TBers,

At a recent SPARC meeting there was discussion about an Honors Program so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this topic at the TB meeting.  So we did.  Below are my notes from that meeting.  Please add ,clarify or correct if you think I’ve got something wrong here.  Thanks.

Do we (SUNY Oneonta) need an Honors Program and if so, what would it look like?

Those in attendance unanimously thought we did (some were even emphatic about it).   Reasons included improved student engagement, recruitment of students, reward for faculty and students,  prestige for the college.

There was some initial discussion about our existing Honors Program and how its history  has led to it needing a revisit.  It was noted that a group was doing this and would soon provide their ideas about what this new program might look like.  Part of the issue with our existing one is lack of definition.  Faculty don’t seem to know what it is, how it works, etc. Regardless of where it is at, people were happy that it was being revisited.

Any new program must have faculty buy in because ultimately it will be a lot more work for faculty. The goal/reward for faculty and students should be smaller sections of courses.   This, of course, raises resource/staffing issues, but still the group thought it was important and necessary.  The traditional notion that honors courses would be much more intense, rigorous experience was generally held by the group.

Criteria for such a program were discussed.  Some ideas:

    Although GPA should be important in the selection criteria, it should not be the only criteria.  Exclusive doesn’t have to mean small and the idea of learning communities across multiple courses was mentioned.

    Independent research with faculty was seen as a possible important part of a program, as was community service, etc.  But this program should NOT be run like an independent study.  Faculty teaching is important  to this program and teaching honors should be part of the faculty load – not in addition to.

    Staffing will be a big issue.  

    Team teaching is a good idea for Honors but this takes more time and energy.  

    There needs to be real incentives for students beyond just smaller courses.  Some ideas might be notation on transcript, special spaces for honors, opportunities to work closely with faculty on research or scholarship, special food, early registration, etc....

    Letters of recommendation would be a part of the selection criteria, as could other criteria like community service, involvement in groups, clubs, bands, etc... not just GPA.  We want the really industrious students, not just the high GPA ones.

    The issue of TIME repeatedly came up.  In some programs  there just isn’t any TIME built in and doing honors in these programs would be difficult.  This has to be looked at.

    Another idea that had some traction with the group was placing incoming freshman into an honors program by their GPA and having other students apply.   

    Finally, all agreed that whatever the discipline, an honors program should include some involvement with research and the “real world”.  This could take different forms depending on the discipline.  Ideas such as study abroad, service projects, internships, research, social justice issues, etc. were mentioned.  The meeting ended with the group hoping that a successful Honors Program could be implemented.

Mr. James B. Greenberg
Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center
Milne Library
SUNY College at Oneonta
Oneonta, New York 13820

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