Intellectual Exemplars

                                 

Dr. Camara Jules P. Harrell

Dr. Harrell is my Intro to Psych teacher. I decided to interview him because he is a very lively and personable man and I find his class very interesting. Because I am a psychology major, he was nice enough to help me map out my academic course load as well as grant me an interview.

Dr. Harrell got into psychology by simply electing to be a psych major at the undergrad level at the University of Colorado. He studied clinical psychology in graduate school at the University of Illinois, and part of his training involved research and teaching. He did not do an internship because during his studies in graduate school, he discovered that clinical psychology was not what he wanted to do. He says he is not patient enough and too emotional, and that all the people he saw seemed to get sicker.

Dr. Harrell chose his more research-oriented path because of his experience as a clinical pyschologist. Through his classes and his reading of scientific research, he discovered a love for research psychology (more than he had for applied psychology). He found that there were very interesting questions to answer and things that he thought he could do differently and, through his own innovation, improve upon. Nowadays, he spends a small percentage of his time actually teaching, and most of his time during the day on research.

When I asked Dr. Harrell what he thinks makes a successful student, he simply said a successful student is one who goes beyond the requirements of the classroom by seeking research and practical experience. He said that mastering the information is not enough, a student must take it further, and really get involved in their major. That way the stuff from the classroom will really stick.

                         

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904- April 1, 1950) did pioneering work in the field of blood transfusions, and was able to develop a new technique for blood storage using blood plasma, which contains no cells and therefore can be frozen, which he used to create the huge blood banks during World War II, which saved the lives of many Allied troops. He was also the first African American to receive the Doctor of Science degree, and the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery. He was also on staff here at Howard as an instructor in pathology, and later the head of surgery, at the Medical School. Our male freshman dorm is named after him. He only lived for 46 years, but his work will live on forever.

Charles Drew attended Dunbar High School in Washington, DC. Although segregated, it had a reputation for being one of the finest (black) public schools in the country. He was also an athlete, winning letter in track, baseball, football, and basketball, and received a partial scholarship which allowed him to attend Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Drew was always interested in a career in medicine. His sister Elsie, died in 1920 of the pandemic influenza, after having been afflicted with tuberculosis. This may have been what influence him to want to study medicine. He went to medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he studied under John Beattie. Beattie was studying techniques and problems associated with blood transfusions, discovering that patients often died from loss of blood after accidents, and that there is a way to replace that blood, that there are four types of blood, and that the body would not reject blood of the same type. Drew undertook to discover the solution to the problem of finding a donor in an emergency (eventually leading him to the creation of blood banks).

I think that if asked what would make a successful student, Drew would answer passion and curiosity. An intriguing and very relevant problem spurred all of his research and discovery. His impetus was the death of his sister. I think he was driven by her memory and his love of learning to his success. I think he would say that if a student is sufficiently motivated and applies their talents to solving a problem that was personal and has bearing on their life, they will be most rewarded by their life work.

The Second Learning Community

Our second learning colloquia for Freshman Seminar was, to be perfectly honest, quite dull. It began late, with Dr. Carr passing out a checklist for all the assignment we should have completed thus far  in the class. To his surprise (but not mine), most people have not been as diligent as I have in completing the assignments. But Dr. Carr's infectious, upbeat attitude got a rise out of some people, especially when he reminded everyone that the student with the best portfolio at the end of the semester will win a prize, and divulged that the committee has considered buying the winner a new laptop.

Eventually, the lecture started. Put it this way, the topic was "Biological Anthropology Human Genre Historian". I got bored just reading it. And, no offense to Dr. Harris, the presenter, but my prejudices were not dispelled by his speech. Dr. Gary Harris is the director of Howard University's Nanoscale Science and Engineering facility. He began his lecture with a promise to not use random technical jargon to confuse and bore us. Instead, he said he intended to discuss black scientists and engineers, and their contributions to our society.

He started with a kind of tie-in with our topic for next week, Intellectual Exemplars. He gave us two exemplary men to remember. "Grandfather" Imhotep was the father of medicine and the co-author of the first medical textbook. The Greek name for him was "Apollo the physician", and to this day, whn doctors take their oath of profession, they swear to him. Cheikh Anta Diop was the founding director of the Radiocarbon Dating Lab, a historian, mathematician linguist, and author. He wrote The African Origin of Civilization.

He then launched a discussion of the condition of African Americans. He said we have lost things: our names, our way of life, our culture, our memories, our land, our independent production capacity, our control over ourselves and our institutions, our sensitivity, and worst of all, our solidarity. He then went in on how Earth is somewhere between 210 and 175 million years old, and that until about fifty million years ago, it was all one big mass (Pangea). Then, continental drift pulled the pieces apart. He told us that the maps have distorted reality, however. The North is eighteen million square miles, whereas the South is comprised of thirty-eight million square miles. The old Soviet Union is 8.7 million square miles, whereas Africa is comprised of 11.7 million square miles. Yet, the maps made it appear that the North and the Soviet Union were bigger than the South and Africa. He said our first objective is to get the map right, using a model called Peter's Projection, or the equal-area map. He reminded us of the evolutionary importance of Africa, home of the first three (of six) human forms. In fact the oldest discovered woman, "Lucy", is between two and three million years old and was from Africa.

But, he says that Africans and African Americans have made other, more recent, contributions, that have had many practical uses. He talked about the great Pyramids of Giza, and other symbols that have affected the world over. Apparently, the French built the Eiffel Tower so they would have a monument comparable to those in Africa. And African symbols are rampant in American culture: the pyramid with an eye on our dollar bill, the Rx we use to mean prescription (but is actually the symbol of Osiris). Also, at least eight black people worked on the Manhattan Project to create the atom bomb, one of which was a sixteen-year-old Ph.D. He gave examples of great inventors, like Granville Woods, who had over sixty patents, and successfully sued Thomas Edison twice for infringement on his patent rights, and Garrett Morgan who created the traffic light and the gas mask. In fact, by 1913, African Americans owned over 100 patents. He tried to make these things exciting, but it was lost on us, the audience.

In closing, he left us with a motivational speech. I have a strange aversion to motivational speakers, so this lost him favor with me. These are what he calls "The Graduation Principles":

1. Free Your Mind- he said you must believe that what you want (graduation) can happen; you cannot do what you cannot imagine.

2. Time Management- he said there are only 168 hours in a week, to part of which classes, sleep, eating, etc. already lay claim, so you must make time for studying and have rules for yourself.

3. Use All Your Resources- these include other students, teachers, textbooks, other book, the Internet, etc.

4. Use A Buddy System- he said have a friend in each class to take notes for you if you absolutely cannot make it.

5. "No Pain, No Gain"- he said that this is a one-time opportunity, and if you work hard and study hard, you will still be able to party hard.

he closed with this quote: "In this world you may not always get what you paid for, but you will certainly pay for what you get."

"What's Your International IQ?"

North Korea, formally the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is bordered by China and Russia, and separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone from South Korea. It professed to be a Juche, meaning self-reliant, state. This theory of government was implement by its founder and former ruler, Kim Il-sung- around whom a cult of personality has been fostered- and added to its constitution in 1972. Officially, North Korea is a socialist republic, although many people consider it a totalitarian dictatorship similar to Stalin’s Soviet Union. Most of its strengths and weaknesses stem from this governmental structure.

Understandably, North Korea’s strengths include its military, health care, and education system. The army has four branches: the Ground Force, the Naval Force, the Air Force, and The State Security Department. It is the fifth-largest military in the world with over 1.2 million members who account for 20 percent of the men between the ages of 17 and 54. Furthermore, North Korea has a totally government-run, state-controlled economy. The only other nation in the world like this is Cuba. This benefits its people from the standpoint that their taxes pay for universal healthcare and education (which is compulsory until the secondary level). Not only does the state provide free instruction, it also provides children with free uniforms and materials. Other strengths of the nation include low pollution rates, inexpensive tourism costs, and warm climates.

Many challenges face the people of North Korea as well, also as a result of the leadership of their country. One of these is malnourishment. Economic reforms in 2002 led to inflation, which increased the price of basic foods. A survey conducted in 2006 by Amnesty International found that 7% of the children are severely malnourished, 37% were chronically malnourished, and 23.4% were underweight.

In fact, many human rights are nonexistent in North Korea. The government controls every aspect of the people’s lives with the use of propaganda, and severely limits the political and economic rights of its people. North Korea is one of the most homogenous countries in the world. Kim Il-sung is worshipped almost as a god in their culture, and any dissention is rooted out. Because of this tourism and foreign trade are highly restricted and the economy and foreign relations suffer. The lack of trade leaves little room for the economy to grow.

One of the most detrimental weaknesses that North Korea has is its negative foreign relations status. Trade is already severely restricted, and the fall of communism meant that many of the resources being provided for the nation by places like Russia and China have decline significantly. In addition, China requested that the number of refugees fleeing from North Korea be curbed, so a concrete and barbed wire fence was erected along that border. Even worse than that is its relations with most Western nations are poor. North Korea refuses both to join and to cooperate with efforts of the United Nations, meaning that world powerhouses such as the United States and Britain are against their government. The people thereby suffer because the aid provided by these countries is limited because they do not trust that the government will disburse the materials fairly. North Korea is, however, friendly with its socialist companions in the southeast, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

North Korea still has many weaknesses that will only be cured with time. But it has shown some hope for improvement. In 2000, both Koreas signed the June 15^th North-South Joint Declaration, promising to make peaceful attempts at reunification. North Korea is firm, though, in its intent to have no outside interference in this matter. Also, before a shooting in 2008 of a South Korean tourist, there had been a special tourism zone created for American and South Korean tourists to visit called the Kumgangsan Tourist Region, although admittedly this area was made up to be falsely inviting. Hopefully, though, these small efforts to reach out are signs of better days to come.

My Educational Journey

I was one of the lucky ones. I was born into a family full of teachers, including both of my parents, so learning was fostered from the beginning. By the age of four I could already read. And I remember that when I was young, my parents would play The

Alphabet Game with us (my brother Malcolm, cousins, and me) on car trips and would encourage us to beat the cash register with the correct amount of change. If we did, we got to keep the coins. We did not know it then, but they were giving us essential tools for learning. To this day, I am a whiz at mental math when my friends have to take out calculators. But I will not attribute all my success to the adults in my life. Undoubtedly, they had their impact. However, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. I played an active role in my educational journey as well.

From a young age, I have known that I am very smart. When I entered kindergarten, I remember being highly unamused by the songs the teacher played to teach us the sounds of the letters. I could already read. So my parents and the teacher sat down and discussed what to do to challenge and stimulate me. They set up a sort of bridge program where I went to a first grade classroom until their lunchtime, then went to my p.m. kindergarten class. I loved the time I spent in Mr. Hooker’s first grade class, and thankfully the other children welcomed me. It was soon determined that I should be skipped. I only actually spent forty-four days in kindergarten. First grade was a blast; Mr. Hooker could not have been a more wonderful match for me. I scored in the ninety-ninth percentile on my standardized tests that year, and from there I hit the ground running.

In the second grade I went to a private school where I was in a combination class with third and fourth graders. My teacher would always have me do the lessons with the fourth graders. I tested Gifted that year and the next year entered the Magnet program at Baldwin Hills Elementary School. I was finally in classes full of other children of equal intellect. We read Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone in the third grade! And in the fifth grade, we did extensive research and presented a report on the different body systems.

Middle school was a breeze to me. I was in a Gifted Magnet, so all the children in my classes were Gifted as well. I got straight A’s all three years, because by that point I had determined to be the best. It was also during these years that I came into my social graces. Until eighth grade, I was awkward, preferring to read in the classroom at nutrition and lunch than to go out with my classmates and play. Needless to say, the other children generally did not much like me. I still cannot explain exactly what happened, but that year I figured out how to be both academically and socially excellent, which has been an invaluable lesson.

Then I went to high school, and it was a whole new world! I remember freshman year as vividly as though it were just last week. In my first month at Westchester High School, I discovered the Academic Recognition Night. For each grade level, if a student has earned a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average, they are given special recognition and awards at Academic Recognition Night. The twelfth graders receive a (free!) letterman’s jacket. I determined right then that I would be on that stage to receive my jacket in my senior year.

In high school, I took only the most rigorous course load offered. I took AP classes every year starting in the tenth grade. Some course my school only offered every other year, so those I took at a local community college through a dual enrollment program. Of course, I did not allow my extra-curriculars to suffer. I firmly believe that being smart is not enough, one must be more than just good test scores. I played sports all four years, and was named Varsity Captain of both my Cross Country and Track and

Field teams. I was a College Peer Counselor. I got involved with California’s Youth and Government Model Legislature and Court program. I also joined my School’s We Volunteer for Westchester Club, and volunteered over two hundred hours one summer as a Counselor-in-Training at the local YMCA. I graduated tied for third in my class, with a grade point average of 4.3. I was a National Achievement Scholarship Finalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction, as well as being on the President’s Honor Roll all four years. And, I got my Academic Jacket! In fact, with all the credits I transferred over from AP tests I passed and community college classes I took, I am

already classified as a sophomore in college. And I was invited to join the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program.

I decided to come to Howard University mainly for the money that they offered me. I did not know much about the school, but that they had a reputation for churningout the best and the brightest. I have a cousin who is an alumna, and practically everyone I talked to about this school knows of at least one Howard success story. Since I have been here, I have been intrigued by the sheer excellence surrounding me. People from all walks of life have

been and are currently being molded into greatness here. It is hard to be so far from home, but I am sure that this will be a growing experience like no other, and I will be rewarded beyond measure for all my hard work.

Howard University Clubs and Organizations

Whoever said college isn't for everyone lied. Here at Howard there are so many clubs and organizations, you're bound to find at least one that will interest you. We have everything from a Chess Club to state clubs to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Alpha Chapter. So if you don't find something here that interests you, chances are you didn't look hard enough.

For my freshman Seminar assignment this week, I had to research five clubs here and tell a little about them here on my blog. I picked these five because they are each significant to my college experience in some way.

1. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Alpha Chapter

-My cousin, my sister, my grandma, and even my track and cheer coaches are members of DST.

-Here is where it all began. On January 13, 1913, 22 women founded DST under the principles of scholarship, sisterhood, and service. Today, the chapter centers its programming around Delta's Five-Point Programmatic Thrust: educational development, economic development, political awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and International Awareness and Involvement. They are active in serving their university and their community and their network is strong and country-wide.

2. Ladies of the Quad Social Club

-I live in the Quad this year. Truth Hall, Room 404. AWWWW YEAH!!!

-The Ladies of the Quad Social Club is a club exclusively for freshmen girls. Its aim is to introduce these young women to the cultural and academic climate of Howard University. It promotes sisterhood among its members and encourages scholarly pursuits. Members do service for the university and the surrounding community and promote a positive image of the young African American woman.

-The brother social club to this one is the Gentlemen of Drew Social Club, based out of Drew all where the freshman boys, several of whom are friends of mine, live.

3. The Howard University Campus Pals

-The first people to officially welcome the incoming freshmen to Howard University are the Campus Pals. They plan trips and social gatherings during Freshmen Week, the week between the Move-In of the new freshmen and the arrival of the upperclassmen. The Campus Pals are a part of several other organizations on camps and encourage their pals to get involved, network, and meet new people. They show their caseload of around 30 freshmen the ways of Howard. If Howard University is one big family, the Campus Pals are the older brothers and sisters.

4. Psi Chi- The National Honor Society in Psychology

-I am a psychology major and an honors student, so naturally this group intrigues me.

-The Psi Chi honor society was founded in 1929 to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship surrounding and advancing psychology. Graduates and undergraduates are welcome to join. It is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, therefore members get academic recognition simply by being involved. Members must be second semester sophomores in a psychology major or minor program with a grade point average over 3.0 and in the top 35% of their class.

5. California Club

-a club dedicated to the bestest state in the union!!!! I miss home.....

-This club is not necessarily as serious in nature as the other ones. It is mainly a social club that aims to help those students from California network with other people from California and acclimate themselves to the new and very different world of the East Coast. Members are also a part of various other clubs on campus and in this way they serve the university and their surrounding community.

The Information Literacy Tutorial

Growing up with two teachers for parents, I am no stranger to the library. Library trips were a bi-weekly excursion in my household. I love to read, too. One summer, I decided to conquer my local library's Classics section. I read Gone With the Wind for fun. Reading builds knowledge and knowledge is power.

So, Howard University has eight libraries!!!! I could try my hardest and still there is NO WAY I could finish all those books. Still, they will be very useful to me during my tenure here because this school is very research-oriented.

This week, for my Freshman Seminar class, I had to take The Information Literacy Tutorial, which taught me all about the different resources here and how to best use them. A lot of this stuff I already knew. But some of this stuff was new. For instance, I learned that when you use a search engine, if you truncate (put a * next to the root of) a word, you can search for all the words with the same root and their variations. For example, if you put in expos*, you can find exposition, expose, exposes, expository, and more.

 I will be honest, the tutorial was a bit boring. But the information was very useful. I feel like I will be able to use the libraries to their full extent. I even know how to read and find call numbers on books. Now my next objective is to go to the Library of Congress and another D.C. public library to get library cards....

First Monthly Learning Community Colloquia

*On Thursday, September  10th, we had our first monthly learning community colloquia in Cramton Auditorium. I only got to see a portion of the presentation because I had my Intro to Psych class form 3:40 to 5. But the presenter, Dr. Carr, was a really cool guy. He posted his Powerpoint on the Internet for us, and even posed for a picture with us after he spoke. The discussion was about the group research projects that we are soon going to have to complete.*

The Five Basic Steps in the Research Process

Step 1: Identify and Develop Your Topic

In this first step, the researcher tries to develop a question about their topic that can be answered through their intended research. The question should be such that the answer will be supportable by fact and narrow enough that the researcher can plausibly solve their piece of the puzzle and leave a clear place for others to continue from.

Step 2: State Your Research Methodology and Method

This step mostly involve identifying the academic field that will be useful in answering the question set out in Step 1. The researcher must decide what tools he or she needs to successfully complete their intended course of study and which academic field can most aptly supply them with those tools. In the case of our research projects, and many times in real life, a research question can and needs to be answered by combining knowledge from several areas of study. In that case, this step also involve figuring out how to effectively the tools available from each to serve the desired result.

Step 3: Look for Previous Research

This step ties in with Dr. Carr's first ground rule, which is to be present, meaning don't just be here, play an active role in your community and your education. Know your surroundings and your history. When doing research, the researcher should take notes and cite their sources (to avoid plagiarism) in the proper MLA or APA form. There are many kinds of sources: the various libraries, electronics databases; primary secondary and tertiary. The work that others have done is an excellent aid in new research, no matter what the topic because it can provide at least the background, and sometimes more, for the answers to the guiding questions.

Step 4: Evaluate Sources, Think, and Articulate Your Findings

The African word that Dr. Carr gave us for this step is hatata, which means "sifting". This step ties in with his second ground rule which is to read and write. At this point the researcher has all the information they need and must process it and present it in a coherent way. Their findings should try to create new knowledge, they should be searching for answers that have not yet been found or filling in missing links in the research surrounding their topic. Once they have figured all this out, they should write it in a clear and concise manner so that researchers that come later can use their new discoveries in further studies.

Step 5: Imagine What is Left for Others to Do?

This step ties in to Dr. Carr's third ground rule, called mekhet, which is speaking to the future. At the end, the researcher should include a small section where they explain where their findings end and another can begin. To do this, they should think of the ramifications of their research and future questions that it could help answer. They should also consider how this research will help them be remembered in their field.