Outstanding Honors Senior Capstones - Howard O. Rowe Scholarship Winners

The Ashland University Honors Program annually awards the Howard O. Rowe Endowed Scholarship to recognize the top Honors Capstone Project.  Dr. Howard O. Rowe was a faculty member in Ashland College’s Education Department who was described as a compassionate teacher and a fine scholar committed to the success of the Honors Program.  This scholarship fund was established in 1976 to remember Dr. Rowe’s contributions to Ashland University.  This year, three students have been selected to be honored with the Howard O. Rowe award recognizing the quality of their capstone projects:  Kellie Pleshinger, Jacob Nestle, and Abigail Dingus.

Kellie Pleshinger’s capstone is titled "Eris Heights: The Search for Truth in a Supernatural-Horror Screenplay and Trailer."  Kellie’s mentor, Dr. Maura Grady, writes: “Kellie’s project, the TV pilot script for Eris Heights, is excellent work. . . Eris Heights is tightly plotted but also has engaging characters and a compelling setting. . . . Kellie’s script leaves no detail unconsidered – music cues, character descriptions, and actions are precise and appropriate for her story. The characters jump off the page and tell the casting director exactly what to look for in the actors. . . . [Kellie] has also planned, filmed, and edited a film trailer for the series. Her technical filmmaking skills are on display in the trailer. Producing the trailer is a further step of creation beyond the already first-rate achievement of writing the screenplay.”

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Jacob Nestle’s capstone is titled “A Thousand Generations: The Longevity and Fall of the Galactic Republic.”  Jacob’s mentor, Dr. John Moser, writes:  “When [Jacob] told me that he wanted to write a senior thesis involving Star Wars, I immediately said yes. . . .His knowledge of the Star Wars universe—not only the movies, but the books and television series as well—is voluminous, even exceeding my own. However, what is most impressive about his thesis is the way that he connects the world of Star Wars to the political theory of the American Founding. He was able to draw out important arguments made by the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the debate over ratification of the U.S. Constitution by analyzing the various institutions that made up the old Galactic Republic . . . Jacob’s thesis is truly an outstanding effort—creative, thoughtful, and informed by solid research.” 

 





Abigail (Abbi) Dingus’s thesis is titled, “Density-Dependent Growth Responses of Arabidopsis to Copper Toxicity.”  Abbi’s mentor, Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer, writes: “Abbi carried out a major study of the response of four cultivars of Arabidopsis to planting density and copper concentrations.  The project is significant scientifically because it provides insight into the mechanisms of density-dependent growth responses of plants to metals such as copper in soils.  Abbi presented this work at two scientific meetings, winning an award at the Ohio State University Plant Sciences Symposium for the top undergraduate poster, and then taking her work to the May 2019 meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry meeting in Helsinki, Finland.  She has not stopped with completion of the thesis but is actively working to develop a manuscript describing the results of this project for the journal PeerJ, of which she will be the lead author.”