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LMU Honors Program Newsletter
“Education is like a mental workout”
SPRING 2013 edition
HONORS STUDENT AWARDED SUMMER
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
BRYCEN WILSON
The Honors Program is pleased to announce that one of its members, Brycen Wilson, has been selected
for a wonderful opportunity to be an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville this summer. Brycen will be working with Dr. Kim Gwinn, Associate Professor of Research Plant
Pathology at the University of Tennessee. Brycen will be working with Dr. Gwinn on a project that
involves the impact of essential oils on the growth and development of biological control fungi. The
project will involve biology, chemistry, and mathematical modeling of their results. This internship
includes a $4000 grant from the USDA-NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture).
The
opportunity for this internship is due to support Brycen received from Dr. Stephen Everly, Associate
Professor, Chemistry/Chair, Department of Chemistry and Physics and Dr. Aggy Vanderpool, Assistant
Professor of Biology. Brycen expresses his utmost gratitude for their support, since “without their help, I
would not have been able to participate in this internship.”
FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
Nathan Hilberg, Ph.D, Director of the Honors Program
As I reflect on the first year of the Honors Program at Lincoln Memorial University, it is clear to me
that I have learned a lot. I trust that the students in the program would feel the same way. Getting a
new program started takes initiative, resourcefulness, and innovation. Notably, these same traits
are often associated with a good undergraduate education. An honors education at LMU is
characterized by extra breadth and extra depth through curricular enrichments and research with
the benefit of close faculty mentoring and co-curricular opportunities.
The first sentence of LMU’s mission statement indicates the institution’s dedication “to providing
educational experiences in the liberal arts and professional studies.” What it means to provide
educational experiences in professional studies is relatively straightforward: the name of one’s
major is typically the name of one’s desired job, and the educational experiences involved typically
consist in training and credentialing appropriate to that profession. Although liberal education
dates back over hundreds of years, its significance is not as straightforward. Accordingly, I have
often found myself explaining the nature and value of liberal education to students and their
families.
I have advised thousands of students, so it should come as no surprise that “What can I do with that
major?” is a question I have heard countless times. Rather than try to answer the question as asked,
I try to coach students into having a more appropriate understanding of what liberal education is.
For most arts and sciences students, the realization that the name of their major likely will not be
the name of their job can be difficult. This realization requires them to take a more subtle and
critical view of what an education is. Getting an education is not necessarily the same as getting a
credential that might qualify students for whatever the next step after the undergraduate stage of
their lives might be. An education can certainly include such preparation but it need not be
restricted to such training. A liberal education should refine one’s powers of discernment such that
one could be able to deal effectively with anything that follows one’s undergraduate schooling. After
all, a liberal education is one that is appropriate for a free person, a person liberated from the
constraints of ignorance: narrow-mindedness; inflated self-opinion; lack of perspective.
I will often ask students (and their parents, who understandably are often the origin of such
concerns about the marketability of a liberal education), “What about people in their fifties or
sixties who work with computers; what did they major in?” After they offer some plausible answers
(along with correct ones, after all, some probably know people who fit that description), they begin
to grasp the thrust of my question. Whatever these people majored in, it was not computer science
since it would not have existed as an academic field at the relevant time. So one moral becomes
apparent to them: the name of your major need not be the name of your job. I then enjoy pointing
out another moral that is at least as important even if it is not as obvious. There is a good chance
that whatever field one will go into later in life does not yet exist! How can one prepare for such a
field? Certainly not by majoring in it! The best way to prepare for the innovations one certainly will
face in life is to be mentally agile. There is no one, right major for that. Whatever is to become of
people’s lives before they “branch off” and become specialized, they are well-served by solidifying
their “tree trunk.” I have found this metaphor to be apt in explaining the nature and value of liberal
education. A broad undergraduate education provides a solid base enabling one to succeed no
matter what branch of a specialty one chooses. So to those who ask “What can I do with that
major?” hopefully, they recognize that a more relevant question could be: “What can’t I do with that
major?”
I have found that students tend to do better when they study something that incites their passions
and ignites their curiosity. This finding likely does not strike anyone as being particularly
revelatory. Nevertheless, I have found that people still feel ill at ease when their passions do not
obviously lead to an identifiable career path. The best, and most practical, strategy to prepare
oneself for the world beyond college is to have a successful college career. Success in college can
take many forms and is not identified with any particular course of study.
It should be clear that students of all interests can find a home in the Honors Program at LMU; what
makes one at home in our honors program is passion and curiosity. Many students currently in the
program have pre-professional interests. Many have been pleased to learn that a liberal education
can be a suitable preparation for, e.g., medical school. One of my goals is to dispel the notion that
the name of one’s major need be the name of one’s job. No course of study, if done well, is
impractical. The Honors Program at LMU aims to attract and cultivate students who care about
doing things well. No major has cornered the market on how to do things well. Without feeling the
constraint of having to find the “most practical” major (whatever that might mean), I encourage to
student to seek their passions and do well, and I make it my business to do all I can to enable that to
happen. There is no more practical preparation.
If you are interested in learning more about getting as much out of your education as possible and
becoming part of an engaged community of students, I welcome the opportunity to meet with you.
Just send me a message at [email protected]. I am pleased to introduce the following new
group of students to the LMU community, our new additions to the Honors Program.
KACEY CHUMLEY: What honors means to me is having the distinction of
saying that you went the extra mile without thinking twice about it. It’s about
having an intrinsic desire for knowledge and having the diligence to pursue it.
It also means being surrounded by others who have the same desires and
diligence that you do. Being in the Honors Program enables us to be in an
environment more in tune with our interests and capabilities. In a way,
honors represents a challenge. It puts us in an environment where we are
forced to work harder, take in more information, and put ourselves to the test. For many honors students, this
is the thrill of the chase. It takes a lot of work and a lot of drive to take on the obstacles set before us as honors
students. Yet as we undertake these trials, we come out even more driven than before. Our thirst for
knowledge is what pushes us to overcome these obstacles. Overall, being in honors is much more than
wearing a golden sash in graduation and feeling proud of yourself. It means that you took the time to
challenge yourself in every way possible during your undergraduate years.
TAYLOR CONWAY: When I first started honors, I had no idea what to expect.
Even though I had experience with honors courses in high school, I figured
this would not be the same concept. It turns out I was right. For high schools,
honors courses allow students to learn more advanced topics of certain
subjects earlier than other students. An example would be the ability to take
Calculus as a senior, while most others first take it in college. The purpose of
the Honors Program at Lincoln Memorial, I believe, is to expand students’ understanding of their education,
enhancing their ability to use it in real world situations. For example, my major is athletic training. What the
Honors Program provides for me is to be able to go more in depth in my major by discovering things not
covered in classes such as how to be able look at athletic training as a profession, not just as a college major.
Plus, it gives me a broader perspective of what I am learning during my time in college, and why this is
necessary for my overall success in the real world. Even though my overall professional goal is physical
therapy, I believe an athletic training major will serve as a good basis for such a plan. With the Honors
Program, I will have a deeper understanding of what I will learn in the future, and why I am learning in the
present.
BROOKLYN HARRINGTON: I have had the privilege to be a part of Lincoln
Memorial University’s Honors Program for a full semester now; I am pleased to
say that the program has reached my expectation that I had last fall. When I
first heard of the Honors Program, I was unsure what to expect but I was
confident that it would be a group of LMU’s finest scholars who wish to expand
their learning beyond that obtained in the classroom. I was quite pleased to
discover that, while the program is still in the infancy phase, there are high hopes and expectations for the
program’s growth over the next few years. To be a part of the LMU Honors Program means more to me than
just being a part of a group on campus. We are intellectually inclined people who want to see more out of our
LMU community. I enjoy the fact that there is an organized group of students from different walks of life who
can come together and have another world outside of video games and sports. We aspire to be the best LMU
can offer, a group of individuals who want more from our education, adding depth to our degrees, extending
beyond even what is offered in the classroom.
What’s Happening in the Honors Program?
A goal of the honors program is to foster community among those who want to get the most out of
their education. In keeping with that goal, members enjoyed hanging out during various events
sponsored by the Honors Program over the course of the spring term.
Chelsea Casteel and Jared Miller share a pensive
moment.
Tara Smith, Amy Bruce, Mallory Tucker, Director Dr. Nate Hilberg,
Kacey Chumley and Summer Robinson enjoy some victuals at the
Valentine's Day Potluck.
Amy Bruce is presented with the award for Best Dessert!
Erica Stephens and Katlin Campbell share a laugh.
Other notable items involving the Honors Program include:

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Community engagement:
o The Honors Student Association raised funds for Stella’s Voice, an organization
devoted to stopping human trafficking, by sponsoring a 3-point shot at half-time of a
Railsplitters’ basketball game
Intellectual engagement:
o Spring 2013 saw the first installment of the Honors Program lecture series:
 DR. POLE (PHYSICS) “Properties of Medical Imaging Systems”
 DR. CARUCCI (MUSIC) “Scholarly Work in Db Minor: Allegro Moderato”
 DR. HESS (HISTORY) “Oliver Otis Howard's Missing Arm: Amputation and
Military Service in the Civil War”
 DR. COWAN (PSYCHOLOGY) “Sex Differences in Wayfinding: Are Men
Really Better Than Women at Finding Their Way Around?”
o We continued our reading group from the fall. We have read
 Fahrenheit 451
 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
 Napoleon’s Buttons, an exploration into the chemistry of history.
Amy Bruce, Dr. Nate and Julie White discuss Napoleon's Buttons.
o
The Honors Program had its first student undertake research for the honors thesis:
Dr. Nate introduces Tara Smith as she presents her research on "The Impact of Biological Vectors on
Microbial Diversity."
The Honors Student Association listens, learns (and munches some pizza).

Two students from the Honors Program presented research at the Blue Ridge
Undergraduate Research:
o Kacey Chumley: “The Enlightenment: How Human Thought Can Change the Future”
o Julie White: “The Movement Towards One Health”