The Heart of the Matter

President Barack Obama and candidate Mitt Romney both received their undergraduate degrees in the humanities. Other notables who studied the humanities on their way to final careers are Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Harold Varmus, current director of the Nation Cancer Institute.

American Academy Commission on the Humanities

Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University and the co-chair of the American Academy Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, related this information in a talk he delivered at the annual meeting of the National Humanities Alliance on March 20, 2013. The organization he chairs developed a film on the subject that describes the “Heart of the Matter” and, in fact, why Humanities still matter. I came upon my own realization when I visited a meeting of the Clemente Course at East high School a few nights ago. Here is what I discovered.

The Clemente Course at East High School

The Clemente Course is a partnership between the Utah Humanities Council, East High School, the Salt Lake City School District, Westminster College, the University of Utah, and University Neighborhood Partners. The course is a two-year, interdisciplinary humanities course for underserved 10th and 11th grade AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination program) students. The goals of the endeavor are:

• Encourage underserved students’ eager engagement in school by involving them in a challenging but personally meaningful and relevant humanities curriculum.
• Introduce students to some of the most powerful and influential texts, art, and ideas from cultures around the world.
• Foster academic excellence and critical thinking.
• Demonstrate connections between book learning and the “real world.”
• Nurture the goal of attending a four year college and assist students in selecting challenging college preparatory courses during their junior and senior years.
• Develop thoughtful and engaged future citizens.
• Increase school and public understanding of the value of the humanities to personal growth, academic achievement, and the strength of our communities.

How the Program Works

Clemente draws from five subjects for its curriculum: literature, history, art history, critical writing, and philosophy. It follows an intellectually rigorous curriculum and focuses on important multicultural works using group discussion, writing, group projects and a focus on primary documents as the basis for learning.

Instructors for the Course consist of four college professors, four teaching fellows, and a writing teacher at East High. Students enrolled in the Clemente Course will become a learning community, encouraged by their teachers and each other to become highly engaged in their learning and put forward their best efforts. Clemente excites the young learners about higher education and strongly encourages them to attend college. Students will receive an elective humanities credit for successfully completing the Clemente Course.

Example of the Learning Experience

The Clemente class took a field trip to Salt Lake Community College South City Campus for a tour of the New Media Center. The Dean of the School of Arts, Communication and New Media, Richard Scott, showed them the sound room, the broadcast journalist room, the theater, and the filming area.

The students got to have a hands-on, interactive experience with public art exhibit, Camera Obscurra. They learned how the cameras could be used for conceptual or performance art because people can perform in front of the cameras and be seen by viewers inside the New Media center. That students can also create art by using the cameras and take pictures or drawings of the projections.

Support From the Utah Humanities Council

The goal of the endeavor fits exactly within the mission of the UHC: “The Utah Humanities Council provides leadership by empowering individuals and groups to improve their communities through active engagement in the humanities.” This notion goes along with what Richard Brodhead is trying to accomplish with the American Academy Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. He proposes that STEM, (science, technology, engineering and math), cannot be the only focus of our education system. Without the critical thinking that comes from a Humanities education many of our greatest leaders might not have achieved success.

The Humanities plays a crucial role in the drama of strengthening communities, improving cooperation and building better lives. by participating in humanities-based programs and education, young people are inspired to cross over into the world of others and discover an affinity with the different way people see, think, and believe in order to imagine a common good that serves us all.

Growing Up on A Farm In Poland

Dominika decided early on to become a psychologist when as a young teenager she successfully manipulated her father into letting her attend a rock concert with friends. Her curiosity about understanding people’s behaviors and motivations led her to receive a Master’s degree in psychology from Warsaw University.

Received a Fulbright Scholarship

Propelled by the desire to acquire more expertise in social and behavioral research she came to the United States, and with the help from a Fulbright scholarship embarked upon her path to a doctoral degree in social psychology.

Getting her Ph.D. at the University of Utah

During her Ph.D. studies Dominika also gained experience in business and industry doing user experience research for University of Utah Commuter Services and helping a global company specializing in information services and publishing to innovate and improve their products and services.

Director of Research at BWP

We’re happy to have Dominika join the agency. She’s a great contribution to the group and adds a global understanding to our communications endeavors. Thanks, Dominika!

Branding the Idea of Stop Texting and Drive Safely!

In 2011 at least 23% of auto collisions involved the use of mobile phones. Nation-wide, that’s 1.3 million car accidents. If you’re traveling at 55mph, your car will cover the length of football field in just 5 seconds, which is the minimal amount of time your attention is taken away from the road when texting and driving. That’s long enough to cause serious accidents. And most assuredly, even fatal accidents.

Drivers are Still Texting and Driving

Amazingly, 55% of adult drivers still claim it’s easy to text and drive, and 77% of young adults are “very” or “somewhat” confident that they can safely text while driving. This is a troubling number, especially considering the fact that 39 states currently have laws that prohibit all drivers from text messaging while behind the wheel. (Source: textinganddrivingsafety.com)

Miss Utah USA, Jamie Lynn Crandall

Jamie Lynn Crandall, former Miss Utah USA (2011) and a professional model, made it her platform during her reign to promote the message that it’s very dangerous to text and drive. She helped found the campaign “Hang Up – Save a Life.” Her good friend, Lauren Mulkey, a student at East High School in Salt Lake City, had just dropped Jamie off after a holiday event, then moments later was killed by a texting driver. This life-changing event inspired Jamie to use her position as Miss Utah USA to promote a campaign to alert the people of Utah about the dangers of texting while driving.

Her Campaign Against Texting While Driving

Now, seven years later, Jamie is still very committed to the cause. Though her efforts were instrumental in helping create a no-texting while driving law in Utah, the statistics shown above demonstrate the need for continued messaging targeted at both young adults and all drivers alike. During her year as Miss Utah USA she campaigned across the state, mostly speaking at high schools, as a person who had experienced the tragedy first hand.

Jamie: Not Going to Give Up

After relinquishing her crown, Jamie continued her career as a working model, which has taken her from Chicago to Florida to Los Angeles. Now back in Utah she intends to continue the messaging campaign and branding to alert drivers throughout the state and beyond to help people understand the personal tragedies and life-changing consequences of texting while driving.

“Hang Up – Save a Life”

BWP was fortunate to work with Jamie on a branding project for our clients where we had the opportunity to get to know her. (Shown here are some of the photos she did for us.) We are very happy to help Jamie further her cause by helping to promote the notion of “Hang Up – Save a Life.”

Thanks for all you do Jamie! And from all of us at BWP, we encourage Utah drivers to turn off your phones before your drive.

Methods in Psychology and Design Research

New Year always makes me think about the future and this provokes a lot of anxiety, so I wanted to write about some methods in psychology and design research that help to think about the future in a constructive, playful way.

A lot of work at BWP focuses on helping our clients reinvent themselves and imagine their futures. Thinking about future is both exciting and anxiety provoking, so it requires a special approach.

This summer BWP worked with a client who wanted to come up with more effective ways to partner with other local organizations. During one of our workshops we encouraged our client to enact these future collaborations. We prepared a role playing exercise using personas of potential partners that were developed through ethnographic research. Richard and I role played potential partners who members of the client team had to engage with. Together we brainstormed ideas for future collaboration and programming. Through this exercise, the client team developed empathy with and better understanding of their potential partners and created actionable solutions for future collaborations.

A Powerful Online Resource

BWP has developed an online brand for client, Faithology, that contributes to the knowledge of, and engagement in, religions of the world. Purely unbiased and well-respected, Faithology.com continues to build an incredible resource for those who desire knowledge and dialogue about global faiths. We are honored to be the Agency of Record for Faithology. BWP continues to refine the Faithology brand and is currently working on an updated UI.

BWP Communications is pleased to announce the website launch and rebranding of Critical Intelligence (www.critical-intelligence.com).

Critical Intelligence is cyber security company specializing in identifying and analyzing ICS and SCADA systems. Since its inception, Critical Intelligence has grown in leaps and bounds and has quickly become a reputable company that needed a new look and feel that would allow them to compete in the global market.

BWP is the current agency of record for CI. We provide brand strategy, advertising, marketing and website development.

Logo Design ::

The original logo for Critical Intelligence was in need of a more contemporary look that incorporated the concept of global security while tying in the “CI” to represent the company.

Web Site Redesign ::

Critical-Intelligence.com needed to revamp their website to fit the new brand and to make it more user friendly while delivering a strong message about who they are and what they do. The result is a state-of-the-art web site that is interactive, progressive, and emulates their new brand and philosophy.

Using Humor to Promote Products and Services

Consider a fun explainer video for your product, brand or service. We create compelling stories that drive engagement. Click Here to see a video we developed for our client, The Utah Association of Counties. Do you know what an Assessor does? How about a county Auditor? Watch this video and learn more about your local county government officials and how they do what they do.

Compliment Your Strategic Branding Strategy

Animated Explainer videos can be delivered through a variety of channels including Facebook, YouTube, the company website and affiliate websites. For the Utah Association of Counties BWP sent this video to all of Utah’s elementary and middle schools 4th and 7th grades. The purpose of the video was to help teachers with a fun tool for civic’s class. A comprehensive curriculum was provided to accompany the video making it easy for teachers to give a lesson on how local county government works.