Easily recognizable by his signature round glasses, bowtie, tweed jacket and tennis shoes, the late Norbert “Norb” O. Schedler left a legacy at the University of Central Arkansas that will live for generations to come.
As the founding director of UCA’s Honors College, Schedler charted a path for the “severely gifted” student in establishing the college, which was the first honors college in the state. The Honors College was named in honor of Schedler in 2013. It remains one of a few of its kind at a public university in the United States.
Schedler died in May. The campus community, along with Honors College faculty, alumni and friends, honored Schedler with a memorial service in September at McCastlain Hall on the UCA campus.
Those who knew him could recall his office being filled with books, papers and photographs of students, alumni and family that covered nearly every surface. At the epicenter of the room was Schedler, intimidating but inviting to visitors who would quickly be drawn into conversations they may never have imagined.
“He was never one to tell you what to think, but every action he took and every word that came out of his mouth was around teaching you how to think for yourself and find your own voice,” said Patricia Smith ’01, ’03, acting dean of the Honors College.
Schedler received his undergraduate degree from the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and then completed graduate studies at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, where he received a Doctor of Philosophy. His first teaching assignment was at Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He subsequently taught at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he chaired the philosophy department.
Schedler moved to Conway in 1976 after he accepted a position as chair of the philosophy department at UCA. While he spent countless hours as a teacher and mentor, Schedler saw more that he could do to impact students.
In 1982, he and then UCA President Jeff Farris established the UCA Honors College, which was renamed the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College in 2013. Schedler received numerous national awards and distinctions for scholarship and professional service and was named professor emeritus by the UCA Board of Trustees in 2011.
“Establishing the Honors College was a big step forward for this university. As the first Honors College in the state, it helped attract gifted students to campus,” said Elizabeth Farris ’77, Board of Trustees member and daughter of former UCA President Farris. “Many other institutions copied our roadmap. This really was a big step for a small school and one that has paid dividends.”
Schedler, with the support of Honors faculty, authored “The Lively Experiment” and “The Challenge” within the first two years of the Honors College’s establishment. Purposefully informed by multiple disciplines, the documents created the underpinnings for the college.
“Norb’s idea here was to really transcend these disciplinary boundaries, to have these larger conversations, to really make progress in the modern world. We can’t just have conversations with people who think like us; we can’t just have conversations with people within our own discipline,” Smith said.
“I’ve met so many bright young scholars whose academic career never intersected with the right professor, or course, or program which challenged and served as a catalyst to make excellence possible,” Schedler wrote in “The Lively Experiment.” “UCA’s Honors College is meant to be such a place and time where this might happen for a certain kind of student. Indeed, we know that this has already happened. When this ‘moment’ occurs, it is the ultimate joy in teaching.”
Today, the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College is a nationally recognized model and counts UCA’s first Rhodes Scholar, a Truman Scholar, Fulbright Scholars, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars and a Jack Kent Cooke Fellow among its alumni.
Nearly 1,800 students have completed its curriculum, and more than 1,000 students have received experiential learning opportunities through the Travel Abroad Grant, Experiential Learning Funds and Undergraduate Research Grants for Education programs.
“We are Norb’s garden, and if we spread seeds of goodness wherever we go, Norb will never be forgotten. He is still here, within each one of us, telling us that there are still books to read, problems to solve and people to love,” sophomore Honors College student Sabrina Cheri said at the memorial.
To honor his memory, make gifts to the Norbert O. Schedler Memorial Scholarship Fund at uca.edu/go/thanksnorb.