1952
The College of Liberal Arts at The University of Mississippi instituted our first Honors education in 1952. Generous monies given by the General Education Board under an agreement with the Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning provided the opportunity to create “a special program to meet the requirements of the best students” and to bring to campus “nationally known and distinguished lecturers and professors” to interact with these and other students. The 1953-1954 Bulletin of the University of Mississippi noted that “The College itself had instituted a Scholars program to provide special instruction to superior students….” Students from the first years of the Scholars program fondly remember the Preceptor for the Scholars Program, Assistant Professor Doris Raymond (A.M., University of Chicago; Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University), as one who engaged her students with wit, zest, and intellectual rigor. During the second decade, Assistant Professor Anita Hutcherson served as the Preceptor of this demanding program. Thus, the Scholars Program became a permanent feature of The College of Liberal Arts, offering a set of core courses and encouraging a special project in the scholar’s major field of study.