Building Bridges Between the Humanities and the Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences
"Open your mind to the past -- art, history, philosophy -- and all of this may mean something."
-- Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise (STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION)
This photo shows Leander James McCormick Haynes (left), Carol Andreae Haynes (center), and their youngest daughter, Linda Lee Haynes (right) at her graduation from Stephens College in June 1958. (Photo Credit: Haynes Family Archive)
Biographical Sketch of Leander James McCormick Haynes (1898-1968)
This annual award has been created in honor of the donor's maternal grandfather, Leander James McCormick Haynes. Mr. Haynes (a lateral descendant of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the mechanical reaper) was born near Bluff City, Kentucky, which had been founded by his grandfather, Stark Dupay Haynes, shortly after the Civil War. After serving in France during World War I, Mr. Haynes became a well-known entrepreneur and a highly respected member of the business community in Evansville, Indiana, where he and his wife, Carol Andreae Haynes (1901-1990), raised their five daughters. A lifelong enthusiasm for learning motivated him to enroll all five of his daughters – including the donor's mother, Linda Lee Haynes – at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where they earned their college degrees in a broad-based curriculum that embraced the fine arts, humanities, and social sciences. The Hayneses' grandchildren have followed in their mothers' footsteps by earning bachelor's, master's, and professional degrees from Big Ten and Ivy League universities.
Description of the Humanities Book Prize
Adapted from Chapter VI, Section 5 of Enchiridion Honorum: The ACES Honors Handbook
The Leander J. M. Haynes Humanities Book Prize is awarded to one ACES James Scholar each spring semester. The purpose of this award (named in honor of the donor's maternal grandfather) is to encourage ACES James Scholars to “think outside the box” and build intellectual bridges between the humanities and their own fields of study. The criteria for entering the award competition consist in authoring an original research paper of superior quality (at least 10 pages in length, double-spaced, in 12-point type) for a humanities course taken at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The paper must be authored by one student only, demonstrate a firm grasp of the subject matter, and address its topic in an engaging style. Furthermore, the paper should have received a grade of at least “A-” from the instructor of the course for which it was written.
For the purpose of this award, the humanities category embraces a broad spectrum of courses that are NOT limited to those fulfilling the campuswide humanities General Education requirements. Research papers written for any course that contains a significant humanities-related component are eligible for this competition.
Papers are submitted to the ACES Student Development and Career Services Office by March 1 of each year. The author's name should appear only on the paper's title page. Each paper is assigned a number to ensure an impartial decision by the judging committee. The winner of the competition will receive a scholarship prize. The winner must be enrolled in the ACES James Scholar Honors Program during the semester in which the competition takes place, and students are eligible to receive this award only once.
2007 Humanities Book Prize Winner
From left to right: Kim Wangen, 2007 Leander J. M. Haynes Humanities Book Prize winner; Rob Chappell, youngest grandson of Mr. Haynes; and Linda Haynes Chappell, youngest daughter of Mr. Haynes. (Photo Credit: Dean Olson)
The fourth annual Leander J. M. Haynes Humanities Book Prize competition took place in spring 2007. The winner of this year's prize is Kim Wangen, a sophomore ACES James Scholar majoring in Animal Sciences (Pre-Vet). Her paper is entitled “Symptoms Diagnosed and Treated: A Cure for Human Suffering in the Pure Land and Zen Buddhist Traditions." Kim has been an active member of the ACES James Scholar Honors Program since August 2006.
Readers can learn more about the Humanities Book Prize and Kim's achievement in this press release (PDF). Congratulations to Kim!
The English poet John Milton (left) visited the Italian scientist Galileo (right) while the latter was under house arrest at his Italian villa in 1638. This painting by A. Gatti (19th century) is an excellent depiction of the good rapport that once existed between the sciences and the humanities in Western culture before they started to go their separate ways in the 18th century. (Image Credit: Public Domain)