I think sometimes God plants a desire in your heart long before you understand why. And sometimes the place you try to talk yourself out of is the very place you were meant to be.

The object of this article is not to scrutinize your personal upbringing, family or church; however, if your own questions were routinely shut down and reframed as a “lack of faith,” you might consider the uncomfortable reality that you were indoctrinated into your beliefs.

America is the greatest nation in the world, purely because of what we are made of and what we believe in. We believe in democracy. We believe in liberty, “a city shining upon a hill.” America is a place like no other, a light to all. Even if its light has dimmed, it can be brightened once again. The institutions we have lost our faith in can be trusted once again. Our nation will not be judged by how far it’s fallen, but by how tall it will stand after.

Dr. Heidi Hornik, professor of art history and chair of the art and art history department, has spent more than three decades building a career defined by both rigorous Renaissance scholarship and a deep commitment to her students — a combination that has now earned her the Big 12 Faculty of the Year award.