Calendar of Events
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Please check our online Calendar of Events for the latest news.
April 23
Partners in the Parks:
Grand Canyon Registration Deadline
May 1
Nominations for NCHC Board of Directors & Committees Deadline
May 9
Partners in the Parks:
Bryce Canyon Registration Deadline
May 11 - 16
Partners in the Parks:
Zion Experience
May 17 - 23
Partners in the Parks:
Black Canyon Experience
May 25 - 30
Partners in the Parks:
Grand Canyon Experience
June 1 - 6
Partners in the Parks:
Bryce Canyon Experience
June 1
New Directors Summer Camp Registration Deadline
June 4 - 6
Honors Semesters Committee Meeting
June 5
Portz Scholarships Nominations Deadline
June 6 - 8
Publications Board Meeting
June 11 - 14
Board of Directors Summer Meeting
June 15 - 16
2010 Conference Planning Committee Meeting
June 15
St. Louis Faculty Institute Registration Deadline
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Conference Registration is Open!
Hello, NCHC friends!
Most of us-faculty, staff, and students
alike-are girding our loins for the end of the spring semester. T. S. Eliot had
it right: "April is the cruelest month."
But spring is also a time of anticipation and joy. And I
hope you share my own excitement about our upcoming fall conference in
Washington, D.C., 28 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2009. I am pleased to announce that registration
for conference is now open! You will find links to the registration form both here and on the NCHC website.
Our
meeting will take place in the glorious Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H
Street NW, just five blocks to the Mall and Smithsonian Museums, along
with all the iconic monuments nearby. Also, very short walks will take
you to Ford's
Theatre, the Jewish Historical Society Museum, the International Spy
Museum,
the National Archives, the US Holocaust Museum, Union Station, the
National
Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the
Newseum, and
other amazing landmarks. Remember, too, that our hotel is
connected through
indoor passageways to the Metro Center station, accessible directly
from Reagan
International Airport on the Blue Line for $1.35 day rate.
Let me give you a preview of one of our plenary speaker
events. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski-President of the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County-will inspire us on Thursday evening as our opening plenary
speaker. A math and science researcher and educator, Dr. Hrabowski has earned
many prestigious awards and has garnered much recognition for his academic
leadership and his advocacy of excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship,
and service. His books Beating the Odds
and Overcoming the Odds are
influential, best-selling studies of how to ensure the academic success of
African American young men and women. A child-leader in the Civil Rights
Movement, Dr. Hrabowski was prominently featured in Spike Lee's 1997
documentary, Four Little Girls, on the racially motivated bombing in
1963 of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He is a challenging,
dynamic speaker named last year by US
News and World Report as one of America's
Best Leaders.
In issues of the newsletter to come, I will share more highlights of our other
plenary events. One is a special viewing of the groundbreaking film The Linguists, a powerful documentary
about heroic efforts to save endangered languages from Siberia to Bolivia, a
masterful story that has premiered to rave reviews around the world since its
first showing at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival with rare sponsorship by the
National Science Foundation. The other is a unique opportunity to engage with John
Murray, a highly regarded conflict management consultant in Washington who has
worked across the globe to help resolve international disputes, and a specially
assembled panel of political experts on the highly charged situation concerning
Israel, Palestine, and the U.S. More later on our other plenaries and our
planned gala event with a performance by the hilarious and famous Capitol
Steps!
In the meantime, I hope you're making plans for NCHC 2009 in
Washington, D.C. Don't forget to check our conference web site at http://www.nchchonors.org/2009-annual-conference.php.
Hang in there during this "cruelest month," and I will see you in Washington next
fall.
John Zubizarreta
2009 Conference Chair
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Call for Nominations
There is still time to
nominate qualified honors students, faculty and administrators for elected
office and committees in the National Collegiate Honors Council. As you know, NCHC is an
organization that depends on leadership from within, so these nominations are
extremely important to our future.
The Nominating Committee is accepting
applications for candidates for:
Vice President (1 year term*). The Vice President serves as chair of the planning
committee for the 2011 national conference, serves as a member of the Executive
Committee, and performs other duties as described in the Constitution and
Bylaws. *The candidate elected as Vice President is committed to serving
four years on the Board of Directors, as Vice President, President-Elect,
President, and Past President.
Secretary (3 year term). The Secretary takes
minutes of the annual business meeting, takes minutes of Board meetings, reports
actions taken by the Board of Directors to the membership, reports actions and
recommendations of the Executive Committee to the Board of Directors, and
serves as a member of the Executive Committee.
Four At-Large Professional Board members (3 year term). Four professionals are elected to serve as
members of the Board of Directors.
Four At-Large Student Members (1 or 2 year terms).
Four students are elected to serve as members of the Board of Directors.
In addition, we are seeking members for each of the NCHC Standing Committees.
Nominations for Board of Director positions should include:
1) a statement of candidacy
2) a photograph of the
candidate
3) a letter of nomination for the position
Applications
are available on the NCHC website and must be submitted
electronically. Nomination materials must be submitted online
as a complete package no later than Friday, May 1, 2009 at 12:00pm
(Central Daylight Time). If you have any questions, please
contact Hallie Savage (chair of the nominating
committee) at hsavage@clarion.edu or Betty Talley at the
National Collegiate Honors Council office at nchcadm@unlserve.unl.edu or by
telephone at 402-472-9151.
Nominees should understand
the requirements of the position as noted below:
- A nominee must be the designated institutional
representative at an NCHC member institution, or must maintain a student, affiliate,
or professional membership individually.
- It is expected that officers and members of the
Board of Directors will attend the winter, summer and fall Board of
Directors' meetings. The fall Board of Directors meeting is held at the NCHC annual conference.
- Members of the Board of Directors may not serve a
second consecutive term.
- Student nominees for the Board of Directors must
provide a statement of institutional support for their travel to the three
meetings each year.
Please note that NCHC will
provide partial support for Board members' attendance at the winter and summer
meetings.
2009 Nominating Committee:
Hallie Savage, Clarion
University
Doug
Peterson, U. of South Dakota
Rick Scott, U. of Central
Arkansas
Sarah
Fann, U. of North Carolina Wilmington
Rosalie
Otero, U. of New Mexico
Elizabeth
Callahan, Saint Louis University |
Portz Scholars Competition
Call for Nominations
As the momentum
of the school year picks up, rushing towards the final crescendo, the Awards
and Grants Committee would like to remind you of the deadline for submission of
Portz Scholars nominations. All
nominations must be submitted electronically by June 5, 2009.
All
NCHC
institutional members are invited to nominate one paper per institution
written by an undergraduate honors student for the 2009 Portz Scholars
competition. The three 2009 Portz Scholars will be featured at a
plenary
session at the 2009 National Collegiate Honors Council conference in
Washington, D.C. In addition, each Portz Scholar receives a $250.00
stipend. The NCHC Portz
Fund Committee will pay the Scholar's conference registration fees, and
the
nominating institution agrees to make a good faith effort to defray
travel
expenses of the Portz Scholar.
To nominate a student for the
Portz Scholars competition, the following must be submitted:
· Portz Nomination Form,
available online
· One-page
abstract
· Letter
of nomination
The Portz Scholars from 2008
are featured here, on the NCHC website. Questions should be directed to Ann Eisenberg at ann.eisenberg@utsa.edu.
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President's Column
April
has always been prominently placed in history, literature, and mythology;
however, for those of us in colleges and universities, April is a
particularly exciting time for our students. For university honors directors, their students are receiving acceptance
letters for fellowships, grants; graduate,
law, and medical school admissions, and the list continues of the various
exciting opportunities available to the students. For the community
college honors directors, we are thrilled as
our students are receiving their acceptances and scholarship offers to
universities from across the nation. For all honors directors, April also represents the deadlines for
our incoming students' applications, so we know that the rewarding cycle will continue for students' education
adventures. Nevertheless, we all share the knowledge that our
students' lives have been enhanced, if not dramatically changed, because
of their experiences in their honors
education. Let us all join in the celebration for our continued commitment
to our students' successes as they leave us to pursue their new dreams,
but they also leave us with our own renewed commitment to the importance of honors education.
Yours in Honors,
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Great Plains Honors Council
Regional Conference: 'People and Perspectives of the Plains'
The University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, host of the Great Plains Honors Council Conference, 'People
and Perspectives of the Plains', welcomed 244 people from Nebraska, Kansas,
Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on April 3-4, 2009. 105 students and faculty presented papers and
posters on a wide variety of subjects, from Milton to Camus, mathematics to
Nebraska Educational TV going digital, and the depletion of teachers to Jewish
American women in British Colonial America.
Six students were awarded the Boe Award, for research and scholarship,
three in the category of under 60 hours of work and three in the category of
over 60 hours. The papers & presentations demonstrated
outstanding scholarship and research, and those students each received a $200
cash award.
Left to Right: Brooke Hale (Northeastern Texas Community
College), "Texas in the Civil War: Rewritten"; James R. Cooke (John
Brown University, AR), "The Phenomena of the Madhhab: The Origins,
Practices, and Development of the Sunni Islamic Legal System"; Kelsey
Balzer (John Brown University, AR), "When the Telegram Arrives: Idealism
and Disillusionment in the Great War"; Haley Lynn Watkins (Texas A&M
University), "Constructing a 'Sense of Place': A Case Study in the
Portraiture of Elite Jewish Women in Colonial British America"; Kayleigh
Overman (Lone Star College-Montgomery), "The Glorious Paradox: The Role
of Free Will in Milton's PARADISE LOST"; Sarah Sadowsky (Emporia State
University), "Marry Prudently and with Affection".
On Friday evening, participants
were treated to "Good, Fresh, Local", a meal prepared by the
Cather-Pound-Neihardt dining services, featuring products grown and raised only
in Nebraska, followed by Friday's featured speaker, Sandra Zellmer, a UNL
College of Law professor. Professor
Zellmer gave a rousing explanation of the dangers of groundwater depletion and
the legal issues surrounding it. Her
engaging and thoughtful delivery inspired a lengthy question/answer session,
followed by an additional hour of student interaction.
On Saturday afternoon, participants
were invited to experience a true immersion in Midwest culture with a
visit to the International Quilt Study Center, which houses the premier
quilt collection in
the world, and to the Tractor Test Museum, which is the only one of its
kind.
To continue that immersion,
dinner on Saturday evening featured food from two Lincoln institutions, Valentino's
pizza and a Dairy Store ice cream sundae bar.
"Val's", as it is known locally, was founded in 1957, just a short
distance from what is now East Campus. The
UNL dairy store ice cream is made fresh on campus.
The conference closed Saturday
evening with Pippa White's performance "Far
as the Eye Can See," a story-telling, historical performance about real
people involved in the settling of the West up through the time of the
Dust Bowl. From the perspective of a person who spent
several days in a well to the children who walked barefoot across the
country,
the characters came alive. Students gave
her a standing ovation for the inspiring and delightful experience.
The only disappointing aspect of
the conference was a predicted but very unwelcome April snowstorm, which forced
nearly a quarter of the participants to leave early. Thanks to all who helped organize and to
those who participated in what was a productive, enjoyable, and distinctly
Midwestern event.
~Karen Lyons
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Nuts & Bolts of Honors
Call for Sample Program Documents
 Dear Honors Colleagues,
We need more sample Honors Program/Honors College documents on the "Nuts and
Bolts of Honors Administration" discussion thread (under "General Discussion")
on the new NCHC web-based discussion forum. I have posted Oklahoma
State's Honors College strategic plan, policies and procedures document, most
recent annual report, and our articulation agreement with Tulsa Community
College-and I have no doubt that there are plenty of other sample documents to
be shared.
P-L-E-A-S-E help your colleagues around
the country by going to the NCHC web page http://www.nchchonors.org/ and clicking on
the link near the upper-right corner to access the Discussion Forums.
This requires a password that you should have received from the NCHC
Office several weeks ago, but if you have problems just check with Trish
Souliere psouliere2@unl.edu
at the NCHC Headquarters Office for assistance. Trish can also explain
how to set your own password for the Discussion Forum.
It is a simple matter to click "post reply" at the bottom of the page just
below the most recent entry to the "Nuts and Bolts of Honors Administration"
thread and then upload your document or documents.
In addition, I also posted a copy of our honors advising evaluation form to the
"Honors Advising" thread, and I'm sure colleagues would like to see similar
forms from other institutions as part of that thread.
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By Request
2010 Membership Renewal Form Posted
National Collegiate Honors Council has received several
requests for pre-payment of 2010 dues.
In response to these requests, we have posted a new membership form and
invoice on our website that will allow you to choose the year for which you wish to make
payment.
Our current online membership form allows institutions and
professionals the flexibility to pre-pay membership dues in a manner that is convenient for their budget and fiscal year.
This option is intended to be a convenience for those lucky
individuals or institutions with funds left at the end of the year who want to
get a jump on next year's expenses. Our
new NCHC membership software allows us to track institutional and individual
memberships for as many years in the future as needed and will avoid duplicate
memberships.
If you have any questions, need assistance, or have
suggestions to offer, please don't hesitate to contact Carolee, NCHC Membership
Director, at 402-472-9150 or by email at nchc@unlserve.unl.edu.
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Honors Newsletter Contest
A Call for Entries
Sponsored by
The National Collegiate Honors Council
Publications Board
Deadline for
submissions is June 30, 2009
To
enter the newsletter from your honors program or college, send 4 copies of each
of two issues and 4 copies of a cover letter
containing the following information:
- The category that best
fits who works on your newsletter:
Student Published OR
Faculty/Administrator/Student Published
- Number of honors students
in your program or college
- Number of copies per issue
- Number of issues published
per year
- Total print costs for one
issue
- Estimated time to edit and
lay out one issue
- Individual(s) or
organization actually doing the layout
- The target audience
(honors students only, honors faculty, all faculty, alumni, etc.)
- The purpose of the
newsletter
- The name and title of the
program director
- The name(s) of the
editor(s)
A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place
award will be given in each category. Winners in the "Faculty/Administrator/Student"
category are ineligible the year immediately after they have won 1st,
2nd, or 3rd place in that category. Newsletters in the
"Student Published" category can submit their newsletters each year despite winning
awards in the prior year. Winners will be announced at the NCHC annual
luncheon in Washington, D.C.
Send your newsletter entries and cover letter by June 30,
2009 to:
Linda Frost, Director
EKU Honors
168 Case Annex
521 Lancaster
Avenue
Richmond, KY
40475
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Call for Papers
The next issue of JNCHC (deadline:
September 1, 2009) invites research essays on any topic of interest to the
honors community.
The issue will also include a Forum focused on the theme
"Honors in the Digital Age." We invite essays of roughly a
thousand words that consider this theme in the context of your campus and/or a
national context.
Topics for Forum submissions might include: the
benefits and liabilities of any specific form of digital technology (word and
image processing, the Internet, social networking sites, personal blogs, cell
phones and PDAs, etc.); the ease of plagiarism and other forms of cheating in
the digital age; the joys and travails of tracking in grading papers; new
opportunities and challenges in research; the influence of digital "gizmos" on
the culture of honors; technology as a creator and/or disruptor of community;
technological innovations/ obsolescence and honors program budgets; the effects
of technology on library use; computer security issues; and illegal downloading
of files on honors program computers.
Please contact Ada Long with any questions.
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Call for Titles
2009 Conference
 In
order to ensure that the widest variety of important and appealing titles is
available at the book table at the NCHC annual meeting in Washington, DC,
conference organizers are issuing this call for titles. The conference will feature an array of
excellent and stimulating speakers, and other featured events, and the city is at
a world crossroads, with an unexcelled historical, educational, and
architectural heritage as well as a number of extraordinary cultural
amenities. This year's speakers include
Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County,
and the legal scholar John Murray, as well as a performance by the political
satire group, Capitol Steps. Conference organizers want to ensure that works dealing with our speakers as well as the
many important and engaging historical and cultural aspects of the city are
available to faculty and students attending the conference. To be certain that the widest and most
attractive array of titles is on hand at the meeting, we are asking members to
submit suggestions for the table. You
may do so by sending requests directly to George
Mariz at george.mariz@wwu.edu
no later than September 25.
~George Mariz |
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Featured Committee
Assessment & Evaluation Committee
The Committee on Assessment and Evaluation is engaged in an
important mission for NCHC. This
committee is charged with overseeing honors evaluation and developing possible
instruments for outcomes assessment in honors education. Generally, the committee recommends
evaluation policy to the Board of Directors and disseminates information for
honors program evaluation. The process
of dissemination is carried out through seminars and publications. For example, this committee hosts Site
Visitor training. NCHC members receive
comprehensive assessment training and are eligible for appointment as an NCHC
Recommended Site Visitor.
The Committee is also charged with providing sessions at the
annual conference. In San Antonio, the
Committee hosted a conference session to frame discussion of a formal system of
honors accreditation. Such discussions
allow members to share various perspectives on a formal movement towards
accreditation standards.
In addition to framing discussions through meetings, the
Assessment and Evaluation Committee contributes to publications. One monograph by Robert Spurrier and Rosalie
Otero has been published and a second volume is in the process of review. As Honors Programs are submitted to strategic
planning efforts, program reviews, and consultations, these publications are
invaluable.
~ Greg Lanier & Hallie Savage Co-Chairs
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NCHC Summer Camp for New Directors
July 9-11, 2009
Registration Deadline: June 1st, 2009
The Professional
Development Committee is pleased to host a Summer Camp for new honors directors
and deans at Iowa State University, July 9-11, 2009. Participants will have the
opportunity to take part in two full days of nuts-and-bolts sessions where they
will be immersed in an honors experience that will prepare them for success in
their new positions as honors administrators.
Participants will: -
Learn strategies for developing annual budgets and
curricula and address staffing and administrative issues unique to their individual
programs.
- Engage in one-on-one sessions with experienced honors
administrators.
- Work in small groups to develop short and long-term
strategies and goals.
- Begin to identify key resources and allies on their own
campus.
- 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 at 515-294-4292.
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St. Louis Faculty Institute:
Crossroads & Confluence
August 5-8, 2009
Registration Deadline: June 15th, 2009
St. Louis, the gateway city, sits at a historical
crossroads. As settlers traversed the city from east to west, other traffic
moved north and south on the Mississippi River. How have this city and its
surroundings been shaped by
the confluence of peoples and ideas moving through it? From Lewis and Clark to
the slave trade, from covered wagons to the Eads Bridge, how has St. Louis
developed into the community that it is today?
This Institute will explore the city of St. Louis, then take an
excursion to
the Mississippi River. Along the way we will practice City as Text™, a
hands-on, multidisciplinary approach that lets us examine the
crossroads from multiple perspectives. Participants will engage in
experiential learning
through walkabouts, interviews, mapping exercises, and a direct
experience of
the city and the river. Daily seminars will provide time for
reflection,
writing, and synthesis after the explorations. The Institute will
culminate
with a workshop on adapting City as Text™ pedagogy for use at your home
institution.
This Institute is particularly suitable for honors and other faculty and
administrators who wish to incorporate interdisciplinary and field-based
elements into their courses and programs. Participants from previous Institutes
have used City as Text™ pedagogy in courses ranging from literature to biology.
The hands-on methodology has also been adapted for use in student orientation,
campus assessments, and faculty development.
Institute
Costs
$475
(Includes a non-refundable registration fee of $50) This cost covers
Institute materials, activity fees, opening reception, and a group
dinner. It does not cover travel to St. Louis, transportation to and
from the airport, lodging, most meals, or personal expenses. Register online and pay by credit card, or
complete the registration form included in the brochure and mail your check to:
Bernice Braid
Long Island University
Pratt Building 514
1 University Plaza
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Please note: the registration deadline is June 15, 2009.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Please reserve rooms by July 1. Mention National Collegiate Honors Council to get the group rate ($75/night plus tax).
Water Tower Inn
3545 Lafayette Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-977-7500
Questions about this Institute should be directed to:
Bernice Braid at braid@liu.edu or by phone at
718-488-1329
or
Joy Ochs at jochs@mtmercy.edu or by phone at
319-363-8213.
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2009 Board of Directors
President
Lydia Lyons, Hillsborough Community College
President-Elect
John Zubizarreta, Columbia College-South Carolina
Immediate Past President
Hallie Savage, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Vice President
Bonnie Irwin, Eastern Illinois University
Secretary
Bob Spurrier, Oklahoma State University
Treasurer
Rolland W. Pack, Freed-Hardeman University
Ginny Atkinson, Central Arizona College
*Amanda Bowman, Columbia College-South Carolina
Bernice Braid, Long Island University-Brooklyn
Ellen Buckner, University of Alabama-Birmingham
Elizabeth Callahan, Saint Louis University
*Sarah Fann, University of North Carolina-Wilmington
Annmarie Guzy, University of South Alabama
Greg Lanier, University of West Florida
Kathy Lyon, Winthrop University
Jay Mandt, Wichita State University
*Roxanne Moralez, Texas State University-San Marcos
Rosalie Otero, University of New Mexico
Doug Peterson, University of South Dakota
Jim Ruebel, Ball State University
*Ann Schnitzenbaumer, Ball State University
Rick Scott, University of Central Arkansas
*Pratik Talati, University of Alabama-Birmingham
*Nathan Torno, Texas A & M University
*Student Member
NCHC Staff
Cynthia M. 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 |
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