Ouachita’s Carl Goodson Honors Program awards grant recipients, inducts new members
February 20, 2019
- Abby TurnerOuachita Baptist University’s Carl Goodson Honors Program and Alpha Tau student honors
organization hosted their annual Black and White Reception on Thursday, Feb. 7, awarding
three student research grants and inducting more than 100 new members. More than 30
honors students also were presented with badges for successful thesis proposals.
“It was the biggest Black and White we’ve ever had,” said Dr. Barbara Pemberton, director
of the Honors Program and Ouachita professor of Christian missions. “There were about
175 people there. It was a wonderful turnout.”
The Carl Goodson Honors Program, which encourages intellectual growth and academic
excellence for high-achieving students, is composed of more than 400 current Ouachita
students. Students in the program take 13 honors hours while maintaining a minimum
of a 3.5 grade point average. The Honors Program was established over 50 years ago
to encourage and challenge students academically and offer them the opportunity to
explore subjects not offered through Ouachita’s regular curriculum and conduct research
under a professor for a thesis.
Alpha Tau is the student-led honors society for Honors Program students that coordinates
community service opportunities, monthly colloquia, social events and other activities.
Three students in the Honors Program were recognized and awarded travel grants to
further their research and studies; the grants are intended to assist students with
research abroad or in the U.S. for their honors theses. The recipients of this year’s
grants include Mattie Dodson, Garrett Ham Scholar; Brooke Sanderford, Carl Goodson
Scholar; and Selby Tucker, Ben Elrod Scholar.
“I am so honored to receive this grant from the Honors Program,” said Mattie Dodson,
a senior Christian studies/biblical studies major from Arkadelphia, Ark. She will
be traveling to Italy for two weeks to stay with the sisters of San Luca while studying
the life and legacy of female saints.
“I know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and there is no way that I
would get to do this if I wasn't awarded this grant,” she said. “I hope to learn about
their ministry and theology as women who pursue Christ without the influence of men.”
Brooke Sanderford is a senior communication sciences and disorders and Spanish double
major from Stephenville, Texas. She plans to travel to rural Mexico and research ways
to use speech pathology in various communities.
“Being able to have a travel grant to Mexico is significant for me because it beautifully
combines my two majors and my two passions,” Sanderford said. “My hope is to study
and learn about the practical ways that a major, such as communication sciences/disorders,
can be used in places where English is not the primary language and later communicate
these findings with others in my major.”
Selby Tucker is a senior accounting and political science double major from Hamburg,
Ark. She is studying women’s participation in the U.S. government and will be traveling
to Washington, D.C., this summer for research.
“I will visit members of the 116th U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C, and spend three
full days interviewing women in the Women’s Caucus and hearing their stories,” Tucker
said. “I believe their involvement in the Women’s Caucus shows they are proud to be
a female in politics, which I am very passionate about.”
Speakers at the reception included special guest Molly Bowman Maj, a 2014 Ouachita
honors graduate and 2013 Ben Elrod Scholar, and Ouachita President Dr. Ben Sells.
Other special guests included Judith and William Goodson, the daughter-in-law and
grandson of Dr. Carl Goodson, and Lisa Sells, wife of Dr. Ben Sells. Dr. Stan Poole,
vice president for academic affairs, and Honors Program alumni also were in attendance.
For more information about the Carl Goodson Honors Program, visit www.obu.edu/honors or contact Dr. Barbara Pemberton at pembertonb@obu.edu or (870) 245-5541.
By Abby Turner // Photo by Hannah Smith. Ouachita’s Carl Goodson Honors Program and
Alpha Tau student honors organization awarded three research grants to (from left)
Mattie Dodson, Selby Tucker and Brooke Sanderford at the annual Black and White Reception
on Thursday, Feb. 7. Download full size image here.
February 20, 2019
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