ACADEMICS
WITH HONORS
JONES FOTO
When I meet with prospective students interested in Olivet’s Honors Program, I begin by handing them a copy of ELAIA: The Honors Journal of Olivet Nazarene University. This journal is the culmination of Honors students’ unique experiences and showcases the research projects that grow out of their work with Olivet faculty mentors. I highlight the journal because the Honors Program at Olivet is about creating a community of young Christian scholars.
“My experience in the Honors Program has taught me how to analyze a problem, develop solutions and use discernment in deciding which solution would be most effective,” she says.
Many prospective students have questions about the Honors scholarly research project. Why is it important? Unless students are bound for graduate school and a life as an academic, why make research a capstone of the undergraduate experience? I’m often asked this by students who plan to go into professional fields like education, engineering, business or nursing.
“By combining my experience and education from both the Honors Program and the School of Business, I am a more analytical thinker and a more effective doer,” Madeira reflects. “Being an Honors student, I have been pushed to go above and beyond, making me a better business student.”
The truth is that research plays a central role in all these fields. Every day, we’re users of knowledge. The tools and methods of our vocations are built on knowledge constructed or discovered by others. The Honors Program gives students the opportunity to move beyond being consumers of knowledge to becoming producers of knowledge. A student engaged in original research, regardless of discipline, has the opportunity to become a contributor to that field — to create new tools or methods and, thus, influence it in a more vital and dynamic way. Take, for example, the work of Madeira Sherwood, a senior Honors student majoring in business and planning to pursue CPA certification after graduation. 18 OLIVET.EDU
Madeira’s Honors project focuses on Olivet’s Food Recovery Network, which has successfully recovered and delivered over 15,000 pounds of food in Kankakee County.
Universities are graduating students in the professional fields each year who have relevant degrees, high GPAs and fantastic résumés. Adding research experience to this portfolio exemplifies all the skills that don’t necessarily show up on paper: creative and independent thinking; the ability to tackle an open-ended problem and stick with it over the long term; selfmotivation; and an inquisitive mind. Research becomes evidence of leadership in a discipline and opens doors to new vistas that students may not have otherwise imagined. DR. STEPHEN CASE ’05 is a professor in Olivet’s Department of Chemistry and Geosciences, assistant director of the University Honors Program, the director of Strickler Planetarium on Olivet’s campus and the author of Making Stars Physical: The Astronomy of Sir John Herschel. In 2014, he completed a doctorate degree in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Notre Dame.