Terry Papillon
BLACKSBURG, Va., July 2, 2008 – Terry Papillon of Blacksburg, Va., has been appointed the director of the University Honors Program at Virginia Tech effective July 1, 2008.
As director of university honors, Papillon will be responsible for leading a program that provides honors students with enhanced access to faculty mentoring and the tools needed to achieve a top-rated education. In addition, Papillon will also foster the involvement in other avenues related to the honors program, including undergraduate research, international travel experiences, varied cultural opportunities, selected collegiums, beneficial community service projects, and key instruction for internationally competitive scholarships.
In his role as university honors director, Papillon will also oversee two university honors communities – Hillcrest Hall and Main Campbell Hall – where honors students are given the opportunity to live and learn together.
Papillon said, “I am also committed to a program that fosters excellence through cooperation and community, not through elitism and separation. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such interesting students from across the university. I hope that students will understand that the honors program is about opportunity, not entitlement.”
Papillon joined Virginia Tech in 1992 after serving as an assistant professor at several other institutions. When he joined Virginia Tech he became a professor of classics in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. In 2005, he joined the honors program staff and began serving as the preceptor to the Main Campbell honors community.
“Working as preceptor for the honors residence halls is one of the most rewarding professional experiences I have ever had. I look forward to enabling other faculty to have such experiences and expanding the possibility to more students. I am also dedicated to bringing some of the opportunities of those communities to honors students who do not live in honors housing. We are a large program, with over 1,500 students, and I hope that we can bring all our students in touch with faculty and opportunities in meaningful ways,” said Papillon.
Papillon, a native of Minneapolis, Minn., earned his bachelor’s degree with a cum laude distinction in classics from St. Olaf College in Minnesota and earned his Ph.D. in classical philology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Papillon has received numerous awards for his accomplishments throughout the years, including the Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Subjects and the Diggs Teaching-Scholar Award, both awarded by Virginia Tech. In addition, he has been or is currently a member of nearly a dozen professional organizations, has had numerous books and articles published, and is editor of the journal Electronic Antiquity. He has read papers locally, nationally, and internationally at professional meetings, has received numerous grants for his work, and has always exemplified the Virginia Tech motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) through his service to others on a variety of committees and workshops over the years.