PSU Magazine Spring 1989

The Honors difference For graduates of the University Honors Program the ex– perience proves enriching and far-reaching. C ollege life is one of challenge and exploration, of inspiration from instructors and other students. For a University Honors Program student, it is this and more. More self-motivation , more work, and a heightened sense of personal enrichment. For the program's graduates the distinction has sometimes made a dif– ference in their careers, and always in their memories. Portland attorney David Urman graduated from the University Honors Program (known then as the University Scholars Program) in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He is quick to admit the program helped prepare him for law school. "Berkeley has a very good national reputation which attracts students from some pretty prestigious schools. Frankly, PSU 20 a lot of them hadn't heard of Portland State," remembers Urman. "I was amazed that my analytical abilities were such that I really didn't have too much trouble and graduated in the top 10 percent of my class." Urman savored the collegiate at– mosphere of the Honors Program. "It comes at a time in people's lives when they are first discovering that they have the ability to comprehend some pretty complex concepts. Going through that period with other bright and motivated folks is a very exciting experience." This motivation to strive for excellence is what draws people like Urman to the program. Honors Program classes excuse the students from the University's general requirements but provide them with a well-rounded liberal education. First-year Honors students dig right in by taking the program's core humanities course, Studies in Western Culture. Team-taught by PSU professors of literature, history and art history, the two-year class examines the art, literature and ideas of three periods in western culture: Homeric and Classical Greece, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance and Reformation. Each year the program brings to cam– pus six to eight noted American and foreign scholars for the Visiting Scholars project. These individuals meet with students in upper-division seminars. Visitors this fall included three noted classic literature scholars: Timothy Rei ss and Charles R. Beye from New York University and Robert Lamberton from Princeton University. Students work closely with advisers in the program and in their departmental major to design their degree program. "The program gives as much flexibility as possible," said Assistant Director Lawrence Wheeler. Most universities around the country have honors programs, but according to Wheeler Portland State's program is distinguished by the range of majors and the Visiting Scholars project. Michael Reardon , director of the program for the last 12 years, came up with the Scholars project which " has been copied around the country," said Wheeler. Reardon has been praised by Honors alumnus Urman for his availability and for "being a role model for people in terms of the archetypical scholar." Urman also remembers an inspirational visiting scholar, economist Robert Heilbroner. "He looked at the economic interdependency of countries on the globe. He really brought the stuff alive and basically made me wish I had been an economics major from the beginning." Today Urman works for Ball , Janik and Novak and specializes in business litiga– tion , doing some securities and antitrust work. F ifty percent of the University Honors Programs students have gone on to graduate school in the last 10 years. PSU Honors graduates have studied law at Harvard , Duke, University of Oregon, Hastings, and Lewis and Clark. They have gone on to medical school at Johns Hopkins, Baylor and Oregon Health Sciences University. And