Friday, November 30, 2012

Ashley Cardwell: Defender of Math and Golfer Extraordinaire

On November 30th, senior mathematics major Ashley Cardwell  successfully defended her thesis over how mathematics can be applied to the game of golf to help explain why uphill putts/shots are "easier" to make as opposed to downhill putts/shots. Ashley (front and center) presented her thesis before a panel of professors including (from left to right): Dr. Carl Rutledge, Dr. Andrew Wells, Dr. Andrei Ghenciu, and Dr. Robert Ferdinand. A member of ECU's varsity golf team, Ashley now looks forward to graduating with full university honors in the Spring of 2013.
Dr. Carl Rutledge, Dr. Andrew Wells, Ashley Cardwell, Dr. Andrew Ghenciu, and Dr. Robert Ferdinand

Ashley fills in the last box on her Honors progress card in the Honors office.
You go, girl!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Fake Indian: Why America Bought a White Supremacist’s Native American "Memoir"

The Estep was packed when director Marco Ricci, producer Douglas Newman, and executive producer Dr. Laura Browder flew in from New York, Houston, and Richmond, Virginia, respectively to screen their film The Reconstruction of Asa Carter.  The 2010 documentary dramatizes the story of Asa Earl Carter, a white supremacist who wrote speeches for Alabama governor George Wallace and later published a bestselling "nonfiction memoir," The Education of Little Tree (1976).  Though the "memoir" was later exposed as a complete hoax, it was later made into a feature film and still gets taught in some college literature courses that focus on ethnic literature.

After the screening, the filmmakers participated in a lively, hour-long question-and-answer session focusing on the history of race hatred in America, the performance of ethnic identity, and the kinds of truth you can expect to find in fiction and film.
No seat? No problem. I'm NOT missing this!
Eager throngs pack the Estep Auditorium for a chance to watch the documentary The Reconstruction of Asa Carter
and take part in a Q&A session with the director and producers of the film.
Look mom! I'm taking pictures with CELEBRITIES.
After the film screening and Q&A session, a few lucky Honors students got to pose for a picture with the film's director and producers and then join them for dinner. Can you pick the three  filmmakers out of this lineup?   How about Honors students Derek Reed, Meagon Eagon, Marissa Hinton and Jaime Worden?



"Fake Indian: Why America Bought a White Supremacist’s Native American 'Memoir'" was paid for in part by a generous grant from the Hayes Native American Center.  Additional funding provided by The Oklahoma Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the ECU Foundation.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Ask Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham's body, at University College London
Click on the "comment" link to offer advice to the questions posed below.

Use two or more of the following evaluative terms recommended by Bentham in your answers:
Intensity,
Duration,
Certainty,
Propinquity,
Fecundity,
Purity,
Extent.

Dear Jeremy:
Should I erase all memories of a certain unpleasant someone from my mind?
Joel in New York

Dear Jeremy:
Should I go along with my parents' ways of thinking to avoid confrontation with them?
Former Cave Dweller in Greece

Dear Jeremy:
Should I ask my brother to kill my lover? She's threatening to tell my wife about our affair; she's also threatening to tell people that I am guilty of embezzlement. If it helps--I am confident that my brother can "take care of this problem" without it getting traced back to me (or him). And I don't want a more serious relationship with my lover.
Successful Opthamologist in Manhattan

Meet John Stuart Mill