Dr. Bill Leeman named director of the Pell Honors Program

Dr. Bill Leeman, associate professor in the Department of History, has been named director of the Pell Honors Program. With this new appointment, Leeman brings years of experience teaching at Salve Regina along with an impassioned vision for taking the program to the next level, while also bringing it back to its historic roots.

“Dr. Leeman is a highly respected scholar and a gifted teacher,” said Dr. Steve Rodenborn, dean of undergraduate studies. “He expects great things from his students, and I have no doubt our students will accomplish great things with his encouragement.”

Dr. Bill Leeman

Leeman comes from a family of teachers, so teaching and mentorship seem to run in his blood. He’s been teaching in the Pell Honors Program for eight of his nine years at Salve Regina. As Leeman takes over the position, the program is going into its 20th year.

The history of the Pell Honors Program

The Pell Honors Program is named for the late Sen. Claiborne Pell, who represented Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate from 1961-1997. “Sen. Pell was very much a legend,” Leeman said. “He came from a very aristocratic background, but he was somebody who was actually very humble in terms of his personality.”

Pell is known for creating the Federal Pell Grants, a form of financial aid for college students. He was one of the leading sponsors of the legislation that created the National Endowment for the Arts, and he was also involved in foreign affairs and foreign policy as a leading member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“He always had this idea that a liberal arts education was essential to forming good citizens — people that were engaged and informed on public issues on the community level, the national level and globally,” Leeman said.

After Pell retired in 1997, Salve Regina worked with the U.S. government to establish the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. At the same time, the University created the Pell Honors Program, founded in 2001. The Pell Center and the Pell Honors Program have historically worked closely together.

Honoring the roots, expanding the vision

Leeman’s vision for the Pell Honors Program is to return to the roots of the original intention with its founding — a program with the ultimate goal of taking high achieving students academically and fostering a sense of engaged and active citizenship, while using a liberal arts education to explore various issues that have an impact on society both locally and globally.

“It’s about inspiring students to take a leading role in shaping their community, their nation and the world in a way that will bring progress,” Leeman said. Leeman also hopes to have the Pell Honors Program reflect Salve Regina’s mercy mission and the Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy, which fit within the scope of engaged and informed citizenship.

“The last line of the Salve mission statement is that the whole idea behind Salve and the mercy mission is to prepare students to create a world that is ‘harmonious, just and merciful,'” Leeman said. “And those are values that Sen. Pell would talk about in his career.”

Leeman’s goals are to make the program smaller and more competitive academically, build a sense of community and broaden faculty participation. He hopes to spark within participating students a passion for lifelong learning and add more field trips and cultural experiences, as well as encouraging students to study abroad.

Mentoring students for lifelong learning

Students in Leeman’s Anglo-American Relations class visit the HMS Victory during their short-term study abroad program in Oxford.

Leeman was inspired to apply for the position after teaching in Salve Regina’s short term study abroad program in Oxford, England, in the summer of 2017. He spent time with 25 students studying various subjects, the vast majority of whom were from the Pell Honors Program.

“That was really transformative for me, as well as for the students,” Leeman said. “I think one of the aspects I love the most about teaching at Salve in general in my role as a history professor has been the mentorship aspect of it. You meet these students as freshmen, and watching them grow and develop over the four years they’re here — it really does create a special bond.”

Evan Elichalt ’21, a double major in history and economics, has enjoyed his time in the Pell Honors Program, which was one of the reasons he decided to go to Salve Regina in the first place. He has enjoyed the student-driven conversations in classes, and that students are given ample opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. He’s also loved the interdisciplinary nature of the courses.

“I was a part of the director candidate lunches this past semester, and I was fortunate to be with Dr. Leeman for one of these meetings,” Elichalt said. “Not only did Dr. Leeman offer his vision for the future of the program, but he made sure to ask us Pell students what direction we would like to see the program grow. After having the pleasure to know Dr. Leeman for almost three years, I can certainly say that he will go the extra mile for any student at Salve Regina.”

Makenzie Sadler ’22, who is majoring in history and secondary education with a minor in economics, also believes that Leeman will enrich the program. She has enjoyed her time in the program with its challenging courses, internship experiences and early course registration.

“I know Dr. Leeman as a professor and an academic advisor,” she said. “He provides amazing academic advice regarding courses within the Pell Honors Program, and it’s always evident that he is very knowledgeable about the program.”