Bucket List: Stephanie Tabor

The bucket list, society’s way of writing down goals to accomplish before dying is an extremely common practice. However, I have never considered making one until confronted with the assignment. I thought about all the things I have dreamed of doing since I was a little girl. The top four things were: getting my college degree, a road trip through Italy, getting accepted into Law School and building my dream home.

    Graduating college has been something I have wanted to do since my brother left for college. Now that I have officially started my first year of school, as a History and Political Science major, I know how close I am to achieving the first of my dreams.

    Next, a road trip in Italy has been another thing I’ve dreamed of since I began studying the Renaissance period in elementary school. Ten years later I’m majoring in  history. So, to see the places, the architecture, and art I have admired for so long would be amazing. In addition, seeing the world is important to me because it will expose me to other cultures and help me learn more about the world.

    My dream job has been to become an attorney since I was in middle school. Since making that decision being accepted into Law School has been something I have always wanted. Attending Yale Law School would be my top choice.

    Lastly, I’ve always dreamed of building my dream house back home in Texas. Although I decided to go to school out of state, I have always loved being around my friends and family. So building a home to fill with family and celebrate holidays and accomplishments with them has become something I have wanted for a long time.

Bucket List: Brayden Ritchie

 

I have never thought about what all I want to do in my life or what I saw myself completing. I have always been a spur of the moment type. I never thought beyond what’s in store for the next day. Now that I’m in college I find myself thinking more and realizing that I’ll be thrown into the real world soon. I’m constantly battling over not wanting to grow up while also wanting to get a taste of everything life has to offer.

 

All people have so much they want to accomplish from little to big feats. Most don’t start until it’s too late to complete most of their bucket list. I plan on completing my list if time permits it. My number one end goal is to have a loving family. I want to have children and hopefully grandchildren one day. I want to take time to travel the world and see all the different wonders it has to offer. I want to give back to my community. I also want to accumulate enough wealth so that my family can live comfortably. If I’m lucky, I may even retire before I get too old to go travel the globe.

 

Starting college has really made me think about the things I want to experience and take from life. My life would be complete if I could make the world just a little bit better. This desire is the reasoning that made me want to be an engineer. I want to help make the world better. I hope my work will help people bond together and marvel at what can be done when we are one. Mankind can have a bright future if we all work towards achieving it. Still, we have to make sure to enjoy ourselves along the way.

 

Pandemically Speaking: May 2020 Honors College Grads

The SAU Honors College congratulates its 26 Honors Graduates for May 2020. Obviously, these outstanding students did not receive the usual accolades of graduation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, they completed their coursework and earned the distinction of "Honors College Graduate." Many also received the status of Summa Cum Laude* (9), Magna Cum Laude" (6), and Cum Laude# (8). Those have been indicated below. Again, congratulations to all. We hope you will have outstanding lives and careers and remember fondly your days at the Honors College and at SAU.

• College of Liberal and Performing Arts
• Spanish/Spanish Education
• Chinedu Okeke*
• Shatina Hunter*
• Art & Design
• Katie Graham*
• Theatre
• Ta'Ru Harris*
• Political Science
• Sydney Parham#
• Criminal Justice
• Jackson Calvert
• College of Science and Engineering
• Biology/Biological Science
• Camille Tedder"
• Sarah Glover#
• Macey Long#
• Chemistry: Professional Biochemistry
• Whitney Austin"
• Yassamine Ghazzali#
• Victoria Hardin"
• Computer Science: Gaming and Animation
• Connor Fahrenwald
• Kameron King
• Murugan Aziztitu"
• Engineering
• Lucas Blake*
• Mukhitdinov Sakhriyorkhon#
• Moriah York"
• Nursing
• Sharon Regis-Iheduru*
• College of Education
• Exercise Science
• William Lindsey#
• Elementary Education
• Amy Vallery*
• Courtney Ensminger#
• Morgan Morris*
• College of Business
• Accounting
• Samantha Hawthorne*
• Oliva McClure"
• Mara Nolan#

Honors College Report

SAU Honors College Annual Report

28 April 2020

SAU Honors College

·       To date we have admitted 33 students

o   We expect to have a class of near 60 total

·       In May, we will graduate 30 students

o   Unfortunately, we will not be able to honors them with a reception as in the past or with a graduation ceremony

·       Current students are mostly coping with their honors projects

o   Some have had to virtualize their projects using electronic methods instead of face to face methods

·       Over the summer the Honors Seminar class (HC 1013) will be converted to online form in case that is needed. If taught online it will include many opportunities for peer to peer and faculty/student interaction.

·       Another summer project will examine how to present honors classes (full and contract) online. That is also a focus of the Honors Arkansas group (see below) and the National Collegiate Honor Council (NCHC).

·       Dr. Kardas and Dr. Thrasher (Director, NPC) and honors student Kelvin Tee each have poster presentations accepted for the NCHC’s annual meeting which will be held in Dallas in November. Hopefully, they will be able to attend in person.

Honors Arkansas Annual Meeting:

• This new group of Arkansas Honors Colleges and Honors Programs voted to cancel its in person meeting in July at Mt. Magazine State Park.
• Instead, the meeting will be virtual and will be held on July 31, 2020
• The group is well represented at the November NCHC meeting, topics are:

·       Honors online as a concept

·       Community College pipelines to honors (The SAU and NPC poster)

·       Governor's Research Teams

·       Civic Engagement Teams

·       Being adaptable in new environments

·       How Arkansas institutions are doing in the crisis

• The group also discussed potential admission changes due to Covid-19

·       SAU is keeping its current admission system

·       UAF will likely stay with it current testing.

·       UCA is moving to test optional for HC for fall of 2021

·       UALR is moving to test optional for HC for fall of 2021

·       UALR has study abroad requirement for honors. Will be exempting / flexible about this requirement.

·       National Park requires community service and not a problem as those students are helping with crisis response.

NCHC

·      The NCHC is mobilizing online resources and materials and sharing those with its members

Cuba, Suit, no Tie

Rector Ponciano (left) and Ed Kardas (right) at Universidad 2020 in Havana

Seems a lifetime ago that Jeffry Miller, Chinedu Okeke, and I were in Havana for the Universidad 2020 conference.

I wore a suit but eschewed the tie I borrowed. It was just too hot and muggy that February day.

Hope everyone is safe and hunkered down now. Don't know when anyone will travel again.

SAU and NPC Sign MOU for Honors 2 + 2

The SAU Honors College welcomes its newest honors 2 + 2 partner, National Park College.

With this addition the Honors College now has four two-year partners. These 2 + 2 memoranda enable students from those two-year colleges to earn honors credits during their time there and then transfer those credits towards SAU's 24 hour honors credit minimum.

These 2 + 2 programs benefit students and their respective schools. Without them transferring into the SAU Honors College would be nearly impossible because, with only junior and senior years left, those students would have difficulty in reaching the honors credit minimum.

The new Honors Arkansas group fully supports two-year honors programs and is working to implement such MOUs statewide as part of its mission to:

• stop brain drain
• attract new out-of-state honors-qualified students
• make honors education more important to statewide leaders by collecting data on honors in the state
• create a common pipeline from the two-year schools to the honors colleges  

December Grads 2019

The Honors College graduated four students this fall.

 Above are nursing grads (L to R) kTiffany Williams, Serena Nix, and Jennifer Rhinehart. All are nursing students and all have jobs to report to soon (in Minden, LA, Springhill, LA, and Texarkana, TX.

Above is psychology grad Neha Shrestha who has had a remarkable undergraduate career. She currently serves as Arkansas student representative to the Southwestern Psychological Association. In the fall she will begin graduate study in counseling at the SAU Graduate School.