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Welcome!The Honors Program at Albion was founded in 1976 and in August of 2004 it was renamed The Prentiss M. Brown Honors Institute. 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 Institute 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 Institute 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 FALL 2008 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - Click Here
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS for Spring
2008-
Click Here ____________________________________________________________________________
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. 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.
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.
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 |
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Albion College ◦ Albion, Michigan
◦ 517/629-1000
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2008
Elkin
Isaac Speaker - Carl Hiaasen, April 24th
