University Honors Program

Honors Happenings

• Honors student's research leads to creation of women's center
• Honors student named Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2007
• Honors houses top GPA for Fall Semester
• Diesburg Named Wingspread Fellow

Honors student's research leads to creation of women's center

AMES, Iowa -- Research by an Iowa State University sophomore is leading to the creation of a rehabilitation center for chemically dependent professional women in Rochester, Minn.

Tom Mazula, an accounting and psychology major from Lakeville, Minn., undertook the project as part of his Freshman Honors Program. He sent hundreds of surveys nationwide to chemical dependency treatment providers, employee assistance program organizations and state agencies to gauge the need for a new treatment facility designed for professional women.

The results showed that there is need for a facility that would cater to this group.

"Based on who we talked to, we found that this group [professional women] was neglected," said Mazula. "The treatment providers, employee assistance program professionals and state agencies we talked to around the nation agreed that existing programs weren't set up in the women's interest."

The treatment facility will be called Drifens -- an anagram of the words friends and finders -- and will be located on land once owned by the Mayo family in Rochester.

Because women face different societal expectations than men, programs designed for men don't work as well with women, said Mazula. Drifens will focus on the challenges facing professional women. Mazula's research shows that a third of employee assistance program professionals are not satisfied with existing programs for professional women.

"We want to treat the whole person through time," said Mazula.

Mazula said that according to his research, current treatment options sometimes fail because the treatment ends too quickly.

"We will treat them for 30 to 60 days," he said. "And after that, we will have them keep coming back."

Respondents to Mazula's survey estimated that the success rate for professional women in traditional treatment programs after 10 years is just over 20 percent.

Drifens isn't yet operating due to zoning and neighborhood issues, but Mazula says early signs indicate a real need for this type of facility.

"Just as a result of sending out the survey, people are already calling us to send women here. We've already had to turn people away," he said.

The idea for the center came from Mazula's father, Derek, an entrepreneur who has purchased the land and an existing building for the new treatment facility. Derek Mazula is studying psychology and Tom hopes one day to become a clinical psychologist.

Honors Student Named Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2007

Rohini Ramnath has been selected as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2007. Rohini is a Political Science, International Studies and Spanish major, and has been actively involved in the Government of the Student Body, the Committee on Lectures, got ignorance? campaign network, YWCA Ames-ISU and the Student Foundation Commitee. As a Rotary Scholar, Rohini will be studying International Affairs at the University of Ghana in Accra.

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships are designed to further international understanding and goodwill among people of different countries.

The scholarship provides funding for one academic year of study in another country. Ambassadorial Scholarships fund one year of study abroad and is intended to help cover round-trip transportation, tuition, fees, room and board expenses, and educational supplies up to $26,000.

Honors houses top GPA for Fall Semester

The three Honors Houses (Anders, Starbuck, and Harwood) have earned the top three highest House average GPA's among the ISU residence hall house system for the Fall 2006 semester. Anders House (Barton Hall) average GPA was 3.63, Starbuck House (Martin Hall) average GPA was 3.58, and Harwood House (Lyon Hall) average GPA was 3.48. Congratulations to all the Honors house members for their hard work during the fall semester on this great accomplishment!

Diesburg name Wingspread Fellow

Steven Diesburg

Steven Diesburg, Honors senior in Physics, was selected to attend the Wingspread Conference entitled “Leadership Summit for Sustainable America: Environmental and Natural Resource Stewardship” on December 4-6, 2006 in Wind Point, Wisconsin as a Wingspread Fellow.  Honors students at Iowa State are among the students from only a dozen other schools around the nation who have special status as Wingspread Fellows and are invited to apply to attend the conferences at no cost to themselves.  Students attend as observers to the deliberations, but have plenty of opportunity to interact with the experts on an informal basis. 

Diesburg said of his experience, “My experience as a Melvin Brorby Wingspread Fellow gave me a greater appreciation for the difficulty of achieving consensus, even among like-minded people…If nothing else, the Leadership Summit for Sustainable America on Natural Resources and Climate Change reaffirmed for me that some of our country’s best thinkers care about the same things I do, and are doing what they can to fix problems that seem unsolvable at times.  It made me realize, or perhaps simply reminded me, that there needs to be someone constantly pushing to make the right connections and make sure things get done.” To find out more about Steven's experience, please feel free to contact Steven at diese.burg@gmail.com.