As a member of the Honors Program team from 1981 to 2014, Katharine Carter Kerrane helped thousands of students find their niches and pursue their goals. Get to know Kerrane and learn how she keeps part of the Honors College community as a UD graduate herself and a member of UD’s Honors College Dean’s Advisory Council.

The University of Delaware experience is a time filled with big and exciting decisions, especially for students pursuing research or an academic passion. Was there advice or guidance you frequently gave?

I urged students to challenge themselves intellectually and not to be afraid to make mistakes. College has so many diverse opportunities for talented students and I encouraged them to think broadly about their education.

Honors students have won many prestigious national awards over the years, and you often helped them apply. What difference does an award make?

I found it tremendously rewarding to help students develop their potential. Oftentimes, students were modest about their accomplishments and needed to be encouraged to apply for awards. By working with them, I helped them shape and tell their stories in a compelling way, which contributed to them deservedly winning awards. I hope these recognitions enriched their education and enabled them to be leaders in their fields.

You studied abroad during the time you got your UD master’s degree in liberal studies. How you think a global experience contributes to an Honors education?

I took an art history course in Nice, France and enjoyed that overseas experience. However, my most interesting study abroad for my MALS degree was a Winter Session in London, where I conducted research at the Imperial War Museum for my master's thesis. My thesis focused on the diary of a WWI nurse at the front. Reading the actual letters and diaries from nurses and their families brought those women to life in a way that no textbook could.

A global experience does the same thing—it gives an immediacy and life to other cultures that can't be experienced in any other way. Enhancing students' opportunities in that way is an important part of an Honors education.

How have you seen Honors contribute to the overall fabric of campus?

Honors students, staff and faculty have been leaders on campus, contributing new educational ideas and initiatives. For example, the committee People of All Colors and Community Together that Honors students have started on campus to address social justice shows how they continue to be effective campus leaders.

I'm very pleased that the Honors Program is now an Honors College. That will begin an exciting new chapter for Honors at the University of Delaware, and I appreciate the support of the administration in making that happen.

Do you still hear from Honors students?

I'm in touch with a number of former Honors students. We mostly update each other about what's going on in our lives. Occasionally a former student will ask me for career advice, and I've helped Honors alums with job and scholarship applications. They've also helped me. For example, this spring I got excellent gardening advice from an Honors alum who is in charge of UD's Goodstay Gardens.

My nephew and his wife are Honors Double Dels, so of course I have a special relationship with them. I love hearing from Honors alums and seeing them at the Honors alumni reunion events, and they are invited to get back in touch anytime at kck@udel.edu.

For more information on the Honors College, visit udel.edu/honors. To find out more about philanthropic support and alumni engagement within Honors, contact TJ Cournoyer senior director of development for strategic initiatives in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, at tjc@udel.edu.