Jacksonville State University's tradition of excellence is rising again. At the forefront of a new school year, this fall we welcome a new group of students to the university. These students have excelled academically and will benefit from classrooms filled with critical thinking and creative processing with students at similar academic levels. Approved by the Board of Trustees, JSU begins a university-wide honors program and scholarship.

Directed by Dr. Steven Whitton, also professor in the Department of English, the honors program will provide academically gifted students with an enriched educational experience. These students will be privileged to participate in courses taught by some of JSU's most engaging and innovative faculty.

The Elite Honors Scholarship, offered for the first time this fall, is the most prestigious scholarship offered by JSU. Awarded to eight Alabama students for the upcoming 2009-10 year, these first-year recipients will have the unique opportunity of helping to implement the honors program at JSU: Allison L. Clark, of Pinson, Courtney M. Crosby of Jacksonville, Philip Michael Greenwood of Jacksonville, Jansen L. Harmon of Southside, Kristin N. Hays of Attalla, Andrew J. Newsome of Southside, Benjamin J. Parr of Gadsden and Joshua Wise of Ashville.

The scholarship covers the following for one year, but is renewable annually up to four years: tuition, housing, meal plan, books and a laptop computer. Each Elite Scholar has attained a top ACT/SAT score and maintained a 3.5 grade point average throughout high school. These scholarship holders will also receive special advisement and career planning, early registration, service and community involvement activities, and special recognition at graduation. Upon graduation, students will receive an honors medallion, and a special recognition at commencement.

Students enrolled in the honors program at JSU will find they are not doing more work, just different work. Honors courses are original, but they are not designed to be more difficult in work load than other courses taught at JSU. One of the greatest benefits from participating in such a program for the student is to be surrounded by similarly-minded peers fostering a deeper value of discussion.

An honors board, comprised of both faculty and students, has been formed to ensure challenging and enriching opportunities are fostered and created in the honors program. This board has created goals such as promoting the open exchange of ideas, fostering critical thinking and intellectual curiosity, valuing the strength that comes with inclusiveness, embracing service and social responsibility, and preparing students to be leaders in their chosen fields.

Dr. Teresa Reed, a member of the Honors Committee Board and professor in the English department, says, "We're hoping that our Honors Program will be a place for students who are intellectually curious, who like the challenge of viewing issues from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to analyze and then integrate various ways of understanding. Ideally, honors students would like to work independently yet also closely with faculty."

Also on the board are faculty members Dr. Gordon Harvey and Dr. Aaron Garrett. Sophomores Emily Brandt and Lance Hicks and junior Cliff Wright will represent the students on the honors board.

Honors students will be involved in more than coursework. In conjunction with this program will soon be opportunities for service and community involvement; something future employers will want to see in today's competitive society. The program will also offer opportunities for honors students to come together and study and socialize with each other and their faculty — seminars and special gatherings to name a few. Plans are being developed to offer honors students domestic and international travel opportunities.

"We hope that JSU's Honors Program will be an organization filled with students who are open to new ideas and information of all sorts and are willing to transform their own ideas and expand the ways they understand the world and their place in it," says Dr. Reed.

Honors courses are offered in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences and mathematics. Many of these courses fulfill freshman and sophomore general education requirements. Students meeting the correct criterion may enroll in the full honors program, spanning university-wide courses, or they can opt to take single honors courses. And all honors students will be able to participate in special honors seminars.

"JSU's honors students won't necessarily be the 'Straight-A Club,' but rather a community of people who might not share a discipline but who share common ideas about being active in their own education," says Dr. Reed.

Erin Chupp, a freelance writer for the Office of Marketing and Communications, contributed to this article.