At an Honors College Medals Ceremony you hear his voice before Penn State’s president, provost, or Schreyer’s dean. It has been that way for 19 years covering more than 50 ceremonies.
Robert Melton, professor of aerospace engineering and director of undergraduate studies, is a f ixture within Schreyer. As the head marshal, he calls each Medals Ceremony to order, along with helping to assemble Scholars for the procession and leading his fellow marshals to the stage. Since 1982, he has maintained a place within the University Marshal Corps and notes that the College’s Medals Ceremonies are “particularly special” for him.
“[While] all the commencement ceremonies are grand, joyous celebrations of the students’ accomplishments, the Schreyer Medals Ceremony is the only one in which both the president and provost participate,” he said. “Each Scholar’s name is read alongside ‘with honors in (their research discipline).’ Family and friends are present, and it all has an intimate feel. I enjoy the responsibility of helping the ceremony go smoothly and seeing these Scholars receive such an important recognition.”
Melton also remarked that it was “absolutely thrilling” to be a part of the spring 2022 medals ceremony that welcomed more than 3,000 people to Pegula Ice Arena. It was the first time since spring 2019 that Scholars and their families, friends, and guests could gather for an in-person Medals Ceremony.
Not only does Melton lend his time to the Scholars’ culminating Honors College event, he has also been teaching honors courses at University Park since 1982. This year, he’ll offer an honors option in AERSP 309 Astronautics, which he has done since 1984, when the course was created. Students in the course will receive an introduction to space and space f light, laws of particle mechanics, orbits and trajectories, space vehicles, and propulsion.
“It’s always a great pleasure to work with Scholars as they explore some fairly advanced topics within the discipline,” Melton said. “They ask some really insightful questions that have led me to a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
“Scholars generally have great self-motivation and intellectual curiosity, but like everyone else starting a particular course, they don’t usually know about the more advanced concepts,” he added. “So, I need to make sure that I’m posing some engaging questions and challenging assignments.”
As his department’s director of undergraduate studies, Melton is afforded another avenue with which he can support Scholars. He maintains a dialogue among the seven departmental honors advisors and meets regularly with colleagues in other engineering disciplines to discuss policies and ideas to prepare Scholars for thesis and research writing.
Melton’s efforts provide one example of how Penn State faculty help to deliver an honors education with the power to “shape people who shape the world.”
