Welcome to Our New Honors Faculty

We’re pleased to welcome our 2019 Alcuin Fellows to the Honors Program Faculty community. The Alcuin award recognizes proven excellence in teaching, willingness to pursue interdisciplinary education and potential to create exceptional educational experiences.

We asked each new member of our Honors faculty to share with us “Why Honors”:

Matt Bekker | Associate Professor of Geography

As a geographer, I am very interested in the “unexpected connections” that occur between natural and human environments, and across scales, so I was intrigued by the opportunity to teach a course where these connections can be explored across areas I haven’t even considered. I am also excited to teach and learn from students who are intensely curious about our world and are motivated to get out of their comfort zone and make some new discoveries.

Dean Duncan | Associate Professor of Theater & Media Arts

My approach to and interest in teaching is fundamentally interdisciplinary. My teaching is rooted in the notion that the most useful and joyful ways to study is to do so inclusively, and catholically.

Luke Howard | Associate Professor of Music History

The Honors program offers students opportunities to work together across disciplinary boundaries, sparking ideas and insights that not only change how we view our world, but also how we can begin to change the world itself for the better. It’s thrilling to me to witness that happen.

Jacob Rugh | Associate Professor of Sociology

I was attracted to teaching for the Honors Program for three main reasons. First, I wanted to expand the reach of my teaching on race and ethnicity beyond students who normally enroll in my course for GE or sociology credit. Second, because I was also an Honors student as an undergraduate, I am genuinely curious to learn from the insights of today’s Honors students in the classroom and through their readings. Last, I am incredibly excited to be teaching race at the intersection of music alongside Dr. Luke Howard and our amazing teaching assistants. Thank you, Honors Program, for this opportunity to stretch my intellectual capabilities and become a better professor.

Kerry Soper | Professor of Comparative Arts & Letters

I was drawn to teach at the BYU Honors Program because of my own experience as an undergrad at Utah State. It was there, in those classes, that I first took charge of my own education, finding the courage to explore and develop my own ideas. It feels right to come full circle in trying to give other students here at BYU those energizing, world-expanding experiences. I like the student’s optimism and energy and the friendliness of the staff and directors. During my time teaching for the Honors Program I have gained a deeper curiosity about other disciplines and worldview—it has energized and expanded my own scholarly work.