Content about Honors

Dr. Rodney Bennett, incoming president at The University of Southern Mississippi, addresses a large group of students who turned out for a campus cleanup project on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The student-led project was coordinated in response to the EF-4 tornado that struck the Southern Miss campus and the Hattiesburg area on Sunday, Feb. 10.

Dr. David Davies serves as dean of the Honors College at The University of Southern Mississippi. An Arkansas native, Davies came to Southern Miss in 1991 as an adviser to the Student Printz. He took a few moments recently to reflect on his current responsibilities and outside interests in a question-and-answer format.

Q: What is your hometown and educational background?

University of Southern Mississippi Honors College students took time out recently from preparing for finals week to bring a smile to the faces of some local children.

The Honors College Ambassadors hosted a holiday party Dec. 7 at the Aldersgate Mission, a community outreach organization for underserved children who live in the Briarfield Housing Complex in east Hattiesburg and the surrounding community. It provides after-school programming for more than 50 youth in grades 4-12.

Hannah Roberts, a sophomore from Mount Olive, Miss., bested a field of 14 contestants to win the Miss University of Southern Mississippi Scholarship Pageant Saturday, Oct. 27 at Hattiesburg’s Lake Terrace Convention Center. The event is a preliminary for the Miss Mississippi Pageant next summer in Vicksburg.

Paralyzed from the waist down following a 2005 car accident, Dwight Owens has shared his story of triumph over personal tragedy with thousands across the country. On Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in Stout Hall on The University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg campus, he’ll tell that story as part of the fall 2012 University Forum series.

Madeleine Lowrey of Sheridan, Ark. is the recipient of a prestigious Presidential Scholarship at The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she plans to major in vocal performance. She is the daughter of Jeremy and Jennifer Lowrey of Sheridan.

University of Southern Mississippi President Martha D. Saunders announced today that Vice President for Research Dr. Denis Wiesenburg has been named as the university’s next provost, pending approval by the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. The change is effective July 1.

The University of Southern Mississippi University Forum will feature author Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing Tuesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. in Wilbur Stout Hall, located behind College Hall on the Hattiesburg campus. Friends of University Libraries will host a reception for Odell at 8 p.m. at the Powerhouse Restaurant on campus immediately following the forum, where copies of The Healing will be made available for purchase by Barnes and Noble bookstore staff.

Two University of Southern Mississippi Honors College students from Jones County, Miss. have been accepted into one of the most prestigious law schools in the country.

Seniors Justin Roland of Laurel, an English and philosophy double major and Mark Hamrick of Moselle, a communication studies major, will enroll in the law school at Duke University this fall. The two became friends at Southern Miss after joining its Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

World renowned flutist and musicologist Ulrike Anton will perform and lecture Tuesday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium on The University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg campus. The event is part of the spring University Forum series, and admission is free.

Along with accomplished international pianist Russell Ryan, the two will present "Entartete Musik:  Exiled, Ostracized, and Murdered Composers," focusing on composers who were active in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt.

A unique opportunity to witness and learn about the customs and traditions of Native American and immigrant cultures will highlight the next University Forum Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium, on The University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg campus.

Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong Chamberlain and Raylawni Branch, the first African American students at The University of Southern Mississippi, reflected on their experiences and impact on the history of the university and civil rights movement last Thursday at University Forum.

The two integrated the university peacefully in the fall 1965 semester. More than 45 years later, they discussed their experience and answered questions from moderator Austin Simmons, an Honors College student majoring in broadcast journalism, and members of the University Forum audience.