Fourteen McAllaster Scholars graduate, setting new high for GU honors program

Published: May 19, 2025

Author: By Kollin Fields

Front row left-to-right: Gretchen Carie, Meghan Garmon, Olivia McConnaughay, Abigail Cox, Cate Cota, Kennedy Gerton.

Back row left-to-right: Brook Schutt, Kara Willson, Vanessa Compton, Callie Adkins, Amanda Travis, D’Arcy Johnson, Lucas Nowlan.

Not pictured, Megan Chapman

The room grew a bit quiet in 2022 when I told sophomores that in three years they would complete and defend an original research project—some as long as seventy-five pages. But slowly and surely, they began chipping away at the hallmark of university honors programs across the country: the senior thesis.

Students in the McAllaster Scholars Program, named in honor of Dr. Elva McAllaster, commit to a rigorous and largely self-guided honors curriculum during their time at Greenville University. As sophomores, they begin thinking about a topic in their field of study. But as we remind them, it’s not a topic alone—but a question—that guides their research.

What is unknown that begs to be known? This curiositas is the guiding virtue of the intellectual life. Our students not only want to know, but to share what becomes known. This is where the isolating life of the mind flowers into a flourishing community of learners.

So, with that question three years ago, these McAllaster Scholars set out to do something many of them thought impossible. And yet, this year, they have done it. They have climbed the mountain and, as I told them not too many weeks ago, have proven to themselves that they can do hard things. They demonstrate to themselves—and to the university—that they are capable and curious members of a lifelong intellectual fellowship.

We would be remiss not to acknowledge the countless hours of faculty members and thesis advisers who guided them through the process. Whether in a first-semester general education course or a senior seminar, GU’s faculty and staff provide wisdom, patience, and a gentle nudge to these honors students—especially when the process felt never-ending.

This year’s honors theses spanned nine disciplines across the university: psychology, biology, digital media, business, English, worship arts, theology, education, and social work. Students explored a wide variety of topics—from ancient Israel to streaming platforms to the behavior of snakes and turtles.

There’s a saying in the program: “The best thesis is a finished thesis.” I imagine our students feel that deeply. But as a program—and as a university—we hope that students are transformed spiritually and intellectually through the process of research and writing, even more than by the outcome.

In time, their theses may find their way to the dark and dusty corners of faculty bookshelves, with future Greenville students wondering who these people even were.

But the godly men and women they’ve become in the process? That is what lasts.

As we tell our first-year honors students: consider who you want to be before what you want to do. We are excited to see who these students have become, who they will become, and all that they will do.