Nisbet Honors Program: A Quarter Century of Learning and Community

Written by Chris Worthy

Marie Durflinger ’26 (Nisbet Honors) overflows with curiosity. Learning – now and for life – is a passion for her. And she thrives in an environment that encourages asking questions and pursuing interests of all types, along with peers who challenge each other and leaders who provide support. That’s exactly what she found in the Nisbet Honors Program at Converse University.

A Generous Investment that Creates an Exceptional Community

This year marks 25 years of the program. It is an exceptional opportunity made possible by the generosity of Marian McGowan Nisbet ’62 who established an endowment to create the invitation-only program that grows students into passionate learners and ambassadors for ingenuity. That investment continues to inspire creativity and commitment that ripples far beyond the classroom.

Honors courses offer high-level, high-interest study in small classes that inspire students to engage in the rigorous, creative exploration of a variety of subjects.

Honors courses offer high-level, high-interest study in small classes that inspire students to engage in the rigorous, creative exploration of a variety of subjects. They learn alongside likeminded peers and professors who delight in sharing the joy of learning.

Dr. Edward Woodfin, George Dean Johnson, Jr., Chair of History and Nisbet Honors Program Co-Director, said the Nisbet Honors Program does more than teach. It creates community.

“For high achieving students, one of the main things they need is the association with other high achieving students and with content that is aimed at them,” he said. “If they get that and are in a situation where everyone in the group wants to be challenged, everyone in the group is fired up about learning, and where it’s actually cool to be smart, that’s what unlocks their potential. When they get into a group of likeminded people, all of whom are highly motivated and willing to put in the effort to do the learning, they just blossom and thrive.”

That community has been growing for a quarter century now. Woodfin says strong bonds often form from the start, which for many is the Honors section of the First Year Seminar.

“We try to create a cadre of these high achievers who push each other right through and then stay connected their whole lives.”

Dr. Edward Woodfin

“For 20 years, I have been doing the First Year Seminar off and on for the Honors students, and I have seen so many lifelong friendships begin on the first day of class,” he said. “When they come back to campus for the reunion, I will actually see them come back in a group and they come and find me. They are the group from my First Year Seminar from the Honors Program, and they are still best friends to this day, and I think that’s part of it. Sometimes they’re from totally different fields – you’ll have a scientist and an artist and someone in politics, but they had this formative moment that we gave them, and then we also give them all these moments to reconnect across the disciplines with each other all the way through college. We try to create a cadre of these high achievers who push each other right through and then stay connected their whole lives.”

Inspiring Creativity and a Path Forward

Dr. Laura Feitzinger Brown, Professor of English, Director of Arts and Humanities and Nisbet Honors Program Co-Director, has been with the program from its start. She was already teaching a first-year honors seminar and students had the opportunity to complete a senior honors thesis project, but there was no formal program to keep them connected in the intervening years prior to the creation of the Nisbet Honors Program. Brown said fostering the growth of the program and its participants has been a joy. She has seen students thrive and then go on to enriching careers – one even directs a college honors program.

“Once people realize that and hear what an honors program can offer, they do want to be involved in it.”

Dr. Laura Feitzinger Brown

Brown said the Nisbet Honors Program offers students an inspiring path both in and out of the classroom, including the opportunity for retreats, independent research, funding for study abroad, and the Glasgow Honors Program held at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

“It’s like continuing with the most challenging and most interesting classes you’ve taken in high school,” Brown said. “Very often the students will say these were their favorite classes at Converse – they felt energized. They felt there was something about the kinds of topics and the level of discussion that were enriching. It opens a lot of doors. Once people realize that and hear what an honors program can offer, they do want to be involved in it.”

Throughout her time as a Converse student, Durflinger has enjoyed Honors retreats, including a recent opportunity to learn about printmaking from a North Carolina artist and ecology in the Cradle of Forestry – “It’s a blend of activities and education,” she said. And interdisciplinary courses like Math on the Ballot, which explores the computational aspects of democracy, have provided the opportunity to have genuine connection and cross-curricular learning with other students.

“It’s a very good way to meet likeminded people who are not only getting good grades and liking their classes, but who are just passionate about things in their life,” Durflinger said. “I will meet someone in a class, and I can just tell that we will be friends by how they speak in class and the discussions they participate in. I feel like it’s just an extra level of friendship that you can get while you’re at college.”

“Kind, open and supportive”

Genesis Medley ’28 (Nisbet Honors) is majoring in Psychology and Theatre. She was certain about choosing Converse University, but she debated about adding the Nisbet Honors Program to her college experience until she heard other students speak about how much it meant to them. And she hasn’t looked back since. Medley has found support and learning opportunities beginning with her First Year Seminar, and she plans to participate in the Glasgow Honors Program this fall.

“It definitely caters toward what you want to do with your time in college, even the classes offer a wide range of tastes,” she said. “Our directors, Dr. Brown and Dr. Woodfin, are kind, open and supportive people. You just feel like you’re in a little community that builds you up.”

For Woodfin, it is a dream realized.

“There are people like me who were students like this, and we know what we craved,” he said. “We craved deep engagement with important issues and subjects and with other people who were willing to talk about it and think about it on the same level that we wanted to engage in. It gives me great joy to see the way that we have developed those wonderful students, and the way that they have prospered, and how they thrive in their lives.”