Just as Catherine Cater\u27s intellect has never been bounded by a single discipline, field, or approach, these three of her colleagues move well beyond Honors in their contributions to this volume. Wherever Honors flourishes within a college or university, the whole institution is improved by its presence

Ponder, Anne

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Journal of the National Collegiate Honors 
Council --Online Archive National Collegiate Honors Council 
Spring 2000 
Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction 
Anne Ponder 
Colby-Sawyer College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal 
 Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons 
Ponder, Anne, "Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction" (2000). Journal of the National 
Collegiate Honors Council --Online Archive. 202. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/202 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the National Collegiate Honors Council at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the National 
Collegiate Honors Council --Online Archive by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of 
Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Introduction to Section One: 
Collegiate Instruction 
Anne Ponder 
Colby-Sawyer College 
Just as Catherine Cater's intellect has never been bounded by a single discipline, field, or approach, these three of her colleagues move well beyond Honors in their contributions to this volume. Wherever Honors flourishes 
within a college or university, the whole institution is improved by its presence. 
And so it is with Ted Estess' personal narrative. With a light, comedic touch, 
Ted revisits the super seriousness with which he first encountered his field through 
books, while studying in places not Mississippi. This "other" view gives him the 
distance and perspective to celebrate his rightful identity as the deeply and well read 
scholar from Mississippi that he is. Though he says he's read too many books, his 
generous conclusion would persuade me otherwise. 
In conversations over the years with Catherine, I acquired the notion that, if the 
best habits of intellectual inquiry could be harnessed with respectful and hospitable 
discoLirse, we'd have something quite fine indeed. My colleagues and I at Colby-
Sawyer College are attempting to realize this, as a way to move a college forward. 
We suggest that "leading a college as a liberal arts practice" may offer similar 
advantages to other colleges and universities. 
Sara Varhus, in her erudite essay, shows us how our own voices speak to each 
other in past pages of the Forum for Honors. Many of those voic.es come from the 
issues that Sara Varhus edited while Catherine Cater chaired the Publications Board 
for NCHC. Our voices argue passionately and, thus far, inconclusively. Is the 
essence of what we do i ntri nsic or extri nsic in its va I ue? Is it a private or pu bl ic good? 
Sara's essay makes it clearer to me why and how our eclectic approaches speak to 
each other. 
SPRING/SUMMER 2000 9 


Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council --Online Archive National Collegiate Honors Council Spring 2000 Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction Anne Ponder Colby-Sawyer College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal  Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons Ponder, Anne, "Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction" (2000). Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council --Online Archive. 202. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/202 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the National Collegiate Honors Council at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council --Online Archive by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction Anne Ponder Colby-Sawyer College Just as Catherine Cater's intellect has never been bounded by a single discipline, field, or approach, these three of her colleagues move well beyond Honors in their contributions to this volume. Wherever Honors flourishes within a college or university, the whole institution is improved by its presence. And so it is with Ted Estess' personal narrative. With a light, comedic touch, Ted revisits the super seriousness with which he first encountered his field through books, while studying in places not Mississippi. This "other" view gives him the distance and perspective to celebrate his rightful identity as the deeply and well read scholar from Mississippi that he is. Though he says he's read too many books, his generous conclusion would persuade me otherwise. In conversations over the years with Catherine, I acquired the notion that, if the best habits of intellectual inquiry could be harnessed with respectful and hospitable discoLirse, we'd have something quite fine indeed. My colleagues and I at Colby-Sawyer College are attempting to realize this, as a way to move a college forward. We suggest that "leading a college as a liberal arts practice" may offer similar advantages to other colleges and universities. Sara Varhus, in her erudite essay, shows us how our own voices speak to each other in past pages of the Forum for Honors. Many of those voic.es come from the issues that Sara Varhus edited while Catherine Cater chaired the Publications Board for NCHC. Our voices argue passionately and, thus far, inconclusively. Is the essence of what we do i ntri nsic or extri nsic in its va I ue? Is it a private or pu bl ic good? Sara's essay makes it clearer to me why and how our eclectic approaches speak to each other. SPRING/SUMMER 2000 9 

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Introduction to Section One: Collegiate Instruction

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