Honors director marks one year

Dr. Lionel Crews is certainly a man to look up to.

Crews, an associate professor of physics, served UT Martin Honors Programs for two years as an associate director and two years as assistant director before being rising to the top last January. He was chosen to replace Dr. Dan McDonough, professor of history, as director of Honors Programs after McDonough resigned for personal reasons in December 2010.

The transition to administration was not easy, however. Crews first had to deal with taking over Honors Programs midway through an academic year, and then lost both his assistant directors in the fall.

The most difficult obstacle has been "just getting through the first year. It's a big change for me. There is much more variety of tasks in the position of Honors Director," said Crews.

He is enjoying the new position despite the setbacks, however.

"I love working with the faculty to try to come up with new ideas to enhance the already great program.  I love working with students to maximize their experience in Honors.  And I love building relationships with students, helping them through troubled times and seeing them succeed," said Crews.

"Dr. Crews is doing a great job as honors director. He is making positive changes to the program in several different ways. He has many ideas for how to make the honors program and University Scholars better for students and how to make the two programs more respected both on and off campus," said Amber Watson, a senior member of the University Scholars Organization.

Crews certainly has made his mark on the program already, initiating major changes such as a new discipline-specific track for honors students, requesting more research funding for University Scholars projects, creating an honors alumni council and increasing the appeal of the honors building itself.

His main goal for the immediate future is to increase the quality and exposure of the research projects conducted by University Scholars in their third and fourth years in the program.

Crews is currently working with department chairs and college deans to find a new assistant director who will be devoted to the success of Honors Programs as a whole, although no names are being announced. Crews hopes to officially select an assistant director as soon as possible.