The greatest joy in my academic life is to see the expression on a student’s face when she discovers just how good she is and when these students flourish in sites all over the world, in professional school, graduate school, business, in all walks of life. And to know that the sun never sets on Honors College alumni working all over the world for the common good.”
Dr. Norbert O. Schedler, Founding Director
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Having just completed my 20th year with the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College, I have been privileged to witness our alumni, faculty, and students contribute to the promotion of human flourishing. I continue to marvel at our alumni as I witness the work being done by all of you. I am filled with pride and gratitude for the community of support and action that has grown out of one man’s idea.
Now in our fifth decade, the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College has served more than 3,700 students. The 2024-25 academic year was one of growth and opportunity for the Honors College. The Schedler Honors College and Schedler Honors Program pathways each experienced increased enrollment, the UCA Commitment program created new opportunities for financial support for Honors students, and we fully transitioned our operations into the new Schichtl Center for Honors Education (the SCHED).
This year also marked a time of reflection and renewal as we considered how best to build on our strong foundation. Faculty and staff continued our strategic conversations about how to sustain the Honors experience for future generations while remaining responsive to the evolving needs of our students and the world they will shape. From new partnerships across campus to enhanced experiential learning opportunities, these efforts ensure that the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College remains not only a place of academic excellence, but also a catalyst for meaningful engagement and lifelong learning.
I am pleased to share the 2024-25 annual report with you that highlights the work and achievements of our faculty, staff, and students. Rooted in your support and nourished by your commitment, the Honors College is poised to cultivate a future rich in opportunity and promise. I invite you to share in our journey.
Sincerely,
4x more likely to lead a Student Organization
90% Graduate with a Grad School or Job offer
The Norbert O. Schedler Honors College at UCA has been providing enhanced educational opportunities for students for nearly forty years. Founded by Dr. Norb Schedler in 1982, the Honors College has developed a national reputation for its many accomplishments. As the first honors college in the state and one of the first in the country, the Honors College, now named for its founder, has inspired numerous startup honors programs and a growing number of honors colleges. In 2018, UCA introduced the University Scholars Program in an effort to expand its honors programming to a greater number of students. In the fall of 2023, the Scholars Program left its pilot phase and was officially named the Schedler Honors Program. Offering a minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies, the Schedler Honors College is one of only a few programs in the country that has a department of full-time and tenured faculty members. The Honors College offers students in both programs funding support for study abroad, undergraduate research, and experiential learning opportunities. Both programs also offer scholarship incentives.
The Norbert O. Schedler Honors College strives to prepare students to serve as global leaders ready to confront the complex challenges of our modern world. We aim to do this by building a community in which every person is valued, included in the conversation, and prepared for discussions of the salient problems of our time. We aspire to be known both locally and nationally for innovation and excellence in higher education
In 2022, as the Honors College celebrated its 40th anniversary, we also began to prepare for the future. We invited program reviewers from the National Collegiate Honors Council to meet with students, faculty, alumni, and campus partners in order to provide us feedback on opportunities for development and maturation in the coming decade. With this feedback in hand, and having reread “The Lively Experiment” and “The Challenge” to remember our roots, the Honors College faculty and administration set out to lay the foundation for continuous improvement. Considering our traditional strengths and future opportunities and challenges, we developed three overarching goals.
Together, these goals ensure that the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College continues to serve as a leader in honors education, equipping students with the skills, perspectives, and opportunities to thrive in a complex, interconnected world.
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The NOSHC aims to holistically support students’ academic, personal, and professional growth. This includes enhancing wellness initiatives and expanding programs for academic skill development and leadership training. The College also plans to foster global awareness through courses, study abroad, and alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The NOSHC aims to increase access to and awareness of honors opportunities statewide. Initiatives include expanding recruitment, particularly for first-generation students, formalizing multiple program pathways including partnerships with community colleges, and securing scholarship support to broaden participation.
The NOSHC seeks to strengthen connections across campus and beyond to expand opportunities for students and reinforce the College’s identity. Efforts include elevating visibility through faculty partnerships, promoting student and alumni achievements, expanding interdisciplinary collaborations, and building state and national recognition through conference participation, fellowships, and honors networks.
The NOSHC will endeavor to live out our values in all that we do, including the curricular and co-curricular dimensions, in order to equip students with the tools for individual growth and for confronting the complex challenges of our modern world.
The faculty and staff of the Honors College work tirelessly to maintain the values and tradition of “arete” established at the inception of the College and still upheld by our students today. The world has continued to evolve since that fateful conversation under the oak tree in 1981, but our goal of guiding students through meaningful personal development and thoughtful, informed engagement in our community has remained consistent.
The need for our students to be able to draw on knowledge from multiple fields through interdisciplinary understanding may be more salient now than ever. It is through the intersection of disciplines and the ability to understand how different fields approach problems that will offer the innovation, creativity, and novel solutions needed to address today’s struggles; the solutions for designing a sustainable future, improving access to clean water, and reducing food insecurity do not fit neatly into one discipline.
We aim to prepare students who are self-aware, committed to lifelong learning, and empowered to take action.
To advance this goal, we are focusing on four key priorities to foster students’ flourishing and equip them to navigate and contribute meaningfully to today’s challenges.
To further this goal and to help students develop as individuals and navigate the obstacles of contemporary life, we have focused on four areas which we believe will make the greatest difference in the lives of students. These are:
• to prepare students to be global citizens
• to build trusting relationships among our community to enable honest and vulnerable conversation
• to maintain our commitment to keep the conversation going on the salient problems of our time
• to develop higher levels of student competency of the learning outcomes which have always defined an Honors education from UCA.
In the last three years we have made great progress towards this goal, and are excited by the opportunities still to come.
Thousands of our alumni know the lasting impact of international travel. Since 1994, the Honors College has awarded over 1,500 Travel Abroad Grants (TAG) helping students take their first steps into the wider world. With limited resources and rising costs, not all students can go abroad. That’s why we’re expanding global learning on campus through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), in partnership with the Center for Global Learning and Engagement. COIL connects classes in different countries for shared projects. Nearly 100 Honors students in six courses have worked directly with peers in Mexico, Honduras, and Canada—challenging them to communicate across cultures and rethink their perspectives. In one course, Theater for Creative Engagement, students in Conway and Honduras used dance to explore how performance tells the stories of people and place.
The Norbert O. Schedler Honors College joined the inaugural Partners in Peace cohort, an initiative launched by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) in partnership with the Nobel Peace Center. This program recognizes NCHC member institutions for their efforts in creating, implementing, and assessing honors-level curricular and co-curricular projects that highlight the work of Alfred Nobel and Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Challenge Week 2024 offered a compelling exploration into the multifaceted world of Artificial Intelligence, inspired by a UN General Assembly resolution on AI. This impactful event delved into both the promising advancements and critical concerns surrounding AI’s influence across various aspects of human life, including its profound effects on labor, education, artistic expression, knowledge dissemination, and international relations. Through a series of engaging and insightful public sessions, attendees had the opportunity to hear from experts, participate in discussions, and reflect on how AI is reshaping our future.
In the Fall of 2024, the Honors faculty introduced the Perspectives program into the first course of both the Schedler Honors College and Program curricula. The Perspectives program, developed by the Constructive Dialogue Institute, is designed to help students develop the ability to engage thoughtfully and respectfully across lines of difference– whether political, cultural, or ideological. Its primary goal is to foster dialogue by equipping students with the skills and mindset needed to understand diverse viewpoints and collaborate toward shared understanding and solutions. Our goal for Perspectives is to create a stronger sense of community connection, where differences become opportunities for learning rather than sources of division.
The NOSHC will strive to increase access to and awareness of honors opportunities across the state and beyond.
As we look toward the future, the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College is committed to strengthening its role as an accessible and transformative educational community. Central to this vision is ensuring that students from all parts of the state and beyond are aware of the unique opportunities the Honors College offers and are able to fully engage with its programs. By expanding outreach efforts, we aim to connect with prospective students, families, and educators, raising awareness of the distinctive experiences and support systems available within the Honors College.
In addition to broadening awareness, we are committed to creating multiple pathways for students to enter and thrive within the Honors College. By formalizing these pathways, we can provide flexible, inclusive options that accommodate a wider range of academic interests and backgrounds.
Coupled with efforts to expand funding opportunities that address financial barriers, these initiatives are designed to ensure that all students, regardless of their economic circumstances, have the opportu-
nity to access and benefit from the Honors experience. Together, these priorities position the Honors College to foster both excellence and equity in the years ahead.
As enrollment grows, so does the reach and visibility of our program. A larger student body generates broader awareness through expanded alumni networks, increased community engagement, and greater representation in academic, professional, and civic spaces. As we look ahead, we are focusing on three key priorities to ensure the Honors College offers an accessible, welcoming, and high-impact educational pathway:
• broaden outreach efforts to increase awareness of Honors opportunities among prospective students, families, and educators
• formalize multiple pathways into and through the Honors College to expand access for a broader range of students
• expand funding opportunities that close the gap for students with a high financial need.
The University of Central Arkansas introduced UCA Commitment for the 2024-2025 academic year, a debt-free pathway that ensures eligible students’ in-state tuition and fees are covered after all Federal, State, and institutional aid has been deducted. In the era in which full-ride scholarships are no longer available to UCA students, students now face significant financial barriers in order to have the opportunity to participate in the honors curriculum and to live in the honors learning community. UCA Commitment has begun to close that gap for these students. Given the economic realities across Arkansas, it is maybe not surprising that 30% of our incoming honors freshmen were eligible for this opportunity. Joining the university in its commitment to equity and affordability, the Honors College offered all of our UCA Commitment eligible students an additional $500 to put towards their room and board expenses for the year, a practice we will continue to invest in and hope to grow support for.
The Fall of 2024 marked the beginning of several strategic growth initiatives for the Honors College. The incoming freshman class was increased by 14% in order to expand honors opportunities to a greater number of students. Within the Schedler Honors College, we formalized the funding for our Track II program that allows first-year college students the opportunity to join us as sophomores. This is especially impactful for our international students who are unable to apply as entering freshmen. We also introduced an Honors-to-Honors transfer system that allows students completing an honors program at Arkansas community colleges to enroll and finish their last two years of honors in the Schedler Honors Program. Partnerships are already in place with UACC Morrilton, ASU Beebe, and Northwest Arkansas Community College, with more to come.
25% of Freshmen were the first in their family to go to college
30% of Freshmen qualified to be apart of UCA the first UCA Commitment Cohort
The NOSHC will extend connections across and beyond campus in order to promote student access to opportunities and support, while maintaining and reinforcing our college’s distinct identity.
The NOSHC has been a long-time leader within the national honors community and a laboratory for experimentation on the UCA campus. As the first honors college in the state and one of the first in the country, the Schedler Honors College has inspired numerous start-up honors programs and a growing number of honors colleges.
In a time when many honors colleges and universities are navigating financial constraints, shifting enrollment patterns, questions of relevance, and growing public scrutiny, we aim to serve as a model of strength, adaptability, and purpose. By remaining responsive to the evolving needs of our students and campus community and by aligning closely with the broader mission of our institution, we strive to demonstrate what a forward-thinking, resilient honors college can look like in today’s higher education landscape.
Meaningful progress happens through shared ideas, shared goals, and shared community. With this motivation, the NOSHC continues to engage in national conversations, collaborate with campus partners, and lead within our field. By contributing to and learning from broader networks of innovation and excellence, we strengthen our internal practices and ensure that our programs remain responsive and relevant. External engagement opens pathways to strategic partnerships and funding opportunities which contribute to the long-term sustainability and vitality of our College. Fostering relationships nationally and strengthening ties in our own community further positions us to open more doors for our students and alumni and to increase their access to innovative programs and influential networks.
To advance our mission, we continue to foster relationships both on our home campus and within national networks, ensure financial resources are strategically allocated, and balance innovation with sustainability in order to ensure that our work remains collaborative, informed, and impactful. To that end, we have identified the following four priorities:
• position the College to add greater value to the institution and heighten visibility
• act as an incubator by strengthening partnerships and identifying opportunities to engage in exchange of ideas and practices
• increase the visibility of the College at the state and national level
• build a network of alumni to mentor, advise, and inspire students by sharing professional experiences and offering guidance on career paths.
The Norbert O. Schedler Honors College has joined with students and faculty with Macaulay Honors College at City University of New York, Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University, and the Frederick Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh. Through this partnership, the four Honors Colleges work together to offer honors students the educational foundations they need, through courses and activities specifically designed to provide students with an experience to help them think consciously and deliberately about how their personal commitments fit within their societal goals. The year-long program culminates in a summer experience in Washington, D.C. where students showcase their research projects.
To further our learning outcome of personal responsibility through which we aim for students to develop the ability to take informed and responsible action to address ethical challenges, the Schedler Honors Program introduced a service learning component to its curriculum that requires 3 hours of service each semester and culminates with a reflection. This program has generated over 600 hours of additional service to organizations like the American Red Cross, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the UCA Food Pantry, UCA College Square, and the City of Conway. This adds to the thousands of community service hours that all Honors College students are participating in both inside and outside of class.
After nearly a decade of committee leadership, Dr. Patricia Smith, Dean of the Schedler Honors College, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), an organization that supports and advances honors education nationwide. As a board member, Dr. Smith will help shape national conversations about honors pedagogy, leadership, and access, ensuring that the perspectives and successes of the Schedler Honors College are represented at the highest level. This honor reflects both her dedication to academic excellence and the growing influence of UCA’s Honors College within the national honors community.
19 Community Partners
12 Service Learning Courses Offered 2024-2025
2x As Many Service Hours Completed as Non-Honors Students
5,000 + Hours of Service
Less than a decade after remodeling McAlister, Norb and Rick began planning for the next chapter of the Honors College.
Their vision was to expand the college’s physical footprint with a building designed specifically for honors education. From the outset, they imagined seminar rooms built for small-group discussions where students could encounter both the self and the other and a large lecture hall where the entire cohort could gather to wrestle with new perspectives.
Their first effort, to remodel Old Main into such a space, fell through, but the dream endured. Over the years, no fewer than six proposals kept the idea alive.
That persistence paid off. On September 5, 2024, we celebrated the grand opening of the Schichtl Center for Honors Education, or, as we call it, the SCHED.
Most recently the Schichtl Studio Arts Building, the SCHED was stripped to the studs in some places and rebuilt into a custom-made space with input from the university, honors faculty, staff, and alumni. The result is a space perfect for honors learning: seminar rooms where students face one another instead of a board, and for the first time in decades, a lecture hall large enough to host the signature first-year gatherings that define the honors experience.
But Honors has always been about more than classrooms.
Equal care went into creating communal areas that keep conversations alive beyond formal instruction: outdoor recreation spots and quiet retreats like our open-air classroom and Peace Garden; Norb’s Library, a tribute to the founder who started it all; and, of course, the Glenda Middleton Forum, a hub for sustaining the Honors community.
Leaving McAlister after forty-two years brought its share of trepidation—and a few tears. Yet the vibrant energy inside the SCHED at noon on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday when ninety first-year students settle in for CORE I, is undeniable proof that Norb and Rick were right all those years ago when they set out to find a home for the Honors College.
Over the last two years, the Honors College family has shown tremendous support in bringing Norb’s vision of a stand-alone Honors Center to life. Since the project kickoff in 2023, we have raised nearly $200,000 for the space, and have been able to complete several of our wish list projects. Thanks to the Alumni Participation Challenge, we named a faculty office in memory of Phillip Melton, who was nominated by the winning 19862005 cohorts. Additionally, the new interactive memorial library of Norb’s collection allows his legacy to forever be intertwined with the fabric of the SCHED. Now, students of the present and the future will better understand his impact, his unwavering dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, and his commitment to academic excellence that have laid the foundation for generations to come. Thank you to all of the donors who helped bring this vision into being.
At the September 2024 grand opening, students, alumni, and members of the campus community filled the space to tour and hear remarks from UCA President Houston Davis; Dr. Phil Bailey, Associate Vice President of Global Learning and Engagement; and Norbert O. Schedler Honors College Dean, Dr. Patricia Smith. Carol Schedler and Karen Strossner, Norb’s wife and daughter, and Glenda Middleton, former Administrative Assistant of the Honors College of 25 years, were also in attendance. Pictured here from left to right: Patricia Smith (‘01), Karen Strossner, Carol Schedler, Marcus Hutto (‘00), Leah Horton (‘97), Haydyn Hudnall (‘23), Bo Blew (‘17), Kristin Weatheroford (‘13), Jeff Hawkins (‘98), Cindy Lea (‘95), Laura Niswonger (‘95), Gerald Plafcan (‘86), Laci Lyons (‘06), and Glenda Middleton.
Founders Society $2,500+
Dr. Scott & Kay Adams
Dr. Stephen E. Baker
Dr. Kyle & Kristin Basham
Jade King & Natalie Bergstrom
Tyler Bittle
Brian & Sara Broussard
Angela & Sam Byrne
Drs. Vincent & Tonya Dunlap
Dr. Chad & Jessica Fendt
Noah C. Heffron & John Tindell
Dr. Leah S. Horton
Aaron & Amanda King
Dr. Signe Larson Rebolledo
Jerry & Hannah Malone
Dr. Josh & Heather McAdams
Timothy & Kelly Phillips
Tom Pyle & Erin Vander Leest
Dr. Patricia J. Smith
Dr. Luis Suazo & Melissa McChesney
Keith & Cheri Svagerko
R. Adam Taylor
Dr. Dean & Katy Turbeville
Dr. Brandon & Rachel Walser
John & Hayley Zagurski
President’s Society $1,000+
Kathleen E. Hart
Dr. Rebecca & James Mills
Laura C. O’Bryan
Sara K. Owen
Joanna B. Swirszcz
Dean’s Society $500
Emily A. Abbott
Eric Berkemeyer
Thomas & Pam Bertram
Dr. Donna E. Bowman
David & P. Diana Embrey
Mollie Henager
Kobe J. Johnson
Dr. Brandon & Trisha King
Jeffrey & Angela Lindsey
Hasani E. Mason
Margaret McLellan
Dr. Morrie & Christy Mullins
Elizabeth L. Parker
The opening of the Schichtl Center for Honors Education (the SCHED) represents a defining moment in the history of the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College. With this milestone, we are preparing for the launch of the 2025-2026 Rooted in Honors campaign, an initiative not only to complete and enhance our new home, but also to deepen opportunities for our students through the power of alumni engagement.
Over the coming months we will be focusing on the following initiatives:
• Grow spaces with purpose as we work on completing renovations to the Peace Garden, outdoor classroom, student lounge, and other areas designed for learning, collaboration, and reflection.
• Deepen student access by funding scholarships that ensure Honors remains both competitive and accessible amid evolving financial conditions.
• Nourish programs that inspire by expanding global learning, supporting faculty excellence, and strengthening service initiatives.
• Cultivate connections by building networks that create pathways for students to secure internships, mentorship, and career opportunities.
Every contribution, whether through a financial gift, professional expertise, or personal engagement, plants a seed that will grow into life-changing opportunities for Honors students. Together, we can ensure the SCHED is more than just a building; it will be the foundation of a vibrant, supportive, and forward-looking Honors community.
Your story is part of our story. Reconnect, inspire, and keep the conversation going.
Thank You to Our 2024 Donors
Founders Society $2,500+
Dr. Scott & Kay Adams
Dr. Stephen E. Baker
Noah Heffron & John Tindell
Dr. Josh & Heather McAdams
Armilda McCormack
Dr. Morrie & Christy Mullins
Dr. Luis Suazo & Melissa McChesney
John & Hayley Zagurski
Google, Inc.
President’s Society $1,000+
Dr. Kyle & Kristin Basham
Elizabeth & Aaron Caldwell
Madge Wade Clayton Estate
Nealon J. Devore
Tom Pyle & Erin Vander Leest
Dr. Brandon & Rachel Walser Apple, Inc.
Dean’s Society $500
Acxiom Corporation
Judi L. Altstatt
Eric Berkemeyer & Kent Schnurbusch
Max & Mallory Carranza
David & Patricia Embrey
Jack & Sarah Frost
Dr. Leah S. Horton
Kobe J. Johnson
Noma & Chris Kellner
Scott D. Lewis
LiveRamp
Jeffrey & Angela Lindsey
Margaret McLellan
Elizabeth L. Parker
To learn more about ways you can support the next generation of Honors Scholars scan the QR code or visit uca.edu/giving/honors
Marcus Hutto (‘00)
Marcus Hutto addressed the Schedler Honors College students at the Fall Welcome Banquet. Marcus majored in Occupational Therapy and was accepted into the Occupational Therapy Master’s program in 2000. While at UCA he was President of the Student Activities Board and was an active volunteer in the ACTS Program for adults with disabilities. Towards the end of his time at UCA, he met his future wife, Amy Byrd Hutto. They have been married 22 years and share two children, Blair (a current honors student) and Ben. Marcus went on to practice OT in home health and public schools in rural Van Buren County. In February of 2009, he formed Hutto Therapy Services, which provides OT and speech therapy to students in every school in Van Buren County and expanded in 2019 to form a second company, H and H Therapy, which provides OT, Speech, and PT beyond Van Buren County. In 2017, he furthered his education by attaining a certificate of advanced practice in Autism Spectrum Disorder from Thomas Jefferson University.
Sarah Friedman (‘21)
Sarah Friedman addressed the Schedler Honors Program students at the Fall Welcome Banquet. Sarah started in 2018 and was a part of the first cohort of students in the formerly named University Scholars Program, now known as the Schedler Honors Program. Having graduated in just 3 years, she was one of the first 3 official graduates of the Program in 2021. Sarah graduated with honors from the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. While at UCA, she conducted undergraduate research on the use of disquaramides to treat Chagas’ disease for her honors thesis, which Is currently pending publication. After graduating, she pursued a master’s degree in chemical engineering at Northwestern University. Her graduate thesis focused on Cyclic Carbonate Formation and is also pending publication. She now works at the Environmental Protection Agency as a project manager, where she oversees four remediation sites across the mid-western region.
Sydney Yeager (‘05)
Dr. Sydney Yeager addressed students at the Spring 2025 Issues in the Public Square event. Dr. Sydney Yeager is a digital anthropologist whose career spans academia including teaching at UCA and Hendrix in 2018-2021 and the private sector in fields like med tech, ag tech, fintech and now as Senior Design Researcher leading Walmart’s Corporate Workplace Experience Insights team.
Her talk addressed how the rise of artificial intelligence challenges our understanding of what it means to be human in an age of increasingly sophisticated machines. Her lecture explored the current capabilities and limitations of AI, having examined its impact on labor markets, creative industries, and social equity. Drawing on perspectives from digital anthropology and industry experience, she also examined the ethical dilemmas posed by AI, such as the replication of societal prejudices, the spread of misinformation, and the need for ethical guidelines in AI development and application.
Ruth Ann Mathis (‘98)
Our keynote address for our fourth annual Founders Day In March of 2025 was Dr. Ruth Ann Mathis. Ruth Ann joined the UCA PT Faculty as an Associate Professor in August of 2024. She is a 1998 graduate of the UCA Masters in Physical Therapy program and received her PhD in Physical Therapy from UCA in 2013. For the prior 12 years, Dr. Mathis had been teaching in the DPT program at Harding University serving as the Director of Clinical Education for the last 5 years.
Dr. Mathis has 25 years of clinical experience in a variety of settings in Arkansas and Mississippi including inpatient rehab, acute care, outpatient and pediatrics. Her research interests include exercise and diabetes and increasing function and quality of life for amputees and community dwelling older adults.
