Getting to Know You: Jenn Horn and Lexi Carmack '24

The Honors Program has welcomed a new Interim Director and Senior Administrator for the 2024-25 academic year. Jenn Horn, Instructor of English, has been named the Interim Director of the Honors Program and Themed Living Communities (TLC). She has taught at USI for over 12 years and is an Affiliate Faculty of Gender Studies, an Instructor in English and the College of Liberal Arts First Year Experience and Living Learning Community Liaison. Lexi Carmack ' 24 is now the Senior Administrative Assistant for the department. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from USI and was an honors student herself for a period during her undergraduate career.

Let’s learn more about Horn and Carmack and what they look forward to in being a part of the Honors Program.

Jenn Horn

Jenn Horn came to USI in 2012 as an English instructor and currently teaches classes in composition, folklore, mythology, gender studies, humanities and UNIV 101.

“Of all the campuses I’ve been on, and I’ve been on quite a few, USI is one of the prettiest and nicest campuses,” she said.

She’s also worked with different Themed Living Communities (TLCs) at USI since 2017. Involved in various roles across campus with a passion for serving students, Horn enjoys staying busy, to say the least.

As Interim Director of the Honors Program and Themed Living Communities, her duties include maintaining the program, helping students with their honors projects, recording honors progress, hosting fun Honors activities and mentoring the Honors TLC.

While her current position is interim, Horn looks forward to applying for the full-time position once it becomes available. “I hope to maintain some of the good work that’s already been done and being done,” she said.

Horn plans on meeting with current and former students as well as the deans of each of the colleges to discuss ways to better serve students in these programs.

“I see a lot of meetings in my future, but it’s all about serving students and trying to make sure we’re doing the best work that we can,” she said.

As an instructor, Horn has always enjoyed working with Honors students and seeing their creativity blossom through their projects. During her folklore class last spring, she had a student learn how to tap dance as her Honors project. She’s also had students complete quilting projects and advertisements for Honors projects.

 “What I love about Honors is giving students an opportunity to do something a little extra that they might not have a chance to do,” she said. “And I love giving faculty a chance to do something they may not get to do otherwise as well.”

Honors 129 classes are one-credit courses focused on topics students might not be able to learn about in the classroom. Honors students are required to take one of these courses, which will count towards the seven Honors credits required to graduate with the Honors distinction. Honors students can take a max of two 129 courses.

Past 129 courses included topics such as Barbies, Dolly Parton, positive psychology, Bob Ross and Mr. Rodgers. Future 129 courses include topics such as true crime and, potentially, roller derby, taught by Horn herself, who was a member of Evansville’s Demolition City Roller Derby for eight years.

“Those courses are about finding ways to do those fun things that you don’t always get to do in the traditional classroom setting, but you’re still passionate about it,” she said.

Horn is currently working on her doctorate in education dissertation at USI about building community through tradition. Inspired by her folklore background, she will highlight how developing traditions and best practices on USI’s campus, particularly through the UNIV 101 courses, helps build community among students and makes them feel more comfortable to voice their opinions about specific aspects of USI. She hopes her dissertation will emphasize student success because “we’re here for students.”

Outside of being involved on campus, writing her dissertation and skating, Horn enjoys spending time with her husband and their two cats and dogs. They enjoy visiting fun places, some of their favorites include Bloomington, Indiana, and Nashville, Tennessee. She enjoys reading books and is looking forward to the new Dark Tower and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movies. Even though her dissertation is taking up a lot of her time, Horn tries to set an example for students to find time to do other things besides schoolwork.

“I try to tell students to find time to do things that are not just this because, at some point, you need to get away from this to be able to come back to this so your brain can be ready for it,” she said.

If anyone has questions about the program, or if a faculty member wants to teach an HON 129 course, Horn’s door is open anytime.

Lexi Carmack ‘24

Like Horn, Carmack enjoys staying busy. On top of a 40-hour work week, she’s enrolled in 15 credit hours of classes in USI’s Master of Social Work program. Despite having a lot of late nights, she said it's no different than when she was an undergrad student.

Her job is to keep track of students’ progress in the Honors Program. From tracking honors classes, activity points and GPAs, she makes sure students are fulfilling their Honors requirements on time for graduation.

Carmack entered the Honors Program as a pre-med biology major before switching to psychology. She graduated early but was unable to complete her Honors requirements in time. Yet, she hopes to take her experience in the program to instill positive change.

“I know from my experience that it can be a very competitive thing, especially when
I was pre-med,” she said. “I hope that Honors can be a place where students are allowed to struggle out loud and get help for the things they need while also fulfilling their requirements. I hope that Ms. H and I can allow students to be college students because we also don’t have everything figured out.”
As an undergrad student, Carmack was involved in Alpha Sigma Tau as the Vice President of Operations for a year and a half and helped kickstart the Sobriety on Campus club. One of her hobbies now, outside of campus, is frequently exercising her AMC A-List subscription.

“I go to the movies way too much,” she admits.

She enjoys watching horror movies, her favorite being Sinister, and playing The Sims. Carmack is also involved in the local arts scene, participating in local theater productions in Evansville such as Alias Grace and How I Learned To Drive. She’s portraying Thomasina Coverly, a 13-year-old British girl in 1809, in Arcadia at STAGEtwo Productions September 27-29.

“It’s a lot of fun and a learning experience,” she said. “We’re considering offering a chance see the performance as an activity point as well for the Honors students.”

With her previous experience as a busy student in and out of the Honors Program, Carmack hopes the Honors Program will be less about stress and more about creating community.

“Looking at the requirements can be daunting or stressful, but it's completely doable,” she said. “And I think coming in as a freshman or pre-med student, we love to get so wound up about something that does not affect us right now or will not affect us down the road.”

 “I think the Honors Program is a great place to make connections and to further enrich your time in college, but it’s not everything as an undergraduate,” she said.