Honors College Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Honors College alumni, friends, administrators, students and staff gathered on February 24, 2007, for the Honors College 50th Anniversary Reunion, highlighting 50 years of educational innovation and student achievement.
“It’s a delight to meet some of the talented young people in the current Honors College, hear from past HC Directors, especially Dr. Idzerda, who was the Director when I was there, and chat with many of the alumni,” stated Amy Lowell, a 1960 Communication Arts and Sciences graduate.
MSU President Lou Anna Simon who, together with President McPherson, had committed the University to reinvesting in Honors College and Honors students during the 1990s, welcomed the participants at the opening luncheon in the MSU Union Ballroom. Simon noted not only the significance of the Honors College to MSU, but also that it had been a model for honors education across the country.
“There are lots of stories to be told about the Honors College: the students who have been a part of it who have gone on to have lives that have enriched others, made extraordinary scientific discoveries, people who have made a difference in the business world. Part of a reunion like this is to share those stories. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on the future, and what the Honors College can be for the next 50 years. And there are the seeds of that terrific future, as you meet the students of today, as you think about the way in which we try to engage students in research and scholarship from day one,” Simon imparted.
In fact, from its establishment in 1956 with only 319 students, the Honors College has been anything but ordinary for Michigan State University. The original Honors College mission stated for an Honors College student “all requirements for his graduation, other than total number of hours, will be waived.” And as current Honors College Dean, Ron Fisher, states, “the idea was that each student and a faculty academic advisor would develop an appropriate academic program…How this principle has been implemented has varied over the years, but the fundamental philosophy has remained consistent.”
Past Directors Stanley Idzerda (1957-65), James Pickering (1975-81), and Donald Lammers (1981-96) joined current Dean Ron Fisher for the 50th Anniversary Celebration to reflect collectively on 40 of the 50 College years.
Stanley Idzerda, the first director of the Honors College, recalled his experiences working with President John Hannah and Vice President Thomas Hamilton, among others, to originate and build the Honors College initially. Informing both students and faculty about the new Honors College, encouraging students to join, and finding faculty with similar visions for honors education were among his chief challenges.
Idzerda also shared humorous interactions that he had with other departments. “Some thought that I was not doing the students any good, because the students, after they kept meeting with me individually, they thought they could accomplish anything! They said so many of them are overachievers. I’m not that good on psychological educational theory but I’ve never understood how you could over achieve!”
In 1968, Honors College moved from the Library to Eustace Hall, originally designed as a horticulture laboratory by Liberty Hyde Bailey. James Pickering shared his experience of applying to have Eustace Hall put on the National Register of Historic Places. Concerned that the Honors College might someday lose its new home in Eustace Hall, Pickering arranged for the official plaque to include the statement “Now home of the Honors College” as insurance that the College would remain in building. Those concerns never materialized, of course, as the College remains in what today is known as Eustace-Cole Hall, renamed and remodeled in 1999 as a result of a major gift from 1970 alumnus Jeffrey Cole.
Donald Lammers spoke glowingly of the late Honors College adviser and Assistant Director, Scott Vaughn, who had retired in 2004 after serving with Honors College for 35 of its 50 years. “Scott was the theorist of the Honors College, in so far as we had one. He had the ideas and the conceptual framework worked out… He was the historian of the Honors College, more than anyone else he had internalized the lore. He knew everything there was to know about our early history… and he was the conscience of the Honors College. He actively stimulated us to defend and rationalize what we chose to do in the way of altering and modifying programs…I think Scott’s contributions were numerous and imperishable and I regret that he’s not with us today.”
Current Dean Ron Fisher noted how the College had evolved over the years so that today it includes the Academic Scholars Program, the MSU Debate Team, and the Gifted and Talented Education division for pre-college students, in addition to the core Honors program for high-achieving undergraduates. With some 3,000 MSU students currently participating in its programs, more than 250 faculty members across the University serving as Honors advisers, 190 Honors classes offered by departments and colleges, and at least 500 Honors College members working directly with faculty on research or creative projects, the College has truly grown and prospered.
Honors College alumni also had the opportunity to relive their student days, touring campus and attending faculty lectures. History Professor David Bailey presented “The Mystery of Commitment: Activists after WWI”; Radiology Department Chairperson James Potchen presented “Reflections on Imaging and Medicine Diagnosis”; and Lyman Briggs Professor Robert Pennock discussed “Religion, Science, and Philosophy of Science in the Courtroom: The Kitzmiller Creation Case.”
“I found Dr. Pennock's lecture interesting, thought provoking, and totally up to Honors College standards,” said Helen Vogel, a 1960 Arts and Letters alumna.
A reception at Cowles House completed the day’s events. Provost Kim Wilcox, a 1976 Honors College graduate, addressed his fellow alumni and colleagues with a call to action. Provost Wilcox encouraged support of future Honors College students through the Golden Opportunity Scholarship Endowment. The endowment commemorates the 50th Anniversary and will support Honors College members with exceptional academic records who also exhibit financial need.
With alumni from every MSU academic college and discipline, the accomplishments of those alumni remain the lasting legacy of the Honors College.
Alan Lesgold, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh and 1967 Social Science graduate, recalled his experience with the Honors College as a catalyst for his professional success. “I've done experimental psychology, started a program in artificial intelligence, studied expertise in medicine, developed powerful intelligent computer environments to teach people to fix complex equipment, and worked on preparing teachers and teaching reading. The spirit of adventure instilled by the Honors College is what made me believe I could do these things and what prepared me for them.”
Former Director James Pickering shared his excitement about the current state of the Honors College, saying “To hear Ron talk about the strength of the College today with the number of members, the demographics that define the quality of the students. And then to go over there and see Eustace Hall - it’s wonderful… As I look back over my own educational career, being Director of the Honors College was the best job I ever had. In terms of the day-to-day satisfaction of not only working with faculty members who I never would have gotten to know, but working with some of the greatest students in the world.”
