AUSTIN, TexasA recruitment program designed to introduce outstanding Texas high school students to the academic and cultural resources of The University of Texas at Austin begins Thursday (July 22). Six hundred high school students will participate in a three-day colloquium of lectures, campus tours, group discussions and social events.
The students attending the 19th annual Honors Colloquium are chosen on the basis of test scores and academic achievement, and most will end up later competing in National Merit, National Achievement or National Hispanic Scholarship competitions. The event provides the high school students a chance to interact with University faculty and students and learn about the educational opportunities at UT Austin.
The Honors Colloquium has been a successful recruiting tool for the University — about 40 percent of the students end up attending UT.
Dr. R. Adron Harris, director of UT Austin’s Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, will deliver the keynote address Thursday beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Bass Lecture Hall of the Performing Arts Center.
During their three days on campus, students will be able to choose from among 60 special academic lectures presented by University faculty members, including Dr. Dina Sherzer, who will speak on “French Cinema in the 90s — the New New Wave”; Dr. Paul Woodruff, who will discuss “Is Reverence a Virtue?”; and Dr. David Allen, whose topic is “Air Quality in Texas.”
Also among the lecture and panel discussion possibilities is a talk on the issues of life and death by Dr. Sheldon Ekland-Olson, executive vice president and provost of UT Austin, and another on minority stereotyping in the media by Dr. Charles Ramirez-Berg of the radio television film department.
A geology field trip is planned as well as a tour of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. In addition, students can attend a physics circus, learn about flight simulation and sign up for star gazing through the use of telescopes and binoculars.
Honors students will be arriving at Jester Center Thursday between 1 and 4 p.m. For other times and locations of events and lectures, contact Paul Pedersen at 232-3993.
