|
Student Logo Competition
|
Today
is the final day to submit your original logo design for the 2009 NCHC
Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Complete details and entry forms
are available on the NCHC website. If you have any questions or
need an electronic copy of the NCHC logo, please contact the national office. |
Conference
Evaluations
|
At the close of the conference, evaluations
will be available on the conference website. Your evaluation may be anonymous, or
you may include your name. Rosalie Otero, the chair of evaluation for the conference, and I are very pleased that the
evaluation will be accessible, easy, economical, and environmentally
friendly. Your evaluation of the 2008
Conference will assist the 2009 Conference Chair and his
Committee as they finalize what will be another exciting NCHC conference.
~Lydia Lyons
2008 Conference Chair
|
|
Important Dates
|
October 17
Student Service Day
October 22-26
Annual Conference
November
Membership Renewals
December 14
Ballots Due
January 1
Deadline for HIP Articles |
|
Dear Honors Friends,In
less
than a week, we will be in San Antonio attending the NCHC 2008
Conference. A city where the cultures of the world come together, San
Antonio is the perfect city for NCHC friends to meet for our annual
conference. From the action and color of the Riverwalk to the beauty
and color of Crownridge Canyon Park, we can envision San Antonio and
our conference as a grand example of mosaic art. We know that
mosaic art is an amazing blend of distinctly different pieces of stone,
tile, and glass that combine together to create a new art that consists
of beauty and functionality.
Our NCHC Conference offers a mosaic art of its own beauty and
functionality. Hundreds of people working on different phases of the
conference are able to inlay components to create this fantastic mosaic
of our conference. The heart and beauty of our conference are in the
convening of students, professors, directors, and staff in one location
each year to share in our commitment to honors education and all that
it represents. Let those of us who are veteran conference attendees not
only welcome first-time attendees, but also share and encourage the
giving spirit that has been so important to our honors community and
our lives.
See you in San Antonio,
Lydia Lyons
2008 Conference Chair
National Collegiate Honors Council
|
|
Featured Conference Session
Teaching & Learning Student Fishbowl
Do you really want to know what your students think about your
Honors Program? The Teaching and Learning Student Fishbowl Session was
designed to give the not-too-faint-of-heart candid feedback on a
variety of critical honors issues. This unique session allows attendees
to listen in on a frank conversation among honors students from a
variety of institutions-from small liberal arts colleges and community
colleges, to medium and large university honors programs and colleges.
Only after students have had ample time to discuss in depth what works
best in their honors programs and specific areas in need of
improvement, does the audience have the opportunity to ask their own
questions.
Students are seated in a circle, facing one
another, while the audience sits outside the circle. In this format,
students feel free to express their opinions about what they do and do
not like about a wide variety of honors learning experiences (e.g.,
classes, capstone projects, study abroad programs) and teaching
techniques (e.g., lectures, group projects, use of PowerPoint). The
students tend to feed off of each other and the discussion becomes
quite spirited.
The Fishbowl has maintained its popularity with conference
goers for over fourteen years owing to the relevance, quality, and
honesty of the responses of the student "fish". Attendees hear fresh
and insightful answers each year due, in part, to the careful selection
of student panelists. The moderator, with the aid of honors directors
from across the nation, invites outstanding students with very diverse
backgrounds to ensure a wide variety of perspectives. This diversity of
majors, interests, personality, gender, culture and ethnicity serves to
not only reflect the diversity of the students of all of our programs,
but also elicits widely differing perspectives and answers.
A
few simple student preparation strategies represent another element
that encourages an insightful Fishbowl discussion. The student
panelists are given the discussion questions ahead of the conference to
give them ample time to reflect on them before the event. They also
submit a mini bio (4 or 5 sentences describing their background and
goals) to the moderator and each other, so that they can begin to
become acquainted. They meet together with the moderator early in the
conference before some of the student events in order to become
comfortable speaking to one another.
One of the great benefits of attending the NCHC Teaching and
Learning Student Fishbowl session is that you can learn how you can
quite easily replicate it on your own campus. The Fishbowl panel works
great on your home campus where you can select the panelists and invite
honors and non-honors faculty alike. At my campus, faculty members were
astonished by the level of thought students put into their answers, how
much students appreciated them, as well as a few teaching strategies
students deplored.
I have quite extensive notes from last year's Denver
Conference Fishbowl (taken by Carolyn Kuykendall) which I will be happy
to email you upon request. My e-dress is aprimoza@sdccd.edu. The
responses regarding the best things about their programs and what they
felt made a great teacher are especially informative. To learn more
about the Fishbowl, see John Zubizarreta's chapter on the topic in the
Teaching and Learning book which should be out by December.
The Teaching and Learning Student Fishbowl Session at this
year's San Antonio conference will be on Friday, 24 October, 10:30 to
11:45am in Salon F.
~Alison Primoza
|
Final Call for Auction Items
4th Annual Student Auction
With just one week to go until conference, students from Westminster
College are putting the finishing touches on the historic, first-ever
NCHC Live Auction benefit for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.
If you haven't contacted them with your donation idea, now is the time!
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
was founded in 1980 as a non-profit, multidisciplinary organization.
Located in the heart of San Antonio's west side, the Guadalupe is the
largest community-based, multi-disciplinary organization in the United
States. Its mission is to preserve, promote and develop the arts
and culture of the Chicano/Latino/Native American peoples for all ages
and backgrounds through public and educational programming in six
disciplines: Dance, Literature, Media Arts, Theater Arts, Visual Arts
and Xicano Music.
Proceeds from the NCHC auction will be
directed to the Guadalupe's scholarship program to subsidize class fees
for students in need of assistance. According to the director, the
Guadalupe targets teenagers, works with them to instill a sense of
confidence, gets them involved in a social activity, and provides them
experience with an art form. Dancing has the added benefit of teaching
sequential learning and helping with memory, as well as getting the
students involved in the community. One measure of the success of the
program is that most of the Guadalupe's students have been in the
program for several years and many are from the same family.
Classes run for eight weeks and are $40 per month, in
addition to a $25 yearly membership fee. Prices have remained the same
for the past ten years, even with costs rising around the city. No one
is ever denied admission to their program based on financial need so in
today's economy, scholarships are becoming increasingly important to
the continuation of the program.
The students organizing the San Antonio auction have set a
goal of raising more money at the 2008 auction than was raised last
year, and they need YOUR help. They are looking for any items anyone
can donate, including school or program hoodies. A great list has
already been started with quite a range of items, but they are looking
for anything more anyone can give. Generous donations received to date
include:
- Sunset sail in Tampa Bay
- '08 Campaign gift bag
- NCHC registration
- Books
- School-based gift baskets
Like
to donate but need an idea? To help you out, students have compiled a
speculative list of the Top-Ten-Items-Honors-Directors-Are
Most-Likely-To-Bid-On:
- Albert Einstein action figure
- Titanium spork
- Lunch with (insert your favorite author's name here)
- Tour of the National Air and Space Museum
- Atari 2600 game system with games
- Brushed Winter Black French Truffles
- Giant Origami Dragon
- Balkan Cooking Classes
- Tickets to see Bill Engvall ("Here's Your Sign...")
- Egyptian Oud
If
you can help with any type of donation, Westminster students are
standing by to take your information. They will have a table in Salon G
on Thursday, October 23rd from 10:00 a.m. until the auction starts.
This is also where you can stop by and get an idea what items are
available.
Donate an auction item and be part of helping the
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center bring a valuable cultural experience to
the youth of our host city. And don't forget to bring your checkbook
and come participate in the excitement of a genuine live auction,
Thursday, October 23rd, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Questions? Suggestions? Contact Sara Rees at Westminster College.
|
Featured Committee
Small College Committee
The
NCHC Small College Committee is proud to announce the second Small
College Honors Web Site Competition. We initiated the competition in
2007 to reflect the increasing role of technology in the college
decision-making process. Last year, eleven colleges entered their
honors web sites for consideration. Clarkson University was the first
place winner, Westminster College and Meredith College tied for second
place.
The impact of technology in the classroom has significant
meaning for honors at small colleges. The rising costs of education
make dollars for technology tight on many of our campuses but our
students are often the most techno-savvy. To be competitive for these
excellent students in today's world, we must update our teaching
modalities to reflect their preference for online work and discussion.
Our students expect smart classrooms equipped with the educational
technology that will best facilitate their learning.
We are looking forward to a session at San Antonio sponsored
by our committee entitled, "Technobowl: How Technology has Changed the
Honors Experience." The format for this presentation is similar to a
"Fishbowl" with student participants addressing each other while
observers watch and listen. We fielded such a presentation at the
Southern Regional conference last spring and the results were very
enlightening. Students reported that, when given the option to travel
for their education, they rely heavily on college websites to introduce
them to the climate of the campus. They were a sophisticated group,
speaking to interactive sites and the ability of the web to showcase
the strengths of a college or program. They also talked about the other
end of the spectrum, those colleges or programs whose websites were not
user friendly, were uninviting, or just boring. The students were
animated, discussing the pros and cons of online discussions and chat
rooms as tools for learning. We expect the same excitement in our
Technobowl in San Antonio this next week.
The Small College Committee is dedicated to representing the
interest of small college campuses in NCHC. To this end, our goal for
the year is to generate increased small college membership in NCHC.
Please join us from 1-3:45pm on Thursday of the conference for two
small college symposia. One is dedicated to raising the visibility of
small college honors programs and the other to promoting leadership in
honors.
Co-Chairs for the committee are Donna Menis of St. Francis University-Pennsylvania (dmenis@francis.edu) and Joyce Fields of Columbia College (jfields@columbiasc.edu). Please feel free to contact either of us with your comments or concerns.
~Joyce Fields
|
President's Column
 Creation
and sustenance of learning communities is central to Honors education.
The National Collegiate Honors Council is pledged to enhance honors
education. Leadership is required that connects NCHC members from a
diversity of geographical areas, disciplines, and backgrounds. This
leadership calls for the active engagement of NCHC members. The annual
conference would not occur without conference planning committees, high
quality presenters, or membership attendance. Honors Semesters,
signature programs such as Assessment and Evaluation Institutes, and
publications are all the shared work of NCHC members.
Leadership of these learning contexts is orchestrated by the
NCHC Board of Directors. The board has roles and responsibilities for
governing the organization. Specifically, individual Board members
must:
- Attend 3 Board meetings and Strategic Planning annually
- Be informed about the organization's mission, services, policies, and programs.
- Review the agenda and supporting materials prior to the Board meeting
- Offer to take on special assignments
- Inform others about the organization
- Suggest possible nominees to the board who can make significant contributions
- Keep up to date on developments in honors education
- Assist the board in carrying out its fiduciary responsibilities such as reviewing annual financial statements
Over
the next calendar year, we will recruit members to serve as new board
members. The Board of Directors is only as strong and decisive as the
composition of the Board. A benefit of board membership is the
opportunity to network with many, experienced honors professionals. If
you wish to nominate a member, please contact me hsavage@clarion.edu.
Or, if you wish to discuss serving the National Collegiate Honors
Council, I would be happy to discuss it with you. You, your
institution, and our Board of Directors are shaping the future of some
of our nation's most talented leaders and professionals. I invite you
to share a part in the National Collegiate Honors Council's leadership
and growing presence in higher education.
~Hallie Savage
|
A Tale of Two Cities
Minneapolis & St. Paul - Identity & Assimilation
NCHC Faculty Institute, August 6-10, 2008
Using the experiential learning strategies of City as Text™, eighteen
participants and three facilitators explored the theme of identity and
assimilation with Minneapolis and St. Paul as our site-specific
laboratory. We walked through neighborhoods that resisted easy
definition as we created perceptual maps, spoke with local residents,
and observed the ways identity and assimilation were played out by
different groups of inhabitants, neighborhoods, and the cities
themselves. Each day, participants made sense of their findings through
written reflections and in group seminars where the conversation
invited multiple perspectives. We concluded the institute with a
workshop on how to adapt City as Text™ for use in our own disciplines.
Participants are now completing a collection of essays that
centers on the Faculty Institute's theme of "Identity and
Assimilation," focusing sometimes on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and
St. Paul, sometimes on the neighborhoods within these cities, sometimes
on the personal backgrounds that the writers brought with them to their
experience of these places, and usually on all of the above. The theme
has elicited written reflections on comparisons and contrasts between
the two cities, between the observer and the observed, and between
insiders and outsiders. All of the writers are keenly aware of the
personal lenses through which they filtered their perceptions of the
Twin Cities and their neighborhoods.
One of the insights recurring throughout the essays in this
collection is that exploration and reflection create fluidity between
seeming opposites such as identity/assimilation, insider/outsider, or
bridge/boundary. One thing becomes another while remaining fully
itself. Many of us came to the Twin Cities as outsiders and learned
what it meant to be an insider; bridges became boundaries between
neighborhoods that they connected; the Mississippi River connected two
cities that defined themselves as each other's antithesis; the concept
of assimilation can only be meaningful if we already have a strong
sense of identity. As we left the Faculty Institute for our homes, such
insights got packed into our baggage, later to be unpacked into our
lives and our classrooms throughout the United States; that is what
NCHC Faculty Institutes are all about.
~Ada Long
|
Student Service Day
Reminder
Don't forget the annual
National Collegiate Honors Council
Student Service Day
Friday, October
17, 2008
 Don't miss out! Get your Honors program involved.
Service Ideas Include:
-
Yard
clean-up for elderly or disabled
- Volunteer
at local libraries, thrift stores, or soup kitchens
- Host a
Halloween party for at-risk youth
- Elementary
or middle school outreach
We want to know what you've done for your community. Email your
service plans, reports, and photos to the national office and we'll feature
your program in the next newsletter.
Mark your calendar for the Spring Student Service Day --
April 17,
2009.
|
Amazon Faculty Institute
Changing Identities on a
Rainforest Frontier
Iquitos, Peru & Amazon Rainforest
Registration is now open for the 2009 Amazon Faculty Institute, March 14-21, 2009.
This
institute explores historic and current tensions related to the
conservation and exploitation of natural and human resources in the
Amazon. Current stakeholders are recent colonists, indigenous peoples,
oil companies, tourism enterprises, local governments, and NGO's
concerned with global climate change. Some of the questions to be
explored in this institute include the following:
- Who, if anyone, owns the Amazon?
- Can historical perspectives guide our interactions with the Amazon and its people in the 21st century?
- What strategies and actions are appropriate to protect and preserve the environment and culture?
- What are the obligations of rich and developing countries?
Institute
sessions will include seminars, walkabouts, field explorations,
discussion of prior readings, and individual written reports and
reactions. We will consider how to adapt these learning techniques to
participants' own teaching. Identifying and transferring the principles
of experiential learning to other contexts are important goals of this
institute.
The institute fee of $1,265.00 includes double occupancy
hotel rooms (breakfasts included) in Iquitos, two additional meals in
Iquitos, river transportation, accommodations and all meals at Madre
Selva, and institute reading materials. Not included are airfare,
airport taxes, transport to/from airports, personal items, tips, travel
documents, or souvenirs. Institute fees (less $200.00) are refundable
up to 1 February 2009. After that date, no refunds can be given.
Participants should obtain their own travel and international health
insurance.
Complete details are available in the brochure. Registration is available online. Questions should be directed to Bernice Braid.
|
NCHC Summer Camp
for New Directors
The
Professional Development Committee will be hosting a Summer Camp for
new honors directors and deans at Iowa State University, July 9-11,
2009. Participants will take part in two full days of nuts-and-bolts
sessions where they will be immersed in an honors experience that will
prepare them to be successful in their new position as honors
administrators.
Participants will also learn strategies for developing annual
budgets and curricula and address staffing and administrative issues
unique to their individual programs. The schedule will include
opportunities to engage in one-on-one sessions with experienced honors
administrators and to work in small groups to develop short- and
long-term strategies and goals. Participants will begin the process of
identifying key resources and allies on their own campus and learn the
'tricks of the trade' about how to recruit honors faculty and students.
The registration fee for this institute is $500 and the deadline to register is June 1, 2009.
Participants may register
and pay by credit card online or submit their registration by mail to
the national office. Full details are available in the
online brochure.
Questions? Contact Laurie Fiegel (515) 294-4292.
|
|
|
|
Call for Papers
Honors in Practice
Honors in Practice is accepting submissions for the 2009 volume.
The
deadline is January 1, 2009.
You will find the editorial policy and publication guidelines for paper
submissions below.
Editorial Policy for Honors in Practice
Honors in Practice (HIP) accommodates the need and desire for articles
about nuts-and-bolts issues, innovative practices in individual honors
programs, and other honors topics of concern to the membership. HIP
complements the semi-annual scholarly journal of the NCHC, Journal of the
National Collegiate Honors Council (JNCHC). Both journals
employ a double-blind review system. JNCHC publishes scholarly
essays that stress research in and on honors education. HIP
publishes practical and descriptive essays: descriptions of successful honors
courses, suggestions for out-of-class experiences, administrative issues, and
other matters of use and/or interest to honors faculty, administrators, and
students. Submissions and inquiries should be directed to Ada Long or, if
necessary, 850.927.3776.
Deadline
HIP is published annually. The deadline for
submissions is January 1, 2009.
Submission Guidelines
We will accept material by e-mail
attachment (preferred) or disk. We will not accept material by fax or
hard copy.
If documentation is used, the
documentation style can be whatever is appropriate to the authorʼs primary
discipline or approach (MLA, APA,
etc.), but please avoid footnotes. Internal citation to a list of
references (bibliography) is preferred; endnotes are acceptable.
There are no minimum or maximum
length requirements; the length should be dictated by the topic and its most effective
presentation.
Accepted essays will be edited for
grammatical and typographical errors and for infelicities of style or
presentation. Authors will have ample opportunity to review and approve
edited manuscripts before publication.
~Ada Long
Monograph Series Submission Guidelines
The Publications Board is interested in receiving manuscripts on diverse topics
in honors education and urges people with expertise interested in writing such
a monograph to submit a prospectus.
Prospective authors should submit a proposal discussing the purpose or scope of
the manuscript, a prospectus that includes a chapter by chapter summary, and a
curriculum vitae.
Direct all inquiries, proposals, and manuscripts to the General Editor of the
Monograph Series:
Dr. Jeff Portnoy
General Editor, Monograph Series
Honors Program
Georgia Perimeter College
555 N. Indian Creek Drive
Clarkston, GA 30021
(678) 891-3620
All monograph proposals will be reviewed by the NCHC Publications Board. A
committee of the Publications Board will review all completed manuscripts and
forward recommendations concerning the publication to the Publications
Board.
~Jeff Portnoy
|
Candidates for Board of Directors
Nominee for Vice President
Bonnie Irwin
Eastern Illinois University
I am deeply honored to have
been nominated for Vice President of NCHC. I have served the organization in
numerous ways and have been involved in honors education since 1995. I have
worked to support honors education in our state by serving as
Secretary-Treasurer of the Honors Council of the Illinois Region since
2005. As a member of NCHC, I have
chaired the Membership and Marketing Committee, served on the Board of
Directors, and served as NCHC secretary since 2007. I have also been a member of the last four
conference planning committees and have recently completed the NCHC evaluation
and assessment institutes. Through this range of service, I have become quite
familiar with the workings and aspirations of the National Collegiate Honors
Council.
As our campus budgets tighten
and pressure builds to homogenize higher education, we need to work together to
demonstrate the value of the unique and specialized opportunities we give our
talented students and safeguard their access to high quality education and
support. I seek to build on the accomplishments of past officers, boards, and
committees to strengthen, grow, and continue to professionalize NCHC. By sponsoring
research and gathering data nationally, NCHC can help its members lobby to
improve their own programs. By
continuing to seek grant funding, we can strengthen our tradition of innovation
and experiential learning. By enhancing our marketing and public relations, we
can shine a spotlight on the accomplishments of our students.
I look forward to the
intellectual adventure of facilitating excellence both within our organization
and at our member campuses.
Nominees for Board of Directors
 Bernice Braid
Long Island University-Brooklyn
NCHC's membership has always been its best resource - not so
much the institutions, but the individuals who have represented them. Faculty and students alike have shaped us,
through their energy, imagination, and deep commitment to honors. All have been collegial and receptive to
those who have approached NCHC - from small to large colleges/universities,
from rural to urban institutions, from U.S. to international partners in the
exciting enterprise we share.
My own professional life has been full of NCHC
projects. From service on the Board of
Directors, as member-at-large and as President in its formative years, to
continuing involvement with the Honors Semesters and other committees, I have
been actively engaged in furthering NCHC's mission, and have seen its dramatic
growth in substance and outreach. My
special interests have been in ventures that foster integrative learning, like
City as Text™, and initiatives to support students, most recently helping to
establish the Portz Fellowship - a new project to be launched in 2009 that will
provide funding and recognition directly to students whose schools are members
of NCHC.
The next few years should be pivotal for us. We have established an efficient and
responsive headquarters; several standing committees are offering enrichment
programs that broaden and deepen our understanding of what honors is, does, and
can be; more of our members participate in conferences and institutes than
ever; and our publications have become an important voice in the world of
higher education. We are beginning to
see that honors is gradually taking on leadership roles in extrapolating from
our most inventive practices so that wider circles of students and faculty can
also benefit from our greatest insights.
It has been a privilege to have contributed in all these
arenas. My Ph.D. is in Comparative
Literature, which I have translated into a particular interest in
cross-cultural perspectives and ways of learning that permit those perspectives
to configure our ways of seeing the world and ourselves in it. My years as
Honors Director at Long Island University, and those in NCHC, have prepared me
well to participate in the growth of this organization, and I think thereby to
contribute to honors in general.
 Ellen Buckner
University of Alabama-Birmingham
A board member for the National
Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) must bring to the organization experience and
hopefully success in honors education. My experience is in the initiation and
growth of a departmental honors program. In 2000, I began the Honors in Nursing
program at UAB, a departmental honors program and one of a very few in Nursing.
It has flourished with over 100 graduates and numerous presentations and
publications. Honors in Nursing students have participated in international
projects, competed for prestigious scholarships and attended NCHC national
conferences. Since many university-wide honors programs must articulate with
departmental programs for student completion, I am prepared to facilitate those
opportunities and collaboration among varied levels of honors. I have been an
active member of the UAB Honors Council for over 15 years and NCHC for 8 years.
I have served as chairman of the Science & Math Committee and a member of
the Conference Planning and Investment Committees. I co-edited a NCHC monograph
on "Teaching Science in Honors" scheduled for publication in 2009.
I am an advocate for honors education because it strengthens
the academic experience. Honors education is transforming, opening doors that
otherwise might be closed to non-traditional students. Honors education engages
students at the highest levels: intellectual, emotional, experiential. It
demands university and faculty support and challenges us to require the best
from students. It is a model for faculty, students and administrators for best
practices in education. As a 30+ year faculty
member, I am passionate about the quality of teaching and learning. I am dedicated to the development of programs
in ways that strengthen the total undergraduate experience. As a board member I would continue to
advocate for honors education nationally and internationally.
 Elizabeth Callahan
Saint Louis University
Greetings. I am grateful to the members of NCHC to be
considered to serve as an NCHC Board member. I am currently beginning my
third year as the Honors Director of the Saint Louis University Honors
Program. Our Honors Program consists of over 500 students. At both
our St. Louis, Missouri and Madrid, Spain campus locations, we offer many
academic, cultural, study abroad, service, and social
opportunities to our Honors students. I teach several Honors courses each
semester. I incorporate
City as Text™ experiential learning and
service learning into each of my courses. I am the faculty advisor for the
Presidential Scholars and to our Honors Student Association. I created and
supervise our Honors Ambassador Peer Mentoring Program. I supervise our Honors
Program Health and Wellness Program. I oversee our university's
scholarship program. I am a faculty member in the Sociology/Criminal Justice
Department. I co-chair the undergraduate initiatives committee. I facilitate
faculty development workshops. I serve as a mentor for the Center for Women in
Transition. I am an attorney and a mediator. I teach yoga and Pilates at the
university.
Prior to coming to Saint Louis University, I served as
a Co-Director of the Lincoln University (an HBCU) Honors
Program in Jefferson City, Missouri.
I have been active in NCHC for the past six years. I attend
the national meeting every year. I currently serve on the Honors Semester
and Faculty Institute Committees and the Portz Grant Committee. I have attended
several NCHC workshops and seminars including a Faculty Institute in Lincoln,
Nebraska and Honors Program Assessment/Evaluation and Site
Visitor Workshops in Portland, Oregon. I am scheduled to co-facilitate an
NCHC Faculty Institute in August 2009. I am in the process of planning to
co-sponsor an NCHC Honors Semester Abroad in 2010.
Thank you again for your consideration. I appreciate the
opportunity to serve.
 Laurie Fiegel
Iowa State University
I am honored to be a candidate for the NCHC Board of
Directors. This will be my 15th
year working in Honors and I'm still as excited as the day that I started. Working with Honors students is an ever
challenging experience that pushes those in the field to continually work on
our own professional growth. My start in
Honors was somewhat unusual, as I actually started in Student Affairs as a
Resident Hall Director responsible for the Honors College
building. Because of the exciting and
fulfilling experience I had as the Resident Hall Director with the Honors
students, I was thrilled when an opportunity to move into the Academic Affairs
side of Honors developed for me. Viewing the various aspects of an Honors
program through the different positions that I've held gives one an enriched
perspective when considering the future of Honors.
NCHC has been a
large part of my honors experience.
However, when I first came to the organization I was not sure exactly
how a professional staff member fit into such a large organization.
Over the years, this area has continued to be
of interest to me as programs continue to grow and more professional
positions
are being added. I joined the Professional Development Committee four years ago and I presently serve
as the Co-Chair. My goal as part of this committee has been to
start addressing the role of professional staff members within Honors.
NCHC faces some challenges in the future as
the organization continues to increase in size.
One challenge will be to address the needs of the membership whose
positions are as diverse as the institutions they represent. What are
the professional honors advisors or
the program coordinators getting out of NCHC?
This is one of many questions we will need to answer as our
organization
continues to move forward.
My experience with NCHC has been wonderful. I've had the opportunity to meet many honors
partners who have turned into great mentors and friends. Experiences and opportunities I received
working with NCHC have had a significant impact on my professional career and
now I would like the opportunity to give back by helping to meet the goals and
objectives of our organization.
 Maureen Kelleher
Northeastern University
I am a relatively new member of NCHC but my staff and I have
taken advantage of the many resources available through NCHC to ratchet up our
program over the last four years. I am entering my 5th year as
Director of the Program at Northeastern University.
I started my relationship with NCHC with my first national
meeting in New Orleans
and made arrangements for a three-person consulting team from NCHC to come to
my campus in the spring of 2006. Since
that time, the recommendations from the NCHC team have helped guide some of the
program development that we have undertaken.
In the interim, my staff has gone to
City as Text™ workshops in Lincoln,
Nebraska and one in Minneapolis. Our students have
gone over the past two years
to Partners in the Parks™ experiences in Utah
and New York City. We have presented papers and workshops at the
annual meetings - starting last year and continuing this upcoming
year. We have also had an article published in HIP and another one in
JNCHC.
And in 2007, we won Best Honors Publication for our new newsletter, The
Honors Perspective.
I have also been recently appointed to two NCHC committees:
Honors Advising and Major Scholarship Preparation Committee and the
Large University Committee. I feel that NCHC has provided
critical hands-on support and equally fruitful role models. I
would be happy to serve in an organization
that provides such critical support for honors programs on a national
basis. I will bring to the board the
honors experience of rapid program development and implementation,
together
with my years of running academic programs at my university for both
undergraduate and graduate students. As
a sociologist, I bring an interest in the development of structural
opportunities for exciting undergraduate experiences.
 Stephen Kiefer
Kansas State University
As
a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Kansas State
University since 1982 (Department Head, 1996-2006), I had been involved
in Honors at multiple levels: teaching honors courses, supervising
honors theses, and serving on the Honors Advisory Council for the
College of Arts & Sciences. Two-and-a-half years ago, the
university centralized the college honors programs into the University
Honors Program and I was selected as its first Director. Since that
appointment, we have been building the university program by working
with each of the colleges. I have found the National Collegiate Honors
Council to be a valuable resource as I organized the structure and
developed the honors program for our institution. I have attended the
NCHC meetings (I also attended the regional meeting my first year) and
have been an active participant in many of the sessions and
opportunities. I particularly enjoy the student involvement in the
meetings.
My goal for serving on the Board of Directors would reflect the goal
that we have for our own Honors Program: students come first and
everything should ultimately provide them with excellent opportunities
to enhance their education. Working in a large, state university has
some unique challenges for honors and I believe it is important that
this perspective be heard and encouraged in the workings of the
national organization. The diversity of institutional settings is a
strength of the NCHC and I think that this variety of views must be
fostered continuously. With my teaching, research, and administrative
background and success (multiple federally-funded research grants, over
70 peer reviewed publications, teaching awards, and time spent as
Department Head), I am able to offer the NCHC a blend of experience and
enthusiasm that will benefit our organization.
 Kim Klein
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
I am
seeking a term on the NCHC Board of Directors because I have seen first-hand
the profound impact that Honors education can have on students, faculty,
institutions, and the community. I
believe that NCHC has a unique opportunity and role to play as a leading advocate
for innovation in higher education to meet the global challenges our students,
faculty, and institutions face in the 21st century.
As Honors
director at a small public university in Pennsylvania,
my job is to help talented young men and women become leaders, equipped and
empowered to develop multi-disciplinary solutions to global issues. Like many of you, I inherited a program that needed
attention. Over the past six years, I
have reinvigorated that program, given responsibility and accountability to our
students, and elevated student, faculty, and administrative perspectives of the
program and its impact. We have launched
major curricular and co-curricular efforts that emphasize international
engagement, independent research, and interdisciplinary teamwork and
problem-solving. We have championed
student-led initiatives that have encouraged students at local urban public
schools to pursue higher education; promoted regional civic engagement; and
developed service-learning projects that have aided students in Kenya and the Philippines and received international
recognition.
My
students and I have shared our successes and challenges by making multiple
invited presentations at the past four NCHC conferences. I have also contributed to NCHC by serving on
the Honors Semesters and International Education Committees for the past three
years and assisting with City as Text™ and serving as a consultant at the past
two NCHC conferences.
I
would be honored to serve on the NCHC Board of Directors and advance
its efforts to advocate on behalf of Honors educators and the next
generation of global leaders.
 Steve Kramer
Southwest Minnesota State University
Hello.
My name is Steve Kramer and I am beginning my seventh year as director
of the honors program at Southwest Minnesota State University. I was
awarded a B.S. in philosophy from the University of Oregon, and an M.A.
and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In
addition, I hold a graduate interdisciplinary certificate in
environmental policy from CU Boulder. My work experience includes
extensive experience in conservation biology, field ornithology and
environmental activism. This includes work for such organizations as
the Oregon Natural Resources Council, the United States Forest Service,
Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology, and Wildlife Conservation
International of the New York Zoological Society.
While not always recognized by others, I believe that the
history of honors education demonstrates a record of innovation that we
all can be proud of. Many of the hallmarks of undergraduate education
today-from first year seminars to civic engagement, writing across the
curriculum to undergraduate research-were pioneered in honors programs.
The primary function of the board of directors, as I see it, is to
promote and publicize this ongoing innovation. One of the areas I am
particularly interested in seeing the NCHC take a prominent role is in
the current discussions about the meaning and value of a liberal arts
education in the 21st century. I cannot think of a topic that is more
central to what we do, whether you come from a small rural university,
such as my own, or a large research institution. As a member of the
board, I would seek to foster this conversation by strengthening
connections with such initiatives as the LEAP initiative of the
AAC&U. Not only is this a subject worthy of our continued
reflection, it is one about which we have much of value to say.
 Larry Levinson
Governors State University
Serving both as a faculty member and honors administrator, I
passionately believe that honors programs are a means of creating an enriched integrative
learning community and a way of promoting students' greater civic engagement.
At Governors State University, I first served for four years
as the Honors Director of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1998, I oversaw
the development of a university-wide honors program that stresses
interdisciplinary learning and civic engagement. Ever since then, I have served
as the University Honors Director and Chair of the Faculty Honors Council. Our Honors program has grown to include honors
seminars (whose yearly theme is taken from the NCHC conference), an annual
honors retreat, a service learning project (Rebuilding Together-Metro Chicago),
and extensive involvement in the Honors Council of the Illinois Region
(HCIR). In regard to the HCIR, I have
served two terms as its president, sought to expand its membership and hosted/organized
two HCIR student research conferences.
In regard to the NCHC, I have presented at three conferences
(Chicago- Build it and They Will Come,
St. Louis- The Praxis of a University
Honors Seminar and Denver- The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Honors Growth). Viewing the NCHC as an extension of the
learning committee, I have been a regular attendee (and beneficiary) of the NCHC conferences
since the early 1990's. For the past
few years I have also served on the Committee
on Teaching and Learning.
In light of the above, as a NCHC Board member I would work
toward furthering the experiential dimension of honors education by promoting
conference participation, civic engagement projects and inter-program support
services.
 James O'Donnell
Wayne State College
I am honored to be nominated for service on the NCHC Board
of Directors. Like many other members of
the NCHC, my Honors experiences trace back to my undergraduate studies, in my
case at St. Mary's College
of Maryland. Later my professional career took an
extremely focused path, as most do, but for the last several years, my interests
and work have broadened "back" to my liberal arts roots. In my current role as an Arts and Humanities
dean and Honors Program director, I particularly enjoy the diversity of people,
ideas and perspectives that I work with on a daily basis. I also thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie and
collaboration I have found in working with people whose common interests
revolve around undergraduate students and a burning desire to continually
enhance and pursue excellence in the Honors experience.
The educational values I treasure most are formed
from principles that embrace the need for clearly articulated expectations of
student achievement, the importance of nurturing in the student a deep
understanding of oneself and of developing respect for the complex
identities of others, the need for continual focus on learning and quality of
student accomplishment, the importance of supporting learning through student-focused
pedagogical practices, and recognizing society's need for people who have been
prepared for a full and rewarding life. At
the core of my leadership philosophy is the strong belief that collaboration in
the pursuit of agreed-upon goals is the most powerful means of collectively
working toward the future. Because of
these values and beliefs, I am certain I would thoroughly enjoy and be
comfortable in any role on the board "team", as our NCHC organization
considers initiatives and policy changes to support its goals of continued
development and prominence.
It has been an exhilarating experience to fuel the Honors
Program at Wayne State College as it has grown from 70 students to more than
275, witness the increased academic preparation of our Honors students as
indicated through the standardized test scores they bring to us, provide pedagogical
facilitation for a significantly larger number of faculty colleagues who teach
our Honors courses, and applaud Honors research work that has become
increasingly sophisticated and goal-focused.
I attribute this qualitative and quantitative growth in large part to
our relationship with the NCHC which began in 2004. Service on the board would be a fitting way
for me to repay the NCHC for the benefits that our students have reaped.
 Bipin Pai
Purdue University-Calumet
I am grateful to have been nominated to serve on the NCHC
Board of Directors. My passion for
teaching and interacting with students has led me to pursue a career in
education. In 1979, I started working as
a faculty member in mechanical engineering at Purdue University-Calumet. My love for teaching and working with
students is possibly the reason I received the university's outstanding teacher
award in 1997. I was appointed and have
served as the founding director of the Honors Program at Purdue University-Calumet
since the summer of 2005.
Although the Honors Program is fairly new at Purdue
University-Calumet, it has grown substantially from modest beginnings ~ 13
students in Spring 2006 to about 140 students in Fall 2008. The most significant increase occurred this
semester (Fall 2008) after we instituted a new honors scholarship to
outstanding students. As the Director of
the Honors Program, I have attended and participated in the annual NCHC
Conferences in St. Louis
(2005), Philadelphia
(2006), and Denver
(2007) along with faculty and students, and I look forward to attending the San
Antonio Conference in 2008. From these
conferences, I have learned strategies on how to grow the Honors Program and have
taken steps in implementing these strategies, which has benefited the Honors
Program at Purdue Calumet.
If selected to serve on the NCHC Board, one of my primary
goals is to help students attend the annual NCHC Conferences at a reduced
cost. I see no reason why students
should pay the same amount as faculty or other staff attending these
conferences. I am willing to work
closely with the Finance Committee to help re-structure the budget while adhering
to the strategic initiatives, goals and objectives of NCHC's Mission Statement.
 Doug Peterson
University of South Dakota
I am an associate professor of psychology and am starting my
fifth year as Director of Honors at the University of South Dakota. The Honors Program at USD has approximately
370 students (~100 entering freshmen and ~55 graduates each year). Prior to serving as director, I was a member
and then chair of the campus-wide oversight committee for the Honors
Program. I have taught honors seminars,
freshmen honors orientation courses and work closely with the senior thesis
process. I continue to teach one course
per semester for the Psychology Department as well as a non-honors first year
experience course on poker and the meaning of life. I have attended the NCHC conference and
meeting each year since becoming director and for the past two years have
served on the NCHC Finance Committee. I
have presented either individually or as part of a panel at both regional and
national meetings on topics including: the evaluation of honors teaching;
student perceptions of honors courses; and delivery of a team-taught,
interdisciplinary, writing-intensive course.
I have attended an NCHC site visitor workshop and continue to be very
interested in the areas of assessment and evaluation at both an individual
course level as well as program-wide. I
have been pleased with the current direction of the NCHC and have two areas
that I would like to see developed.
First, develop a stronger commitment to empirically based research about
honors and honors education, without undermining the case studies and the
sharing of ideas that have made the national and regional meetings so valuable.
Second, I support increasing member access to national NCHC data which includes
increasing the amount and type of data available.
Student Nominees for Board of Directors (1-year term)
 Laurie Bachand
Paradise Valley Community College
Laurie
Bachand has been an active participant in the honors program at
Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. Locally, she
spent her first semester working with the students in Palomino II
Elementary School and created The Bully Blockers Club. Together they
explored diversity, compassion for others, and safe alternatives to
violence when dealing with conflict. Laurie took the opportunity to
present this honors project at the 2008 Western Regional Honors
Conference. Regionally, she participated in the S.L.I.C.E. program,
which took students on an alternative spring break to San Diego for
service projects dealing with immigrants and refugees in the community.
Laurie has been nominated to the Board of Directors as a student
representative for a one-year term. She truly believes that the
National Collegiate Honors Council is an integral piece in providing
students with the best educational experience possible. She would like
to see NCHC further support national organizations, such as AmeriCorps,
and honors societies, such as Phi Theta Kappa, to help increase the
awareness of the many possibilities for honors students to do their
part in creating the change necessary for a better tomorrow.
 Amanda Bowman
Columbia College
The position of NCHC student representative is a
privilege because common precepts of honors programs include challenge and risk
that build self-confidence, foster leadership, and encourage creativity. Just
as Technicolor™ enhances movies, Honors - the "Emerald City" of academia-provides
vibrant color to the educational process.
I am a
single mother, a nontraditional honors student at Columbia College, working
toward my BFA and BA certification in dance, and a member of Alpha Lambda
Delta. I serve as staff assistant to the program's director, who is the current
NCHC vice president and rising president. I am thrilled to be serving on the
planning committee for the 2009 NCHC conference as an event coordinator and
assistant to the chair.
While professionally dancing with the Columbia
City Ballet, the Columbia Classical Ballet, and the Kirov Ballet in Washington,
D.C., I have participated in many outreach dance performances that have given me
the insight that dance can make a difference: it can underscore problems, bring
joy, and heal. Moreover, my involvement in fundraising through commercials and
silent auctions provides me with skills to coordinate various events and design
engaging activities for students.
With my
extensive dance background and connections with the esteemed Kirov, I hope to
bring dance into the Master Class program, and I've already conversed with the
Kirov regarding their participation in 2009. Today, dance is being televised
nationally in popular shows, and incorporating dance into our conference will
bring another dimension of learning to the program and will draw additional
attendees.
Should I
be chosen, I will contribute my creativity and innovation as an artist and my
passion for honors, for I believe that honors is not just achievement. It's
about scholarship and the journey of intellectual discovery. Thank you for
considering me, and I look forward to working with you in the future.
 Ben Jackson
Freed-Hardeman
My name is Ben Jackson and I am a
Junior Biochemistry major at Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee. I have presented at the Tennessee Collegiate
Honors Council twice, once on the topic of sleep deprivation and once as part
of a group presentation about honors travel. I presented at the Southern
Regional Collegiate Honors Council last year on the topic of ekphrastic
poetry. I attended the national
conference for the first time last year in Denver. I was elected to the office of Senior Senator
of Freed-Hardeman's Honors Council for two consecutive terms. My responsibilities include representing the
interests of upper classmen in the Honors College and helping to facilitate
continued involvement in the program. I
have experience in interacting with very diverse groups of people, and I would
use this experience to the benefit of NCHC.
Growing up, I attended 9 different schools in such places as Alaska,
Germany, and Florida, and as a result, I have learned that common ground is
everywhere, and that people can accomplish almost any goal if they are willing
to work together. As a student
representative, I would work hard to take NCHC in the direction it needs to go,
which is one that stresses active student involvement in their education with
the help of dedicated mentors and opportunities for experience based
learning. I would try to gain a
knowledge of what the honors student body is interested in, and use that
knowledge to further your interests. I would emphasize the importance of
networking and sharing creative ideas that have worked to the benefit of
individual programs, and in that way benefit everyone. I appreciate your time in reading this
message and I thank you for your consideration.
 Taylor Stockett
Lee College
Participating
in Honors for me is a family tradition. When I was growing up, my
mother and two older sisters all completed the Honors Program at Lee
College in Baytown, Texas. Now that I am in college myself,
participating in the Honors Program has been a natural and invaluable
experience. Earlier this year at the Lee College Presidential Honors
Day, I received the Most Outstanding Honors Student award for the
2007-2008 academic school year. I am also the President of the Student
Honors Council, which assists the Honors Program in recruiting future
honors students. This leadership position has allowed me to become
aware of all the benefits that Honors Programs can provide for
students, while simultaneously teaching me to organize, network, lead
and represent large groups of people. If elected, I would be an
advocate for all community college honors programs, which contribute so
much to academically talented and highly motivated students who desire
more of a vigorous level of academia. As a two-year college advocate, I
would like to see the creation of universal generic articulation
agreement between community colleges and universities. By doing so, a
student wishing to transfer and continue in honors, would then be able
to transfer all of his or her Honors credit hours without question or
hesitation. This initiative could be accomplished if endorsed by the
board of directors and the general membership of National Collegiate
Honors Council. I ask that you partner with me in accomplishing this
goal of expanding the mission of NCHC.
 Pratik Talati
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Greetings! My name is Pratik Talati, and I am running for the one-year
student representative position on the NCHC Board of Directors. I am a member
of the interdisciplinary University Honors Program and am pursuing a double
major in Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham.
I am heavily involved in my honors program, including having been elected as a
class representative to serve on our Honors Council, which decides on seminars,
interviews and selects students for the program, and chooses scholarship
recipients; serving as Chair of the Steering Committee, a student-led body that
organizes the extracurricular and community service activities of our program;
and participating on the editorial board of our literary journal Sanctuary. I have given presentations at
the Southern Regional Honors Council (SRHC) meetings in Charlotte (2007) and Birmingham (2008) and attended the Denver
NCHC meeting. After being elected Student Vice-President of SRHC at the Charlotte meeting, I
worked closely with Mike Sloane, Faculty SRHC Vice-President, in organizing the
SRHC conference in Birmingham
last spring. I expanded the SRHC contact database in an effort to reach non-SRHC
member programs and fought for a significantly reduced student registration fee.
I organized an off-site student reception and party on the first night of the
conference and for bus transportation to that event as well as the gala at the
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. I was also instrumental in expanding the
types of program presentations to include music performances, art and sculptor
exhibits, and a digital film festival, which made the Birmingham conference one
of the best attended in recent years. NCHC could improve communication among
honors students across the country by having an accessible electronic phonebook
or registry on the NCHC website, which would be especially important for
attendees at the conferences by allowing students to keep in touch. In
addition, a message board would allow for continuous conversation about means
to improve NCHC conferences from a student's perspective, boost awareness of
possible honors exchange programs, and facilitate NCHC's efforts to offer
honors semesters both here and abroad.
Student Nominees for Board of Directors (2-year term)
 Nathan Torno
Texas A&M University
Howdy!
My name is Nathan
Torno and I am a Junior Applied Math Major at Texas A&M University.
My participation in honors began with my freshman experience in Lechner
Freshman Honors Hall. Lechner residents come from a wide variety
of backgrounds and are involved in every dimension of our campus life
but there was always that common commitment to academics that bound us
together. That year I was elected as Hall Council President and
through that position I immersed my life in the realm of Honors.
That passion carried over as I volunteered for one of our honors
student organizations, HIP (Honor Invitational Peer) Leaders, which
helps to host our Summer Honors Invitational Program. HIP leaders
make it easier for high school students to learn about the resources
Texas A&M and Honors has to offer while encouraging them to ask
questions that will help them discover a good fit in a prospective
college. The HIP Leaders organization is also an avenue for my
professional development as I will help to coordinate our 2009 program
as the Vice Chair of the organization.
Through
my experience in
honors housing, recruiting, and through taking Honors courses, I have
been immersed in the different roles that students play in honors
education. That perspective, along with connections
all over Texas A&M's Honors Community, grant me the unique ability
to represent a diverse group of students and their needs on NCHC's
Board of Directors. I plan and have Texas A&M Honors
Program's support to
attend all meetings of the Board. I hope to aid NCHC in continuing a
trend towards a strong student cooperation that will ensure an
energetic and progressive future for honors programs and colleges
across the nation.
|
2008 Board of Directors
President
Hallie Savage, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
President Elect
Lydia Lyons, Hillsborough Community College
Past President
Kate Bruce, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Vice President
John Zubizarreta, Columbia College-South Carolina
Secretary
Bonnie Irwin, Eastern Illinois University
Treasurer
Rolland W. Pack, Freed-Hardeman University
Annmarie Guzy, University of South Alabama
Greg Lanier, University of West Florida
*Will Lee, Texas A&M University
Kathy A. Lyon, Winthrop University
Jay Mandt, Wichita State University
*Shane Miller, West Virginia University
Deborah Craig, Kent State University
*Roxanne Moralez, Texas State University-San Marcos
Patrice Berger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rosalie Otero, University of New Mexico
*Sara Brady, Hillsborough Community College
Ruth Randall, Johnson County Community College
John Britt, Lee College-Texas
James Ruebel, Ball State University
*Hesham Elnagar, Northern Arizona University
Richard I. Scott, University of Central Arkansas
*Sarah Fann, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Bob Spurrier, Oklahoma State University
*Student Member
NCHC Staff
Cindy Hill, Executive Director (402) 472-9155
Carolee Martin Brink (402) 472-9150
Judy Smith (402) 472-9150
Trish Souliere (402) 472-9172
Betty Talley (402)472-9151
|
|
|
