The Honors College announces the retirement of Dr. Norbert O. Schedler, professor of philosophy and founding director of the Honors College. Following a five-year phased retirement, Dr. Schedler attempted to retire in 2005; however, a few weeks after retiring he was hired as a consultant to the president. He worked for five additional years on development, fundraising and alumni affairs, and continued as a part-time instructor.
Dr. Rick Scott, dean of the Honors College, joked that “ the only thing Norb ever failed at in his life is retirement. All kidding aside, his dedication to these tasks has made a real difference in our development processes, and his long-time mentorship means the world to me.” Since his “retirement-retirement” on June 30 of this year, Dr. Schedler has continued to assist with development and fundraising as a volunteer.
Even before coming to UCA he had a long and distinguished career, with appointments at Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and as chair of the department of philosophy at Purdue University-Fort Wayne. He accepted an offer to be chair of philosophy at UCA in 1976, following a year of research at the University of California, Berkeley. Recalling his decision in a 2005 interview with Jennifer Boyett, he related: “I was sitting on the side of a hill, and I could look down and see the San Francisco Bay. My eyes went over two interstates, each of which had 12 lanes and all these people. I was thinking, do I want to go back to Purdue with 20-something faculty, 30,000 students, and all the hassles of that? Or, do I want to go to a small university where I can spend a lot of time with students, raise my kids, and not be under that kind of pressure?”
In 1981 he approached then-president Jeff Farris, Jr., about creating an honors college at UCA and was named its first director. The initial class, recruited in 1982, included sixty freshmen. Working with other UCA faculty members—James Brodman and Eugene Corcoran (history), Robert Lowrey (English), Mike Kelly (political science) and Helen Phillips (art)—the four-year curriculum was instituted and an honors center was established in McAlister Hall. Dr. Scott joined as assistant director in 1986, and the two have worked together since.
The UCA Honors College has become recognized as one of the most fully developed in the nation and has served as a model for dozens of programs across the country.
Dr. Schedler received a B.A. in Classics from Concordia College-St. Louis in 1955, and completed his M.Div. in Theology at Concordia Seminary in 1958. As part of his seminary training, Dr. Schedler served as a Vicar at Christ Church in Washington, DC, where he met his wife-to-be, Carol. Between 1955 and 1959, he attended graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1959 Schedler enrolled at Princeton University, where he received a doctorate in philosophy in 1962. Norb and Carol Schedler have two daughters and a son and six grandchildren. The Schedlers are active in civic affairs and the arts and have been strong financial backers of UCA.
Dr. Philip L. Frana, assistant professor in the Honors College, has an interview with Dutch computer scientist and Turing Award winner Edsger W. Dijkstra that is published in the August 2010 issue of Communications of the ACM (CACM). In the interview, based on a research-grade oral history conducted under the auspices of an interdisciplinary National Science Foundation—Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence grant, Dijkstra recounts the origins of computer science in America and Europe and the early development of professional programming. CACM is the premier journal of the computing field and the flagship publication of the Association for Computing Machinery. The interview is available online at http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2010/8/96632-an-interview-with-edsger-w-dijkstra/fulltext. Dr. Frana’s specialties involve history of science and technology, and he serves as director of undergraduate research for the Honors College.
Honors College Welcomes New Freshmen
The Honors College welcomes 57 new freshmen this fall, including 10 high school valedictorians and 3 salutatorians. The incoming class has an average ACT of 30 and high school GPA of 3.98. Students in the Honors Class of 2014 have indicated majors from each college at UCA: College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics (41.1%), College of Health & Behavioral Sciences (23.2%), College of Liberal Arts (12.5%), College of Education (5.3%), College of Fine Arts & Communication (5.3%), College of Business Administration (3.6%), while some have not yet decided (8.9%).
The new Honors College freshmen are Kaleigh Angleton (Van Buren), Sarah Atkins (Conway), Marni Bayles (Rogers), Tiffany Bradshaw (Bauxite), Blake Brizzolara (LR Central), Emily Broad (Springdale), Jillian Browder (Bryant), Sarah Carlock (Springdale Har-Ber), Jared Cochran (Mountain Home), Amanda Coppock (Bryant), Sarah Correll (Fayetteville ), Lindsey Dacus (Conway), Julie Davis (Benton), Nirja Desai (Clarksville), Jade Edwards (Roland, OK), Ethan Espe (Springdale), Stephanie Eubanks (Monticello Drew Central), Jordan Fletcher (Benton), Rachael Galloway (Stuttgart), Tiffany Gibson (Hot Springs ASMSA), Seth Gilleran (Hot Springs ASMSA), Jon Whitt Golden (Malvern), Jenni Goodwin (Rogers Heritage), Hayley Harp (Western Grove), Chelsea Harvey (LR Wilbur D. Mills), Taylor Hicks (Conway), Logan Jones (Marion), Grace Kellner (Russellville), Katrina Kimble (Conway), Erin Leonard (Sherwood Abundant Life), Ashley Long (Bergman ), Sarah Lukacs (LR Mount St. Mary), Melissa Magdefrau (Bergman), Tabitha McCool (Sheridan), Luke Moix (Rogers), Aaron Owen (Van Buren), Ashlyn Palmer (Rogers), Sara Paxton (Smackover), Adam Price (Lake Hamilton), Hannah Ray (Newport ), Kirby Richardson (Rogers), Kelsey Riddle (Bentonville), Olivia Ruple (Bryant), Stephen Sivils (Arkadelphia), Kaitlin Smith (LR Lutheran), Lindsey Stepp (Conway), Nick Stevens (Jacksonville), Kinzey Traphagan (Rogers), Meredith Tyree (Salem), Madalyn Van Valkenburg (Pulaski Academy), John Dillon Welter (Greenbrier), Branson White (Fort Smith Southside), Logan Whittington (Burlington, KS), Holly Williamson (Salem), Ashton Wills (Russellville), Stephanie Winfield (Hope), and Jacob Womack (Pleasant Grove, Texarkana, TX).
Honors College Announces Awards
The Honors College announces awards for 95 graduates in May and August of 2010. Each graduate completed undergraduate research or a creative performance for a required thesis, leading to a minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies.
Most graduates are pursuing post-baccalaureate training, and the destinations of the 2010 graduates include the College of Traditional Asian Medicine, Drexel University, Duquesne University, Emory University, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Iowa State University, Medical University of South Carolina, Miami University, New York University, Penn State University, Purdue University, Texas A&M, Trinity College (Dublin), UALR (Bowen School of Law & Clinton School of Public Service), UAMS (College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy & Dietetics program), University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Louisiana at Monroe, University of Oklahoma, University of Pittsburgh, and Vanderbilt University. Several graduates will continue their education at the University of Central Arkansas in Counseling Psychology, English, Psychology, Speech-Language Pathology, and Physical Therapy.
Other graduates of the program will be engaged in a variety of hands-on training and experiences ranging from political campaign management, the Peace Corps, and teaching English abroad. A number have accepted career opportunities in professional occupations such as data analysis, client side marketing, legal clerking, nursing, teaching, and television news reporting. A list of the graduates can be found on the Alumni Page of Honors College website at: http://honors.uca.edu/index.php?page=alumni_graduates.