KU announces new leadership in University Honors Program


Mon, 05/12/2014

author

Kristi Henderson

LAWRENCE – Jonathan Earle, director of the University Honors Program, has been named dean of the Honors College at Louisiana State University. The appointment is effective Aug. 15.

Earle, also an associate professor in the Department of History, has served in various capacities across the university. He has been active in the University Honors Program for more than 15 years, including as a faculty fellow. From 2003 to 2010, he also served as associate director for programming at the Dole Institute of Politics. Earle has been a faculty member at KU since 1997.

“Jonathan Earle will be missed by countless students and colleagues. He has been an active researcher and mentor who has sought to connect the lessons of history with the reality of the present. I thank him for all he’s done at KU and wish him the best at LSU,” said Danny Anderson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Earle will hold the title of Roger Hadfield Ogden Dean. The Honors College at LSU is a residential college, with residence halls and a dedicated classroom building for its students.

“KU and Lawrence have been home to me for nearly two decades. This was a difficult choice. I will miss this community profoundly and will be grateful for all I’ve learned here as I apply those experiences to the new challenges that await at LSU,” Earle said.

Anderson has named Bryan Young, associate professor in the in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, as the new director for the University Honors Program, effective June 1. Young was a finalist in the search for a director to succeed Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett. He will begin collaborating immediately with Earle to prepare for the transition.

Young has deep ties to the honors program. His father, philosophy professor J. Michael Young, led the program from 1990 to 1995. Bryan Young is himself a graduate of the program (1995), and his son, Cal, is currently a KU honors student.

“My involvement with the University Honors Program been especially important and rewarding to me,” Young said. “I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to continue to serve the honors program as its next director.”

Young has been involved with the honors program since he joined the KU faculty in 2000. He has served as a Faculty Fellow since 2006. As a Fellow, he has advised nearly 200 honors students, taught eight freshman honors seminars, developed the first Commons Course, served on multiple committees, reviewed applications, met with prospective students and helped with orientation sessions.

“Bryan Young’s passion and vision for the honors program is exciting. He is eager to work with the staff and core honors faculty to develop and implement the next phase of growth and innovation in the program,” Anderson said.

An alumnus with KU master’s and bachelor’s degrees in engineering, Young completed his doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Iowa in 2000. At KU, he has been honored with numerous awards for teaching and research, including a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching in 2007 and the School of Engineering’s Miller Scholar Award in 2005 and 2009. 

Mon, 05/12/2014

author

Kristi Henderson

Media Contacts

Kristi Henderson

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

785-864-3663