Welcome

Hello, Honors Students:

I’m writing to welcome all of you to the new academic year and to let you know of some changes for the Honors Program this year. First, by the time you read this, we will have moved into our new suite in the North Residential Village. Those of you who stopped by our temporary quarters in Deegan West this summer will understand why we’re very happy to be in our new space, which is bright and airy and comfortable. We hope you all will come by and spend time in the lounge, and I’d like to issue an invitation to each of you to stop in to say hello to me. I will be available to you throughout the year. You’ll see me going in and out of the office, and I hope you won’t mind if I sit down and chat with you occasionally to get your thoughts on the program and on college life here at Merrimack. I’d like to hear about your experiences and get to know you as I become a part of your community. I will also be holding office hours during the week, so you know I’ll be available to you on a consistent basis. I realize that some of you might have conflicts with those hours because of classes or jobs or sports, however, so please feel free to contact me to make an appointment if you can’t make it to office hours.

Some of you will be located very close to the new suite, so it won’t be hard to find us. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors will now be living right above the suite in Honors Housing, so there’s no excuse for not dropping by! Freshmen will have a bit of a walk, but we think it will be worth it. We also hope to see all of you at our grand opening, which will take place in the fall. We’ll let you know the details once the date is determined.

This is an exciting time to be in the Honors Program at Merrimack College. I mentioned to you in an earlier email that I attended an Honors Program myself at the University of Michigan, and it made my time there very special. I still remember the trip I took to the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario with my class of English majors and two professors. It was the first time I’d ever seen professional theater, as we watched plays by Shakespeare and Moliere. It was so energizing that we couldn’t wait to get back to our Renaissance literature course to read the plays on our syllabus. We could compare them to the ones we’d actually watched at Stratford, and drama came alive for us. This fall in our program, we are planning on a day trip to the Peabody Essex Museum to see the Strandbeests exhibit, which will be a fascinating way to see how art and engineering are woven together to make amazing creatures that seem to have lives of their own. We’ll talk more about an event next semester together so that you can experience the richness of culture in its many forms. We especially want you to make connections between the kinds of events and projects and discussions we are involved in together and the classes you’re taking. We look forward to making this year in the Honors Program the best one yet.

I’ll see you soon!

Best,

Dr. Kerry Johnson

Interim Vice-Provost

Interim Director, Honors Program and Liberal Studies Program

Professor of English