2026 Honors Convocation marks University Honors Program’s 70th anniversary

LAWRENCE — The University Honors Program recognized two faculty members and a student for their contributions to the program during Honors Convocation, an annual celebration for first-year honors students, which took place Aug. 23 at the Burge Union.

During her opening remarks, program director Sarah Crawford-Parker noted that the 2026-27 year marks the program’s 70th anniversary and discussed the deep connections and longstanding traditions that students will experience as members of the long-running program.

“There is a richness here, a legacy of relationships and opportunities that you won’t find anywhere else. You are part of something special,” Crawford-Parker said.

Jennifer Roberts, executive dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, provided the event’s keynote address. She encouraged this fall’s incoming class to engage with the groundbreaking research happening at KU.

“You have the opportunity to be part of the discovery process from the very beginning of your undergraduate career here, and I encourage you to seek out those opportunities through the faculty fellows you’ll be interacting with and with the professors and graduate instructors you encounter,” Roberts said.

The University Honors Program pursues a mission to challenge students in any major and school to launch extraordinary lives through exceptional academics, mentoring and interdisciplinary opportunities. To celebrate this tradition of excellence, the program announced several awards at Honors Convocation.

Lindsey Kraus, director of undergraduate studies for KU’s Institute for Leadership Studies, was named 2026’s Outstanding Departmental Honors Course Instructor. Kraus was recognized for her instruction of LDST 203 Introduction to Leadership, Honors.

Kraus’ student nominator highlighted “Leadership in Action,” the course’s semester-long project, as particularly worthwhile. Crawford-Parker added that in Kraus’ nomination, students expressed feeling “more prepared to take on any challenge thrown at them, regardless of shape or size” after taking the course.

Ray Mizumura-Pence, a teaching professor and the undergraduate director of the Department of American Studies, received the 2026 Outstanding Honors Seminar Instructor Award for his honors seminar, “Remembering in Public.”

Pence, who served as an Honors Faculty Fellow from 2023 to 2026, was nominated by a member of his seminar, which looked at the development of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial through an innovative role-playing approach.

In her remarks, Crawford-Parker discussed Mizumura-Pence's unique and immersive approach to teaching and the appreciation students have for the intentional way he regularly refreshes his course content and teaching style.  

Eli Cochrane, a senior in psychology, data science and political science from Canyon, Texas, was also announced as the 2026 recipient of the Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett Outstanding Contribution Award.  

Named in honor of a KU psychology professor emeritus and former director of the honors program, the $1,000 award recognizes a student who demonstrated a high level of dedication to and engagement with the program.

Cochrane served as a Common Cause Student Design Team member and an assistant for Colin McRoberts’ fall 2025 honors seminar, “Secrets of Conspiracy Theories.”  He also founded the KU Research Collective group to help connect undergraduate students to research, and his own research was recently awarded a Portz Interdisciplinary Fellowship from the National Collegiate Honors Council.  

Cochrane spoke to convocation attendees about having the audacity to pursue ambitious dreams and interests, even when feeling nervous or underqualified.  

“You have to find something meaningful to you, be genuine and try hard at what you want,” said Cochrane, “because you’re never going to feel ready until you have the audacity to do it.”