Honors College Report July 12, 2010

It's hard to believe that a year has passed since I became director. Where did the time go?

David Wingfield and I are devoting most of our time and energy these days in recruiting the class of 2014. We have admitted 34 students thus far and expect to admit a few more before the Fall semester begins. We expect to crack the 100 student barrier this year in terms of our total enrollment. Our long-term goal is to enroll around 150 honors students. David and I have been busy at BAM! (Be a Mulerider) and have used those opportunities to recruit students and talk to parents. Thanks to one of the Russian students, Honors College now has a large pop up banner to use at BAM! and at other recruiting functions. It, along with a new table cloth and runner, will make our recruiting efforts look more professional.

One of our new honors students is a non-trad and a veteran. A native Magnolian, he comes to us via the Army where he was a bomb disposal technician. In Iraq, he was responsible for defusing or detonating safely hundreds of improvised explosive devices. Hopefully, there will be no call for his services here. Honors College hopes to admit more qualified non trad students in the future.

Honors College has acquired some new equipment. We now have our own fax machine. The number is 870 235-4252. We also bought a scanner, but it has yet to be delivered. It will allow us to input graphic images ourselves and to become more self sufficient in creating our own publications.

Honors College is moving down the corridor in Peace Hall, from room 107 to room 129. That's the old conference room. The Behavioral and Social Sciences department has outgrown the room so they let us have it. It's a little larger than our old room and it has a window. We are hoping to get some comfy furniture donated to create a corner nook for chatting with prospective students and their parents. Honors College is still looking for permanent office space though.

Remember our upcoming events: Matriculation is August 29 at 2 p.m. in Reynolds. We will host a pool party at the Magnolia Country Club on August 30 welcoming the new freshman class. That event will be catered by Mule's Cantina.