FMU hosts dedication ceremony for naming of Honors Center facilities

On Tuesday, Francis Marion hosted a naming ceremony in the Honors Center on the main campus. The FMU Board of Trustees voted over the summer to name three areas in the building after longtime faculty members who have played important roles in establishing the Honors program at FMU. 

Richard Chapman, former FMU Provost who served as director of the Honors Program from 1996 to 1999, was recognized for his contributions to the program with the naming of the Richard N. Chapman Auditorium in the McNair Science Building in 2007.

The Duane P. Myers Seminar Room is named after longtime history professor Duane Myers who passed away earlier this year. Myers was the founding director of the FMU Honors Program and served as director through 1995. During his tenure, he developed a rigorous curriculum and cultivated developmental opportunities for the students he mentored and taught.  

The Pamela A. Rooks Classroom honors Pamela Rooks, director of the Honors Program from 1999 until 2013. During her tenure, the program experienced a period of extensive growth resulting in students engaged in an expanded curriculum of instruction, research, and service.

Jon Tuttle, current director of the Honors Program, had the Jon W. Tuttle Atrium named in his honor. Tuttle has served as director of the Honors Program since 2013 during which time he’s expanded the program with innovative opportunities for student engagement in scholarship, research, and service through creative course offerings, activities, and domestic and international travel.

“This is a stunningly beautiful building, and it houses the finest honors program in the state. Duane, Pam, and Jon played such integral roles in developing this program and graduating 37 classes of honors students,” said FMU President Fred Carter. “How appropriate it is that their contributions will be acknowledged here in perpetuity.”