News from The Mahurin Honors College

Morgan Flanagan (she/her), an Academic Advisor in the MHC, graduated in 2022 after transferring to WKU and the MHC from Mississippi. She is from New Orleans, Louisiana, graduated with majors in Philosophy and Religious Studies and a minor in Legal Studies, and was a member of Philosophy Club. She also completed a capstone experience titled “Encouraging Little People’s Big Questions: An Elementary School Teacher’s Guide to Encouraging Philosophical Inquiry in Decision Making”.

She came to WKU, deciding to join the Honors College because her best friend was an MHC Scholar. She looked up to her best friend and because her best friend was waitlisted for the MHC, Morgan doubted she would be accepted. Despite her doubts, Morgan entered the Honors College her sophomore year. During the application process, the head of the Philosophy department assisted Morgan in working out all the details. Additionally, he later aided her in picking honors classes and reaching out to other faculty to inform them of Morgan’s status as a transfer student so that other faculty could further assist her. She also discusses the closeness of the Bowling Green community. Morgan comments that it is easy to build relationships and say ‘hello’ to professors outside of class due to everyone’s kindness. Between faculty and friends, Morgan was able to get acclimated to both the academic side of WKU as well as the campus life side.

In addition to help from the philosophy department, then CE/T advisor, Alex Hayes, was extremely helpful in assisting Morgan’s transition. Alex was a great communicator, welcoming, and able to ease some of Morgan’s anxieties around her CE/T. Morgan says, “So, it was truly just the love and support of the staff that was here at the time that was helpful.” As an MHC transfer scholar, the curriculum requires fewer academic hours and the completion of a CE/T. However, Morgan feels that her capstone experience was extremely beneficial and contributed to her professional development. “I think that that’s the most valuable thing that I got out of the Honors College was the capstone experience that I got to do.”

Morgan is currently in a Master’s program for secondary education, with the goal of teaching high school English and moving forward in her career after her time in the MHC. Morgan believes that as authors begin to write more analytically, there is more philosophy to be learned from everyday literature. Therefore, she wants to use her background in philosophy to help create lesson plans to build a foundation of critical thinking in students, which is exemplified in her CE/T and her future plans. She again talks about how beneficial her CE/T experience was, especially on a resume when applying for jobs saying, “That’s always the first thing that [potential employers] ask me.”

Morgan comments on how her transfer experience was marked by independence which allowed her to grow. Because she took the leap and moved almost 600 miles from her family, she was able to discover a level of responsibility in herself that she relied on during her academic career. She notes that transferring caused her to get out of her comfort zone, network, and eventually gave her the opportunity to work in the MHC. “I’ve never regretted my decision moving up here. I think it’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said. 

Morgan also suggests students get to know people and build a professional network of those who can help them achieve their goals. Morgan now works in the MHC and when asked about the opportunity said, “I would really love to help the honor students, you know, being one that needed help. I would love to be that bridge now moving forward.”

We are so proud of Morgan’s incredible work and are excited to have her back in the MHC! We can’t wait to see how she continues to ascend toward excellence in her graduate school experience and professional life.