College honors students from throughout Virginia will converge at University of Lynchburg this weekend for “The Magic of Honors,” the spring conference of Virginia’s Collegiate Honors Council, hosted by the LC Westover Honors Program.
On April 15 and 16, the honors students will participate in social and academic activities. “The conference will feature remarkable students from 18 different colleges and universities in the Commonwealth,” said Dr. Sally Selden, vice president and dean for academic affairs. “Dr. Ed DeClair, the Westover Fellows, and VCHC have done a wonderful job developing a program that will allow participants to engage in meaningful conversations about interesting and exciting research topics across a wide range of disciplines.”
Dr. Richard Burke, the John Franklin East Distinguished Professor of Humanities, will present the keynote lecture titled “Better Living through Magic? The Role of Fiction in Moral Development.” Dr. Jimmy Roux, a communication studies and nonprofit leadership professor at LC, will give a professional development talk titled “Everything you wanted to know about interviewing but were afraid to ask.”
University of Lynchburg students will give presentations on both days of the conference on topics such as the physiological effects of hiking nearby Sharp Top Mountain, people’s perception of indoor air quality at LC, and the way a person’s gender impacts the way others assign blame.
At about 125, this year’s honors conference has near record attendance, noted Dr. DeClair, director of the Westover Honors Program. “We are excited that so many talented honors students from across the state of Virginia are planning to attend this annual conference,” he said. “This conference provides its participants with the opportunity to learn about honors on other campuses across the state. It also gives LC the opportunity to welcome students and faculty alike to our beautiful campus.”
Hannah Cooke ’16, a Westover Honors student who helped plan last year’s conference, looks forward to sharing her research about Costa Rican water quality with other honors students on her own campus. “I couldn’t be happier that University of Lynchburg is able to host the spring VCHC conference during my Senior year,” she said.
