A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.758.3849. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: January 12 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be emailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Nick Young, photographer; Layout by Publications
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New Honors director injects passion into classroom
By Sydney Portilla-Diggs
Campus Correspondent
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Scott Yarbrough
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Who is the wide-eyed professor standing at the front of the classroom gesturing passionately? And why are his students so eager to read Sophocles’ Antigone?
It is none other than the new Honors Institute Director Scott Yarbrough. And students say he brings a certain charisma to his classroom. Yarbrough is a multitalented professor. He is also a published poet, a playwright, an artist and a musician.
Yarbrough received both his bachelor’s and master’s of arts degrees from Angelo State University. He was awarded the district-wide 1997 Excellence in Teaching Award as a professor of English at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He joined Collin in 1998. In 2001, Yarbrough was honored as a 2001 Piper Professor, an honor recognizing the finest faculty in Texas, and he became the fourth Piper Professor to teach at Collin. He is a passionate practitioner of the arts.
“I try to be a person who does [the things] I say matter. [The honors program] is alive and growing and breathing,” he said.
According to Yarbrough, the honors program is student driven. Each class holds a unique mixture of students. He recalls a previous composition class where his students were more focused on the technical side of writing. One of his former students, Kseniya Parakhina, who received a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University, recalls Yarbrough as “an extraordinary person who works closely with the students and always encourages them to do their best. I have enjoyed taking his classes and will always remember him as a kind and interesting professor.”
Yarbrough’s current composition class is more focused on creative writing. Stephanie Hall has nothing but praise for her professor’s teaching style.
“He uses humor to add flavor to English," she said. "I have learned so much about creative writing just from a handful of his lectures. His teaching philosophy is unique in the fact that he believes that the way to learn something is by doing it. This has allowed me to write the best I have ever written."
"He is very laid back and reaches his students on a more personal level,” student Amy Howerton said. “He is extremely passionate about everything in life. I would like for him to know how much we appreciate him and what a great impact he is on our lives.”
For Collin students who demonstrate academic excellence and a passion for learning, the Honors Institute offers classes that go beyond the core curriculum. Honors professors motivate Collin students to fully develop and support their intellectual ideas. The highly credentialed, award-winning professors provide endless opportunities for students to debate challenging topics and attend culturally relevant lectures. Instruction in an honors course usually merges several disciplines, and the end result is a profound understanding on an intellectual, cultural, and sometimes spiritual level.
However, Yarbrough is hoping to introduce physical education and computer science courses in the honors curriculum as well. Since its inception, the Honors Institute has achieved phenomenal growth and gained recognition for its students.
Professor Yarbrough gives credit to Dr. Kay Mizell for “establishing a stellar program on such a new and developing concept.” Dr. Mizell served as the former director of the Honors Institute.
“I think Honors is about turning students to ‘catch the light, to bring out their best, to stimulate individual and collaborative research, to give of themselves to others, and in all areas to let their reach exceed their grasp,’ as Browning said. I am heavily invested in them,” Mizell said.
Honors alumnus Geoff Bailey is currently interning in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office at the White House.
“I believe my time in the Honors Institute gave me the ability to strive for great things. It helped shape my determination for the future,” Bailey said.
Geoff Bailey took two semesters off from UCLA to take the internship.
Each year, the Honors Institute gives its students the opportunity to meet and be taught by distinguished academicians who serve as Scholars-in-Residence.
Esteemed speakers at honors forums have included:
• Leon Botstein, Historian and social critic
• Harriet Fulbright, Goodwill Ambassador for the Fulbright Foundation
• Mireya Mayor, television reporter for National Geographic’s Ultimate Explorer
• Dr. Larry J. Sabato, director of The Center of Politics
• Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Professor Yarbrough hopes to bring a different approach to the honors program.
“[The honors program] is not an elite club. It is a place for motivated and proven discipline on the part of the students,” he said.
Yarbrough believes that the issue that is paramount in the minds of the professors is what can best benefit the students. He also hopes to incorporate self-expression into the curriculum.
“We are in a measurable society. People want to know what you do. Sometimes, I am a teacher. Sometimes, I am the Honors Institute director,” he said. “Sometimes I am a writer, a painter, or a musician. William Carlos Williams was a doctor and a poet.[Students need to know] you do not have to be just one thing.”
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| (From left) Amy Wong, Melissa Cole, Katie Medlin, Jeff Fortney, Tisha Thomas, Chase Higgs, Cassandra Andrews, Kseniya Parakhina and Mae Nguyen are all Honors Institute students. |
Any Collin student who maintains a 3.5 grade point average may enroll in an Honors course. After completing 12 or more hours in honors courses, students earn an Honors degree, which leads to valuable opportunities.
Collin students who are interested in the Honors Institute may visit the website at http://iws2.ccccd.edu/honors or request more information by e-mail at honors@ccccd.edu
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