Nielsen named temporary Honors Coordinator
By: Ashley Higginbotham
News Editor
“This is what I would live for,” he said as he looks at the letter, “I’m proud of this.” Former Honors Program Coordinator Eric Meyer reads a letter from a former student who thanked him for helping her get accepted into Washington University.
From starting out as a Meramec student, to obtaining the position of Honors Coordinator, Meyer after five years, is passing on the title and stepping down. Meyer was responsible for contacting universities about scholarships, working with faculty members to make sure a variety of classes would be offered and advising students.
“It’s quite apparent that the administration on this campus wanted to dismantle the program,” Meyer said when asked why he decided to step down.
“I just couldn’t do it to the program and the students,” Meyer said.
Five out of the nine honors classes this semester were cancelled.
“The classes that were cancelled were because of low enrollment,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Andrew Langrehr.
Langrehr said that a class must have at least 15 students for it to stay. He said that when a class does not reach 15 students, the deans discuss if the class has any justification or a “need it to graduate” status.
For honors students, if they only needed one more class to graduate and it was cancelled, the administration will still approve that student can graduate with honors.
Meyer became Meramec’s coordinator in the fall of 2007. Since then the program has more than doubled it’s participants according to Meyer. He prided himself on making sure he put students first, and would spend his time with every honor student on campus.
“I would make sure that they knew what classes they wanted to take, and where they wanted to transfer,” Meyer said.
Assistant professor of Economics, Eric Nielsen will assume the position temporarily for the fall semester.
“I believe that they will pick the permanent coordinator this spring,” Nielsen said.
“We hold an open search,” Langrehr said. “Which is when we look at different employees from different places.”
Nielsen said that he will put in an application to hopefully achieve the title of honors coordinator.
“The honors program,” Nielsen said, “is a dynamic program that can grow with the needs of the students.”
If hired, Nielsen said he would not make blunt changes to the program, but “grow to meet the needs and wants of students.” He said he wants to make as little impact on changes as possible, but there will be special cases due to the abundance of cancelled classes. For example, a student needs nine honors credits in order to graduate. If the student only needed to complete one more course to graduate, and that class was cancelled, the student would more than likely be able to graduate with honors.
Seeing students graduate with honors was one of Meyer’s favorite moments as coordinator. His wall is filled with awards, and photos of himself with groups of graduates from each year he was a coordinator. Meyer will remain an Associate Professor of English for Meramec, and will “always talk to students about their future.”
