Stars in Politics, Googling Cancer, Leap Day, Test-Blind College

Guests: Chris Karpowitz, PhD, BYU Professor of Political Science; Grant Madsen, PhD, BYU Professor of History  On this eve of Super Tuesday, ten states will hold their primaries. In the Republican field, Donald Trump has the momentum, despite early predictions from pundits and political experts that a bombastic, wealthy reality TV star couldn’t possibly win the nomination.  But America has a history electing famous people with little to no political experience. More than a few Hollywood stars have been mayors. Californian elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor.  And remember when pro wrestler Jesse Ventura became the governor of Minnesota? The halls of Congress have seen star power, too, with Al Franken, Fred Thompson and don’t forget Sonny Bono.

Guest: Carolyn Lauckner, PhD, Assistant Professor in the College of Public Health's Department of Health Promotion and Behavior  A cancer diagnosis is traumatic for a patient and for a patient’s family. And these days one of the first things they’re inclined to do is Google the diagnosis. There are inevitably things you forgot to ask the doctor in that first meeting. Or you forget what the doctor said because of the stress. The internet is a vast resource, but not always a helpful one.

Guest: Raenell Dawn, Cofounder of the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies  Today, February 29th, is Leap Day. Once every four years, an extra day is added to the calendar to account for the fact Earth’s complete trip around the sun takes 365 days … and 6 hours. We’ve had a Leap Day on the calendar every four years since Julius Caesar decreed it back in 46 B.C.  You’d think we’d be used to it by now. But it still feels rare enough that people born on Leap Day are a novelty and some organizations won’t even recognize it as a valid birthday.

Guest: Meredith Twombly, Dean of Enrollment and Retention at Hampshire College  SAT and ACT scores are traditionally important aspects of a college application, but a number of universities in recent years have made those tests optional for aspiring students. One well-respected liberal arts school - Hampshire College in Massachusetts – went a step further. In 2014, Hampshire became “test-blind” meaning the college won’t even look at your ACT or SAT score if you send one.  The switch had one big consequence – Hampshire College got dropped from the prestigious rankings of US News & World Report. But school officials say it was worth it.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Film Reviewer at ParentPreviews.com  The Academy Awards last night honored a bunch of films we haven’t reviewed here on Top of Mind due to their R-rating. But there were some overall themes worth considering and a few wins that pleased critic Rod Gustafson of Parent Previews.com.

Guests: Benjamin Mackley, BYU Master’s Student in Instructional Psychology and Technology; Dave Brown, BYU’s Technology Transfer Office  There’s a big online aspect to college education these days. Professors communicate with students by email, give tests online and even teach entire courses by webcast. Being online opens up new opportunities for students and instructors to track their progress. But the power of the web should be able to do so much more than let you log on and see your latest test score or term grade. With the right software, a professor ought to be able to know how what percentage of the class actually watched the online video to the end or see a graph of student test performance showing topics that need more focus in class.