May 7, 2024

Senior Spotlight: Jaden Reed

Born and raised in the United Arab Emirates, Jaden Reed remembers thumbing through a variety of University of Missouri publications sent to her mother, a Mizzou alumna. As Reed began to make her own college decision, those MU materials were always in the back of her mind. She eventually decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and made the 7,500-mile trek to Columbia, Missouri. “When I was younger, I remember poring over the pictures of the Golden Girls and important Mizzou landmarks, like the columns,” Reed said. “As I was looking at potential universities in high school, Mizzou…

May 6, 2024

Senior Spotlight: Dane Walker

Through Project Lead the Way – a nonprofit organization that develops STEM curriculum for elementary, middle and high schools across the country – Dane Walker was introduced to a variety of scientific fields. The subject that clicked the most for Walker was engineering. When he made the decision to continue his education at the University of Missouri, he knew the College of Engineeringwas going to be the perfect fit. “I was able to learn more about several fields within engineering throughout high school,” said Walker, who will graduate with a civil engineering degree from MU.

May 5, 2024

Senior Spotlight: Elizabeth Trower

Participants in the Missouri Scholars Academy (MSA) select one major course of study from four broad academic categories – mathematics, science, social studies and humanities. During Elizabeth Trower’s stint as a Scholar, she was placed in a journalism major class. The experience was a transformative one. Not only did Trower realize she had a passion for journalism, but she was also able to get a closer look at the University of Missouri campus. Those two factors played a massive role when Trower was making her college decision. “I had always loved Mizzou but one of…

May 5, 2024

Senior Spotlight: Natalie Gilpin

Natalie Gilpin, a senior majoring in health science on the pre-professional emphasis track, has known that she wanted to be an optometrist since the seventh grade. Now, with graduation on the horizon and an acceptance to Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Gilpin credits Mizzou with being instrumental to her success.  “I have truly been here for the academics,” she said. “That’s something I’ve always been really passionate about and I feel that has served me super well. This is an education that you wouldn’t get in other places.”…

May 2, 2024

Creating an Energetic Learning Environment

As an undergraduate student at the University of Missouri, Katie Essing was an active part of the Honors College. Now, as an Honors affiliate faculty member, Essing has the opportunity to share her expertise with numerous Honors students. “It’s definitely come full circle for me,” said Essing, who is an assistant teaching professor in the marketing department in the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business. “As a student, the Honors College felt like home. The courses within the college were some of my favorites, and the entire experience really helped me throughout my academic…

April 16, 2024

Recognizing Excellence in Honors

There were plenty of laughs to go around during the annual Honors College spring awards ceremony, as well as plenty of faculty, staff and students who were honored.  Multiple students pursuing the Honors Certificate were recognized for their outstanding achievements over the past year. The college also gave an award to an outstanding faculty member, Katie Essing, and an exceptional campus partner, Susan Hartnagel. The final honor of the evening was given to Alexandra Socarides, associate provost for academic programs, who has been a major supporter of the Honors College over the years. Socarides will soon join Emerson…

April 3, 2024

Unbound: Reading Without Limits

The University of Missouri Honors College has a variety of important partnerships across campus and throughout the Columbia community. One of the more unique collaborations is with the Unbound Book Festival. A staple in Columbia since 2016, the Unbound Book Festival welcomes world-class authors to mid-Missouri to discuss their books, their work and their life. The goal of the festival is to bring together participants to create diverse communities and inspire a life-long love of books and reading. In 2017, the Honors College began offering a 1-credit hour course – “Unbound: Reading Without Limits” –…

March 14, 2024

Morgan Davi — An Honors Advisor in Europe

Last summer, Morgan Davi, a University of Missouri Honors College advisor, along with other Mizzou advisors and staff, went on the experience of a lifetime: they took Mizzou to Italy. The group visited Mizzou’s campus partner, CEA CAPA, at their Rome and Florence campuses. Advisors observed classrooms, classes, student housing and teaching demonstrations, all with the goal of exchanging cultural insight and experiences. The opportunity was meant to give advisors who had never been abroad the chance to observe what a study abroad experience is like for students. The goal was to have advisors then take the experience…

March 11, 2024

Honors College Welcomes Andrew Leland as Cherng Distinguished Scholar

Since high school, Andrew Leland has had to grapple with his worsening vision due to retinitis pigmentosa, a rare and progressive eye disease that leads to the deterioration of the retinas. Nearly a decade ago, Leland began using a cane full-time – a decision that brought frustrations but also a desire to explore new questions and experiences. Leland’s journey eventually became a memoir, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight, which was published last year. “I’ve known I was slowly losing my vision for many years,” said…

March 5, 2024

Uplifting and Supporting Others

“… the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.” Those words appear in Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World. A medical anthropologist and physician, Farmer was a professor at Harvard University and served as the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Farmer, who wrote extensively on health and human rights, was the co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health, an international non-profit that provides health care services and…