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SUMMER RESEARCH PROPOSALS

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN MINISTRY

COURSE DEVELOPMENT


Summer Research Fellows

Summer research projects invited students to explore themes connected to the Values & Vocations Project. Research topics focused on the ethical and moral dimensions of work or professions, the role of values and beliefs in leadership development, the concept of work as a vocation, work as a contribution to the common good, as well as others. This 10-week on-campus research experience allowed students to engage in intensive scholarly inquiry with the support of a faculty mentor. 

Past Research Projects:

Madeline Baugh, The Weight of the Word: Multicultural Values and the Dual-Language Classroom

Nathan Baptiste, Nonprofit Organizations and Values of Self-Empowerment: Helping People Create Their Own Fulfillment in Life

Lauren Constancio, Reproductive Biotechnology and Ethical Decisions: Buddhist vs. Catholic Standpoints

Noah Glusenkamp, Getting Real about Morality: Insights from the Confluence of Philosophy and Sociobiology

Heather Kanny, Articulations of Islamic Identity: A Case Study in the Negotiation of Religion and Secularism in Egypt and Iran

Jacob Dubail, Buddhist Environmental Ethics in Practice

Akhila Kanna, Strides: Therapeutic Horseback Riding: The Beliefs, Values, and Experiences of Those Who Help the Disabled on a Non-Profit Basis

Alexandra Franzen, East Meets West: Strengthening the Traditional Doctor-Patient Relationship with Alternative Medical Techniques

Ann Hong, So What Does God have To Do with Anything? William Faulkner and Toni Morrison: Christianity in their Fictions and their Lives

Erin Richey, Meaning and Demeaning: Life Accounts on the Worth of Work

Melanie Riccobene, From Sisterhood to Objectivity: Social Workers, Unmarried Mothers, and the Professionalization of Charity in the 1920s

Patrick Hovakimian, Exploring American Exceptionalism

Suzanne Im, Feminist Ethics and the Degree of Bureaucratic Organization in Asian Pacific Islander Women's Shelters in Los Angeles


Course Development

Faculty were invited to develop courses that enabled students to understand how the relationship between intellectual inquiry and one’s own set of values and beliefs shape the choices one makes. Values & Vocations courses aim to further the formation of a well-developed sense of self—spiritually and intellectually—in relationship to the world.  Past courses have included:

2005-2006

  • Lan Chu, Religion, Politics, and Modernity
  • Victoria Romero, The Pursuit of Happiness
  • Marcia Homiak, Lessons from the Great Philosophers
  • Juergen Pelzer, Values and Work in Classical and Modern Utopias
  • Salvador Fernandez, Life as a Migrant: The Formation and Transformation of National and Transnational Communities
  • Adelaida Lopez, Vocation and Community in Latin American and Latina Women's Writing
  • Marla Stone, Genocide and the Ethical Crisis of Modernity
  • Maryanne Horowitz, Controversial Lives
  • John Swift, Framing Nature: Environmental Ethics and Aesthetics
  • Gabrielle Foreman, Race, Gender and Purpose in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Social Movements
  • Donna Maeda, Women of Color
  • Katherine Mills, Silence and Speaking Out
  • Michael McDonald, The Taming of Infinity

2004-2005

  • Eric Frank, Meaning and Purpose in European Garden History
  • Louise Yuhas, Meaning and Purpose in the Gardens of China and Japan
  • Xiao-huang Yin, The Cultural Revolution in China
  • Dolores Trevizo and Warren Montag, The Necessity of Engagement: Theories of Individuality and Sociality
  • Jeff Tobin, Ethnographic Research Methods
  • Donna Maeda, Trafficked Persons, Exploited Workers, and Advocates for Change: Contemplating Meaningful Work and Labor in a Globalized World
  • Keith Naylor, History of Religion at Occidental
  • Adelaida Lopez, Poets, Painters, and Politics: Latin American Icons and Vocational Calling
  • Felisa Guillen, Religious Authority and Individual Vocation in Early Modern Europe
  • Nalsey Tinberg, A Life in the Theater
 
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