Oseto

Award winner leads campus honors program

Christian Oseto, professor of entomology and former head of the Department of Entomology, has become director of Purdue’s recently established University Honors Program.

Provost Sally Mason announced the appointment after working with a faculty and staff committee that recommended Oseto following an internal search.

Purdue’s first universitywide honors program will begin some exercises this fall and be fully developed by fall 2005.

Oseto, who came to Purdue in 1990 and served as head of the entomology department from 1990 to 1999, already mentors honor students as an adviser for Purdue’s chapter of Golden Key International Honour Society.

“We are delighted that Chris will be leading this vital initiative,” Mason says. “His broad background in teaching and administration, as well as his work with Golden Key, make him a perfect fit for this important position.”

Oseto received his master’s degree and his doctorate in entomology from the University of Nebraska in 1968 and 1973, respectively. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Roosevelt University in 1964.

Among Oseto’s various honors and awards are the 2004 Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Agriculture, the 2003 Entomological Society of America (ESA) Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching and the ESA’s Outstanding Education Award in 2000. Oseto served as ESA president in 1999.

In January the University Senate unanimously approved a proposal to establish the University Honors Program. Purdue’s program will be modeled after the Chancellor’s Scholars program at the University of Illinois, which admits about 125 first-year students each year from all undergraduate curricula.

Purdue’s new Honors Program will build on honors programs that already exist in several Purdue schools.

“Chris will work with a faculty curriculum committee to further define how the program

will function,” Mason says. “He and the committee will collaborate in overseeing the program.”

As defined by the proposal approved by the University Senate, the University Honors

Program seeks to:

• Attract students with exceptional potential who will thrive in a nurturing and demanding academic community.
• Beckon imaginative and enthusiastic faculty from across the university to a great adventure in learning.
• Collaborate with existing honors programs in the Schools of Agriculture, Consumer and Family Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Science, and the College of Engineering.

Students can participate in programs at the university, school and departmental levels.

Contact Oseto at osetoc@purdue.edu