President Nellis creates OHIO Honors Task Force

A University-wide Ohio University Honors Program is one step closer to becoming a reality. Today, Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis addressed his newly created OHIO Honors Task Force for the first time during its Kick-Off Meeting.

The task force will be led by Interim Dean of the Honors Tutorial College, Cary Roberts Frith, and is comprised of various faculty and administrators at Ohio University. The task force was created with the strong endorsement of the university community because President Nellis felt OHIO needed a sustainable, robust and expanded University-wide honors program.

Dr. Nellis stressed to the group that its purpose is not to replace the tutorial-based program in the Honors Tutorial College, which is ranked among the nation’s best, but instead to develop a complementary experience-based program that integrates curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students in all majors, as well as undecided students.

“Please know that the work you have agreed to do is central to the success of our strategic pathways and priorities and I value each and every one of you whose passion for academic excellence called you to this cause,” President Nellis communicated to the group. “It is my intent that the OHIO Honors Program will strengthen a University-wide academic culture that celebrates interdisciplinary and experiential learning in its wide range of forms. This must be part of today’s Ohio University experience.”

The task force will enable faculty members from all colleges to engage in honors curriculum development. Interim Dean Frith said, “The expanded program will offer faculty new opportunities for intellectual exchange and curricular innovation.” President Nellis said, “Teaching in Texas Tech’s Honor’s College was a source of energy and inspiration for me. I look forward to inviting more of our faculty to experience the deep rewards of involvement in an honors program.”

The creation of this task force fulfills the first step in one of the strategic pathways and priorities that President Nellis outlined in his inaugural address. Additional information and updates about the OHIO Honors Task Force can be found here.