Welcome from the Director
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Honors Program.
As you embark on the new academic year, I would like to share some personal observations about the best ways of taking advantage of the opportunities for learning and personal growth that this remarkable program offers.
Remember, first, that you are here to learn. You have the extraordinary luxury of four years (or five for super seniors) in which to develop your mind—to grow in your ability to think analytically and read critically, to write clearly and speak persuasively, to develop and test hypothesizes, and to fashion and sustain convincing interpretation or proofs. Enjoy this learning to the fullest. The Honors Program offers many interdisciplinary courses. Make your choices based on whether the work engages your imagination and interest and expands your intellectual horizons. Resist outside pressures to choose are so study on the basis of presumed practical utility. Your choices ought to be guided by your own intellectual passion and curiosity. One can develop the mind through many different kinds of studies, some obviously practical, some whose utility may be more obscure. Within the constraints of satisfying requirements and fulfilling prerequisites, loving a subject is the best possible reason for selecting an area of study.
My second piece of advice is to think carefully about the best way to take advantage of the remarkable teaching that the Honors Program has to offer. Be discriminating not only in the courses you choose to study but in the variety of talent among the instructors. We have nine full-time faculty who create continuity in the Program but we also have several faculty from other departments as well as professionals from outside the university who teach our courses. These instructors add unique perspectives and bring distinctive ideas to the curriculum.
My third piece of advice is to take full advantage of the special commitment of the Honors Program to undergraduate education. Go see your teachers during their office hours, whether to pursue a question left unresolved in class, or to ask for special help, or to seek advice about future studies. Invite your teachers to lunch or coffee and get to know the faculty. Contact with faculty outside the classroom can be one of the richest parts of your experience at UNM.
Finally, never underestimate how important learning outside the classroom can be to your education. That learning comes from getting to know other people—roommates, friends, residential advisers, college deans, directors of studies, and so many others. It comes from extracurricular activities and community service. It comes from the many intellectual and cultural events in the Honors Program and in the larger University. It is important to make time for all of these kinds of learning, for they will enrich your experience here in ways that you will value for the rest of your life.
I wish you all the best for a wonderful year.
---Rosalie C. Otero, Ph.D.
