Message from the Director

Dear Honors Alumni and Friends,

Amidst flurries and chilly temperatures, our students have embarked on another semester filled with new challenges and, I imagine, new adventures. They will make new friends in their classes and strengthen their ties to old ones. They will begin planning their end-of-term, end-of-year, perhaps end- of-college projects. These will be exciting for them and for their teachers. These projects will remind professors and students alike that the classroom is always a place of experiment; it lacks full scripts and chance and often brings surprise!

As the new Director of the Honors Program, I am especially eager to support all the different kinds of collaboration and mentoring between faculty and students. As you may know, we have begun to cultivate undergraduate research experiences to help students begin to explore their own stories. Our advisers are working closely with faculty and students, introducing students to research in a broad range of disciplines, connecting students to faculty mentors, and encouraging students to reflect on those experiences in their applications for prestigious national fellowships. This year we’ve seen a Rhodes finalist, Joseph Harrison King, and several strong and compelling applications to our spring round of fellowships.

Such success comes from the relationships we build and cultivate between faculty and students. These connections, however fragile, must be more than fleeting. As the Director of Honors, I aim to provide as much institutional and intellectual support to these connections, working with students and faculty and developing curricula and new initiatives to enhance these connections.

As you recall your experiences at Miami, please take a moment to remember the meaningful work youdid with professors and the transformative effects it had. Please consider getting involved in our alumni programming and providing support for a current or future honors student.

Because of your generosity, I am able to offer our students support for their development. Your
donations help the University Honors Program to offer exciting courses, fund students’ self-designed
projects, and provide field trips and other intensive learning opportunities. Your contributions can and
do enrich the learning and development of our students.

With my best wishes,

Cindy Klestinec
Interim Director of the Honors Program
Associate Professor, Department of English