Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
I conducted an oral history project of five women with journeys in the Christian faith who had experience working with asylum seekers and refugees in the Phoenix metropolitan area. I explore with this project the perceptions of the helping relationship through the stories of these women and how their beliefs about their faith and work inform each other to pursue meaningful connections for the benefit of others.
This thesis is broken into two parts: the research and the toolkit. The research portion examines the benefits posed by the Barrett Student Engagement team to the Barrett Polytechnic community. Literature on student retention and attrition, inside and outside of an honors curriculum, was reviewed to better understand likely factors contributing to an increase of attrition rates. The primary question in focus is: “What are the benefits student engagement poses for Barrett Poly students?” followed by the secondary question of: “How can the student engagement team best support Barrett Poly students?” Data from the past five semesters has been collected and analyzed to determine the general trends and the strengths and weaknesses within each of the six engagement pillars. As the position of Student Engagement Assistant requires a fair amount of training for short-term employment (can be held until graduation from ASU), it is beneficial to have a training manual in place for workers to reference. The project has been made available in a hybrid format to best accommodate future changes in procedures and resources. A summary of the additional materials has been included at the end of this report.