Dr. Blackwell was then able to focus on her own contentment. After 15 years in the business profession, she found her love of teaching. This made her happy then and continues to be an important part of her life now. Another important part of her happiness now is her grandson. So you can see throughout different periods of life Dr. Blackwell’s sources of happiness changed, as will be the case for many of us. 

-Lexy C.

Our colloquium guest this week was Professor Michael Kruger from the Department of Physics. At a very early age, Dr. Kruger was inspired by a passion for finding answers to questions that intrigue all of us when we are young. According to Thoreau, we all start off very curious but somehow end up losing our interest as we grow up. Dr. Kruger knew that he wanted to be a physicist when he learned about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in third grade.  This intrigued him because Einstein was able to come deduce widely accepted and proved theories by simply contemplating everyday phenomena.

At the age of 16, Einstein asked, “What would I see if I looked in a mirror while traveling at the speed of light?” This is an interesting question because if Einstein was traveling at the speed of light that would mean that the photons of light producing the image and Einstein would be traveling at the same speed. At the age of 26, Einstein finally answered this question by concluding that it makes no difference—whether standing still or accelerating at the speed of light, his reflection would be the same.

This lead Einstein to develop two postulates that are experimentally possible but may sound counterintuitive upon first glance. The first postulate states that the laws of physics must stay constant in all inertial reference frames. So no matter where you go or how fast you go the laws of physics apply. The second postulate states that the speed of light in a vacuum has the same speed as light outside of a vacuum—the speed of light is constant. This may seem counterintuitive because the velocities of particles moving slower than the speed of light are relative, but light moves so fast that its speed is constant and absolute.

Further implications of the aforementioned postulates include time dilation and length contraction. Time dilation refers to the absence of a universal clock. In other words, time passes differently for objects at rest and for accelerating objects. This has been proven experimentally—subatomic particles take longer to decay when they are moving at the speed of light. Length contraction refers to the physical deformation of an object. For example, when accelerated at the speed of light, a baseball will change shape from a sphere to a disk.

Lastly, Dr. Kruger spoke about the infamous E=mc² derivation. While many of us have heard of this equation, its primary implication evades us. That is to say, behind this elegant equation lies the suggestion that any mass is a compact form of energy. If all the mass in an object as small as a paper clip (1 gram in mass) was converted to energy, it would equal 568,000 gallons of gasoline. This is why nuclear fusion is such an appealing aspect of research because the more it is understood, the more efficient and versatile our energy resources become.

Dr Kruger finished with a brief summary of his research—high pressure physics. In his laboratory, he uses a diamond to expose substances to pressures exceeding one million atmospheres. The center of the earth is 3.6 million atmospheres and this is what creates the magnetic field of the earth. The iron in the earth’s core turns into liquid metal which creates such a field. In contrast, Jupiter has no metals in its core yet it has a magnetic field. This is because Jupiter heats and compresses hydrogen into liquid metallic form to create a magnetic field. These compression experiments can also be used to freeze water at room temperature and synthesize diamonds from graphite.

To end the discussion, Dr. Kruger shared with us quotes from Einstein reminding us that, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

~Nazanin Y

Dr. Charles Robinson, a professor of music education and who currently directs the Conservatory Concert Choir, spoke on March 14^th, 2012.  He earned his bachelors and doctoral degrees from Florida State University.  Dr. Robinson has also served as a clinician for several honor choruses around the nation.  He has twice received the Muriel McBrein Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award (1991 & 1998).

The theme of his presentation was “Meaningful Relationships, Meaningful Work, Meaningful Life”.  He first displayed a selected reading list showcasing several inspirational books pertaining to achieving the most out of life.  He asked the class to pick out two books that captured their interest and that they will hopefully read in the future.  He then proceeded to ask the students three questions, for each students were to give three responses.  The first question was “What relationships do you value the most?”  Dr. Robinson urged the class to then define qualities of a good relationship.  Some responses were “trust”, “respect”, “love”, “forgiveness”, and “honesty”.  He then explained his own personal relationships with his family and even related his life to music.  He compared ‘dynamics’ and ‘tempo’ to how one should greet his or her family at the end of the day and how it is important to relate these musical concepts to all aspects of life and it’s relationships.  The second question was “What do you want out of your work?”  Dr. Robinson discussed his struggles as a middle school band director and how a fellow colleague helped put his work life into perspective.  His main point with work life is that you reap exactly what you want out of it.  The final question posed to the class was “What do you want out of life?”  He explained the importance of how one should pursue goals that bring self-worth.  Dr. Robinson also asked students to rate their happiness in different aspects of their lives.  He also displayed a list of several attributes that describe “happy” people.  The list included things such as: having close personal relationships, high self-esteem, optimistic, and exhibiting a deep spiritual commitment.  He concluded colloquium by playing “What A Wonderful World”  by Louis Armstrong reminding the class to enjoy the world around them.

-John K. and Alaina S.

Dr. Wurrey gave a brief presentation of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest and most selective honor society at the collegiate level. This society is open to undergraduate students who have completed twenty-four credit hours at their institution. Students of all disciplines may be inducted into the society, creating a broad span of department representation. Many scholarships are available to Phi Kappa Phi members, with a total of $800,000 given annually. These range from $500 to $15,000 individual scholarships. In addition to these scholarships, members receive discounts from various companies such as Apple, Dell, T-Mobile, and Liberty Mutual. Phi Kappa Phi has many leadership positions available to its members along with networking opportunities. Dr. Wurrey highly encourages students to join Phi Kappa Phi, as they will contribute to the society as well as benefit from their membership.

After Dr. Wurrey’s presentation, the class participated in a “Waiting for Superman” movie discussion. The class discussed their vision of a great public school and the key characteristics of a great school. Many students agreed that a great education stems from a great teacher. A teacher who invests his or her time in each student provides the optimal learning environment. The class decided a teacher must personalize their teaching method to each of his or her students to effectively educate.  Other students also discussed financial situations within a school and whether or not a wealthy school is more beneficial to the students. In addition, students agreed that test scores do not determine a school’s level of education. Ultimately, the success of a school depends on the quality of the teachers.

Later, the class discussed the essential skills that a young person needs to prepare for a full and productive life after high school. Some students spoke on the topic of incorporating real world applications to show students the importance of the subject matter they learn. Another idea presented was to provide shadowing opportunities to students in high school. This would allow students to have insight on possible career paths in the future.  Other students then agreed that requiring all high school students to take a college-preparatory curriculum class does not necessarily help student achieve success after high school.

To end the discussion, Kauffman volunteers gave a brief presentation of the Kauffman School Partnership. More volunteers are needed for next semester and everyone is encouraged to apply.

-Megan H.