The Shackouls Honors College will expand opportunities for students this semester through a new position and course curriculum.
Tommy Anderson, associate English professor, has been appointed the new mentor to the Distinguished Scholars – a four-year scholarship program run through the honors college – and distinguished external scholarships.
“I am assigned with the task of mentoring the Distinguished Scholars. I am also (tasked) with maximizing their potential in their four years … encouraging them to see outside their discipline,” he said. “The idea is that education at MSU has to be transformative. It’s about providing scholars with a transformative experience.”
In addition to mentoring the Distinguished Scholars, Anderson will be available to all students – including those not in the honors college – to discuss distinguished external scholarships, such as the Rhodes Scholarship.
“I am excited about working with honors students to try to introduce them to things they didn’t know existed,” he said.
Christopher Snyder, dean of the honors college, said Anderson will provide a great benefit in his role because of his proven skills as an adviser.
“We’re very excited to have Dr. Anderson here in those roles and having students on campus working for external scholarships,” he said.
He said he hopes more students will express interest in applying for external scholarships and have opportunities to gain global experience.
In addition to Anderson’s appointment, the honors college has introduced the new honors curriculum called Cursus Honorum (the path of honors).
During the first year, participants may take the Quest courses, which focus on core texts from around the world.
The first course, which has three sections being taught this fall, focuses ancient texts through the Enlightenment.
The second course, which will be taught in the spring, focuses on texts from the 18th century to the present.
Students who receive a grade of a C or higher in both courses will receive three humanities, three fine arts and three social sciences credits.
Snyder; Jonathan Edelmann, assistant professor of religion and Nancy Hargrove, a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emerita of English, will be teaching the courses this fall.
Edelmann said that the books, in some way, deal with the theme of an intellectual quest and expects the semester to be a success.
“(Our first meeting) was a very good class. It is a very enthusiastic, bright and engaged (group of) students. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for everybody,” he said.
The class opens up the question of what is beneficial, which will get students thinking about the purpose of study and life in general, he said.
Hargrove, who retired four years ago and now has returned for the second time, was asked to teach the third section of the Quest class when the first two filled quickly.
“We’re kind of an experiment. We’re going to see what works and what doesn’t,” she said. “This is (Snyder’s) baby, his idea. He gathered people from different areas and they all suggested various things we should cover in the course.”
Once students complete the course, Hargrove said they will have a well-rounded, inter-disciplinary understanding of the time period.
“There’s a lot of give and take and discussion. I think the students will really love it. They’re all fascinating works. It’s going to be a fun course – challenging for the teachers as well as the students,” she said.
Once students complete their first year, they will be asked to take interdisciplinary and discipline-specific honors courses.
The discipline-specific courses include tutorials, where one to three students meet with a faculty member.
Graduate courses can also count, Snyder said.
The student must also do a for-credit study abroad experience, Snyder said.
If they cannot complete a study abroad, a student can take an additional foreign language than what is required by their department or petition for an out-of-state research exercise to count.
Students must also write and defend an honors thesis with the discipline determining the requirements. The student will chose a faculty member to be a supervisor who is an expert in the thesis topic.
“The thesis supervisor will help determine what is appropriate. Our goal was to have (students) do master’s level work,” Snyder said.
Students that have a senior project in their major may use a part of that to create their thesis, but it must be their own work and the supervisor will help shape the thesis.
In addition to the supervisor, there will be a second reader who is in the discipline or a related area and a third reader who will either be Snyder or a representative from the honors college, which will help ensure consistency in the thesis requirements.
“You can write and defend an honors thesis and going through that will make you a stronger candidate for grad school,” Snyder said.
When defending the thesis, students can also network by involving people outside of the college.
Students who came in before the new program, such as current seniors, will have the opportunity to graduate under the old phase one and two honors program.
However, those who choose to participate in the new program will receive the Honors designation on transcripts and at graduation.