Student News

2019 Rowe Scholar: Leroy Griffiths, Jr.

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Leroy Griffiths, Jr.

Leroy Griffiths, Jr. began his foray into the health professions when he was just nine years old and became a member of the Red Cross Foundation. Through this program he has volunteered at children’s homes, blood drives, and nursing homes. He’s majoring in physiology and neurobiology, which he feels aligns closely with his aspiration to become a neurosurgeon. Leroy loves to dance and has been a member of several cultural dance groups and teams, which he says makes dance a major part of his life. Born in Brooklyn, NY but raised in Jamaica, Leroy moved to back to the US in the seventh grade and now lives in Bloomfield, CT where he graduated from Bloomfield High School.

2019 Rowe Scholar: Angelo Franco

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Angelo Franco

Angelo Franco will be a biomedical engineering major with a potential double major in economics. His interest in economics stems from the fact that his family owns several restaurants. He’s a fluent Spanish speaker who loves photography and was a high school swimmer. He’s from East Hartford, CT where he graduated from the Connecticut IB Academy. Angelo has participated in UConn Health’s Health Career Opportunity Program’s High School Student Research Apprentice Program, where he researched bone regeneration, sparking his interest in biomedical engineering. He has also shadowed family and friends who work in health care.

2019 Rowe Scholar: Tiffany Addy

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Tiffany Addy

Tiffany Addy shares the same middle name with eight of her first female cousins. She was born in Ghana, West Africa but lives in Farmington, CT where she graduated from Farmington High School. A physiology and neurobiology major, she has volunteered at John Dempsey Hospital for two summers, working hand-in-hand with professionals to provide care to patients. She has also participated in the Inspiring Women and Medicine Workshop, which exposed her to the field of orthopaedic surgery and engineering. As a senior in high school she was a member of the UConn Health Career Opportunities Program’s Senior Doctors Academy, where she shadowed at Pediatrics Associates of Farmington and conducted research on the neurocognitive effects of early childhood leukemia treatment on the brains of children between the ages of three and 10.

ANTH 3098-007 (Variable Topics): Flourishing and Well-being (Conversion Opportunity)

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Flourishing and Well-being in Interdisciplinary Perspective

Instructor: Sarah Willen

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Willen welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

In this seminar, we will draw on anthropology and related fields of scholarship and practice – e.g., philosophy, psychology, public health, sociology, critical theory, and human rights – to ask:

  • What does it mean – and what does it take – for human beings to flourish, or thrive? How are flourishing and health related, and how might they diverge?
  • What resources, capabilities, opportunities, and protections are needed to flourish …
    … as individuals ?
      … as communities and collectives?
  • How and why are certain people, and certain groups, ensured access to the elements of a flourishing life, while others are impeded or outright denied? What is the lived impact – and what are the embodied effects – of such obstructions and denials?
  • How can human rights violations impede the ability to flourish – and what role can human rights play in the promotion of human flourishing?
  • How can human rights be mobilized to advance human flourishing?
  • What would a policy agenda designed to promote human flourishing look like?

In addition to research literature, we will engage these questions through other media, including fiction, poetry, journaling, visual arts, and music.

POLS 3472: South Asia in World Politics (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Betty Hanson

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Hanson welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

This is a course in international relations, and as such, its orientation is toward broader issues of world politics, using South Asia as a case. These issues include nation-building, “enduring rivalries,” ethnic conflict, nuclear proliferation, militant extremism, and development strategies.   An important purpose of the course is to provide the historical and political background for understanding the current developments in South Asia that threaten international stability and security.

(CA 4-Int)

POLS/HRTS 3042: Theories of Human Rights (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Zehra Arat

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Arat welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

Various theories of human rights, both historical and contemporary. Conceptual arguments both in favor and critical of the theory and practice of human rights will be considered, with literature taken primarily from philosophy and political theory.

MUSI 1003: Popular Music and Diversity in American Society (Conversion opportunity)

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Instructor: Alain Frogley

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Frogley welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students.

An introduction to popular music and diversity in America: jazz, blues, Top-40 pop, rock, hip-hop and other genres. Musicians and their music studied in the context of twentieth-century and contemporary American society, emphasizing issues of race, gender, class, and resistance. No prior musical training or knowledge required.

(CA 1, CA 4)