Preliminary Proposal — February 11, 2009
REVISION OF HONORS REQUIREMENTS
Preamble
In 2008, the Provost’s Taskforce on the Honors Program made a series of recommendations about changes to the structure of the Honors program. The proposal below constitutes an early step toward implementing some of those changes in the current budgetary situation.
Background
Currently, the Emory Lindquist Honors Program has the following structure.
(1) Lower Division
1. 3 Freshman/Sophomore Seminars
(2) Upper Division
2. Departmental Honors Track (12 hours minimum)
OR
3. as an alternative to the Departmental Honors Track
4. 2 upper division courses (either general education, Honors, in the major, or other approved upper division courses)
5. Senior Project [Independent Study] in the major
Only ten departments (three from the College of Engineering) have defined Departmental Honors Tracks. Still fewer actively promote their Departmental Honors Tracks.
About 230 students are admitted to the Honors Program annually. In recent years, 0-17 students have graduated with the Emory Lindquist Honors Program notation on their transcripts each year (there have been no Program graduates since 2007). Since 2006, only 28 students have graduated with Departmental Honors. (Students can complete Departmental Honors without taking the lower division of the Honors Program, and in some cases even without being a member of the Honors Program.)
Students who enter the Honors Program have a significantly higher 6-year graduation rate and lower average-time-to-completion as compared to WSU students generally. (These rates are similar for Honors-eligible students who do not enroll in Honors.) This is to say that the dismal completion rate for the Honors Program is not due to Honors-admitted students not completing their degrees.
New recruits and students who take the Honors Freshman/Sophomore seminars are generally very enthusiastic about Honors. The question, then, is why these students stop participating in Honors and decide not to graduate with the ELHP designation on their transcripts. Possible reasons include lack of departmental commitment to Honors (especially visible in the fact that so few departments have defined Honors Tracks). Departmental and college academic advisors need better information and training about Honors, and should make it a priority when advising their best students. Departments may not be able to offer the right rotation of courses to support Departmental Honors Tracks, and faculty may be reluctant to devote significant time to blue card courses. Also, students who enjoy the close collaboration with faculty and fellow students and the unusual, interdisciplinary topics of the seminars probably feel at a loss when faced with the prospect of putting together their own upper division Honors program, and have little to gain but extra work by adding the H designation to their major classes. Although independent study and one-on-one collaboration with faculty are sometimes appropriate, many students need more structure and interaction than a solo trip through the upper division of Honors can provide.
Proposal
The current Honors program is not successful. With the goal of significantly increasing the completion rate for the Emory Lindquist Honors Program while maintaining and extending the good parts of the current program (namely, the lower division seminars), the following new model is proposed.
Increase admission and progression requirements
Increase the minimum admission requirements to a GPA of 3.7 or an ACT of 27. Students who meet the minimum admission requirements will be invited to submit an application including a personal statement. Students who do not meet the admission requirements can petition the Director of the Honors Program for special consideration.
Increase the progression requirements from 3.25 GPA overall to 3.5 GPA overall, and 3.25 in any Honors class. Students who fall below these standards for one semester will be put on probationary status. Students who fall below these standards for two semesters will be dropped from the program.
Enhance the lower division
Increase the requirement from 9 hours to 12 hours of HNRS or H courses.
Offer a menu of courses across the colleges and divisions of LAS, and establish a rotation of courses. Courses in the rotation should be interdisciplinary, involve active learning, and for the most part satisfy general education requirements. Offer one course each semester from each of Fine Arts, Business, Engineering, Education, Health Professions, Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Natural Sciences and Mathematics. In addition, offer Comm 111H and the Honors Calculus sequence each year. (19 lower division courses per year required, and departments can offer as many H sections as they want in addition.)
The Honors Floor in Fairmount Towers will be converted to a living-learning community. As a condition of living on the floor, the 60 students on the floor will be required to take two courses each semester from the menu of HNRS and selected H courses. They will also participate in a year-long service project. (60 students x 3 cr.hr. x 2 = 360 cr. hr. each semester, x $177.50 = $63,900 tuition income each semester.)
Redesign the upper division
Students will EITHER complete a Departmental Honors Track OR the following.
Increase the upper division requirement from 9 to 12 hours.
Required: HNRS 3XX Advanced Writing [Design new course, or convert existing English course: team taught?]
Required: HNRS 4XX Research Seminar. (Must be taken after Advanced Writing; can be repeated once for credit provided a different research topic is pursued). Groups of 6-12 students meet together one hour per week, report to each other what they are doing, offer each other advice, etc., then spend the rest of the week working on independent projects with a professor (rarely the seminar leader).
Each semester, offer HNRS Advanced Writing and HNRS Research Seminar. Each year, offer upper division HNRS courses similar to the lower division seminars each year in each college and division of LAS and the two HNRS leadership development courses. Encourage departments to offer concurrent H sections of I&P courses. Encourage emphases in global studies (including study abroad), responsible citizenship (including environmental issues and service learning) [DESIGN NEW COURSES: HNRS 3YY Issues of the Day, team taught; HNRS 3ZZ Serving to Learn] (10 HNRS courses each year)
[30 sections x $4000 = $120,000 annually; $90,000 @ $3000. Or equivalent in teaching, including free overloads, including Honors courses in regular loads, cross-listing regular sections with Honors sections, etc.]
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Vote on increasing admission requirements as follows:
Incoming students with fewer than 24 college credit hours: a minimum high school GPA of 3.7, or a minimum composite ACT score of 27.
Incoming students with more than 24 college credit hours: a minimum college GPA of 3.6.
Students who do not meet these standards may petition the Director of Honors for special admission.
2. Vote on increasing the progression requirements as follows:
Being in good standing in the Honors Program requires maintaining an overall WSU GPA of 3.5, and no less than 3.25 in any Honors class. Students who fall below these standards for one semester will be put on probationary status. Students who fall below these standards for two semesters will be dropped from the program.
3. Vote on increasing the number of hours in the lower division of the program to 12.
4. Vote on increasing the number of hours in upper division of the program to 12, with HNRS Advanced Composition and HNRS Research Seminar as required classes.