Author: UNIVERSITY-HONORS

It’s always an honor to celebrate the remarkable members of our UH community each spring and this year was no different. Find the full program and some photos from our most recent UH SendOff event below!

Student Leadership Recognition

Undergraduate Assistants, Advising Mentors, Student Life Council, Peer Academic Leaders, & UH Student Board

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Leadership Medallion Recipients

Jeremiah Carr, Alessandra Crippa, Alyssa Davies, Sarah Davis, Gabrielle Dorsey, Patrick Gee, Julianna Gray, Anika Hukmani, Naasera Husain, Tanvi Kotta, Diana Lyons, Vivian Maneval, Ryan Mathew, Benjamin Mielcarek, Kate Oyedele, Ashley Patterson, Hannah Smith, & Cricia Villanueva

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House Spirit Award Winners

House Altair: Noah Oppelt (1,067 pts)
House Shaula: Sanaya Moore (1,129 pts)
House Eltanin: Ishan Joshi (1,186 pts)
House Denebola: Chase Baldwin (1,668 pts)

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Emerging Leader Award Winners

David Akamine, Sarah Davis, Rose Deguet Delury, Diana Lyons, Alisha Mansoor, & Benjamin Mielcarek

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Student Scholar Award Winners

Anushka Poddar, Savannah Robbins, & LeeAnn Wong Arbelo

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Vantage Point Realization Award Winners

Brooke Baney, Adam Didouchevski, Julianna Gray, & Hannah Richard

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Outgoing Thematic Clusters Recognition

Artificial? Intelligence?: Roland Rust, Rebecca Jones, Cody Buntain, Kenneth Frauwirth, & Alex Harlig

Butterfly Effects: Richard Bell, Daniel Yoder Zipp, DeNeen Brown, Todd Cooke, Marisa Franco, & Robert Graham

Science & Fiction: Kim Coles, Brynne McBryde, Luz Martínez-Miranda, & Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman

Surveillance: Brian Connor, Jordan Johnson, Jessica Vitak, & Leigha McReynolds

Legacy Tracks Recognition

Climate in Crisis: Tyson Slocum

Drawn to D.C.: Ingrid Satelmajer

National Security: Tim Nusraty & DJ Rosenthal

Strategic Cross-Cultural Change: Gerald Suarez

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Impact & Innovation Award Winners

Brynne McBryde & Ingrid Satelmajer

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UH Mission Award Winners

Sage Hoffman, Anika Hukmani, Rebecca Jones, Hannah Smith, & Laila Wilson

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House Cup Winners

House Denebola!

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UH Class of 2026

After six years as Director of University Honors, Dr. Stephan Blatti recently announced that he will step down at the end of this academic year. Dr. Blatti fearlessly captained the UH ship through a highly innovative update to the curriculum, the construction and move into Heritage Community, and a global pandemic. Under Blatti’s leadership, UH has grown from a time in 2019 when he was the program’s sole employee to a dedicated team of more than 20 full-time faculty and staff. From teaching in one of the original thematic clusters, to the inauguration of the Maryland Honors in Oxford track at his alma mater, to his much-anticipated Breakfasts with Blatti, it is fair to say that Dr. Blatti will leave a lasting legacy in the program he helped to reimagine.

Before he decamps for his next adventure in New England, the UH Student Board sat down with Dr. Blatti to talk about his time at UH and his hopes for the future of the program. Enjoy their conversation below, and make sure to stop by his office before the end of the semester to wish Dr. Blatti a fond “See you later!”

What brought you to University Honors?

I came to UMD in 2017 after nearly a decade at the University of Memphis where I’d been an Associate Professor of Philosophy. At Memphis I had been moving into administrative roles, serving as director of the humanities center and later as chair of the Philosophy Department. I care a great deal about public higher education, and I especially enjoy teaching honors students.

So, when our family decided to relocate to Maryland, I was immediately drawn to UMD, in general, and to the Honors College, in particular, which was then searching for an Associate Director to work closely with University Honors. That was eight years ago, almost to the day.

What is the biggest challenge you faced during your time in UH, and what did you learn from it?

The transition from “old UH” to “new UH” was long and bumpy. The first cohort of students to join the “new UH” arrived in Fall 2020. As if launching a new living-learning program wasn’t challenging enough, we did so in the teeth of COVID-19, in the midst of a nationwide racial reckoning, and whilst actively supporting “old UH” students still working to complete the existing curriculum (which itself needed to be wound down as the new one ramped up). Complicating things further was the ongoing construction of Heritage Community, with first-year students split between Pyon-Chen and Hagerstown Halls in 2021-22. Not until Johnson-Whittle and the UH Commons (Yahentamitsi Hall) opened in Fall 2022 did it begin to feel like the vision for the “new UH” was realized. Except that, in many ways, we’d only just arrived at the starting line: because even with the restructured curriculum, a full team of faculty and staff, and the new buildings all in place, we hadn’t even begun, really, to build the culture of the new program. Which brings me to the lesson that I take from these years: meaningful change takes much time and care.

What do you hope for UH’s future?

I often think about something that a former student said about UH. Sasha Kahn was an “old UH” student on whom I relied for counsel as we developed and began to implement our plan for the “new UH.” For his many contributions to the program, we recognized Sasha with an award just before he graduated in Spring 2020. The award was accompanied by an invitation to give a brief address to UH students. Because the pandemic prevented us from in-person gatherings, Sasha elected to record a video that could be shared with all UH students; it’s still available online here. Being a Government & Politics and Architecture double-major, Sasha spends much of the video drawing a picture of Hagerstown Hall while he shares a story from his first year in UH. Along the way, he makes the following observation which has stuck with me all these years:

University Honors is a huge program—it’s thousands of people. And sometimes it struggles to find a unifying identity. And, you know, I think that’s kind of a good thing. We aren’t all a single living-learning community in the way that some of the other smaller ones are. We are many living-learning communities under one name. We’re lounge friends and roommates and study groups that divide and reform when we need to. And in times like these, when distancing and isolation are the only things we know, those communities become more important than ever. We are all in this together—as University Honors, as the Honors College, and as Maryland.

-Sasha Kahn, ’20

I couldn’t agree more, and from the “old UH” through the “new UH,” that’s always been true. It seems fitting, therefore, that Sasha’s drawing of Hagerstown hangs today in the main office of the UH Commons—in a building, that is, that was barely under construction at the time he graduated. Because it’s never really been about “old UH” or “new UH.” Our one UH has been many UHs all the way along.

So as I depart and as new leadership steps in (watch this space for news!), let me first register what a privilege it has been to work alongside you these past few years. My sincere hope is that students, faculty, and staff will continue to push the program to evolve in ways that support and educate the many communities University Honors serves, because it’s in that innovation, co-creation, and multiplicity that UH’s identity consists.

Another annual House Challenge Course is safely in the books! We were thrilled to have so many students interested in taking part in this yearly event intended to bring together students from each house to connect with one another outside of the classroom. From ice-breakers and teamwork games on the ground to high-flying antics climbing the RecWell Challenge course, we love to see our UH students rise to the occasion (literally!).

Special thanks to the RecWell team and the UH Staff and Faculty members who came to join our students for this experience!

Check out the photo gallery below.

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House Altair

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House Denebola

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House Eltanin

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House Shaula

It’s not every day that students get the unique opportunity to enhance their academic experiences outside the classroom—but here in University Honors, it’s more common than you may think. Students in the Metamorphosis and Heritage clusters recently joined their professors in the great outdoors for some hands-on learning. Learn more about each of these exciting excursions below!

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HNUH 238R: Invasive: Feminist Perspectives on Power, Politics, and Ecosurveillance

On a balmy Saturday in September, students in Professor Johnson’s Metamorphosis cluster course ventured out to Greenbelt Park to hear from a local resource manager and work together on a restoration project focused on invasive plantlife in the park. Coinciding with their recent coursework on the practice and ethics of invasive species management, students rolled up their sleeves and assisted with the removal of wineberry and mile-a-minute-weed that were encroaching on the edges of a playground within the park. 

“I really want to celebrate the great work these students have done–they came out and got really sweaty and dirty on a Saturday, embodied an admirable work ethic the whole time, and never ceased to bring their creative and curious questions into the conversation and the process itself,” says Johnson of the experience. “It was truly a delight to work and learn alongside them!”

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HNUH 268W: Where the Waters Blend: Contemporary Indigenous Perspectives on History, Traditions, and Modern Issues

Students in Professor Stoltz’s Heritage cluster course recently traveled out to Indian Head, Maryland for a guided kayak tour of the Mattawoman Creek. Before heading out, students were invited to give an offering of gratitude to the land and the water. While out on the creek, they were introduced to an abundant variety of native plants integral to the health of the Potomac’s ecosystem. 

Unlike many traditional courses focused on the Indigenous experience, this course aims to center the narratives of the Piscataway people (rather than the voices of their colonizers). Co-taught by Stoltz and multiple members of the local Piscataway-Conoy tribe, this innovative and transformative excursion gave students a first-hand look at the culture and history of Maryland’s Indigenous people.