Although it is certainly

true that April is capable of

many cruelties and mixed

messages, in Honors at

Regis it is a time full of

promises and fulfillments.

It is the month when the

seniors are presenting and

completing the final touches

of their thesis projects. It is

always an impressive time of

year, and with the current

group of seniors we’ve seen

some remarkable work.

With each of them we find

an invitation to think

through a host of complex

issues. Whether it is the

challenge of the ethical need

to dissolve the “human-

animal distinction,” the pro-

vocative claim that we

should rethink the ways in

which language is used to

describe issues of mental

health, or the creative ways

we envision our cosmogon-

ic myths, these projects

make good on the idea that

the subjects we study,

though housed in different

departments, are not isolat-

ed from one another.

When talking to seniors

during their “exit inter-

views,” quite a few admit

that as freshman they feared

that completing such a

daunting project was beyond

their abilities. And yet, when

the time came, though it

wasn’t easy, they found that

they were actually quite pre-

pared to do it and are better

off for it. In fact, many of

the ideas for these projects

were planted early on, be it a

reading and discussion in

Literature Matters or Philosophi-

cal Explorations that contin-

ued, in various ways, beyond

the boundaries of the

classroom.

While the seniors are

preparing to move up and

out of Regis, first-year stu-

dents, along with the

sophomores and juniors,

find April to be a month

of bringing to a close their

seminar work in Tradition

and Innovation, Chaos and

Order, and Justice for All. In

Chaos and Order we con-

clude the term by thinking

about the difficult work

we face as climate change

becomes an undeniable

reality and the ways in

which any adequate re-

sponse requires an integra-

tive approach, bringing

together insights from the

worlds of science, philoso-

phy, economics, and reli-

gion. Juniors, in Justice for

All, are applying work

done earlier in the term on

philosophical concepts of

justice to issues such as

genetic engineering, tor-

ture, mental illness, and

particular issues facing

Haiti and India.

CONTINED on page 6

April Showers Volume 8, Issue 4

Honorable News

“And yet, when the

time came, though it

wasn’t easy, they

found that they were

actually quite prepared

to do it and are better

off for it.”

Discussion

Board—Fretz’s

Response

2

Ghedotti’s

Response

3

Genesis and Dr.

Gaensbauer

3

Senior Thesis

Excerpts

4

Alumni Corner

6

Inside this issue:

Regis University

4-26-13

—Dr. Howe, Associate Director of the Honors Porgram

Thanks, everyone, for your erudite

and spirited responses to the question. I

read it as high-brow graffiti—a fun and

provocative genre. After I read through

your comments, my first thought was, “If

we could just get rid of ‘Glee,’ then cli-

mate change would be taken care of.”

But, alas, that will never be; that is, ‘Glee’

will pass and, well, we don’t know about

human kind as of yet. But if it does come

to that (our self-annihilation), it will most

probably be a result of our inability to

cure our addiction to fossil fuels.

We don’t know how much more fos-

sil fuels are available for removal, but

even if we run out in the next 20 or 30

years, most scientists agree that the car-

bon that we’ve already released into the

atmosphere will remain and continue to

produce deleterious effects on our envi-

ronment.

We Say, They Say:

Is Climate Change the Moral Issue of Our Time?

Page 2 Honorable News

The reason I framed this question the

way I did was because the science of cli-

mate change is settled: the earth is heating

up as we release more and more carbon

into the atmosphere, we are losing record

numbers of plant and animal species and,

well, everyone knows what’s happening

to the glaciers and the polar bears.

So, it’s not a scientific issue or ques-

tion any more. It’s a moral issue and it’s

moral in the sense of our responsibility to

the earth and to future generations. Call

me a tree hugger . . . I dare you! But,

what will it mean for me, for us, to simply

do nothing, that is, to continue to allow

the fossil fuel companies to burn (that

Orwellian phrase!) ‘clean coal,’ and for

companies like TransAtlantic to build

pipelines across continents that cause

further environmental degradation? What

kind of a world am I leaving my children

and their children? Is it fair, ethical,

just to simply ignore this issue know-

ing that I’ll (probably) be long dead

when the really bad effects of climate

change start kicking in. This is, after

all, a human-made problem with hu-

man solutions.

And, finally, the issue of climate

change simply cannot be solved on an

individual level. That is, even if half of

the 7 billion of us decided to ‘bike to

work,’ take shorter showers and buy a

Prius, it really wouldn’t swing the pen-

dulum away from the negative effects

of climate change. These are problems

that can only be addresses and solved

through large-scale policy changes and

regulations. Now you can call me a

socialist, too!

Questions or comments? Email Connie at cgates@regis.edu, or James Persichetti at jpersichetti@regis.edu.

Asking the Sage: Dr. Fretz’s Response

and John Henry Newman,

they read literature like Dan-

te’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise

Lost, Machiavelli’s The Prince,

and of course, Shakespeare’s

Hamlet. While Dr. Bowie

treats his freshmen to lunchat

his house, Scholars students

enjoyed lunches at Dr. Gaens-

bauer’s house. Dr. Gaensbau-

er said that the program “gave

them—just as you have

now—a group of friends that

you could identify with.”

An interesting difference

between the older program

and ours today was the length

of class. If an hour feels long

to discuss the difficult balance

between empirical scientific

data and faith, imagine sitting

in class for three hours.

Though Dr. Gaensbauer said

that she loved the long peri-

ods of time for discussion, she

and Dr. Martin ended up

changing the class times in

1980, saying in a winter break

The Socratic question

“Where are you going, and

where have you come from?”

is a foundation on which we

walk through the honors pro-

gram at Regis. After 40 years

of the program’s continual

success and flourishing at

Regis, we ask ourselves as a

community, “Where have we

come from?”

It was called the Regis

Scholar’s Program and began

in 1970 by Dr. Gaensbauer

and Dr. Chapman. Like today,

it was an alternate route

through the Regis core, cover-

ing the Scholars students’

History and English require-

ments. The seminars were

broken up by time period

instead of the thematic semi-

nars we have today, beginning

with the Classic and Medieval

periods, moving to the Re-

naissance, and then 17th, 18th,

and 19th century classes.

While we read Plato and Pirsig

letter to their students, “We

realize that these three-hour

sessions left many of you

writhing and hungry and sig-

nificantly diminished of your

capacity to discuss or concen-

trate.”

In their first several years

of the program, they reached

out into the community re-

ceiving guest speakers from

other universities, such as

Colorado School of Mines for

science lectures.

Despite the movements

in the 70s for equality and

against elitism in society, the

Scholars Program at Regis did

not face any difficulties with

trying to create a program of

gifted and dedicated students.

“My memory of it is that it

was a warm time,” says Dr.

Gaensbauer, “it was a good

time.” The community at

Regis accepted the formation

of the Scholars program with-

out any notion of elitism or

A Biologist’s View: Dr. Ghedotti’s Response

Where Have We Come From?:

The Genesis of the Honors Program with Dr. Gaensbauer

“It is this larger

recognition of collective

responsibility for

environmental and

society ills that has

become imperative.”

“I was always amazed

and moved by the

generosity of

academics.”

Page 3 Volume 8, Issue 4

—James Persichetti, Editor in Chief of Honorable News, Class of 2015

stratification within the uni-

versity.

Funds from the program

actually began the Tutor’s

Program in the early 70s, and

many of the original tutors

were Scholar’s students—just

another way that Dr. Gaens-

bauer encouraged community

building with the programs

and the university.

“I was always amazed

and moved by the generosity

of academics,” she said.

“What I really loved was hear-

ing all of the different voices,

whether it was from the guest

lectures or students from

many disciplines.”

When I asked her how

she felt about the Honors

Program now, Dr. Gaensbau-

er replied with a smile, “What

we’re doing now is absolutely

in the spirit of what we were

trying to launch way back

when.”

to personal and then collec-

tive action. It is this larger

recognition of collective re-

sponsibility for environmental

and society ills that has be-

come imperative.

Acknowledging collective

responsibility is so difficult to

achieve because we don’t ex-

perience the consequences as

immediate and direct out-

comes of our actions. The

great Pacific Ocean (plastic)

garbage patch wasn’t caused

in its totality by you alone and

isn’t directly visible to us here

in Colorado. Yet there is a

I’d probably say that cli-

mate change, by itself, isn’t

the moral issue of our

time. I’d suggest that the mor-

al issue of our time is much

larger in scope than global

climate change, rather climate

change is one of the many

embodiments of the moral

issue of our time.

Climate change and many

other environmental and soci-

etal issues require an acknowl-

edgement of collective re-

sponsibility for justice and the

common good that needs to

be followed by a commitment

reasonable likelihood that

something you threw away is

floating there now.

The car we drive, the

things we buy, the food we

eat, and the way we go about

our daily lives are all tied to

global problems that cause

and likely will cause human

suffering. Understanding

these things and responding

to them in an effective way

individually and collectively is,

in my opinion, the great moral

issue of our time.

Senior Thesis

Ben Closson The Beach: A Narrative Thesis

The "happening truth" of research-based

theses failed to be a useful format to present

the "narrative truth" that Ben was trying to

illustrate, so he opted for the Creative Portfo-

lio thesis option. At his defense, audience

members will hear a reading of a selection of

his creative writing work, which illustrates

climatically the continued presence of sexism

in our world.

Ted Lynch Responding to Gang Violence in El Salvador: What

Homeboy Industries can teach us about Reinsertion

and Prevention

My thesis looks at the social organizations

and businesses within El Salvador that are

currently working towards reducing gang

violence as well as the Salvadoran's govern-

ment history of dealing with this. I discuss

how Homeboy Industries has played in gang

member reformation in Los Angeles.

Kelsey Leinweber A Glance at Acquired Cell Resistance in Cancer

Cells and Biases in Cancer Research Funding

A two part thesis, encompassing scientific

research done at Anschutz Medical Campus

on acquired cell resistance including second-

line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer

and logistics behind cancer research funding.

This project delves deep into both govern-

mental and nongovernmental sources of fund-

ing, while concentrating on breast, lung, and

ovarian cancers.

Jeff Hassebrock Mixed Agency: A Historical & Ethical Examina-

tion of the Health Professional’s Role in the Military

System

My thesis seeks to examine the dual roles a

military care provider must fulfill through the

historical development of the U.S. military

medical system and the patient physician

ethic. I try to dissolve the seemingly inde-

structible dichotomy, and find myself asking,

“What should military medicine look like?”

Jessica Baca Egypt: From 328,513 Likes to 1

Million Protesters

Throughout the Egyptian Revolution, social

media impacted how activists were network-

ing and allowed the demands of the people

to be heard--for the resignation of Egyptian

President Mubarak. So in a time of rising

technology, I ask if social media was the

essential component for social movements

or if the empowering component lies within

our physical interactions.

Megan Linders Virtue, Value, and Vocation: Finding Meaning in

Medicine

In understanding one’s true purpose in life

and how the Christian virtues and Jesuit

values specifically help one in this under-

standing, the practice of medicine is trans-

formed from a profession to a vocation.

There is grander meaning and purpose as

they realize this is a call to serve the world

with their unique talents in a holistic, hu-

manist manner.

Michelle Hastings The Gender of Mathematics: Math is Not Born

Male

It has been realized that overall men and

women probably have different cognitive

strengths as the result of a complex inter-

play between nature and nurture. The gap of

women in mathematical careers is not a

problem of differences in ability, but a prob-

lem in differences of achievement influ-

enced by society.

Jon Denzler Marx, McGee, and the Masking of So-

cial Oppression: An Ideographical Analysis of the

Political Myth of the War on Poverty

Drawing upon the work of promi-

nent Marxist thinkers, this thesis traces the

myth of the State as a viable option for the

alleviation of poverty through the past 60

years of American history. I argue that we

must break from the myth as an economic

issue, and see the issue as one of

the oppression of a communal politic.

Justine Buffmack Understanding the Value of a Study Abroad Experi-

ence and Closing the Gender Gap

It is because studying abroad has a significant

positive effect on not only academics of stu-

dents, but also on their personal lives, that

studying abroad is a necessary component in

any undergraduate education. Due to these

positive correlations, I examine why study

abroad should be accessible to all students.

Alex Lynch Abortion, Sterilization, and Physician Assisted

Suicide: Moral Medical Decision Making via the

Discernment Theory

To what extent should moral law guide medi-

cal decision making—if an issue can be

framed solely in a medical, as opposed to

moral, context, can medical exceptions be

made to moral law? Thorough discernment

theory application is especially important in

considering abortion, sterilization, and physi-

cian-assisted suicide.

Rachel Haun The Rescue of Jones: the False Human /Animal

Distinction, and Worth in the Animal Kingdom

Generally, we humans believe human life is

superior to all other animal life. Still, there is

worth to be seen in the animal kingdom,

worth based not in simplistic species-based

distinctions, but in a spectrum of animal abil-

ity – and humans, as highly intelligent, capa-

ble, and feeling animals, are indeed obligated

to some non-human animals, as Ripley was

obligated to Jones.

Tidi Haile-Selassie Critical Pedagogy: The Fight for Freedom through

Education in a Prisoner of War Camp

This thesis explores themes of freedom and

change in a prisoner of war camp, where Ethi-

opian prisoners were held captive after the

Ethiopian-Somali War of 1977/78. Tidi has a

personal connection to this story because her

father was a captive in this POW camp, and

he played an integral role in establishing a

school there, which operated in the spirit of

critical pedagogy.

Page 4 Honorable News

Class of 2013

Lo Martinez The Role Of Exorcism in the Modern World: A

Vision And Practice Of Human Wholeness.

I argue that we need to recover the place of

the Rite of Exorcism and reevaluate its an-

cient and still wide-spread spiritual practice

for modern Catholics. Restoring trust in the

practice of Exorcism is a powerful antidote

to the reductionist (materialist) visions of

human beings in the cosmos, and it provides

an enhanced context for imagining wholeness

and healing for human beings.

Molly Sullivan United States Agricultural Policy: Subsidy Struc-

tures and Unintended Consequences

The problem of food goes all the way back to

1933, with the Agricultural Adjustment Act

of the Great Depression, and has only gotten

worse as time marched on. This thesis aims

to explore government's role and responsibil-

ity in a variety of controversial topics revolv-

ing around food production including biofu-

els, genetically modified foods, and corporate

welfare.

Morgan Potter Barriers to Accessing Healthcare as Experienced by

the Participants of Project Homeless Connect 2012

This study explores the barriers that homeless

population experience, as well as drug usage

and rates of mental illness among more vul-

nerable subgroups. This study is part of a vast

body of work regarding these issues and con-

tributes to both future research and possible

policy changes on the subject.

Morgan Nitta Affect Empathy: Exploring Prosocial Behavior in

Neuroscience

As the neuroscientific world continues to

examine empathy, my thesis explores cogni-

tive and affective empathy within the context

of neural processing pathways and as a moti-

vation for prosocial helping behaviors. Is

one better than the other? I explore affective

empathy within a rat model.

Amy Lytle Defense Against the Dark Arts: Harry Potter and

the Allegory for Evil

My thesis is studying Rowling's Harry Potter

series as it relates to history, as an allegory

for the Holocaust, Freudian psychology, and

the Campbellian hero. I look at why Rowl-

ing's work, though children's literature, is

still important and how every individual has

the potential for both good and evil within

themselves.

Sonny Stoen Terminal and Life-Threatening Conditions: Finding

Meaning through Mortality

When faced with the reality of mortality,

man often expedites and prioritizes his jour-

ney for meaning. While universally complex,

the process of meaning-making in individu-

als with a terminal or life-threatening illness

in particular is a pilgrimage that is unique

and significant because of the wealth of

differing ways through which individuals

strive to attain meaning.

Alexis Ortega Visualizing the Written Word: An Artistic Ap-

proach to Creation Myths

Studying paintings based on creation myths

from .Japan, Egypt, Greece, the Maidu tribe,

and the Ngurunderi tribe, I seek to trans-

form the verbal text into a visual journey

that represented the narrative described

within each myth. By using the key figures

and elements of each story, I hoped to draw

the viewer into the creative process for a

more interactive experience.

Grant Mather Reminiscence: Bushido and Modern Japan

The author presents an examination of the

philosophy of bushido as understood

through the Hagakure. This philosophy is

related to a number of individuals in modern

Japan, and how their life has been a reflec-

tive example of the aforesaid philosophy.

Ashley Marranzino Conservation and the Deep Sea: Fish Diversity and

Distribution in the Gulf of Mexico

I will explain how both physically and biologi-

cally the ocean is a complex of habitats and

biological communities. I will focus on sharks

and their relatives in the Gulf of Mexico and

the major threats posed to them, particularly

those created by oil and gas drilling in the

Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Kathryn Sullivan Two in One: Archetypal Harmony in Beauty & the

Beast Description

A critical look at Beauty and the Beast which

breaks down the title characters' archetypes

and examines how their disparate natures

come together into unity. An examination of

approaches to modern interpretations of the

story, particularly in Angela Carter's work,

help to construct the modern reflections of

the characters' archetypes and how that af-

fects the ultimate union of these elements.

Dan Ott Falling a House of Cards: Rediscovering a Humanist

Language in an Age of Neuro-Reductionism

I argue that the language-games specific to

both neuroscience research and psychological

treatment have becoming nonsensically inter-

twined, leading to commodification of treat-

ment and patient abuse. Ultimately, my thesis

stands as an argument against the translational

use of reductionism from research paradigms

to treatment protocols.

Brian Nakayama Universal Computation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma

Game

Regarding the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma

Game (IPDG), with a method for creating

deterministic rules by mapping each possible

interaction to a binary number, an analysis of

the number of interactions leads to the dis-

covery of interesting properties when allowing

only enough iterations for a strategy to use its

”transient” instructions. The implications of

universal computation are also discussed.

Page 5 Volume 8, Issue 4

Newsletter requests, ideas,

submissions? Contact

James Persichetti at

jpersichetti@regis.edu for

further information.

Congratulations to Ryan Malphurs, Ph.D, a 2003 Regis Honors

Program grad who recently published Rhetoric and Discourse in

Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Sensemaking in Judicial Decisions, in

which “Malphurs examines the rhetoric, discourse, and subsequent

decision-making within the oral arguments for significant Supreme

Court cases, visiting their potential power and danger and reveal-

ing the rich dynamic nature of the justices’ interactions among

themselves and the advocates.”

Reflecting on his undergraduate years, Ryan says, “Regis’ impact

played an important role in this book because I adopted a similar

analysis used in my Senior Thesis for my analysis of Supreme

Court Oral Arguments. The book is related to my dissertation that

I completed at Texas A&M. It is the first book length study of oral

arguments within the field of Communication. It’s striking to me what a profound impact the

English and Philosophy departments had on my greater graduate education.”

Alumni Corner

Regis University

Honors Program

Address: Carroll Hall 121 3333 Regis Blvd H-16 Denver Colorado 80221

PHONE: 303-458-4360 E-MAIL: honors@regis.edu

WEBSITE: www.regis.edu/honors

April is also the time students are

happily looking forward to what is to

come and entertaining all sorts of possi-

bilities. Study-abroad plans are being

made, opportunities for prestigious

summer internship are opening up, and

new, never-before-seen, thesis proposals

are being formulated. Some of you will

be acquiring experience in medical re-

search, be it at the Mayo Clinic in Min-

nesota or a clinic at the University of

Nebraska. Others will find rewarding

work at a camp for children with chron-

ic illnesses. A quick survey of your

summer plans reveals a student body

busy with the work of promoting the

common good. And in less than a year

from now, we will be treated to theses on

topics ranging from the “pre-med” cur-

riculum, the contributions of animals to

our mental health, the role of philosophy

in child education, the healing powers of

memoir, and, among many others, the

power of art to bring about the good.

It is also the month we have the

privilege of reading applications from

students who will come to Regis as the

class of 2017 and want to be part of the

Honors community. It is a pleasurable

task, mostly because we know that the

promises they make, and the earnest ea-

gerness with which they make them,

April Showers (Continued from Front)

come to be fulfilled (often in ways nei-

ther they nor we expect) as they make

their way through four years of conversa-

tions with colleagues, great texts, and

profound questions. Soon, before they

know it, these new students will find

themselves immersed in the world of this

community.

True as it is that April confuses us

with its awkward mix of sun, rain, snow

and countless other missteps, it is also

the month when we see old promises

coming to fulfillment and new ones be-

ing made. April, as busy as it is, is a great

month for Honors at Regis.

—Dr. Howe, Associate Director of the Honors Porgram

A work in progress, I know, but the Honors Study

room is growing warmer and brighter with Grace

Corrigan’s new mural of Main Hall. Imagine if you

can the Honors crest in the big blank circle, Dr.

Bowie riding across the mountains of the High

Country of the Mind on a little motorcycle, and

Dr. Howe up in the clouds. If you can’t imagine

such epicness, be sure to come by the Honors

study room next semester to see this beautiful

painting completed. Here’s to Grace and her won-

derful artistic commitment our community.

The Honors Mural