Honors Professors

Dr. Andrew Daniel – Honors Seminar Professor. Received his D.M.A. from the University of North Texas. After completing his Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California, and named a Fulbright Scholar, he was offered a European tour under the auspices of the Andres Segovia Institute. Daniel teaches the Music portion of the HuMusic Honors Seminar. Two of his seminar students have recently won Boe Awards of the Great Plains Honors Council for their essays involving music.

Dr. Melissa Fulgham – Honors Seminar Professor. Received her Ph.D. from Texas A & M University. Fulgham is the Division Chair for the Humanities & Social Sciences Department. Recipient of the Mary Jon and J.P. Bryan Leadership in Education Award, Mosal Award and McDonald’s Excellence in Teaching Award, she has multiple Phi Theta Kappa advisor awards. With 21 published articles and books, Fulgham scores AP U.S. history exams and U.S. Department of State scholarships. She has served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Phi Theta Kappa’s Honors Program Council. She teaches World History/Humanities in the sophomore-level fall Honors seminar.

Dr. Karyn Skaar – Honors Seminar Professor. Received her M.S. & Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. She has specialized in behavioral medicine and health psychology. Skaar teaches the Psychology portion of the StatPsych Honors Seminar. In addition to teaching, she serves as the faculty advisor for NTCC Psi Beta and MATD (More Alike than Different).

Dr. Andrew P. Yox – Honors Director. Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and was the founding Honors Director here at NTCC in 2007. He was the winner of the $5,000 Mary Jon, and J. P. Bryan Leadership in Education Award in 2016, the 2003 Webb-Smith Essay Award for his essay on German-American Poetry, and the 2012 David C. Deboe Award for his leadership of NTCC’s Walter Webb Society. Yox teaches the first-semester Texas History portion of the Bio-Tex Seminar.

Jim Ward – Honors Seminar Professor. Received his M.S. from the University of Texas at Dallas. Ward is an advisor for the BioChem club and led NTCC to receive two Tree Campus USA Awards. He teaches the first-semester Biology portion of the Bio-Tex Seminar.

Dr. Paula Wilhite – Honors Seminar Professor. A charter faculty member, Wilhite is the Division Chair for Mathematics, Physics and Engineering and Professor of Mathematics. She earned an Ed.D. at Texas A & M University – Commerce. Wilhite was awarded the Texas Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges (TexMATYC) Teaching Excellence Award in 2004 and the American Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. Wilhite has served in numerous leadership roles for both professional organizations. She teaches the statistics course of the StatPsych Honors Seminar.