Although he was raised in the mountains of Colorado, Larry Carver made another home for himself in the College of Liberal Arts. On Jan. 30, retired after working at UT for 43 years.

Carver arrived at the University of Texas in 1973 when he began to teaching in the Department of English. After proctoring for 10 years, he filled various roles, such as special assistant to the chancellor and associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts. He has served as director of the Liberal Arts Honors program since 2002.

Carver said the best part about his job is interacting with students.

“Well, I have lots of (favorite) parts. I have been very blessed, but clearly working with students (has been my favorite) … I will miss the students greatly,” said Carver.

In addition to his role as director of LAH, Carver also served as the director of the Humanities program, where students are chosen to create their own unique interdisciplinary major followed by an honors thesis. He also runs the Junior Fellows program, which is a campus-wide program that encourages juniors and seniors to engage in independent undergraduate research. Carver also coaches students in pursuing prestigious graduate scholarships.

“This year has been an extraordinary year,” said Carver. “I would be very surprised if there is public university that has had a Rhodes, a Marshall, a Schwartzman and a Truman scholar in the same year, and we did. That has been very exciting.”

Carver chose the Truman as his favorite among the nationally and world-renowned scholarships and has coached 12 winners in the past 15 years.

“The Truman scholarship is the nearest to my heart because it is Americans trying to do good things for fellow citizens,” said Carver. “We, UT, are second among state universities in the number of Truman scholarships that have ever been awarded, and we are third in the number of Marshall scholarships. So, I am very proud of that.”

Stacey Amorous, the associate director of the Liberal Arts Honors program, stated her appreciation for Carver and her praise for the new director of the program.

“It is going to be a change and a challenge but I think that LAH will be in good hands with our new director and I think that Dr. Carver will be happy (in his retirement).”

Dean Marc Musick will be replacing Carver as director of LAH while Dr. Doug Bruster will coach post-baccalaureate scholarship applicants and Dr. Elizabeth Scala will run the Junior Fellows Program.

Carly Williams, a sophomore English, and health and society major who has worked in the LAH office with Dr. Carver, said that he has been a major influence on the program.

“I will definitely miss him,” said Williams. “He is such a wealth of knowledge. I will miss him and all of the wisdom that he has imparted on LAH.”

Carver said he will spend his time writing and contributing to conservation efforts, but said he will be back on campus from time to time.

“My wife and I are going to move to Rico, Colorado,” Carver said. “We have had a home there for the past eight years, but I will be back to do various things. My big heart is in conservation, so we will be working with conservation groups to try and see if we can protect the mountains.”