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Problems, Concerns, Limitations
AU Honors College: 2008 & Beyond
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HONORS CERTIFICATES, 2002-2006
Fewer than desirable stick it out!
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Apply Enroll Jr.Cert.
Sr.Cert.
Incoming Classin 2002
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FOR EXAMPLE
Earn
Earn
UniversityHonorsScholars
Total # ofHonorsstudents
Only 253 total: 3.5%
FAR TOO FEW HONORS STUDENTS BECOMEUNIVERSITY HONORS SCHOLARS
1994-2005
Honors Enrollment
What explains the attrition?
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Big Deal—Or Empty Promise?
• “The absolute worst crime is when a university touts its Honors program as a big deal and then Honors students and their families quickly realize there is not really that much to it.” Dr. Ted Estiss
DeanHonors CollegeUniversity of Houston
All for what?!
“After having been in the program for a year, the only true reason I am still part of it is so that I can register early… and there I find the problem. There is no real incentive to be in the Honors program. The classes are more challenging (read, “harder”), and the Honors housing is in many respects substandard and full to overcrowded. And all for what? Early registration?! …
COMMENTS FROM CURRENT AU HONORS STUDENTS
All for what?
“…If this Honors program is truly to succeed in its mission, it must begin to offer some REAL incentive, some REAL recognition, and some REAL reward.”
--Junior Aerospace Engineering student
Improved Image
“What could best be improved in the Honors program is its image. Whenever people hear the name, they think, “Oh, no, it’s just more work.”
--Sophomore Architecture major
Extreme makeover
“Beyond the registration there is no real “perk” associated with it, and that should be changed. The grade policy, a 3.2 cumulative, is also somewhat disappointing. Some of the smartest kids I know are having trouble staying in the Honors program because of their major (non-Honors classes)….
Extreme makeover
“ I also know that within the Honors program there are discrepancies in the expectations of students. I have been in the H.P. for two years now and do not feel I have gained much from it. I would like for the H.P. to be more organized, more smoothly-run. I think it needs an extreme makeover.”
--Junior UNSM student
Not doing me much good
“An amazing change in the Honors program would be somehow weighing the GPA of Honors classes. Because right now I’m taking Honors classes that take up more time and effort and don’t really have anything to show for it. It seems like it’s not doing me much good to do Honors.”
---Freshman Architecture major
More Courses
“I think the Honors College would be better if the Honors course selection was wider, meaning more courses could be counted towards completion of the Honors program.”
--Sophomore Math major
Larger course selection
“The Honors College needs a larger course selection and more contact with its students in regards to scheduling. Students should have the opportunity to enroll in more Honors courses outside of the standard curriculum.”
--Freshman PWRE student
More offerings
“There should be more Honors classes offered in the School of Math and Science. I had numerous choices of Honors Music Appreciation classes but no choices for Honors Biology.”
--Freshman UNSM student
Extra incentive
“The Honors program could be improved by adding extra incentive for people to take the classes. Honors classes are more challenging than regular classes so people should be rewarded for doing well, such as adding more to their GPA.”
--Sophomore PIE student
Honors past the Core
“The Honors program could be improved by offering Honors classes past Core courses. Some majors seem to do more for Honors students than others. I’d like to be in Honors Engineering classes.”
--Sophomore ME student
Not enough difference
“I would like to see more difference between my Honors and regular courses. I enjoy the smaller number of students in the classroom but I feel in many of my courses there is not enough difference in Honors and regular. Maybe a research project that would challenge us to work harder.”
--Sophomore Electrical Engineering major
What explains the attrition?
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Other Factors Involved
1. Belief that requirements for Senior Program/Thesis will addsignificantly to the workload and difficulty of finishing a major.
Other Factors Involved
1. Belief that requirements for Senior Program/Thesis will addsignificantly to the workload and difficulty of finishing a major.
2. Advisers within colleges actually advising students to drop out of the Honors program.
Other Factors Involved
1. Belief that requirements for Senior Program/Thesis will addsignificantly to the workload and difficulty of finishing a major.
2. Advisers within colleges actually advising students to drop out of the Honors program.
3. Faculty in the majors not encouraging their students to complete a thesis. Not enough faculty “buy-in.”
Other Factors Involved
1. Belief that requirements for Senior Program/Thesis will addsignificantly to the workload and difficulty of finishing a major.
2. Advisers within colleges actually advising students to drop out of the Honors program.
3. Faculty in the majors not encouraging their students to complete a thesis. Not enough faculty “buy-in.”
4. Insufficient coordination between senior capstone projects in a major and work on the Honors Thesis. No reason they haveto be two different projects.
Other Factors Involved
1. Belief that requirements for Senior Program/Thesis will addsignificantly to the workload and difficulty of finishing a major.
2. Advisers within colleges actually advising students to drop out of the Honors program.
3. Faculty in the majors not encouraging their students to complete a thesis. Not enough faculty “buy-in.”
4. Insufficient coordination between senior capstone projects in a major and work on the Honors Thesis. No reason they haveto be two different projects.
But how “fixed” do want it? How many Honors Theses per year
can the faculty accommodate?
Concept of President Gogue/Graduate Dean George Flowers: 4-year Bachelors/Master’s program
Freshmen arriving with mega-AP 5-year Bachelors/Master’s program
Vision for the Future
Underlying PrincipleInstrument for Individual Development
Instrument for Institutional Development
HONORSCOLLEGE
Artist’s rendition of Shelby Center For Engineering Technology
TOTAL HONORS SCHOLARSHIP MONEY: $117K PER YEAR FOR 750 STUDENTS =
$156 PER STUDENT!
Honors is an institution’s very public face
“Multiplier Effect”
“The directly visible effects of dollars spent on Honors is greater than spending those dollars anywhere else on campus.”
--National Collegiate Honors Council
Honors needs to be appropriately integrated within the overall mission of
the land-grant university.
Inclusive—Non-Elitist—Permeable—Enlivening—Enriching—Available—Accessible
On a space-available basis, open Honors courses to enrollment to undergraduates with a “B” average or better.
– Try to get 200 to 300 students per year to sample Honors courses
“Dipping into the Curriculum”
CurriculumLong Term/Innovation
Use the Honors Curriculum partly as a learning laboratory, where new course ideas and new ways of teaching constantly stimulate teachers and students.
– Special (interdisciplinary) seminars
– Build bridges between parts of the curriculum that are too often experienced in isolation from one another.
“Honors With a Difference”
Use Honors to spearhead a university-wide commitment to providing as stimulating and enriching an academic environment as can be found on any college campus in America, for all students.
Inclusive—Non-Elitist—Permeable—Enlivening—Enriching—Available—Accessible
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Office of Distinguished Scholarships
National Prestigious Scholarships
At A.U., responsibility for administration falls to half-time Honors College Director
Rhodes Marshall Truman Goldwater Total
U. of Georgia 19 4 13 26 62
U. of Arkansas 10 6 11 30 57
Ol’ Miss 24 2 11 8 45
U. of Alabama 15 0 9 15 39
LSU 14 4 2 15 35
So. Carolina 1 1 4 26 32
U Tenn 3 6 4 11 24
Miss St 0 0 14 9 23
Auburn 0 1 0 21 22
Kentucky 0 2 12 3 17
U. of Florida 1 0 3 3 7
Vanderbilt
Data collected in 2005 by MSU Honors Program for 1990-2004
Proposal to Dr. Glaze
Appoint Associate Director for National Prestigious Scholarships (Honors College), to develop a much more effective system for mentoring student applicants and earning a greater number of distinguished external scholarships.
Rhodes
Dr. Paul Harris
Paul with students at Univ of Muenster
Office of Undergraduate Research
Connect AU’s Undergraduate Research Program to Honors College?
Dr. Ted EstissDeanHonors CollegeUniversity of Houston
“One of the worst places at the university to situate an Undergraduate Research Program is within the Office for the Vice President for Research. The OVPR has absolutely no regular contact with undergraduate students.”
Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Office of the Vice President for Research
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Auburn
Leanne K. Lamke
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Auburn
Leanne K. Lamke
James Groccia
Biggio Center for the Enhancement
of Teaching And Learning
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Auburn
Leanne K. Lamke James Groccia
Biggio Center for the Enhancement
of Teaching And Learning
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Auburn
Leanne K. Lamke James Groccia
Biggio Center for the Enhancement
of Teaching And Learning
Honors College
Center for Undergraduate Excellence (A.U.)
Auburn
Leanne K. Lamke James Groccia
Biggio Center for the Enhancement
of Teaching And Learning
Honors needs very strong benediction from above
“Icing on the Cake”
• “Superstars” of campus lecture series
• Cultural travel tours, i.e., NYC, San Francisco, Montreal, Mexico City
• Book clubs led by retired faculty, eminent alums, accomplished community leaders
“Bread and butter”
• Honors Core courses• Honors work in major
