IU South Bend group photo with the IU Trident flag at MEHA 2025 in Hiram, OH. | Top Row: Kylie Rhodes, Dr. Cathy Borshuk, Diana Zebroski, Edwin Cortez Flores | Bottom Row: Sarah Farrough, Dhruval Chaudhari, Jordan Keeley, Ashley Rojas Romero, Karrie M. Jean
In April 2025, seven honors students, Professor Cathy Borshuk (interim co-director of the Indiana University South Bend Honors Program), and Karrie M. Jean (assistant director of the Indiana University South Bend Honors Program) traveled to Hiram College in Ohio to attend and present at the Mid-East Honors Association Annual Conference. Over 110 students, faculty, and staff from honors programs/colleges across Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio gathered to share ideas, scholarly works, and their love of honors. The Mid-East Honors Association is a regional organization affiliated with the National Collegiate Honors Council, and the Indiana University South Bend Honors Program is a member of both.
At the 2025 MEHA Conference, Karrie M. Jean was elected to serve as president of the Mid-East Honors Association for the 2025-2026 academic year. Along with this, the annual MEHA conference will be hosted on IU South Bend’s campus on April 17-19, 2026.
Kylie Rhodes during her poster presentation titled Improving Pediatric Mental Health Following the Self-Determination Theory and the Socioecological Model
“After serving as the MEHA treasurer for the 2024-2025 academic year and going the entire year without a vice president, who would usually then become president and host the next MEHA Conference, I realized that running for the MEHA presidency was an opportunity for my students and campus that I could not pass up. IU South Bend has never hosted MEHA on our campus, but we attend with students every year and it is always such a wonderful experience for the students, faculty, and staff. Not only would hosting this conference show a broader audience what our campus and Honors Program have to offer, but hosting the next MEHA Conference on our campus might also make this conference more accessible to more of our students who maybe are not able to travel away for an entire weekend,” said Jean.
Edwin Cortez Flores during his scholarly presentation titled Developing a Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor for Detecting Cortisol in Biological Samples
While the full conference details are still being finalized by the MEHA Board of Directors, a theme of “Learning Together, Leading Together” has been agreed upon in the spirit of unity in a time when it seems so easy to feel divided.
IU South Bend honors students who presented in 2025 include Dhruval Chaudhari (Biological Sciences, 2025), Edwin Cortez Flores (Biological Sciences, 2027), Sarah Farrough (English Education, 2025), Jordan Keeley (Nursing, 2025), Kylie Rhodes (Psychology and Health Sciences, 2026), Ashley Rojas Romero (Biological Sciences, 2025), and Diana Zebroski (Sustainability Studies and Spanish, 2026).