Wichita State English professor Kimberly Engber has always enjoyed working with students.

Exactly how she’ll do that changed last week.

Engber is now the director of the Emory Lindquist Honors Program, something similar to what she has done in the past.

Engber said she spent her first year after earning a Ph.D. in English with a Certificate in Women’s Studies from the City University of New York in 2003 in the dean’s office at Hunter College in New York City. She described the job as “academic trouble shooting” in interdisciplinary curriculum programs in first-year programs.

“I liked working with the students; I like thinking about the connections among courses,” Engber said. “I knew what was happening across disciplines. I like that a lot.”

“I have more managing, advising, monitoring and thinking about the honors program,” she said about her responsibilities with the program.

She said this job reflects the liberal arts education she gained as an undergraduate at Kenyan College in Gambier, Ohio. She came to WSU five years ago.

William Vanderburgh, executive director of Faculty Development and Student Success, said that is why she makes a good fit with the program.

“Dr. Engber’s teaching, research and administrative experience make her an excellent fit for the honors program,” he said. “The entire . . . staff is excited to welcome Engber to our team and we look forward to working with her.”

Vanderburgh is also an assistant professor of philosophy.

The Lindquist program provides opportunities for academically exceptional students. Its emphasis is on interdisciplinary coursework and learning experiences. Honors courses feature a professor-to-student ratio of 8:1, travel-based courses and exclusive internships and co-op experiences and research. The program offers about $26,000 a year for scholarships and other program expenses.

Engber has ideas about what she would like to do with the program. “It’s a question of building,” she said. “I’d like to see more international opportunities for students.”

Engber said that opportunity could be developed in a variety of ways between disciplines and academic departments.

Other possibilities are developing interdisciplinary courses, she said.

“There’s some opportunity for creativity in course design and team teaching,” Engber said.

She spent the 2006-2007 academic year on a Fullbright Scholarship at the University of Zagreb in Croatia as a guest professor of American Studies and team-taught a literary seminar at the University of Zagreb in May and June 2011.

Her overall intent is to broaden students’ outlook on life and the world.

“I want to see students who are really tapping into all the reasons that exist and who are dreaming beyond and who are thinking about the bigger world out there,” Engber said.

Engber’s title is associate professor of English and director of the Emory Lindquist Honors Program.

Her teaching course load will include teaching one course, a decrease from three courses, to accommodate her new assignment.

“The teaching is the piece I love the most,” she said. “That was another appeal for me was you continue to teach.”