The Director's Corner
May 6, 2025
Spring is a season of birth and arrival in the natural world, but in schools across America it is also the time of joyful if poignant farewells. Professors and students in many classes are saying goodbye to each other as the intensity of the semester comes to a close, even as students scramble to finish their final papers or prepare for their examinations. In Cater Hall we look forward to welcoming our returning students in August, but we are also preparing to celebrate our graduating class and send them off into the world.
This coming Friday, I will enjoy the enormous privilege of conferring medals upon the almost 400 students who have completed the requirements for one of our four Honors distinctions: Honors Scholar, University Honors Scholar, Honors Research Scholar, and University Honors Research Scholar. This will be my last “first” at Auburn Honors: the last major event I am experiencing for the first time as the Honors College’s director. As with the incoming cohort of Fall 2024, I will always feel a special connection to the first graduating cohort to whom I have said congratulations and farewell, the Auburn Honors class of 2025.
I have been thinking about what I most want to say to all of our students - the returning ones, and the graduated ones. It’s really quite simple, boiling down to two things. First, I am proud of all of you. You have worked hard, and you have challenged yourselves. I know you all have overcome obstacles, whether academic, economic, social, or emotional, and I am proud of the sheer effort you have brought to your educations and your lives this past year. I hope you will carry this pride forward in your identities as Auburn Honors students.
Second, I want to exhort you to embrace the virtue of courage, especially courage of mind. Auburn Honors is not about being smart, per se; rather, it is about showing bravery in embracing the power of your mind to seek and recognize truth. Whatever field of study you have pursued, or are pursuing, and whatever challenges you encounter in your lives, I know you will be well served, and you will serve the world well, if you continue to exhibit the courage of mind that we have sought to inculcate in our students.
Finally, I wish you all a phase of rest, following the hard work of your semester. Whether you are coming back to us in the fall to continue your education, or departing from Auburn for your exciting future, I wish you a well-earned vacation, and a very happy summer.
War Eagle!
Dr. Laura Stevens
Director, Honors College
Professor of English
