The Honors conversation extends beyond the classroom into lectures, films, and performances. Students can choose to hear a major address by Robert Kennedy, Jr., on global climate change; attend a student presentation on virtual worlds in computer gaming; see a Hungarian neo-realist film; or learn taiji with a faculty member. We regularly gather around food to experience art and discuss issues that matter around the nation and world. Through co-curricular programming, the Schedler Honors College invites the community-at-large to enter our learning environment.
Challenge Week is a weeklong event each Fall that brings to campus nationally known thinkers to engage the community in a reflective interchange of ideas. Speakers present compelling arguments to UCA students, faculty and staff, and to the broader community, in an effort to inform, educate, and thoughtfully address contemporary problems and concerns. All events take place on the UCA campus and are free and open to the public. Challenge Week serves as an opportunity for the Honors College to engage the larger community in issues that impact our society.
Fall Retreat is an event held for incoming students each year where the faculty and student leaders join all incoming students for a weekend getaway. Activities include a writing workshop and faculty-led discussion, hiking, games, swimming, open mic night, and s’mores over a campfire.
Issues in the Public Square is a symposium-style event held each Spring to provide an opportunity for students, faculty and staff, and the broader community to share research that impacts our society. As scholars, students in the Honors College are encouraged to submit proposals to share their research in order to begin a meaningful dialogue and to help advance our understanding of issues of public concern. Each year a theme and keynote speaker is selected to represent a critical issue being faced at present within our society.
Schedler Scholars in Residence is a program that supports bringing noted scholars to the UCA campus to provide a public lecture and spend time with students in formal and informal settings. This program is co-hosted by the Schedler Honors College and the Department of Philosophy and Religion.
Soapboxes are hosted on Friday afternoons in the Farris Honors Hall Presentation Room and are designed as student presentations that inspire discussions. Discussions can also be extensions of classroom topics that “keep the conversation going.”
