the historyof a honors education · tions, and professional layouts. in april 2008, the john nevins...

Andrews University (BerrienSprings, Michigan)L. Monique Pittman, Director

Almost 50 yearsago, Paul E. Hamel,chair of the An-drews Universitymusic department,was attending aconference on

higher education in Chicago when henoticed in the schedule a session onHonors programs, which piqued hisinterest. He attended and returned tocampus full of ideas for what couldhappen at Andrews.1

The ideas did not stop there. Presi-dent Richard L. Hammill appointed acommittee to study the possibilitiesand present a proposal to the faculty.On March 4, 1964, the Student Move-ment on-campus newspaper reported:

“Faculty to Evaluate New Honors Pro-gram.” Hamel, as chair of the commit-tee, and his colleagues—Daniel Augs-burger (modern languages), AsaThoresen (biology), Elaine Giddings(speech), Donald Snyder (physics), andLeif Tobiassen (history)—had a largevision for Honors at Andrews: engage-ment and liberation would be its by-words. According to Hamel:“‘Engagement’ means giving the

gifted student every opportunity tomove ahead as rapidly as possible inthe field of his particular interest. ‘Lib-eration’ would mean allowing thegifted student to free himself from thetraditional and limiting regulations of

individual courses and curricula.”2

Despite some who voiced concernsabout creating what might become anelitist organization,3 the faculty ap-proved the proposed Honors pro-gram, and a description first appearedin the 1966-1967 bulletin. Hamel, asfirst director, announced: “AndrewsUniversity will implement a new con-cept in Seventh-day Adventist highereducation for the superior studentwhen the new Honors program be-gins in September [1967].”4

When Hamel transferred to otheruniversity responsibilities, MerleneA. Ogden, a professor of English, wasdesignated the new director. Ogdenguided and inspired Honors stu-dents for the next 24 years.The Honors committee believed

from the beginning that student re-search should be a cornerstone of theAndrews Honors experience: “The

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C O M P I L E D B Y D O U G L A S R . C L A R K

*This article combines the work of several authors and Honors program directors, keynoted by an adaptation of “A Commitment to Excellence” by Meredith Jones Gray, which appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of the

Andrews University alumni journal, Focus, pages 20 and 21 (http://www.andrews.edu/focus/). This article has been adapted by permission, and combined with brief historical notes from the other programs in North America (supplied by

program directors), listed in historical order of program establishment.

ThE hISTOry OF

ADvENTIST

hONOrS EDuCATIONFrom Beginnings

at Andrews University to Programs

Across North America*

The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l /May 2011 http:// jae.adventist.org

HO

NO

RS

PrOg

rAM

S

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Honors student will be required to en-roll in an interdisciplinary senior Hon-ors seminar,” they wrote, which wouldinclude “presentations by the students oftheir research and independent study re-ports.”5

Under Ogden’s direction, the Honorsprogram grew academically, socially, andspiritually. The Society of AndrewsScholars, the student arm of the pro-gram, worked with the Honors facultyto expand the life of the Honors com-munity. They organized the first annualHonors banquet, as well as a Sabbath re-

treat of special services, lunch, an after-noon discussion, and vespers.6

Over the years, Ogden sought re-gional and national recognition for theprogram. It became a member of theUpper Midwest Honors Council, theMichigan Honors Association, and theNational Collegiate Honors Council.Today’s Honors program still bears

a strong resemblance to that early vi-sion. In the 2007-2008 school year,under the leadership of new Director L.Monique Pittman, Andrews Scholars

attended the Chicago Symphony andvisited the Art Institute in Chicago. Atthe now annual Friday evening AgapeFeast and vespers, the officers andsponsors served more than a hundredstudent and faculty guests. The Schol-ars are a thriving cultural, social, andspiritual community.Academically, Andrews Scholars

pursue a core of stimulating Honorsclasses to complete their general-education requirements. The seniorHonors research experience is still thecapstone experience, just as the first

Above: Campus and Pioneer Memorial church at Andrews University.Inset: Statue of J. N. Andrews on the campus.

http:// jae.adventist.org The Journal of Adventist Education • Apri l /May 2011

Honors committee envisioned it. Newlevels of professionalism have beenadded: Junior Research Pro-Seminar toprepare the students for their seniorprojects, and a proposal defense withthe Honors Council to help ensuresound research.As the following list of presentations

from the Fifth Annual Thesis Sympo-sium (2007) illustrates, project topicsrange across the academic map:“Hellenization, Romanization and

Culture Change”“Neuromodulation of Phonotactic

Behavior in Female Acheta domesticus:Possible Involvement of BiogenicAmines”“College Students’ Consideration

for Hybrid Vehicles: Andrews Univer-sity’s Views on an Emerging Market”“Effect of Season of Birth on Herd

Retention and Production Through TwoLactations in Holstein Dairy Cattle”“Re-inventing the Mousetrap: Im-

proved Synthesis of Cyanostilbenes”“Father Knows Best: Renaissance

Masculinity Modeled on Stage inWilliam Shakespeare’s Henry IV”7

One of the more recent innovationshas been a poster session held during thespring semester in which the studentswho plan to graduate with Honors dis-play a visual presentation of their Hon-ors topics: a poster explaining their the-ses, methodologies, and backgroundinformation. In March 2008, some 40scholars put on an impressive exhibit inthe Chan Shun Hall lobby—a dazzlingarray of charts and graphs, concise out-lines and careful definitions, illustra-tions, and professional layouts.In April 2008, the John Nevins An-

drews Honors Program came full circleto its annual grand finale. For almost40 years, senior Andrews Scholars pre-sented their research during themonths leading up to graduation.More recently, the Honors Council de-cided to combine those presentationsinto a half-day event. Thus, the AnnualThesis Symposiums still fulfill theideals of engagement and liberation,the tradition of excellence, commit-ment, and service of the pioneers andleaders who dedicated themselves toHonors education.

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Atlantic Union College (SouthLancaster, Massachusetts)Timothy Trott, Director

The completeHonors Program his-tory at AtlanticUnion College (AUC)lies buried in oldfiles, but its begin-ning point is clear,

1968. What is now called the HonorsCore Program was originally dubbedPII (“Program Two”). It was designedto be very different in delivery, grading,and expectations from the standardgeneral-education program, “PI.” Dur-ing the early years, many of the courseswere team-taught, frequently met off

campus, had very different assignmentsfrom “‘normal” classes, and were allgraded Pass/Fail (this was during the“anti-grades” era of American highereducation). A major player in the de-velopment of this program was OttilieStafford, who taught English at AUCfor many years.Over the decades, this program has

undergone several re-evaluations, cul-minating in AUC’s current HonorsCore Program, which consists of a se-ries of specific interdisciplinary coursesfocused on community engagementand service, combined with emphasison the development of independentand creative learners.

Above: Haskell Hall at Atlantic Union College. Inset: Detail of Founders Hall on the campus of Atlantic Union College.


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La Sierra University (Riverside,California)Douglas R. Clark, Director

The earliest Hon-ors program at LaSierra University, in1971, founded byFritz Guy, was labeledthe Inter-disciplinaryProgram, and ever

after affectionately referred to as “Inter-Dip.” Its claim to fame has been thenumber of interdisciplinary courses in-corporated in the curriculum, a feature

that has drawn rave reviews from stu-dents whose lives were changed foreverthrough the rigorous process of ex-panding their view of the world andtheir place in it.The next-generation Honors Pro-

gram, birthed in 1983, resulted from acommittee chaired by Robert Dunn.The structure of the program consistedof a breadth component incorporating

a required freshman course—“WhatDoes It Mean to Be Human?”—and aset of two-unit seminars to be electedfrom a variety of choices. The breadthwas strengthened by required Honorsactivities, such as an on-campus event,a play, a concert, a dance recital, or aSabbath outing. The depth componentwas fulfilled by the Honors thesis,when the student was essentially trans-ferred—usually to his or her major de-partment. Directors of the programduring this stage included GaryBradley (biology), Marte Erne (com-

Above: Science center at La Sierra University.Inset: Glory of God’s Grace sculpture on the campus of La Sierra University.


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munication), Ed Karlow (physics), andPaul Mallery (psychology).In 2002, La Sierra introduced its

current version of Honors education.Following a period of thorough re-search into current best practices, theHonors Council, under the direction ofPaul Mallery, reshaped the programinto a state-of-the-art curriculum builtaround international travel, commu-nity-building at all levels (class, resi-dence hall, program, campus, local, andglobal communities), service learning,demanding research/scholarship proj-ects, and portfolio preparation with anemphasis on developing worldviews ina context of diversity, academic rigor,and spiritual formation.

Walla Walla University (CollegePlace, Washington)Terrie Dopp Aamodt, Director

In the 1970s, Hon-ors freshman compo-sition, in the hands ofHelen Evans (Zol-ber), became the in-spiration for a multi-disciplinary program

with the addition of Western Thought I(history and literature) and WesternThought II (art and music); a religioncourse, The New Testament and Its En-vironments; and a religion/sociology

course, Religion in a Social Context.An interdisciplinary senior Honorsseminar completed the package avail-able to students in the 1980s. TheHonors offerings formed a core ofcourses that fulfilled a portion of thegeneral-studies requirement. Several changes were made in the

1990s, as the program was expanded toinclude mathematics and science aswell as humanities courses. The fresh-man history/literature sequence be-came “Western Thought,” and the

Inset: Stained glass marks the entrance toWalla Walla University’s oldest building,Village Hall (1920).Right: The WWU Administration Building(2007), home to the Honors General StudiesProgram, features the 1892 bell and the 1919Ionic column capitals of its predecessors.


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upper-division sequence became “Sci-ence and the Arts,” a three-quartercombination of laboratory science andfine-arts study, with a calculus cognate.The Honors hours requirement in-creased from 32 to 38 quarter hours,and several interdisciplinary courseswere added as Honors electives. Today’s Honors students take 44

quarter credits of core courses plusHonors electives to complete a stream-lined version of their bachelor’s degreegeneral-studies requirements.

Pacific Union College (Angwin,California)John McDowell, Director

Pacific Union Col-lege (PUC) has hadsome sort of Honorsprogram for manyyears. During the late1970s, students couldgraduate with honors

if they had a high enough GPA and didan Honors project. The program contin-ued to evolve, and by 1984, more de-tailed requirements were added. By1984, these included requisite courses inhistory, English, 12 elective hours se-lected from a prepared list, and a cap-stone Honors seminar. But in the late 1980s, the program

languished until it was revived byLorne Glaim. A radical rethinking andrestructuring of the Honors programtook flight in the fall of 1998 when EricAnderson, now president of Southwest-ern Adventist University, constructed

The College church on the campus of Pacific Union College.


an “intellectually compelling curricu-lum.” After visiting St. John’s College inSanta Fe, New Mexico; and ThomasAquinas College in Santa Paula, Cali-fornia, he encouraged the adoption of a“core text” or “great books” program,which provided the template for thedesign of the current program atPUC—an interdisciplinary “greatbooks” seminar approach that since1998 has undergone only minor modi-fications following program reviews in2002 and 2007.

Southwestern Adventist Univer-sity (Keene, Texas)Andrew Woolley, Director

Largely throughthe efforts of DouglasClark, the Honorsprogram at South-western AdventistUniversity began inthe late 1970s as an

enrichment program with the profes-sors organizing one- or two-credit-hour seminars on interdisciplinary top-ics so that students could enroll inclasses outside of the standard curricu-

lum. The team-taught seminars fo-cused on a variety of topics such as cul-tural literacy, the history and art offilm, myth, the legend of King Arthur,the nature of love, the Cold War, andchaos. Under the direction of ErwinSicher, Renard Doneskey, and GlenRobinson, these courses became a full-fledged Honors program, with specificclasses designated as Honors sections(speech, history) and the inclusion ofan Honors thesis and thesis presenta-tion. At present, Honors students takenine credit hours of general-education

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Top: Pechero Hall, Southwestern Adventist University’s newclassroom building.Inset: The Mizpah Gate at Southwestern Adventist Univer-sity, officially inducted as a Texas historical landmark in2010.


classes designated as Honors sections,plus three one-hour seminars, andcomplete an Honors thesis and thesispresentation. Within the past twoyears, Andrew Woolley, the current di-rector, has begun leading Honors studytours, with trips to Italy in 2009, and toGreece in 2010. The 2011 class, “Ameri-can Writers in Paris,” will be held inParis and in the French Loire Valley.

Southern Adventist University(Collegedale, Tennessee)Mark Peach, Director

The SouthernScholars Honors pro-gram first appearedin the 1981-1982 col-lege catalog. The firstSouthern Scholargraduated in 1984;

180 students have completed the Hon-ors program since then. Jerry Gladson,the first director of the program, wasfollowed by Ben McArthur and WilmaMcClarty. Mark Peach has been direc-tor for the past two years.The program is beginning to un-

dergo some changes. Scholarshipamounts have been increased. BecauseSouthern Adventist University is an in-

stitutional member of the NationalCollegiate Honors Council, junior andsenior Honors students will be attend-ing the Southern Regional HonorsConference for the third year in a row(with graduating Southern Scholarspresenting their senior projects). Thestudent executive committee is takingresponsibility for social events (onestudent is a voting member of theHonors committee). Beginning thisyear, there will be an Honors Composi-tion 102 course, and an Honors corecurriculum is in the planning stages. Inshort, after 25 years with few changes,Southern Adventist University is em-barking on a mission of updating andimproving its Honors program.

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Top: Southern Adventist University campus.Inset: Southern Adventist University students enjoy the pleasantweather on the lawn in front of Wright Hall.


Union College (Lincoln, Nebraska)Edward Allen, Director

Honors courses atUnion College beganin the fall of 1996with three classes—Honors Composi-tion, Great Books,and The Holocaust

(a class that has survived for 15 years).Formal designation of the require-ments occurred concurrently in the fallof 1996.The 1997-1999 bulletin has a one-

paragraph description of the Honorsoption, with four classes listed. The1999-2001 bulletin contained an out-line of the program, but not until the2001-2003 bulletin did a full listing ofspecific classes and requirements ap-pear. May 2000 was the date of the first

Honors students’ graduation: JeffreyBirth, who submitted a senior thesis on“Can Wildlife Art Be Justified as FineArt?” and Christopher Burton, whosethesis dealt with “Iron Metabolism inthe Human Body.” The basic structure of the program

remained the same for several years,with some modifications, until it wascompletely rewritten for the 2008-2010bulletin. This major revision of theprogram added a focus on Global Is-sues and reduced the number of re-quired general-education courses incomparison with non-Honors tracks atthe college.

Washington Adventist University(Takoma Park, Maryland)Bradford Haas, Director

The history ofHonors at Washing-ton Adventist Univer-sity (WAU) extendsback to the late 1990s,when the school (thenColumbia Union Col-

lege) held a series of speculative Sundaymeetings to determine student interestin such a program. In the early 2000s, amore formal process began, with anHonors Council charged to research andconstruct a template for an Honors Pro-gram. The general-education curricu-lum created by the council had a dual

mission: academic excellence, combinedwith leadership and service require-ments. Classes were to be interdiscipli-nary and to use innovative teachingstrategies. The opportunities afforded bythe school’s location near the nation’s

capital were to be incorporated in cur-ricular and co-curricular aspects of theprogram. This program was inaugurated at

the start of summer in 2004, openingwith 22 students, of whom 13 werefreshmen. Interdisciplinary courses fo-

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The Clock Tower at Union College has the globe at its center, just as the Union Scholars Honorsprogram is centered on global issues.


cusing on local resources were devel-oped, including the Civil War StudyTour, Art and Adventism, Shakespearein Washington, Urban America, andDiseases in History. By 2006, commu-nity-building annual events, such as adinner at the WAU president’s house,an Honors retreat, an end-of-yearbrunch, and a senior dedication hadbeen established. Honors ProgramAwards of $750 and $1500 were madepossible through outside funding, aswas the creation of a paid student exec-utive council consisting of three officerpositions. Through these endeavors,the Honors community grew to its cur-rent size of approximately 50 members.

Oakwood University (Huntsville,Alabama)Canadian University College (La-combe, Alberta)Both Oakwood University and Cana-

dian University College have consideredestablishing Honors programs and con-tinue to explore the possibility. While noformal Honors program presently existsat either school, each institution’s com-mitments to the types of educational ex-periences growing from Honors oppor-tunities are strong. �

Douglas R. Clark,Ph.D., is Director ofthe University Hon-ors Program at LaSierra University inRiverside, Califor-nia, and Coordina-tor for this special

issue on Adventist Honors Programs.

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Top: The Gateway to Serviceon the commons of Wash-ington Adventist University.Left: H. M. S. Richards Hallon the campus of Washing-ton Adventist University.


NOTES AND REFERENCES1. Paul Hamel, personal interview, March 10,

2008. 2. Page 1. 3. Hamel interview. 4. “The Andrews Scholar Program to Begin in

September,” Focus (July-August 1967). 5. Andrews University Bulletin, 1966-1967, p.

41. 6. “Scholars to Retreat May 16 & 17,” Student

Movement (April 30, 1970), p. 8. 7. All of the information is taken from the

conference bulletin. The authors of these papersare, respectively, Darrell J. Rohl, Rebecca Lee, Al-lison Hurlow, Rachel Knott, David Carbonell,and Bonnie McLean.

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