General Contact Information
The University Honors Program staff is ready to answer your questions, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
American University
University Honors Program
Hughes Hall, First Floor
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20016-8119
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Phone: (202) 885-6194
Fax: (202) 885-7013
E-mail: honors@american.edu
Web site: http://www.american.edu/honors
Honors Staff
Dr. Michael MansonProgram Director
mmanson@american.edu
Appointed in June 2011 as interim director of the University Honors Program, Dr. Michael Manson has been teaching in American University's Department of Literature and American Studies Program since 2001 and working for the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and for the Provost of the university for the past five years. His scholarly specialization is in American modernist poetry, but he also teaches classes in film. Born and raised in Dallas, he holds a B.A. in English from Rice University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. He has previously taught at higher educational institutions in Wisconsin and New England. Dr. Manson is the author of several articles concerning modernist poetry and poetic form, discussing Robert Frost, Sterling A. Brown, Jay Wright, Lorine Niedecker, Gary Soto, Robert Hass, and Emily Dickinson. He is co-editor of "The Calvinist Roots of the Modern Era" (UP New England, 1997). His book project is entitled "Body Language: Modern American Poetry and the Politics of Poetic Form," and he is contributing to the forthcoming edition of the "Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics." He has served as the president of the Robert Frost Society (2006-2007) and as the executive director of the Northeast Modern Language Association (1997-2000). In 2005, he organized a Symposium on Poetic Form for the American Literature Association. Dr. Manson and his wife Marianne Noble, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literature, have two young children, Geoffrey YongSoo Manson and Arden YeRin Manson.
Dr. Paula McCabe
Associate Director
pmccabe@american.edu
American University alumna Paula McCabe brings diverse academic and life experiences to her role in the University Honors Program. She holds an M.A. in Communication (Journalism and Public Affairs) from AU’s School of Communication, where she has also served as an adjunct professor. Her news media background includes stints at The Boston Globe, ABC News and WAMU FM, AU’s National Public Radio affiliate. Paula McCabe studied at Boston’s Emmanuel College, earning a B.A. in English and Sociology and at Northeastern University, where she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology. After several years of living in Italy, where she was for a time editor of an English-language weekly, the Boston native returned to Washington, D.C., and to AU in 2006.
Program Coordinator
rj@american.edu
An alumnus of the University Honors Program and the College of Arts and Sciences, RJ Pettersen returned to Honors as Program Coordinator in 2011. Since completing his capstone in Creative Nonfiction in 2009, RJ has coordinated events for a library cooperative and volunteered as an English teacher for speakers of other languages. As an undergraduate, RJ majored in literature, minored in psychology, and served as an RA on Hughes 7 and as a DJ and music librarian at WVAU. He also spent a semester abroad in Berlin. RJ’s interests include music, baseball, bicycling, and vegetarian cooking. Born and raised on Long Island, RJ is a New York Mets fan.
Nadeen Makhlouf
Senior Honors Counselor
honorsmakhlouf@american.edu
Nadeen graduated from the University of Maryland in College Park with a B.A. in Economics. At U.M.D., she worked as a peer advisor and ambassador for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. After graduating she continued working for the University as an academic advisor in the Economics Department. Nadeen is currently a doctoral student at AU studying public administration and policy with a social policy/international development focus. She is especially interested in international social policy.
Nadeen is a native of the D.C. metropolitan area and enjoys visiting our area’s sites and monuments. She also enjoys reading and learning about both American and World history.
Honors Counselor
honorssizemore@american.edu
Katie is a graduate of the Kennesaw State University Honors Program where she received a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Spanish. She worked as both a Middle East politics Research Assistant at KSU and as an intern for the British Consulate-General in Atlanta, GA. While at KSU, she completed survey research in Ecuador, and served as the Vice President of the Global Society. Her Honors Capstone project incorporated participant interviews and a comparative study to examine a U.S. based religious advocacy campaign involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She spent a year working as a Language and Culture Assistant in Valladolid, Spain before returning to begin her M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in the School of International Service. She is interested in the roles of religion, identity, and gender in civil society peacemaking, interagency conflict prevention efforts, and sustainable peace.
Michael Youngborg
Honors Counselor
honorsyoungborg@american.edu
Mike recently graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a BA in history. He was a member of the Nitze Scholars Program and graduated magna cum laude. During his senior year, Mike attended the Phi Alpha Theta Mid-Atlantic Region Conference where he presented a paper entitled “Anything Calculated to Entertain: Women and the Vaudeville Stage.” He also completed a senior thesis, which he presented at St. Mary’s, entitled “Children of the ‘Sidewalk and Gutter Generation:’ Feminism, Ethnicity and American-Jewish Identity in the 1960s.” Mike is currently pursuing his PhD at American University with a focus on twentieth century US history. He is interested in teaching at the university level after completing his degree. Mike enjoys live music, movies and reading.
When he is not reading history books, Mike enjoys anything from Tolkien to Hunter S. Thompson to Haruki Murakami.
Emily TorresHonors Staff Assistant
honorstorres@american.edu
Emily graduated from Skidmore College with a B.S. in Management and Business. While at Skidmore, she worked mostly as a Resident Assistant for the Office of Residential Life, becoming a Head Resident in her senior year and managing a dormitory of primarily freshmen and sophomore students. Post-Skidmore, she spent three years working in the Credit Risk Management department at Deutsche Bank in New York City’s financial district. She was primarily responsible for managing a portfolio of asset-backed securities ensuring that the transactions’ credit terms adequately mitigated the bank’s risk exposure. Emily is currently a pursing an M.A. in International Development in the School of International Service. She is especially interested in education policies affecting developing countries.
