By Lynda Coon

1. Launching new academic adventures: The Honors College has long supported curricular innovation – we helped launch projects ranging from service learning in Belize to the sustainability minor. In 2016, for the first time, the Honors College offered courses in the UA Catalog of Studies. We’ve created 34 seminars to date, on topics ranging from cancer to climate change to presidential campaigns. Taught by some of the UA’s most stellar professors, these small courses on cutting-edge topics offer our students a premier opportunity to network, connect with research-active professors and leaders on campus and beyond. Read the dispatch from one of our “Museum 12,” who enjoyed an unparalleled opportunity to go behind the scenes and study the inner workings of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art last spring.
2. Strengthening ties with alumni: Celebrating the Bodenhamer family’s 20-year legacy of generous support, the Bodie Bash reunion held last November was a smashing success, drawing 44 alumni Bodie Fellows from points across the U.S. and abroad, along with a sizeable contingent who have settled right here in Arkansas. We plan to continue strengthening ties with our honors alumni and bring them back to campus to meet and mentor current students.

   Last spring, we initiated the Class of 2019 into the Senior Commons Room. This new tradition is not just for graduating seniors – we invite our alumni to join the ranks of the bold and wise. Watch for opportunities to join us in celebrating “Audax at Sapiens”!

3. Expanding support for diverse students: Promoting a diverse community of students, faculty and staff is central to the U of A’s mission. Here in the Honors College, these efforts have centered around our Path Program, developed to recruit and mentor students from underrepresented populations. Thanks to the near $1 million NSF grant and more than $6 million in funding from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation and private donors, we’ve doubled the size of our first-year class and offered our first two summer research programs. Our Path scholars have achieved a remarkable 91% on-time graduation rate since the first group graduated in 2018.

   Here at the U of A, nearly one in four undergraduate students face the challenges and rewards of being first in their family to attend college. For a look into the lives of some outstanding honors students who are among this number and making the most of the opportunity, see Kendall Curlee’s profile of all-star twins Lexi Jacobus and Tori Hoggard, and Samantha Kirby’s feature “First in the Family.” We’re also supporting students across campus through our First-Generation Mentoring program.

4. Growing opportunities for service learning: We’re building on the success of the Belize program by funding independent service-learning-based research there and other places around the globe and supporting independent outreach right here at home.
5. Sharing our story: The Honors College offers an exceptional education at public school prices – and now we’ve produced an award-winning short documentary film that highlights one of the opportunities available to our students. Buen Camino follows 18 Honors Passport students along the storied Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through France and Spain. Please join us on the journey at the public premiere of Buen Camino at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 at the Fayetteville Public Library.