August 2008 Archives

The Honors College Ambassadors have been helping us with orientation sessions this week. The ambassadors are an elite group of our best and brightest who help us with recruiting and other events. We literally couldn't do our work without them.  One of their most important jobs is coordinating with our freshmen to ensure that they have a smooth transition into the Honors College. Here's a welcome message for freshmen from ambassador Suzanna Ellzey:

"Hello Honors College Freshmen! Get ready for an amazing first year at Southern Miss in the Honors College. My name is Suzanna Ellzey, and I am one of many Honors College Student Ambassadors. Basically, we are a group of student recruiters who represent the Honors College to upcoming freshmen. Congratulations on your wonderful decision to be a part of a community of high-achieving students and a curriculum that challenges you, provides you with endless opportunites, and supports you in all of your academic endeavors. You have an exciting year ahead, so get ready! SMTTT!" 

The students started streaming in this weekend, and we have a host of welcoming activities to help folks get settled in. This afternoon we held our General Honors orientation for incoming freshmen and went over our policies and procedures in between some snacks and ice-breaking activities. Our first Dean's Podcast is now on Youtube here.

Tomorrow morning we have our Senior Honors orientation, which should be just as much fun.

We're gearing up in the Honors College office for the return of students next week, and we couldn't be more excited about it.

General Honors orientation is at 3:30 p.m. Monday in the Thad Cochran Center, Ballroom II. Honors orientation is at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Ballroom I.

We had more than a dozen students in London studying in our British Studies Program, offered through Southern Miss' terrific Center for International Studies. I've taught the Introduction to British Journalism class for ten years, so it was a particular joy to see so many Honors College students in the program this summer.

To celebrate the end of the program, I took our students to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant near our dorm near Waterloo Station. The students were full of stories about their classes, which, while based in London, traveled everywhere from Normandy to Scotland to Brussels to places in between.

At left Stuart Lovinggodd and Jaime McKercher clown around at the Prime Meridian in Greenwich. Below are the three of us on the Hungerford footbridge off Westminster as we walk to the dock for a boat ride down the Thames River. At bottom our Honors College students line up for a picture just a few hundred yards from our dorm. You'll note that St. Paul's Cathedral is close by in the background; it's walking distance!