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Faculty Directors
THEY’RE WONDERFUL! They're great! Without them, the Honors Program at OWU wouldn't exist. Here is our homage to our wonderful faculty directors:
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Dr. Edward H. (Jed) Burtt, Jr. |
Birds have been Dr. Burtt’s passion since the age of 2. He published a breeding bird census while still in high school and, as a freshman in college, began a study of parental behavior in swallows that led to his master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin. He studied the evolution and function of color of birds for his doctorate and continues to explore this fascinating topic today through an unusual approach that combines the fields of ornithology and microbiology. He and his students have published 60 scientific papers and he has authored two books on the color and behavior of birds. He and his students have also received extensive financial support from the Howard Hughes Biomedical Foundation and the National Science Foundation. He is a Fellow of several scientific societies, president-elect of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and an associate editor of the Auk, the world’s leading ornithological journal. In 2006 he won the Bishop Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award.
Dr. Burtt reads and evaluates the application files of prospective honors students, contributes to the decision to award scholarships, and works with the Admission Office when Ohio Wesleyan hosts prospective students and their parents. He regularly does 8-10 programs a year in which he provides information about the honors program and answers student and parent questions about honors. He is responsible for the honors budget and for reporting on honors to the Academic Dean and Board of Trustees. Along with Dr. McClure, Dr. Burtt also reviews the status of current students whose GPA has fallen below our minimum standards.
“The Honors Program is the crown jewel of education at Ohio Wesleyan, it is the program that challenges students to step out of the role of student into the role of scholar, challenges them to seek knowledge not by following a syllabus, but by thinking big ideas and dreaming about what could be. It is a program that challenges faculty to explore the frontiers of their discipline in the company of students who will challenge them to think anew, to adopt new perspectives, who will ask the naïve question that will launch a new line of inquiry, of thought. The Honors Program at Ohio Wesleyan is that special place where student and teacher work together to learn, to discover, and to grow intellectually. For me it is the most intense and rewarding aspect of a life in teaching.”
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Dr. Amy McClure Professor of Education (1979) Phone: 740-368-3562 E-mail: aamcclur@owu.edu |
Books have been Dr. McClure’s passion her entire life. She was one of those kids who devoured books and often stayed up all night reading under the covers with a flashlight. As children, she and her sister organized their extensive book collection into a lending library for other children in the neighborhood. She grew up to become an Honors student and history major at Ohio Wesleyan, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, and Phi Alpha Theta. She also served as president of Panhellenic Council. Dr. McClure earned master’s degrees from Emory and Ohio State Universities. She then returned to her true passion—books—and earned a PhD in Children’s Literature from Ohio State. Now she gets paid to do what she loves.
Dr. McClure taught in elementary and preschools as a teacher, reading specialist, and coordinator of gifted education. She currently serves as Rodefer Professor of Education, chairs the education department and directs the Early Childhood Education Program. She has published six books in the field of children’s literature, written many book chapters and articles, and served as President of the Children’s Literature Assembly, the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association, and the Ohio Reading Teachers. She received Ohio Wesleyan’s Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award in 1998, the Outstanding College Teaching Award in 2001 from the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, and the 1986 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. In her free time, Dr. McClure reads children’s books and enjoys outdoor activities with husband and two daughters.
Dr. McClure’s principal focus within the Honors Board is on campus programming, i.e., developing the curriculum (Honors Courses and freshman Honors Tutorials), monitoring our scholarship recipients’ academic progress and GPAs each semester, and working with the Student Honors Board to develop programming that promotes a sense of community among our Honors students. She also works with Dr. Burtt to evaluate the application files of prospective Honors students and works with the academic dean and board of trustees to create new programs and initiatives for Honors students.
“The Honors Program provides exciting opportunities for outstanding students to challenge themselves intellectually beyond anything they’ve previously experienced,” she says. “They also have the opportunity to be part of an intellectual community that values inquiry, debate, and creative thinking. We believe our Honors students become leaders who have the courage to challenge commonly accepted ideas, then the vision and initiative to construct alternatives.”
Faculty members in the Honors Program are dedicated to helping students expand their horizons, explore new ideas and break the established boundaries of human achievement. It is what we call the ‘liberal arts spirit.’ It is a rewarding endeavor for you students and faculty.”
