“I’m excited,” said Morehouse, an assistant professor of history who served on the honors steering committee, which designed the new program. “There had been an honors program before. This committee got together three years ago to try and revamp that program from something that was a contract system to something that was more of a traditional honors program, based around design and curriculum from the National Honors Counsel.”

The new honors program will select “students of honor” in their freshman or sophomore year. The students will have the opportunity to work together in a common first-year course.

“This will give an opportunity for the students in their first year to bond in the honors group and to form a unit to help each other,” Morehouse said.

Honors students will take three intense six-week courses on a variety of topics and will be encouraged to study abroad. Honors courses will be offered in a number of subjects.

“I’ll work with all of the different departments to offer these special types of courses,” said Morehouse, who will actively search for students to join the new honors program. “I’m hoping to get 10 students, and if I get 30, I’ll be just thrilled!”

Morehouse, who has been at USC Aiken three years, brings several years of experience to the new honors programs. As a graduate student and then as an adjunct faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley, she worked with an honors research program called the McNair Scholars Program.

“I worked with students who wanted to do research projects, and I was working with some of the best and the brightest,” she said. “They were really special students, and I wanted to recreate that as soon as I could.

“I asked to be on the honors steering committee at USC Aiken because I wanted to be involved with honors students—getting them interested, getting them focused around some sort of a research project, building their resume—so they can go out and do graduate work or just excel in the work environment.”

The honors program director is a part-time position, and Morehouse will continue the teaching, research, and service aspects of her position in the history department.

“Dr. Maggi Morehouse is ideally suited to serve as director of the honors program,” said Executive Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs Suzanne Ozment. “She brings to USC Aiken's new program enthusiasm, creativity, and a vision for the future.”

Morehouse received her bachelor’s degree in political science in 1994 and her master’s in history in 1997 from San Francisco State University. She received a master’s in African-American studies in 1999 and her doctorate in African-American studies in 2001 from the University of California at Berkeley.

Although many think of her as a Californian, Morehouse spent much of her time growing up in the South as an Army child and considers herself a Southerner. Both her parents are from Charleston. “I probably lived in every Army town on the east coast,” Morehouse said.

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