Honors Courses – General Biology – Honors

(Illustration from Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013.)
(Sickle cell next to a red blood cell.  Illustration from Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013.)

Honors courses at The University of Tampa are designed to enhance the educational experience of Honors Program students.  Kimberly Dobrinski, Assistant Professor of Biology, developed several experiments for the students in her General Biology (BIO 198) Honors course that students in regular sections of General Biology do not get to do.  In this post she describes the experiments they conducted.

In order to instruct the students on the associations between red blood cell morphologies and human disease I developed a new assignment. Using funds from the Honors Program provided to supplement the course content, the students were presented with red blood cell slides.  The students determined which diseases they were observing from four possible diseases: Alcoholism, Iron Deficiency Anemia, Malignancy, and Sickle Cell Disease, basing their analysis on the slides with red blood cell morphologies, patient history, physical exam and laboratory tests. The students seemed to really love the exercise and I am happy to say they did very well! In fact, one of the correct answers for their case study was iron deficiency anemia and I even had a student come to me after class and tell me he had been diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia. He was so excited that he now understood how the diagnosis was made and what his own blood cells would look like. It made for a very personal experience for this student. For all the students, this exercise allowed them to engage their problem solving capabilities to solve real-world problems. As many of the Honors students will be pursuing a career in some aspect of medicine, I think they really enjoyed getting a taste of how clinical laboratory science works and how doctors make a diagnosis based on this type of analysis.

Oxford Semester Abroad – Kaushal Vaddiraj

(Tom Quad at Christ Church in Oxford. Photo courtesy of Toby Ord.)
(Tom Quad at Christ Church in Oxford. Photo courtesy of Toby Ord.)

The University of Oxford and its tutorial system are world renowned and the prospect of learning at one of the oldest universities in the world is hard to pass up. The Honors Program sends three students every semester to learn under the tutorial system where you are paired up with an Oxford Don to study and research a subject of your choice. I was expected to write a paper and defend my stance on a particular topic orally with the Don each week. This one-on-one educational setting is as incredibly rewarding as it is strenuous, and instilled in me the work ethic needed to do research independently and produce high quality work, week in and week out. In addition, interacting with students from other disciplines and cultures broadened my perspective on a variety of issues and taught me the virtues of debating with respect.

Oxford Semester Abroad – Huseyin Keskin

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Studying at Oxford University completely changed the way I perceive the world and my role in it. In addition to the fact that I had one-on-one tutorials with some of the most renowned professors in the world, being in an environment with the world’s smartest people elevated my expectations for my career. I realized that many of my dreams and aspirations are achievable.

This one semester studying at Oxford University opened new doors for me. I initiated the first official Oxford-University of Tampa partnership in UT’s history. I received internship opportunities from top companies that I would have only dreamed of working for prior going to Oxford University.

This one semester experience has changed my life and made me aware of what kind of impact I can have on the world. I cannot be more proud to have studied at one of the world’s most prestigious universities as a representative of, and thanks to, the Honors Program at The University of Tampa.