Improving the quality of life in Arizona to benefit future generations.
Sunday evening at its annual Recognition Dinner, the Flinn Scholars Program will honor 17 dedicated, diversely talented graduating seniors. The latest additions to the Flinn Scholars' 400-strong alumni community are stepping into new roles in education, business, research, and the nonprofit sector.
Twenty of the most talented high-school seniors in Arizona have earned the 2011 Flinn Scholarship, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for undergraduate studies. In August, the newest Flinn Scholars will arrive on the campuses of Arizona’s public universities with eye-popping academic credentials and established records of service to their schools and communities.
Each year, current Flinn Scholars participate in exclusive seminars on important topics at the intersection of public policy and key related disciplines. Last month, the Scholars met to discuss the emergence of personalized medicine, and its implications in a variety of realms, from cancer treatment to global health. Joining the Scholars were several experts on the topics at hand, including Scholar alumnus Gene Bukhman ('91), cardiology director for Partners in Health.
On March 2, Beryl Jones, Connor Mendenhall, and Mitch Turbenson were honored as the University of Arizona’s “Pillars of Excellence,” recognizing exceptional contributions to the campus and community.
Congratulations to all three, with thanks for your scholarship, your civic engagement and editorial acumen, and your tireless service to and through the arts. “Pillars” are structural, load-bearing features of a structure, and you each have carries significant weight. UA’s rightly proud of you!
In the wake of the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson, Arizona's medical community has received worldwide news media attention. Most recently, with Rep. Giffords transitioning into a new phase of her recovery, the focus has turned to how rehabilitation proceeds for brain-injury patients.
Among the experts in this field of medicine is 1987 Flinn Scholar Christina Kwasnica, director of neurorehabilitation at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. In this segment from PBS NewsHour, Judy Woodruff interviews Dr. Kwasnica and other experts about the rehabilitative care Rep. Giffords will receive.
... eventually, two of them will be cited, in consecutive paragraphs, in the New York Times.
Here's "This is Your Brain on Metaphors," yesterday's column by Robert Sapolsky for the Opinionator blog, in its regular series on philosophy, the Stone. His subject? The "why" behind an incredible mystery:
Symbols, metaphors, analogies, parables, synecdoche, figures of speech: we understand them. We understand that a captain wants more than just hands when he orders all of them on deck. We understand that Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” isn’t really about a cockroach. If we are of a certain theological ilk, we see bread and wine intertwined with body and blood. We grasp that the right piece of cloth can represent a nation and its values, and that setting fire to such a flag is a highly charged act. We can learn that a certain combination of sounds put together by Tchaikovsky represents Napoleon getting his butt kicked just outside Moscow. And that the name “Napoleon,” in this case, represents thousands and thousands of soldiers dying cold and hungry, far from home.
Read down a few paragraphs, and you find Sapolsky citing a 2006 Science article co-authored by Katie (Awerkamp) Liljenquist ('95):
In a remarkable study, Chen-Bo Zhong of the University of Toronto and Katie Liljenquist of Northwestern University demonstrated how the brain has trouble distinguishing between being a dirty scoundrel and being in need of a bath. [...]
After that, it's time to hear from Daniel Sullivan ('04):
This potential to manipulate behavior by exploiting the brain’s literal-metaphorical confusions about hygiene and health is also shown in a study by Mark Landau and Daniel Sullivan of the University of Kansas and Jeff Greenberg of the University of Arizona. [...]
No, we haven't sent Sapolsky a list of additional Scholar-experts for his next columm. But we could.
We talk a great deal about public policy in the Flinn Scholars Program, but how many of us understand how our state government really operates, and what led to some of its present practices? High-school civics class doesn’t begin to map this complex landscape.
To understand how public policy emerges from idea to practice in Arizona, you might try the briefing book for the 97th Arizona Town Hall, which concluded yesterday at the Grand Canyon. Reading Arizona Government: The Next 100 Years--also the title of the three-day Town Hall--will leave you a better-informed voter and more-fully engaged citizen as we approach our 2012 centennial.
In a chapter that begins on page 77, you’ll also discover some of the work for which alumna Kim Demarchi ('93) is well-known.
The launch of a new resource for students seeking scholarships has coincided with the start of a financial aid informational series to be held at the University of Arizona.
Scholarship Universe is a new initiative launched by the UA's Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, or OSFA, utilizing the Student Services Fee, which was approved by University students.
A spaceman and a schoolteacher and a judge and a cop--those are just a few of the roles that Edward James Olmos has assumed on screen. But as a small group of Flinn Scholars learned on Oct. 10, even the complete filmography of the Oscar-nominated actor would only begin to convey Olmos's story.
Here's the verdict, right up front: The Flinn Scholars 25th Anniversary celebration was fantastic.
Just about this time, 25 years ago, the Flinn Foundation's board of directors approved creation of the Flinn Scholarship. John Murphy and Myra Millinger got to work, were soon joined by Barbra Barnes as the Flinn Scholars Program's first director, and about six months later, the inaugural class of Flinn Scholars were being selected.
That class of 1986 was well represented at the 25th Anniversary gathering, which was held Oct. 1-3 at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale. Eight members of the class were able to attend, and several helped Michael Young and Christa Thompson make the weekend a success:
The hotel was great, the food was great, and the rekindled friendships were great. One of the best moments was when a Scholar from one of the first classes struck up a conversation with one of the current Scholars--20 or even 25 years younger. It happened again and again over the course of the weekend.
Altogether, 135 alumni and current Scholars attended, along with many spouses, partners, and children, with every class represented by at least one Scholar. It was a good start. How about we aim for 225 at the 30th Anniversary weekend in 2015?
[About 700 more photos are posted at jamesjbarnett.com/flinn/.]
For information about Flinn Scholars, please contact:
flinnscholars@flinn.org or (602) 744-6802
