04-04-08 Honors

Dear Friends of the College:

 At this time of the year, recruiting outstanding students stands as a priority for universities across the country.  Thus, the College of Liberal Arts is focused on recruiting prospective undergraduate students to Texas A&M University.  Athletic recruitment may receive greater public attention, but I assure you that recruiting the best academic talent is every bit as competitive, demanding, and important for the University. 

 The University offers competitive scholarship packages to students whose high school records and application portfolios show them to be truly exceptional.  The combination of named scholarships, President’s Endowed and Lechner Scholarships, Foundation Excellence Awards, and other awards usually create strong financial incentives for students to take a serious look at Texas A&M.  And, these bright young people ask questions about what academic opportunities Texas A&M will afford them.  With whom will I study?  What will the classes be like?  Will I have opportunities to pursue my interests in programs that prepare me for professional school, graduate school, or top positions in government or business? 

 To answer many of these questions, we point to our Liberal Arts Honors Program.  Working with programs in the University’s honors office and several departments, this program offers talented students opportunities to draw on the very best of the humanities, social sciences, and arts at Texas A&M.  Our program begins by building learning and social communities among honors students, including a Cornerstone Learning Community that acquaints students with the variety of options they have as honors students at Texas A&M.  As sophomores these students take two interdisciplinary courses taught by a team of our best faculty.  The junior year extends these courses with intensive course work that builds these students’ critical, analytical, and research abilities.  And, finally, we strongly encourage every honors student to prepare a senior honors thesis as a capstone experience, bringing together academic studies in their selected area and the research skills acquired as undergraduate honors students.

 Not unlike having first rate athletic facilities and training programs to recruit the best college athletes, having an outstanding academic honors program for bright, high achieving students is critical as we recruit them to Texas A&M University.  The Liberal Arts Honors Program assures students a series of gratifying experiences while attending Texas A&M and helps create opportunities for their continued success after graduation.

 Introducing an exceptional student who has been a part of our Honors Program might best illustrate the promise and impact of honors work in the College.  Ms. Maya Weilundemo, an English major from Jackson, Mississippi, was recently named a British Marshall Scholar – one of the University’s first such awards.  The Marshall Scholarship ranks with the Rhodes Scholarship in prestige and competitiveness across the country.  In making its award, a member of the award committee said “She has the qualities appropriate to the development of a gifted public intellectual.” 

 That is high praise for an academic. It’s even higher praise when it is directed toward an undergraduate student.  As a Marshall Scholar, Maya will spend the next two years pursuing an MA degree in Creative Writing at the University of Sussex, a choice she credits to her experience in the Liberal Arts Honors Program.

 Responding to our inquiry about our honors program, Ms. Weilundemo writes, “LBAR Honors Courses were among the most interesting classes I took here. The interdisciplinary approach of courses enabled me to discover territories of thought that were previously unknown to me, fascinating fields of research such as art history, psychoanalysis, and film history. Because the professors in these classes were thinking outside the box, they presented me with substantial opportunities to pick up on new ideas, and they challenged me to be creative and thoughtful in response to these new ideas. My college education has been greatly enriched by my participation in the LBAR Honors Plan, and I would like this important learning opportunity to be made available to many more students.” She adds that her experiences in LBAR Honors led her to apply for the MA in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex because it was the most interdisciplinary of the programs available.

 A National Merit Finalist in high school, Maya was recruited to Texas A&M University by our own Dr. Don Curtis, director of the College’s Office of Undergraduate Student Services, when he worked in the Honors Office. Don says Maya “basically had her pick of schools she could attend,” but chose Texas A&M.  The honors opportunities helped her make that decision.

 Like many of the students attracted to our honors program, Maya’s accomplishments extend beyond academics to include active membership on the Liberal Arts Student Council’s Presidents’ Council and the Honors Student Council; serving as the Speaker for the Great Plains Regional Collegiate Honors Council Conference and President of the English Language and Literature Society; participating as an active member of the Longhouse Liberal Arts Honors Society, member-at-large of the National Organization for Women, and in many positions with the National Campus Green Party. And if that wasn’t enough, she has done volunteer work for the Voter Education Campaign, the Arbor Assisted Living Home, and Phoebe’s Home for Victims of Domestic Violence.

 Doubtless, many students like Maya Weilundemo consider coming to Texas A&M University to study in the liberal arts.  We will work tirelessly to recruit and mentor these exceptional students in the Liberal Arts Honors Program.  In doing so, I am confident that they will have unlimited opportunities, and bring great honor to themselves and to the University.

 Thank you for your support and interest in the College of Liberal Arts.  Please let me know if I can provide additional information about the Liberal Arts Honors Program or any of our activities that might interest you.

Sincerely,

 Charles A. Johnson

Dean