Dr. Harold Moses, a graduate student in UALR’s Master of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) program, has received Mensa International’s 2014-15 Margot Seitelman Memorial Scholarship for best writing specimen.

Mensa International, with members in more than 100 countries, is a high Intelligence Quotient society that provides a forum for intellectual exchange among its members. Moses said he does not see himself as “smart.”

“Anything that I earn, I have to work very hard at it. It doesn’t come easy for me,” he said.

He said his winning personal essay described his accomplishments, career goals, and reasons for attending UALR. “It’s a very challenging university,” he said. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about the writing program.”

Moses said he knew he scored well on his military entrance exam for the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1969, but he did not realize exactly how well.

“I thought the tester was patronizing me. He just said, ‘you did pretty good on that test.’”

Moses was honorably discharged from the military after incurring a persistent stress-related severe illness that he now considers a blessing. He said this and a prior condition that affects his cognitive processes have worked together for him.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and French and a master’s degree in public administration from UALR, and he received his Ph.D in political science from Southern Illinois University.

Previous awards and honors
As a PhD student with no formal training in writing beyond college composition, he won best student paper written and presented at the annual meeting of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS).

At the annual meeting of NCOBPS the following year, he won best student paper and best overall conference paper presented, marking the first time in the history of the organization that a student paper received the two awards in one meeting.

He recently received the Educational Trailblazer’s Award from the S. A. Jones National Alumni Association, his high school’s alumni organization.

“That institution gave me the best educational foundation that I have because it and the teachers there gave me the confidence to be and do anything,” he said.

Moses said he did not realize his intelligence until recently, when he stumbled across his military paperwork and test scores.

“I had been living with this medical condition, in addition to intelligence, that I had not realized. Despite my age, I was still able to do anything I put my mind to,” he said.

He worked on his Mensa scholarship essay for five weeks, he said, and it was not easy.

“Audience analysis is everything,” he said, “but you have no idea who’s reading it. You have to consider ways of assessing the audience intuitively, and it’s virtually impossible.”

He said the scholarship only awarded $1,000, but the title is an honor. UALR’s PTW program unlocked more of his cognitive processes than any other discipline, according to Moses.

Moses, who recently used his undergraduate knowledge of foreign language to teach the basics of 20 languages to a group of children at his church, said he will make sure his PTW is functional. He said he would like to develop theories on cognitive processes of the visually impaired and research how social media impacts the interpersonal skills of its users.

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