Upcoming Events
Coffee Chat | Connecting Learning and Play - New Approaches with Honors Program
What are Coffee Chats?
The Southwestern College Institutional Advancement Office is launching a new online series aimed to help alumni and friends engage and connect. Coffee Chats will serve as an opportunity to learn about various programs and initiatives through the lens of college faculty and staff.
Connecting Learning and Play | New Approaches with Honors Program
Monday, December 8, 10:30 a.m. (CST)
Join us to learn about the innovative approaches to learning being implemented in the newly created Southwestern Honors Program.
The program was created in order to provide exemplary students with enriched coursework and co-curricular experiences to encourage them to go beyond the boundaries of the traditional college classroom. Courses and activities in the Southwestern Honors Program foster the mindset that meaningful exploration and discovery necessitates an interdisciplinary approach in which answers are not limited to any one academic major. Honors students will engage in collaborative relationships with faculty throughout the college in order to promote a diversity of problem-solving and research skills. In addition, the Southwestern Honors Program embraces a sense of responsibility in that participants will receive opportunities to use their intellectual gifts to serve communities beyond the academic world.
“My goal is to craft an Honors Program that reflects the core values of Southwestern College: interdisciplinary exploration, service learning, and building bridges while breaking boundaries,” said Ross. “We will offer far more to students than just challenging coursework, our program will inspire students to find fun in journeys of academic discovery and exploration and it will implore them to use their big brains for good – to make a difference in the world.”
Email alumni@sckans.edu or call (620)229-6155 to request the link to participate online – or to reserve a seat to attend in person.
About Dr. Patrick Ross
Ross holds a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has worked as a member of faculty in Southwestern’s division of natural sciences and mathematics since 1997. He earned administrative experience serving as chair of the division from 2004 to 2018. Additionally, Ross was the scientist in residence at Wichita’s Exploration Place in 2014. Ross has received three notable awards at Southwestern, the Charles and Verda Kopke Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006, the Fassnacht Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013, and the SGA Faculty of the Year Citation in 2022-2023. Prior to leaving Truman State University for Southwestern in 1997, Ross was honored with the E.M. Violette Outstanding Advisor Award.
