MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The annual fall Honors Lecture Series pays tribute to the history of the Middle Tennessee State University Honors College, this year celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The series began Monday, Sept. 11 with Honors College Dean John Vile presenting “Fifty Years of Honors at MTSU.” Scheduled speaker June Hall McCash, the director of the first Honors Program at MTSU from 1973-80, could not attend due to illness.

The lecture series is a class for Honors students each fall and spring, and open to the public. Lectures begin at 3 p.m. every Monday through Nov. 6. An exception will be Oct. 16 (fall break). Lectures are typically held in Simmons Amphitheater, Room 106 in the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building.

As part of a special event, the class will meet at 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18, in Tucker Theatre as part of MTSU Constitution Week activities Sept. 12-19. Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and former U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper will be a part of the American Democracy Project’s “Common Sense Civics: Can We Work Together Again to Solve America’s Problems?”

The Honors Lecture Series began in the early 1980s and has been a staple for the last 40 years. The original purpose of the series was to develop an awareness of the scholarly and creative activity of others. It continues this resolve by familiarizing students with an understanding of subject matter and methodology of disciplines outside their majors.

McCash, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, resident, will bring the second lecture Monday, Sept. 25, discussing “Why Honors? Perspectives and Retrospectives.” She is an award-winning southern author of 15 books and professor emerita in the Department of World Languages , Literatures and Cultures.

Alumni Collin McDonald, an Aerospace assistant professor, Paul Martin Jr. and Tandra Martin bring different perspectives in subsequent weeks, as will former staff member Marsha Powers and Mary Evins, history professor and director of the American Democracy Project.

Learn more about the Honors College history in the special 50th anniversary book, “Celebrating 50 Years of the Honors College.” The book is expected to be available by Sept. 22.

For more information, call 615-898-2152 visit https://www.mtsu.edu/honors/.