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Winter 2024 Honors Scholars

The Honors Program is pleased to announce the Winter 2024 Honors scholarship recipients. Each semester, the Honors Program awards scholarships to students who have demonstrated Academic Excellence through their service and scholarship.

Led by Inspiration: 2023 GE Professorship Recipient Rickelle Richards

Rickelle Richards, Ph.D., MPH, RDN knows the places the Lord guides us aren’t always the places we expect. Each day at Brigham Young University, Richards teaches large and small groups of students about the principles of nutrition. From general education classes to complex high-level courses, Richards embraces the challenge of teaching students with a wide variety of backgrounds and knowledge bases.

Go Forth to Serve: BYU’s 2023 Fulbright Scholarship Recipients

The chance to travel to a foreign country can be life-changing. This year, two recent Brigham Young University graduates were selected for such an opportunity by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Each embarked on a 10-month international excursion to expand their academic horizons and strengthen ties between the U.S. and other nations.

Honors Scholarship Recipients

We are excited to announce this semester’s Honors scholarship recipients, who have demonstrated impressive Academic Excellence through their service and scholarship.

Women of Influence

Katelyn Cranney is majoring in math and economics, and minoring in international development and statistics. Katelyn’s thesis is about the influence that women have in groups of both men and women. Do group members perceive women as more or less influential than their male team members?

Get Involved with Undergraduate Education: Updates from the 2023 Open House

On Tuesday, August 29, with the beginning of fall semester just days away, Undergraduate Education (UE) held their annual open house as part of University Conference week. Invited faculty, staff, and administrators gathered at the Maeser Building for the event.

Caitlin Silva Selected as a 2023 Knight-Hennessy Finalist

Caitlin Silva, an April 2023 graduate of Brigham Young University, was selected as a finalist for the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship at Stanford University. Each year, the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship grants funding for a select, multidisciplinary group of graduate students with the aim of preparing them to be visionary, collaborative, and courageous leaders who give attention to the world’s complicated challenges.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Selects Brigham Young University Student for One-Year Fellowship

After considering hundreds of candidates, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. chose Andrew Bonney as one of 14 members for the 2023 James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program. Bonney is a recent graduate in Middle East studies/Arabic at Brigham Young University.

Awards season 2023: BYU students honored with prestigious scholarships, first-place finishes

Rise and shout! Across various disciplines, BYU students are being recognized for their world-class accomplishments.

Readers’ Forum: The Unsung Heroes of BYU

Audrey Hanks, highlighted for her work as Prestigious Scholarships Coordinator, has built the Prestigious Scholarship Office from the ground up.

How Positive Collaboration Drives Learning and Service: Adam Johnson, Brigham Young University Student, Selected as 2023 Truman Scholar

Adam Johnson’s passion to help make the world a better place started even before he came to Brigham Young University.

Seizing Every Good Opportunity

Meet the 2023 Outstanding Honors Graduate and University Commencement Speaker

Winter 2023 Scholarship Awardees

Congrats to these outstanding scholars!

Congrats December Grads!

Meet the newest Honors Alumni

2022 General Education Professorship Recipient

For Professor Bob Hudson (French and Italian), nothing captures the human spirit quite like encounters with another culture. Born in Arkansas and raised between there and Kentucky, Hudson experienced such an encounter when he left the rural South to serve his two-year Church mission in Paris, France.

Inspiration for Publication

This year, seven BYU Honors students had their work featured across two premier Honors academic journals. The Palouse Review and Scribendi are two academic publications that showcase the best work from Honors students across the Western region. We commend these BYU Honors students for their hard work and congratulate them for this achievement and recognition.


Bound for Greatness

Lots of Honors students love to read but senior English student Louisa Eastley has taken her love of books one step farther. With her job in the book repair lab on campus and an accidental enrollment in a book binding class, Louisa is now delving into a creative thesis focused on teaching other students about book binding and the literary treasures that can be found in the basement of the Harold B. Lee Library in Special Collections.

Washing Quinoa

Despite the challenge of balancing his schedule as a Chemical Engineering student, junior Honors student Parker Johns still reaches out for inspiration in other fields, especially when completing an interdisciplinary project for his Honors Leadership Development Experience (LDE). Creating an automatic quinoa washer for rural farmers in Peru proved to be a difficult but fulfilling project and Parker returned with some recommendations to make the LDE a fun experience for every Honors student.

You are the Y

Check out the Incoming Class of 2022 as they participate in the annual "You Are the Y" night as part of New Student Orientation. Organized by First-Year Experience and the Student Connection & Leadership Center, this event welcomes and introduces students to the meaning of being part of the "Y."

UE 2022 Open House Highlights

Few people make their way to the outskirts of BYU campus; however, on Tuesday, August 23, over 100 people gathered at the Maeser Building. As part of University Conference week, Undergraduate Education (UE) held an open house for invited faculty, staff, and administrators.

BYU Master’s Student Isabella Errigo Awarded the 2022 Fulbright Research Grant

When Isabella Errigo learned she was awarded a prestigious 2022 Fulbright Research Grant, she felt stunned. For several days, Errigo double-checked the award letter to make sure she read it correctly. The news has begun to sink in, and she is excited to travel to Ecuador to build on her master’s research about the impact of land use on aquatic systems. Errigo is a 2020 Honors Program graduate and is finishing her master’s degree in environmental science and sustainability from the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences at Brigham Young University.

Awards season 2022: BYU students reap scholarships, first-place finishes

Rise and shout! Regardless of discipline, BYU students continue to make an impact in various fields of study – and they’ve got the hardware, awards and scholarships to prove it. While it’s impossible to recognize every award-winning student on campus, these highlights capture the considerable academic work and creative abilities of our Cougars.

Brigham Young University’s Emily Quan Named 2022 Truman Scholar

Emily Quan, Brigham Young University Honors Program and computer engineering student, was recently named a 2022 Truman Scholar. In April, President Kevin J Worthen informed Quan she was chosen from among 705 nominees representing 275 colleges and universities. Only 58 recipients nationwide were chosen. Her achievement marks the second consecutive year a BYU student received a Truman Scholarship. 

Empowering women: A Q&A with the 2022 student commencement speaker

At BYU’s commencement exercises this week, University Honors student Emilee Carr will represent the graduates as the student speaker. A molecular biology major with a minor in chemistry, Carr, like her fellow classmates, has accrued many achievements as a BYU undergraduate.

Outstanding Honors Graduates

We congratulate Honors students named as the Outstanding Honors Graduates for 2022! Emilee Carr will represent all of the University’s graduates as the student speaker at BYU’s Commencement exercises this week. Rebekah Olsen and Lindsey Walker will share their remarks at our Honors Graduation exercises, and Amberlee Woodhouse will perform the musical number. Each of these students exemplifies the mission of the Honors Program and is a broad thinker, creative problem solver, and influential leader. Here we get to know a little about each of them:

Emily Quan Selected as the 2022 Truman Scholarship Finalist

Emily Quan, a Brigham Young University Honors Program student and computer engineering major, has been selected as a 2022 Truman Scholarship Finalist. The Truman Scholarship awards $30,000 to each of approximately 50 juniors throughout the country who demonstrate superior academic ability, exceptional leadership, and a strong record of service. This scholarship is the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders.

Meet the 2022 BYU Fulbright Semi-Finalists

Six Brigham Young University students and alumni are semi-finalists for the 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the Fulbright Program offers funding to graduates for a year of graduate study, research, or English teaching in over 140 countries with the goal to promote international goodwill.

Board Games, Card Games, and Legos: Playing out Pandemics and Plagues

With board games listed as mandatory class materials, it was clear that “Pandemics, Plagues, and Contagion” was going to be a unique class. It is team-taught by Dr. Marlene Esplin of the Interdisciplinary Humanities department and Dr. Mary Davis from the Microbiology and Molecular Biology department.

Honors Names West Scholars

It can be easy to assume that everyone else at BYU looks exactly like you or that they fit the majority demographic: white, middle-class American. This simply isn't true. We are surrounded daily by students who are first generation, identify as LGBT+, come from different family backgrounds, and are of distinct ethnicities.

General Education Associate Dean Creates Unexpected Connections

For most people, trolls, the environment, International Cinema and general education do not have a lot in common. But for Christopher “Chip” Oscarson, associate dean of General Education, these things have shaped his life and helped him create unexpected connections.

Ancestral Connections: Finding Magic Across Generations

Senior Family History student Heidi Riboldi is proving that history is more than just dusty books and ancient people. Studying Family History has led Heidi to a new understanding of her own family, as well as the formation of lifelong connections.

2021 General Education Professorship Recipient

At 6 feet 4 inches, Richard Watt towers above his CHEM 101 students and patiently answers question after question to bolster their confidence for the upcoming midterm. As Watt brings chemistry alive, his love for chemistry and his students is apparent.

Cougar Query: "When I have 30 minutes of free time, you can find me down a rabbit hole in FamilySearch"

Cougar Queries are a series profiling BYU employees by asking them questions about their work, interests and life. Today, we meet Shaunna George, business manager for BYU Undergraduate Education.

First-Year Mentoring More Contagious than COVID

Amid the thick of COVID-19, entities around the globe rushed to make necessary adjustments to keep people safe and stay in operation. The Office of First-Year Experience peer mentor program is no exception. Implementing changes was no easy task for First-Year Mentoring.

BYU Commencement Speaker

Outstanding Honors graduate Alyssa Baer represents the graduates at Commencement this week.

Brigham Young University’s Rachel Miner Named 2021 Truman Scholar

Brigham Young University junior and Honors student, Rachel Miner, has been named a 2021 Truman Scholar. She is one of 62 new Truman Scholars this year chosen from a record 845 nominations from more than 320 colleges and universities.
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Devotionals & Forums

Devotional: Rick Anderson

11:05 AM
Tuesday, April 02
Rick Anderson has been serving as the university librarian at the Harold B. Lee Library since September 1, 2020.
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Devotionals & Forums

Devotional: Mary Davis

11:05 AM
Tuesday, April 09
Mary Davis is an associate professor of microbiology and molecular biology in the BYU College of Life Sciences.
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