Southern Miss Honors College Students Expand Learning Through Faculty-Led Educational Trips

Thu, 12/18/2025 - 09:01am | By: Gabriela Shinskie

Students in The University of Southern Mississippi’s Honors College expanded their academic experience this year through eight faculty-led educational trips across the country, as part of the College’s required two-semester Honors Colloquium sequence. Designed to connect classroom discussion with real-world learning, the trips immersed first-year Honors scholars in topics ranging from art and music culture to ethics, exploration, peacebuilding and social structures.

Dr. Joyce Inman, dean of the Honors College, said the travel component is intentionally embedded in the curriculum to help students translate academic rigor into lived experience.

“Students have the opportunity to take their education to the next level and to begin to see the ways their readings and class discussions take shape in the real world. They are learning the importance of being perpetually curious, critical thinkers, as well as an appreciation for the ways academic rigor informs how they interact with other people, communities and places. Our students are leaders and changemakers, and these experiences encourage them to contemplate the potential impact of their educations,” said Inman.

Across eight colloquium groups, students and faculty traveled by 15-passenger vans to locations including Nashville and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.; Houston, Texas; Birmingham, Ala.; New Orleans, La.; and several sites throughout Mississippi. Each trip provided a distinct lens for exploring course themes.

Highlights of the eight Honors Colloquium trips included:

Boundary Crossings: Exploring the Radical, Reimagining the Ethical
Professor Ian Cicco guided students through Nashville to examine ethical dimensions of exploration and the evolving cultural landscape of country music.

Deep Dives
Professor Matthew Casey’s students toured visual art sites and explored technology and industry at the Port of Houston and the Buffalo Bayou Cisterns.

Mapping Success
Professor Jacob Cotton led students into the Great Smoky Mountains, visiting Cades Cove, the Ogle Homestead, Cataract Falls and attending a Cherokee bonfire with storytelling by the Warriors of AniKituhwa.

Exploring Pathways to Peace
Professor Candice Salyers took her students to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and introduced them to case studies on peacebuilding and global conflict, focusing on how individuals and societies pursue peace.

Exploring Society: Navigating the Social World
Professor Jessica Valles brought students to Birmingham to deepen their understanding of inequality, resilience and social structures through visits to historic and culturally significant sites.

Finding Your Own Way: Then, Now and Onward
In New Orleans, Professor Timothy Gutmann’s group analyzed historical archives, studied European voyages at the Museum of Art, explored Tremé and visited the Infinity Science Center.

The Hunt
Professor Andy Reese’s class examined the history, cultural significance and ethical complexities of hunting from ancient to modern times. Reese’s class took a trip to the Longleaf Plantation Hunting Lodge in Purvis, Miss.

Parts (Un)Known: A Journey of Place, Identity, Reexamination and Innovation
Professor Ashley Allen guided students through Natchez, Vicksburg, the Delta and Jackson to study how history, identity and memory shape relationships between people and place.

Honors Colloquium, required for all first-year Honors College students, serves as the foundation for their development as scholars. After returning from their trips, students apply their experiences to classroom discussions, using their new perspectives to tackle complex questions and enhance their creative and academic growth.

Click here to learn more about the Southern Miss Honors College.