Lorisha Riley of Kankakee graduates with fourth cohort of Olivet's Honors Program

2014 Jun 16

Kankakeeresident Lorisha Rileygraduated with the fourth cohort of Honors Program graduates as part of Olivet Nazarene University's Class of 2014 during the 101st Commencement Convocation on Saturday, May 10, 2014.

As their time at Olivet came to a close, Honors students presented their required research projects during Scholar Week 2014, April 22 to 26. “Relationships Between Elements of Leslie Matrices and Future Growth of the Population” was Riley's project.

She has been accepted into a doctorate degree program at the University of Florida.

The mission of Olivet's Honors Program is to encourage and nurture academically gifted students, helping them to believe in their possibilities, preparing them to become the Christian scholars and servant leaders they were meant to be. Dr. Charles Carrigan, geoscience professor in Olivet's Department of Chemistry and Geosciences, is the program's director.

To enter the program, a student must have a composite ACT score of at least 30 or a Math & Critical Reading combined SAT score of at least 1330, and be interviewed by the program committee.

In addition to fulfilling the requirements for their respective majors, Honors students take four interdisciplinary, team-taught classes covering an intriguing topic. Then, they complete a substantial, faculty-mentored research project during their last two years, doing one-on-one mentored research with a professor of their choice with funding provided. They may also choose to study abroad during junior year.

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, Ill. -- just 50 miles south of Chicago; three additional sites: Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, Ill., and Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. From Oxford to Tokyo, hundreds of Olivet students also experience the global classroom each year, whether through study abroad opportunities or worldwide mission trips.