Hill named new honors program director

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CMU honors students will have a new director to look up to when James Hill
takes over the position at the start of the fall 2003 semester.

Hill, political science professor, is replacing Ed Long, who served as director
of the Honors Program for five years.

“We are delighted that he is joining us,” said Catherine Riordan,
interim vice provost. “(Hill) has been an active supporter of academic
excellence.”

Five interviews were conducted, including interviews by students and staff
in the honors program as well as Riordan and Provost Robert Kohrman.

“We did an internal search for the position, and I was pleasantly surprised
to see that we had many qualified candidates,” Riordan said.

As director, Hill will have many new duties requiring him to move his office
to Larzelere Hall, the center of the Honors Program.

“His duties include overseeing the Honors Program, teaching some courses
and activities and advocating the program,” she said.

Hill said he first became interested in the program after becoming involved
with some of the Honors Program students.

“I’ve taught some honors courses, and I have really enjoyed the
students,” he said.

Hill said he wants to make the program more well-known.

“I’m a builder. I like to see something and see how I can make it
better,” he said. “I think this is exciting because it’s already
a program with an excellent reputation, and I’m used to starting from
scratch.”

Hill said he also is looking forward to working with the honors students and
staff on the road to making his goals a reality.

“In this case, I’m going to be right down the hall from a lot of
these honors students, so they can come in and talk to me and I can get to
know them,” he said.

One of the things Hill said he would like to accomplish is increasing the
number of students interested in the Honors Program.

“I want students to say, ‘I want to go to Central and I want to
be in the honors program,’” he said. “I want to see kids lining
up to be a part of this, not just for the perks, but for the actual education.”

Hill also wants to post a sign indicating where the Honors Program office
is located.

“People have to know where it is,” he said. “We have signs
telling us where to dump our trash, but nothing saying where the honors program
is.”

Hill has been at Central since 1980, and has served in several leadership
positions. He was involved in securing $1.2 million to support CMU’s first
endowed chair, which encourages student participation in American government.

He holds a B.A. from Michigan State University, a Juris Doctorate from the
University of Michigan Law School, an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s
John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in political science from
Michigan State University.