John E. Sallstrom Honors College at Georgia College & State University

The Honors College is pleased to release the 2025-2026 edition of Honorable Mentions, the annual Honors newsletter.

Emily Wright (’26), one of the students featured in the magazine, has also been named the inaugural recipient of the Peach Belt Conference’s Total Student Athlete Award!

Special thanks for production of Honorable Mentions are extended to student editor Jade Ferguson, student contributor Maggie Creekmore, and University Communications staff members Al Weston, Brooks Hinton, Bailey Wilson, and especially Andrea Medel (who designed the layout).

Happy reading!

Honorable Mentions 2025-26 Dive into our extensive resources on the topic that interests you. It's like a masterclass to be explored at your own pace.

Jack McKinney, an Honors student who earned a BA in rhetoric from GCSU the other week, has published an article titled “The Nation Wears Prada: A Transnational Rhetorical and Ideological Critique of the 2025 Met Gala through a Banal Nationalistic Framework” in the spring issue of the Proceedings of the Georgia Communication Association. The GCA recognized Jack’s essay, which began as an Honors project supervised by Dr. Nathan Bedsole, as the Top Student Paper at their recent conference. Congratulations, Jack, and thank you, Dr. Bedsole, for mentoring Jack!

Last Wednesday and Thursday, GCSU held its 2026 commencement ceremonies. Seventy-five Honors students walked across the stage. Ten of them—Kassie Arps, Emma Brunner, Kara Grieve, Alexis Keeney, Emma Laprade, Anna Sorkoff, Addy Strickland, Avery Treadwell, Kate Walker, and Emily Wright—were among the university’s 23 valedictorians. Congratulations to each of the 2026 graduates of the John E. Sallstrom Honors College!

On Wednesday, Honors Assistant Director & National Scholarships Coordinator Anna Whiteside held a reception to honor students who applied for national scholarships this year. Many earned those scholarships, but all put in a tremendous amount of effort that has already paid dividends or will in the future (using personal statements from scholarship applications for graduate school applications, polishing interview skills, etc.). Faculty/staff mentors attended, and Gilman Scholarship recipient Caleb Rogers delivered an inspiring keynote address. On Thursday, the Honors College held its Awards & Graduation Banquet to recognize recipients of Transformative Experience scholarships, Annual/Endowed scholarships, and Eta Sigma Alpha student/faculty awards. And of course we distributed regalia to May/August graduates! Some students were unable to attend because of scheduling conflicts with class, clinicals, and work, but we still had a packed room and a packed stage. In total, the Honors College has 75 graduates participating in the May commencement ceremony. With our 22 graduates from December, we have 97 total for the 26-27 academic year—the largest number ever. Kudos! Your hard work has paid off! Thank you to the faculty and staff who mentored these students, and thank you to Dr. Scott Buchanan, professor of political science, who delivered an inspiring keynote address!

On Saturday, May 9, the GCSU Alumni Office will be hosting a social during an Atlanta United game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Dean Brian Newsome in attendance and would love to see you there. For information and for tickets, please visit the Alumni Office’s webpage for the event.

GCSU Alumni Social at Atlanta United - Georgia College & State University Event on Georgia College & State University

The past week or so has been inspiring. On Friday, April 10, a group of Honors students did painting and soffit work on two Habitat-for-Humanity houses that are under construction in Milledgeville. On Tuesday, April 14, Dr. Ken Saladin had dinner with recent Saladin Scholars—Katie Cooper, Samantha Paton, Avery Halseth, and Hunter Pierce—to learn about the experiences that their scholarships funded. That same evening, twelve new Saladin Scholars—Sarah Breen, Maggie Creekmore, Charlotte Freymann, Savannah Givens, Andrea Guider, Alyssa Jones, Alexis Keeney, Kanchan Laul, Alina Pishock, Sam Samiya, Emma Stowers, and Abby Todd—were recognized during the Research Day Kickoff Keynote Address & Saladin Scholars Awards Ceremony. Each Saladin Scholarship provides $2000 to support participation in study abroad, internships, or undergraduate research. The Honors College named the awards for Dr. Ken Saladin, who endowed the College in 2020 and who wanted it named not for himself but for his friend and founding Honors Director Dr. John Sallstrom. Tuesday evening’s keynote address, by Dr. Scott Huettel of Duke University, was fantastic, as were the student presentations throughout Research Day on Wednesday, April 15. Special thanks are extended to Associate Provost Dr. Kevin Bucholtz, MURACE Faculty Director Dr. Tsu-Ming Chiang, and MURACE Coordinator Natalie Churchill for partnering on Tuesday’s kickoff program and for organizing a spectacular Research Day at GCSU. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 16-18, Eta Sigma Alpha hosted an Escape Room in Humber-White. I navigated it with Anna Whiteside and Lori Burns. We beat the buzzer! Special thanks are extended to Julia Baker and Mackenzie Antis for putting together such a great escape room this semester. Here is a photo round-up, including just a few of the many sessions from Research Day.

Thanks to the support of additional donors yesterday, the Honors College exceeded its Giving Challenge goal of $7000! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Giving Challenge this week, as well as to members of the Honors Advisory Board and other key supporters who contributed $11,000 during the quiet phase of the campaign. With the combined contributions, we can fully fund the program in Birmingham and Montgomery!

Speaking of Montgomery, the Southern Regional Honors Conference concludes this morning. Our students did a wonderful job yesterday with their presentations, and the conference’s keynote speaker, Anthony Ray Hinton, delivered a moving address. Today we will visit the Rosa Parks Museum and then head back to GCSU.

I am so excited that we can bring forty students both to Montgomery and Birmingham in October. Thank you again to each of the generous donors who has made that program possible!

Forty-two donors have contributed $6200 to the Honors Giving Challenge, putting us just $800 away from our $7000 goal! https://give.gcsu.edu/g/alumni26/honors1

Thank you, so very much, to the dozens of alumni, friends, parents, and students—yes, current undergraduates—who have given so generously in such a short period of time.

While the Giving Challenge concluded at midnight, the portal will remain open for a little while longer. If you would like to participate, then time remains. And even after the Giving Challenge portal closes, contributions can be made at any time to the Sallstrom Honors College Excellence Fund. https://give.gcsu.edu/g/honors

As indicated in yesterday’s update, I am in Montgomery with students who are presenting their scholarship and creative work at the Southern Regional Honors Conference. The first full day of the conference was fantastic: the morning’s City-as-Text exploration of the Legacy Museum, the afternoon conference sessions in which our first students presented, the evening’s reception featuring a live band, and the group meals between those programs.

It was a joy for me to reflect with our students on the Legacy Museum, to watch them deliver outstanding presentations based on the research and creative work they have completed with GCSU’s world-class faculty, and to see them having so much fun with each other and with students from across the Southeast at last night’s reception. The rest of our students will present today. We will explore more of Montgomery this evening, and we will head home tomorrow.

I am super excited to bring a far larger group of GCSU Honors students to both Montgomery and Birmingham this fall, and I am grateful to everyone who has given so generously—during both the quiet phase and the Giving Challenge itself—to make our fall break program possible. Thank you!

Have a lovely Friday and a wonderful weekend!

✨Student Spotlight: Meet Mary Piper!

A second-year political science major, Mary has earned the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and is headed to London to study international relations. 🌍

From serving in leadership roles across campus to launching sustainability initiatives, Mary is making a lasting impact at every level.

After graduation, she plans to attend law school and pursue environmental law. Great work, Mary!

The Honors College’s Giving Challenge is entering its final day! https://give.gcsu.edu/g/alumni26/honors1

Nearly 30 donors have already contributed $4190 toward our $7000 goal for the Giving Challenge! Please join them in funding this program, which will take at least 40 Honors students on a fall break trip to Birmingham and Montgomery to explore the history and culture of these communities.

At this very moment, I am actually in Montgomery with 15 Honors students who are presenting their scholarship and creative work at the Southern Regional Honors Conference. Today, the first full day of the conference, is devoted to a City as Text program, in which students will explore downtown Montgomery and engage in structured reflections on their experiences. They will visit several places, such as the Legacy Museum, that are on the list for our fall break program. I am excited for the students to see several of Montgomery’s heritage sites today and to return to GCSU and tell their friends, building momentum for us to take a far larger group to both Montgomery and Birmingham this fall!

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed to the Giving Challenge as well to Breanna Epps and Tommy Creekmore for reflecting on the Birmingham/Montgomery program in their reel, to Maggie Creekmore for preparing the reel, and to colleagues in Advancement and Student Life for their instrumental work behind the scenes. https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWO5reQEUgG/

Go Bobcats!

You can help support GCSU honors students by contributing to the spring giving challenge: https://give.gcsu.edu/g/alumni26/honors1