Honors School Director Jennifer Ross was named 2026 Honors Professional of the Year at the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC) conference held in New Haven, CT, on March 29. The award recognizes outstanding honors professionals who continually demonstrate a dedication to honors education at their honors program/college.
Ross served as a featured speaker at this year’s event, presenting on honors education as a space for impactful and effective practices. The 2026 theme encouraged attendees to consider how honors “serves as a haven,” exploring the ways in which honors education is a “welcoming space for administrators, faculty, and, most importantly, students to grow.”
Ross was joined by six students who were accepted to the conference, where they participated in a wide range of academic discussions. Their engagements spanned topics from gaps in medical care to the ethics of true crime media, among many others, reflecting the depth and diversity of their scholarly interests. These students and their research were:
- “It’s a Bloody Mess! — The Gaps in Medical Care for Reproductive-Endocrine Disorders,” by Anastasia Awadalla, health science
- “Spiritualism, the Spectral, and Sherlock Holmes: How Shifting Religious Beliefs Impacted the Literature of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” by Ellie Curatolo, English
- “What is Your Doctor Not Telling You?: A Discussion on Patient Provider Transparency Centered Around Skin Cancer,” by Lojine Elrais, health science
- “Not Like in the Movies: A Content Analysis of Conflict Talk in Film,” by Olivia Fazio, Spanish and English with a concentration in creative writing
- “Our Obsession with True Crime Media and the Ethics Involved,” by Ashleigh Kennedy, business administration with a concentration in marketing
- “More than Merit: Creating a Space in Honors to Support High-Achieving Student Mental Health,” by Delaney Nadeau, sociology
The NRHC is an organization of students, faculty, and administrators dedicated to the encouragement and support of undergraduate honors learning. The NRHC provides its members with opportunities for the exchange of information, ideas, and assistance through its annual conference, its newsletter, and its scholarships. The NRCH encompasses Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Currently approximately 200 different colleges and universities are members.
