Meet Jim Concannon 
Class of 1998 

Returning to college after almost 18 years posed a challenge to me like none I had encountered before. After a successful but physically demanding career in construction inspection all over this country and in several foreign ones, injuries forced me to consider another career. While recovering from surgery I decided to enroll at Honolulu Community College -- I couldn't sit home and just watch TV. The challenge and intellectual stimulation I received from part-time college attendance led to a vocational rehabilitation program and career change aimed at high school teaching. At HCC I rediscovered a fondness for history and found a new passion for philosophy. Academic success after transfer to UHM made me rethink second career goals. My experience in the Honors program at UH became a big part of a decision to reach higher than a teaching certificate and work toward an MA, PhD and a professional career in university teaching. 

The Honors program at UHM presented me with a challenge to excel at a higher academic level and helped to prepare me for graduate school as well. Experience in junior seminar situations definitely helped to prepare me for graduate seminar work. Starting graduate school this year, I knew I could handle seminar level work because I had done it - as a junior in the Honors program. The Honors 495 thesis preparation and the 496 thesis work might just be the most valuable courses I've taken since returning to college. Working independently on a thesis project, especially 495 class with Professor Craig Howes, made a major difference in my undergrad experience and gave me the confidence and savvy that I need to be successful in graduate thesis work. 

I can't say enough about the positive experience I had in the Honors program and the rewards I received from working harder to reach a bit higher. My eighty-page senior honors thesis in history, "The Huxleyan Revolution; Social Dimensions of Scientific Change in Victorian England," earned me a BA degree with Highest Honors in History. With my Honors thesis I was also fortunate to receive the Kuykendall Award for the history department's best undergraduate research paper last year. I received a double major degree "with distinction in Philosophy" and had the honor of being named Marshall for the College of Arts and Humanities at Spring Commencement in '98 -- at the tender age of 40.

I credit my Honors experience with the challenge to push myself to a higher level than I would have otherwise achieved. The preparation I got from Honors toward graduate school and for graduate thesis work has proven to be worth all the extra work that came with the program. And the satisfaction of academic rewards for successful work validated my experience and encouraged me to continue to challenge myself to reach higher in graduate work as well. I am now fortunate to have received a Teaching Assistantship from UHM's History Department. My busy days now involve teaching and grading for 88 World Civ. students, a couple of graduate seminars, and a wonderfully supportive wife who will give birth to our first child in 2-3 weeks. By pushing myself harder in the Honors Program at UHM I found myself able to raise my academic ambitions to levels that I may not have had the confidence to aspire to otherwise. In so doing I have found a niche in a second career that continues to challenge me in ways that UHM's Honors Program prepared me to handle.

My thanks to all those involved in the program - especially Dr. Caron, Dr. Howes, and to Leimomi for her patience and aloha.