OBU Seniors to Present Honors Theses April 4-28
March 31, 2016
Ten seniors will present their honors theses during the month of April. The presentations last approximately one hour and are the culmination of the students’ academic careers at the university. Each student will present the results of their research projects as well as respond to questions from the audience.
“The senior honors thesis is one of three capstones to our OBU honors program,” said Dr. Tawa Anderson, director of the OBU Honors Program and assistant professor of philosophy. “Students choosing to write a thesis begin in their junior year with a focused, faculty-mentored research project.”
Students continue into their senior year with independent research and begin writing the thesis in their major area of study. This project is critiqued by their faculty supervisor, the honors committee and an expert external reader before the presentation to the OBU community.
“These students thus engage in a massive scholarly undertaking equivalent to, and sometimes more involved than, a graduate thesis,” Dr. Anderson added. “They become experts in a particular slice of their academic discipline.”
Kylie Jones of Longview, Texas, begins the spring 2016 presentations Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m. Jones will present her thesis, “Narrative Snapshots of Implementation: The Communication of Independent and Cooperative Learning to Future Teachers,” in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium located in Bailey Business Center.
Amy Barrett of Fort Worth, Texas, will present her thesis Tuesday, April 5, at 3:30 p.m. “The Effect of Fungicide Concentration on Feeding Habits of Arthrobotrys conoides” will debut in the Mabee Lecture Hall of Stavros Hall.
Matthew Clear of Mustang, Oklahoma, will bring his presentation “Early American Literature and the Birth of the American Short Story” to the Mabee Lecture Hall in Stavros Hall Thursday, April 7, at 3:30 p.m.
Ashlynn Abbe of McKinney, Texas, will present her thesis Monday, April 11, at 4 p.m. Abbe’s thesis, “Apples to Apples: A Sweet Comparative Analysis of Modern Nutritional Choice,” will be held in the Mabee Lecture Hall in Stavros Hall.
Jacy O’Dell of Claremore, Oklahoma, will present her thesis Tuesday, April 12, at 3:30 p.m. “Employing Zebrafish as a Model for Investigating Butyrate’s Anti-Cancer Properties in the Colon” debuts in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium located in Bailey Business Center.
Adam Kelley of Wynnewood, Oklahoma, will present “A Study of the Kingdom of God in The Sermon on the Plain” at the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium in Bailey Business Center Wednesday, April 13, at 4 p.m.
Lucas Adams of McAlester, Oklahoma, presents his thesis “Rheumatoid Arthritis in Oklahoma Tribal Members” Wednesday, April 20, at 4 p.m. The presentation will take place in the Mabee Lecture Hall in Stavros Hall.
Matthew Welborn of Richmond, Virginia, will present “Seeking Shalom through Mathematics: Christian Discipleship and Ethical Codes” Monday, April 25, at 4 p.m. in the Mabee Lecture Hall of Stavros Hall.
Britton VanBuskirk of Moore, Oklahoma, will present her thesis Wednesday, April 27, at 4 p.m. “Slave Relations with the Moravian Church in the Danish West Indies” debuts in the Mabee Lecture Hall in Stavros Hall.
Hannah Vick of Tuttle, Oklahoma, will bring the honors thesis presentations to a close Thursday, April 28, at 3:30 p.m. with her thesis “An Analysis of Persuasive Principles Applied to Game Design.” The lecture and discussion will take place in the Tulsa Royalties Auditorium located in Bailey Business Center.
“By attending these presentations, OBU students, staff and faculty all gain an opportunity to learn from the diligent work our students have undertaken,” Anderson said. “It serves as personal and academic support for the thesis-writing student. These presentations represent the best scholarship produced by some of the best students OBU has to offer. It provides a glimpse into how we pursue one of OBU’s core missional values – pursuing academic excellence.”
Learn more about the honors program at OBU.