Inside the mind and work of Brady Jones

Brady Jones is a faculty member, honors program director, and mom. She primarily loves to teach Developmental Psychology, which is the study of how people grow and learn throughout their lives. Jones appreciates how students bring new and interesting ideas to the class every year. 

 “Spending my working days thinking about how to live a good life and help others live good lives is a dream,” Jones said. 

This sentiment is reflected in her work directing the Duns Scotus Honors Program at the University of St. Francis (USF). Duns Scotus is an honors program that students submit an application to participate in for the duration of their college career. This previous year, students in the program received a $1,000 scholarship for the academic year. Monetary scholarship value is something that can change on a yearly basis. The program has three main portions: curricular, co-curricular/social and service. 

Under the curricular portion all students in the program are required to take certain classes and fulfill certain contracts. Honors sections for the first-year foundations class as well as speech are available. There are also one credit seminars that Jones recruits faculty to teach. These tend to be the more fun classes like screenwriting or development psychology in the kids show “Bluey”. She advertises these classes to students as well. 

Students must complete three contracts during their time at USF. This is fulfilled by creating an independent project with the professor of a class or participating in a group project through the program.  

The co-curricular side of things is fulfilled by meetings and enrichment experiences. Jones coordinates these things as well as preparing cords and graduation gifts for seniors in the program. Some recent enrichment experiences include going to “The Sound of Music”, a trip to the International Museum of Surgical Science and a day trip to Pilsen.

The service requirement is completed by students by volunteering for ninety hours over their four years in the program. A senior thesis is also required for the Duns Scotus program. 

The program is completely full this year due to recent years of large incoming classes. The new president of the university, Dr. Ryan Hendrickson, has plans for the program to expand. Now, students who are qualified will automatically be accepted into the program.

Jones says that it is such a gift that she gets to work with students of all majors who really love what they’re doing.

 “It’s like a dream job,” said Jones. “I like to share things that I love and think are interesting and beautiful with others”.  

She mentioned that she likes working with college students so much because of their tendency to be curious and the ability to have smart conversations that they can both learn through.

On the teaching side, she has learned a lot over her nine years at USF. Each year she tweaks her lectures to make them even better than the year prior. Since she teaches developmental psychology, she is able to use her sons as examples in her classes. 

“USF is a particularly family friendly place. Nobody makes me feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about my kids or bring my kids to campus,” Jones said. 

A helpful tip that she shared to help manage many tasks in daily life is to block out a schedule for each of your days. Between teaching, directing Duns Scotus and research, Jones makes clear boundaries on her time. This prevents her from spending an entire day on just one of her many tasks.

One of Jones’ favorite hobbies recently has been her house plants. She likes taking care of plants, learning about them and watching them grow. This is a hobby that she picked up during COVID. She has potential future plans to expand her botany knowledge by taking classes at USF. This shows her personal application of exploring curiosity.

The Duns Scotus Honors Program is a wonderful place for people who want to be curious and engaged. Jones mentioned that she values student curiosity over a perfect academic record, as it is all about having that honors mindset. 

“I love directing Duns Scotus.”