Welcome!

The Honors Program at Albion was founded in 1976 and in August of 2004 it was renamed The Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program. 

We provide an exciting and unique variety of academic experiences for highly motivated and talented students. The Program's mix of small discussion-based classes, independent research, academic rigor, and personal attention provides honors students with special challenges and opportunities for growth. Many of the College's finest teachers and scholars regularly contribute to the Program's curriculum. Take a look at what our students are up to - click here.

The Brown Honors Program is located in the historic Observatory building and contains a seminar room for honors classes, the Brown honors coordinator's office, as well as meeting, lounge/library, computing and study areas for honors students and their guests.

Finally, the Program provides honors students with opportunities to participate in museum and theatre excursions, our Honors Student Council, various campus symposia, the hosting of distinguished campus visitors and a variety of other social and intellectual activities.

Thank you for your interest in the Honors Program. Most students apply and are admitted to the Brown Honors Program in their senior year of high school. You may begin the process of applying to the Program by clicking here. Click here for our admissions criteria

**The Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program is proud to announce an off-campus research and study opportunity at Glasgow University in Scotland. Click on the accompanying Glasgow PowerPoint for an introduction to this program.  You will find an exciting honors course on the Scottish Enlightenment, and courses ranging from Anthropology and Art History to Chemistry and Physics. Students enrolled in the Glasgow program will be taking difficult form 3 and 4 classes. Our Glasgow program is intended for upper class honors students who receive the highest recommendation from Albion faculty and who also have the support of the Prentiss M. Brown director.  Please direct your inquiries about this program to Gene (gcline@albion.edu).

Glasgow PowerPoint
 

The Honors Program would like to congratulate all of the Seniors who completed an Honors or Departmental Thesis this April 7, 2009.  Click here to see the list of Thesis writers and their titles.

SPRING 2010 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - CLICK HERE
Course Descriptions for Fall 2009 - Click Here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2009 - Click Here
Course Descriptions for Fall 2008  - Click Here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2008- Click Here
Course Descriptions for Fall 2007 - Click Here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2007 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Fall 2006 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2006 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Fall 2005 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2005 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Fall 2004 - Click here
Course Descriptions for Spring 2004 - click here

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           Fall 2008 Honors Program Distinguished Speaker 
            Deborah Lipstadt on Wednesday, September 17th  

Deborah E. Lipstadt Director, Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies 204C Candler Library 550 Asbury Circle Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-2298 (Office) 404-727-3297 (Fax) dlipsta@emory.edu (Email)

Professor Deborah Lipstadt, of David Irving holocaust-denier fame, will be the Prentiss M. Brown distinguished lecturer on Wednesday, September 17, 2008.  She will likely talk about her role in the Irving trial, and the upsurge in respectability accorded to holocaust denial.  Her webpage at Emory is to be found at:  http://www.religion.emory.edu/faculty/lipstadt.html

Her blog, subtitled Holocaust denial/contemporary anti-semitism/free speech/politically correct idiocies is found at: http://lipstadt.blogspot.com/
In her blog, and in her work, she deals with Islamic holocaust denial, contemporary anti-Semitism, a British academic boycott of Israel, campus issues, Danish cartoons, and the Turkish genocide

Deborah E. Lipstadt, Director, Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies (1993). Dr. Lipstadt's book HISTORY ON TRIAL: MY DAY IN COURT WITH DAVID IRVING [Ecco/HarperCollins, 2005] is the story of her libel trial in London against David Irving who sued her for calling him a Holocaust denier and right wing extremist. The book has been described as a “fascinating and meritorious work of legal – and moral – history.” [Kirkus, November 2004]. It was ranked by the editors at Amazon.com as number four on its list of top ten history books of 2005. The Daily Telegraph ( London) declared that the trial had “done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations.” The Times ( London) described it as “history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory.” The judge found David Irving to be a Holocaust denier, a falsifier of history, a racist, an antisemite, and a liar. Her legal battle with Irving lasted approximately six years. According to the New York Times, the trial “put an end to the pretense that Mr. Irving is anything but a self-promoting apologist for Hitler.” In July 2001 the Court of Appeal resoundingly rejected Irving’s attempt to appeal the judgment against him. Lipstadt represented President George W. Bush as a member of the official American delegation to the 60 th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. As an historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, she helped design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. President Clinton appointed her to two consecutive terms on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. From 1996 through 1999 she served as a member of the United States State Department Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. In this capacity she, together with a small group of leaders and scholars, advised Secretary of State Madeline Albright on matters of religious persecution abroad. Dr. Lipstadt has also written DENYING THE HOLOCAUST: THE GROWING ASSAULT ON TRUTH AND MEMORY (Free Press/Macmillan, 1993), the first full length study of those who deny the Holocaust. The book has been translated into German and Japanese. She has also written BEYOND BELIEF: THE AMERICAN PRESS AND THE COMING OF THE HOLOCAUST (Free Press/Macmillan, 1986, 1993). The book, an examination of how the American press covered the news of the persecution of European Jewry between the years 1933 and 1945, addresses the question "what did the American public know and when did they know it?" She has taught at University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College in Los Angeles. In Spring 2006 she was a Visiting Professor at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. She received her B.A. from City College of New York and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Professor Lipstadt is frequently called upon by the media to comment on matters of Jewish interest. She has appeared on the BBC, CNN, CBS's Sixty Minutes, NBC's Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, National Public Radio's Fresh Air, PBS's Charlie Rose Show, and is a frequent contributor to and is widely quoted in a variety of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Atlanta Constitution, Baltimore Sun, New York Times, Time, Newsweek, London Times, London Daily Telegraph, and Chicago Tribune. She declined an appearance on C-Span BookTv because of their intention to “balance” her presentation with one by David Irving. She has received numerous teaching awards including Emory’s student government association’s award for being the teacher most likely to motivate students to learn about new and unfamiliar topics and the Emory Williams award, for her courses on modern Jewish and Holocaust studies. Given to Emory’s outstanding teachers, the award is based on nominations by alumni of the professor who has had the greatest impact on them. She has received Honorary Doctorates from Yeshiva University, Bar Ilan University, and Baltimore Hebrew University. The Forward named her number two on its list of the “Forward Fifty”: the fifty top Jewish news makers for the year 2000. She is the 2005 winner of the Al Chernin Award given by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to the person who best exemplifies protection of the First Amendment. Previous recipients include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alan Dershowitz, and Stu Eisenstat. Lipstadt had a web log [blog] which is available at Lipstadt.blogspot.com.

 

 

 

       2008 Elkin Isaac Speaker - Carl Hiaasen, April 24th       
The Elkin Isaac Research Symposium Committee is pleased to announce that Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald columnist and three-time Pulitzer prize nominee, will be this year's keynote speaker. Hiaasen's columns have long been scathing indictments of the lack of control over the development and management of the south Florida environment and its limited resources and that cynicism is even more unbridled in his novels.

As a prelude to requesting support from Academic Affairs, we are seeking expressions of interest for a coterie developed around Carl Hiaasen's earliest novel, "Tourist Season." We will provide a "course pack" of selected columns so that participants are more able to understand how his columns and satire influence his works of fiction. Hiaasen will offer the keynote address at the Elkin Isaac Research Symposium in April and we are working to include a discussion of this book with him and coterie participants, as well as students, as a part of his visit.

Several reviews follow:

"A vacationing Shriner disappears, the only clue to his demise --- his fez awash on a Miami beach. The director of the Chamber of Commerce dies with a toy rubber alligator in his throat. It's the height of South Florida's tourist season and the Orange Bowl is nigh. The Chamber of Commerce is panicked as more tourists vanish. Will Brian Keyes, former reporter turned PI, be able to stop the eco-terrorist carnage by crocodile? We are introduced to Hiaasen's singularly twisted and rollicking sense of humor in this, the first of Hiaasen's South Florida fiendishly funny thrillers." --- Reviewed by Roz Shea © Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

"Wonderful...lively... fun...a remarkable example of what talented writers are doing these days with the mystery novel". - Tony Hillerman, The New York Times Book Review

"A dark, funny book full of irony and spice. I loved it!"-- Robert B. Parker

Hiaasen's website: http://www.carlhiaasen.com/

Fall 2007 Prentiss M. Brown Distinguished Lecture

This year's Prentiss M. Brown distinguished lecturer was Kwame Anthony Appiah.   Professor Appiah is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is the Chair of the Board of the American Council of Learned Societies and also the President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association.

He spoke in Towsley Hall, on September 20th, on topics related to his 2007 book: Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of  Strangers.

Among many other awards, Professor Appiah has won the Herskovits award for the best book published on Africa in English, the North American Social Philosophy award for the book making the best contribution to that discipline, the Ralph J.Bunche award for the best scholarly work in political science that explores issues of ethnic and cultural pluralism, the Gustavo Myers award for the outstanding book on human rights in North America, and the Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations. His remarkable range of accomplishments is further detailed on his website: http://www.appiah.net/. 

The evening was a truly remarkable one. A large number of faculty, emeriti and staff have told us that they found Professor Appiah's engagement with the campus community to be scintillating.  

Professor Appiah met with honors students over dinner at 5:00 on Thursday the 20th in the Briton Room. He spoke to the College at 7:00 with a reception afterwards.  Breakfast with interested faculty was at 8:00 on Friday.  He met with a room full of  interested students in the Observatory classroom at 10:00 Friday morning, and had lunch with faculty at 11-12:30 in the Briton Room.  We thank him for his gracious presence.

** Prentiss M. Brown Honors Spring 2007 Common Reading **

The Brown Honors Common Reading for Spring 2007 was "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker.  Pinker was here on Campus, Thursday, April 26 for a lecture in Goodrich Chapel at 7:00pm.

Prentiss M. Brown Honors Fall Common Listening 2006

The honors common experience for the fall of 2006  featured two recordings and visits by two of the most innovative and in demand drummers and composers on the jazz scene. Gerald Cleaver's Adjust (Fresh Sounds-New Talent) and Matt Wilson's Going Once, Going Twice (Palmetto Records). Led by Prentiss M. Brown Distinguished Honors Professor, Dr. Andrew Bishop, the two recordings were examined, exhibiting  the wide array of technical and expressive qualities available in today's jazz idiom. Both Cleaver and Wilson reside in New York City, have ties to the upper Midwest, and visited Albion's campus for a lecture demonstration. These two artists were on the Albion College campus to perform on Monday, September 11th and on Wednesday, October 11th in Norris 101.

Gerald Cleaver is a versatile drummer and composer originally from Detroit, Michigan and now based in Brooklyn, New York. His recording Adjust (Fresh Sound New Talent)—featuring Andrew Bishop, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn, Ben Monder, and Reid Anderson—received a “debut record of the year” nomination from the Jazz Journalists’ Association. He has performed with Muhal Richard Abrams, David Berkman, Tim Berne, Kenny Burrell, Marilyn Crispell, Marty Ehrlich, Ellery Eskelin, Tommy Flanagan, Charles Gayle, Mark Helias, Hank Jones, John Lindberg, Kevin Mahogany, Roscoe Mitchell, Andrea Parkins, Jacky Terrasson, Henry Threadgill, Mark Turner, Mathew Shipp, Rodney Whitaker, Reggie Workman, and many others.

Prentiss M. Brown Honors Fall Common Reading 2005

Our Brown Honors Common Reading this fall was "The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time" by John Kelly.  Kelly was here on Campus, Thursday, September 22 for a lecture in Goodrich Chapel at 7:00pm.

So begins, in almost fairy-tale fashion, a contemporary account of the worst natural disaster in European History - what we call the Black Death, and what the generation who lived through it called la moria grandissima: "the great mortality."

The Great Mortality is John Kelly's compelling narrative account of the medieval plague, from its beginnings on the desolate, windswept steppes of Central Asia to its journey through the teeming cities of Europe.

The Great Mortality also looks at new theories about the cause of the plague and takes into account why some scientists and historians believe that the Black Death was an outbreak not of bubonic plague, but of another infectious illness - perhaps anthrax or a disease like Ebola.

John Kelly, who holds a graduate degree in European history, is the author and coauthor of ten books on science, medicine, and human behavior, including Three on the Edge, which Publishers Weekly called the work of "an expert storyteller." He lives in New York city.

CSPAN did broadcast Mr. Kelly's talk.

www.thegreatmortality.com

Prentiss M. Brown Honors Spring Common Reading

This spring our Brown Honors Common Reading was "On Human Nature"  by E. O. Wilson - 1988.  Wilson was here on campus on April 21, 2005 for a lecture in Goodrich Chapel.  

About the book itself he says: "To address human behavior systematically is to make a potential topic of every corridor in the labyrinth of the human mind, and hence to consider not just the social sciences but the humanities, including philosophy and the process of scientific discovery itself. Consequently, 'On Human Nature' is not a work of science; it is a work about science, and about how far natural sciences can penetrate into human behavior before they will be transformed into something new." "On Human Nature" covers aggression, sex, altruism and religion as well as heredity, development and emergent behavior brilliantly.

Dr. Wilson graciously gave an afternoon of his time to open discussion with a packed room of honors students in the Wendell Will room.  This exchange between our students and an eminent guest still stands out as one of the best in recent years. We applaud professor Wilson's openness and candor and his ability to engage students in direct and deeply informative conversation. This event stands as a model of what an honors exchange of ideas should look like. 

FALL 2004 Newsletter
Spring 2004 Newsletter
Fall 2003 Newsletter
Fall 2002 Newsletter
Spring 2003 Newsletter

2005 Student Thesis writers and Titles of their Theses  click here

Names of student Thesis writers and the Titles of their Theses, 2004 click here

Pictures from the last event of the Fall Semester - Midnight Dessert

Take a look at a few projects that have been done by the Great Issues in Fine Arts class: 

The Exquisite Corpse
Monster Hybrids in Clay