Thomas Kernan feels that his undergraduate honors courses were unquestionably part of shaping his approach to his work today. “They were transformational in the very best ways. I was not only a student in the classroom but a participant who was valued in a discussion of a small group of students with similar deep interest in the topic.” He has been teaching at RU since the fall of 2014, and as a professor of honors courses, he tries to give his students “a similar experience of knowing how they are part of an academic community, with ideas that should be heard and engaged by their classmates”. He sees that there are unique ways to achieve this with the class sizes and teaching methods of honors courses, “and so I jump at every chance to teach in RU Honors offering”. Professor Kernan traveled to and lived in many locations throughout the United States before settling in Illinois to teach at RU. “I had only been to Chicago on two very brief prior trips: once for a conference which was fine, and the other time to perform as a percussionist with a touring accordion orchestra. Yes, picture a big band on stage, but all made up of ACCORDIONS and two percussionists to fill out the sound. It was wild … and assuredly left me with a warped view of what most Chicago musical audiences find enjoyable.”