Two grants were awarded as a result of the spring call for grant applications.

	Otterbein College Honors Center Kneading Minds: Integrating Service

A $1000 award was given to Otterbein College Honors Center in Westerville, Ohio, for the project: Kneading Minds: Integrating Service in the Otterbein College Honors Center. 

Otterbein College has a strong service mission, and the Honors Center has proposed an innovative service project to raise funds and make bread for local food pantries.  The project is designed to integrate the honors program into the university's commitment to service learning and social outreach. 

Under the direction of Dr. Cynthia Laurie-Rose, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Honors Program, Otterbein's dining hall chefs will teach residents how to bake bread in the residence hall kitchen. A portion of the bread will be delivered to local food pantries, where it will be given away. The remainder will be sold the following morning after local religious services with the profits from the sales used to replenish baking supplies. Once a quarter, Honors students will host a group of at-risk youth who participate in service clubs at their schools and teach them to bake bread at the Honors Dormitory. The youth will then donate that bread to a local food pantry.

	Kent State University Honors College Medieval Boot Camp

The second was a $500 award granted to Kent State University Honors College in Kent, Ohio, for the project: Medieval Boot Camp. 

While at Medieval Boot Camp, Kent State Honors College students will have the unique opportunity to engage in innovative theatrical work over two semesters.  The culmination of the project will be a production of the Chester Mystery Cycle of plays in Toronto in May 2010 under the auspices of North America's oldest and most prestigious medieval dramatic society: the University of Toronto's Poculi Ludique Societas ("Cup and Game Society"). Kent State University has been invited to contribute one of the 24 plays that comprise the cycle, and Honors faculty members Don-John Dugas (English) and Chuck Richie (Theatre) have agreed to mount one of the most demanding: The Annunciation and the Nativity.

---

Fall 2009

Two additional grants were awarded following the fall call for applications.

	Robert Morris University Intersections: A Multi-University Undergraduate Research Conference

$1000 award was given to Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, for the project: "Intersections:  A Multi-university Undergraduate Research Conference".

Robert Morris University is a small institution of about 5,000 students.  The honors program has over 110 undergraduate students, and features a curriculum balanced between core classes, an upper-division seminar, and an honors thesis requirement.  Their project seeks innovative ways to foster student collaborations without resorting to high-cost travel.  Following trends in corporate America, the project will utilize technology to run a hybrid conference, connecting panel sessions held across the US by streaming video and other video conferencing technologies with a Southwestern PA Undergraduate Research Conference organized by honors programs at Robert Morris University (RMU) and California University of Pennsylvania (CUP).   

	Muhlenberg College Arts for Kids Healing

The second was a $1000 award granted to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for the project "Arts for Kids Healing".

The RJ Fellows Honors Program at Muhlenberg College is seeking to support a new collaboration between the RJ Fellows and Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network to create "Arts for Kids Healing", an arts program for pediatric patients in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There is a growing body of research demonstrating the impact of art in the healing environment on patients, their families and hospital staff, as well as the beneficial effects of art in relation to the physiological and psychological well-being of patients, young and old.  Through this project, they hope to establish a meaningful experiential learning opportunity for RJ Fellows and to enhance the healing environment for young patients in a local pediatric rehabilitation hospital. RJ Fellows will participate in the research, design and construction of a sustainable, accessible and inclusive arts environment that promotes the healing and well-being of children in Good Shepherd's new pediatric hospital.