
The Dedman Scholar Student Experience
Students accepted to the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Program become members of the Dedman Academy, a rigorous training and mentorship program available only to current Dedman Scholars. Through regular meetings with faculty mentors, other Dedman Scholars, specialized workshops, and other academic enrichment resources, the Academy is able to prepare scholars for success at UT and beyond. The Academy also allows Dedman Scholars to form the bonds with faculty and one another that will persist throughout their lives.
Community and Mentoring
Scholars enter the Dedman Academy as part of a cohort that remains together for their four years at UT. In their first year together the cohort meets regularly with a faculty mentor to share their progress, find common interests, work through the training program, and in general form a community bond. Faculty mentors also meet individually with Scholars to discuss personal goals and successes and to help them find other faculty mentors outside of the Dedman Program who can work with Scholars as they begin to take on more rigorous academic endeavors.
Research, Service, and Leadership
Students wishing to succeed at the highest levels after graduation must have strong academic records, but they must also have extensive experience in research, service, and leadership. Although the Dedman Program expects that new scholars will have already worked in one or more of these areas, scholars will still need guidance to succeed in them at the university level. Thus, the Dedman Academy is partly devoted to helping students learn about and engage in the types of research and service that are expected of the best students.
On the research side, scholars will learn how to find research opportunities in their chosen areas, work effectively with faculty, improve their writing and reasoning skills to match what is expected of professional researchers, and better understand the important role that research plays in university life.
For service and leadership, students will learn about opportunities to serve, develop skills related to interpersonal interaction, public speaking and other essential leadership skills, and learn how to promote organizational change and effectiveness. In short, through the Academy, Dedman Scholars become some of the best trained and most knowledgeable students on campus.
Dedman Distinguished Scholars Virtues
Dedman Scholars belong to cohorts by their entering class, with each of those cohorts being named after a Greek virtue. These virtues correspond with the core values of the program: the fundamental qualities of character that motivate and inspire Dedman Scholars to reach their highest potential. These eight virtues also reflect the character attributes that Robert Dedman upheld in his own life and identified as the foundation for his success.