The Old and the New Retrospective Art Exhibition Marks Transition of WAU Honors Program to Honors College this Fall

Story by Donna Bigler

A retrospective art exhibition, “The Old and the New” will open at Washington Adventist University (WAU) on Wednesday, March 1, with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m.  Both the reception and exhibition will be located in the Department of English and Modern Languages, lower level, Wilkinson Hall, 7600 Flower Avenue, Takoma Park, Md. The exhibition, which will remain on display through April 28, is open to the public during office hours on weekdays.

The exhibition will feature artworks drawn from the past decade of Honors Program events, shown alongside artworks by the same artists not previously displayed at Washington Adventist University. Artists include Morris Cox, Beatrice Riese, David Jones, Abbott Pattison, Henri-Georges Adam, Jeremy Satterlund, and Lorraine Crawford. 

What began as the university’s Honors Program in the summer of 2004 is scheduled to become an Honors College in the fall of 2017. The Honors College will further enhance the level of academic excellence at WAU and will better serve gifted and talented students who want to be at a Christian school close to the nation’s capital. This will be the first Honors College in the Seventh-day Adventist system of higher education.

Over the years, the Honors Program has hosted a variety of co-curricular opportunities such as play performances, concerts, and art exhibits, along with guest presentations on campus. Interdisciplinary courses have focused on local resources, including a Civil War Study Tour and topics such as Art & Adventism, Shakespeare in Washington, Urban America and Diseases in History.

Last summer, for the first time, WAU Honors students studied on location in the United Kingdom as part of an inaugural collaboration with Newbold College, a sister institution near London. The students enrolled in courses taught by Newbold professors on “Shakespeare” and “Reformation to Revolution,” and learned about early modern England through play performances and visits to historic sites such as Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, and Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Work is commencing on the Honors College to develop interdisciplinary Honors degrees, enhanced scholarships, accelerated curricular pathways, service learning courses, competitive internships, as well as partnerships with other institutions – such as Newbold College.

Graduating Honors students have been accepted into graduate programs at schools such as Duke, Georgetown, USC, Chicago, Penn State, Catholic University, and Loma Linda, while others have directly entered into careers in education and media.