Interdisciplinary and Engaged Learning
Q&A With Dean Winslow
I’m always most proud of our students and staff! And I love to see when they get recognized for all of their hard work. This year, Honors students were recipients of all three of the University’s top awards for graduating seniors, and Sherece Smith, associate director of the Breakthrough Scholars Program, received the Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award for excellence in advising. Through our Office of Major Fellowships, 70 students and alumni won major fellowships and nationally competitive awards, a record for Clemson. And all of these accomplishments are a testament to the way the Honors College builds a community of learners and leaders to ensure the highest levels of achievement at Clemson and beyond. What Honors accomplishments are you most proud of over the past year? Over the past year, we’ve been focused on expanding course options, experiential learning opportunities, and engagement activities for students. We’ve developed a set of learning outcomes that define the Clemson Honors experience and launched our Honors in Action initiative. We piloted new Honors experiential learning seminars, including one featuring a unique Spring Break study abroad experience with the Fritz-Schubert Institut in Heidelberg, Germany. And we’ve partnered with discipline-based colleges and departments to strengthen their Honors offerings. All of these are key to our strategic priority of developing and delivering a signature, end-to-end Honors student experience grounded in engaged, interdisciplinary learning. How is the Honors College expanding opportunities for students to lead, learn, and serve in new ways?
The people really make the Honors community. Our students aren’t just smart — they’re engaged, compassionate leaders who are eager to build community and make an impact. Our staff and faculty constantly amaze me with their creativity, innovation, and dedication to our students’ success. We are also very fortunate to have an amazing facility in Cribb and DesChamps Halls that houses our Honors College offices, classrooms, and event and study spaces, while also serving as a residential home for 400 Honors students, including the majority of our first- year students. That space facilitates our community, increasing interaction between faculty, staff, and students and providing a dynamic living and learning environment. What makes the Honors community (students, faculty, alumni, and staff) so distinctive and connected?
What excites you most about the 2025-26 academic year?
I’m excited about so much, but two things stand out. First, we’re launching Action Scholars, a new cohort- based program for Honors students eager to create impact. Action Scholars will participate in a kick-off retreat, take an Action Scholars course in the spring of their first year, receive ongoing mentorship and professional development as they craft their Honors experience around an action plan, and participate in unique experiential learning opportunities including a capstone course near program completion. Second, we continue to enhance our outreach to alumni, parents, and supporters. I look forward to meeting more of the Honors family and engaging them in the work of the Honors College.
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