Honors Student Profile

  D. Anne Winiarski

   Major: Psychology
   Minor: German 
   Projected Graduation: December 2009, with full honors







Why did you enroll in the honors program?

I believe it is very important to seek challenges in life, and I felt that enrolling in the honors program would enable me to pursue a variety of new challenges.  I always enrolled in difficult courses in high school and took on demanding extracurricular activities.  In order to learn effectively, you must step out of the ordinary and immerse yourself in a new environment.  I knew that my fellow honors students would be as dedicated to their studies and as eager to learn as I was.  I also wanted small classes where I could personally know the professor and my fellow classmates and be able to engage in discussion, as opposed to simply sitting in a large lecture hall.  Honors classes are small in size, class discussion is encouraged, and the professors promote an intellectual environment that is truly unique.

Is there an honors course that has made a particularly strong impact on you?

Although all of my honors courses have been intellectually-stimulating, I feel that HON 212 and HON 111 stand out the most.  In HON 111, the professor asked us to draw connections between art and literature, and then tie our connections back to a certain historical time period.  This kind of analysis was very challenging, but at the same time, I walked away with much more knowledge in the fields of history, art, and literature than I had believed was possible to learn in one semester.  In addition, the texts selected by the professor gave me greater insight into how I viewed the world.  HON 212 was a course on the history of neuroscience.  By the end of the semester, I felt that I learned more in the sixteen weeks we had class then I did in any year-long class I had ever taken.  The professor was truly inspiring, and he encouraged us to think and write at a graduate level.  Very few undergraduates at other universities have the opportunity to find a professor who cares so genuinely about the intellectual development of his or her students.      

Has NMU changed you?

I have learned a lot in my year at Northern, and it is very rewarding to see how much I have grown as a person.  The professors at NMU challenge you to question your convictions and ideas.  I am eager to attend every class because there is always something new to learn.  Somehow every area of knowledge ties together, and you can truly say you have mastered a new topic when you can tie the different areas together.  The individualized attention given by the professors at NMU also helps students find opportunities that are unavailable at most larger universities.  I became involved in a research laboratory my first week at Northern and by my second semester as a freshman, I was already a teaching apprentice.  Both experiences were very positive, which motivated me to be a TA for other courses and to expand my research interests.  Furthermore, I gained practical knowledge that cannot be obtained merely from sitting in a classroom, which will help me stand out from other applicants when I am applying to graduate school.

Describe some learning experiences you have had in your area of interest.

There are many different concentrations in the field of psychology, which was one of the primary reasons I was so drawn to this major.  I have worked closely with three professors since I began my education at Northern.  In Dr. Maya Sen’s lab, I am currently working on a study that compares attitudes toward vegetarianism in Marquette and other cities in the United States.  We are currently collecting data in the Marquette area.  In addition, I am also helping assess the effectiveness of a learning tool Dr. Sen uses in her PY 241 Child Psychology class.  Professor Harry Whitaker and I have been working on a research project that examines the contributions of Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Erb to the field of neuroscience.  My work with Professor Whitaker has enabled me to combine my passion for German and psychology into one research project.  To gain an understanding of and appreciation for the molecular bases of behavior, I also am involved in research with Dr. Adam Prus.  In Dr. Prus’ lab, we are currently looking at the cognitive enhancement properties of new chemical compounds that could potentially be used in the treatment of schizophrenia.