Calendar of Events
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Please check our online Calendar of Events for the latest news.
August 8 - 14
Partners in the Parks
Acadia Experience
September 1
Corrections to Conference Program Due
JNCHC Article Submission Deadline
September 15
Portz Grant Applications Deadline
September 25
Conference Book Title Request Deadline
Early Conference Registration Deadline
Finance Committee Meeting
September 28
Student of the Year Nomination Deadline
October 12
Student Logo Deadline
October 16
NCHC Student Service Day
October 28 & November 1
Board of Directors Meeting
October 28-November 1
Annual Conference
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Job Board
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The Job Board has moved back to the front page of the NCHC
website in order to offer easier access to both members and prospective
candidates. The NCHC Job
Board will now be available to the general public as well as members as a
link on our home page.
Posting positions is a benefit restricted to members and is
available to your institution at no cost. Send Job postings in Word or
PDF format to nchc@unlserve.unl.edu
or to psouliere2@unl.edu. New
postings will also be highlighted in the newsletter with a link taking you
directly to the postings. Postings are listed by region.
Please let us know if there are other changes you would like
to see.
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Annual Conference Sponsorships Now Available
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As
the result of member inquiries Conference Sponsorship information is now available on the NCHC website. A sponsorship
form is now easily available online. All you need is your ad copy in PDF or jpeg
format and your credit card or other method of payment. Sponsorships are subject to the Conference Chair's approval. Please refer any potential sponsors
to the website if you hear of an organization, program or another institution
that would be interested in connecting with NCHC in this way. Proceeds from Conference Sponsorships help NCHC to provide
the best conference experience at the lowest cost possible. NCHC
is a 501(c)3 organization. Our tax ID number and current
W-9 are available online for your convenience.
If
you have questions, please email nchc@unlserve.unl.edu
or call 402-472-9150. |
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Future Years: Membership Renewal
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Remember, you now have the option of selecting the year for which you
wish to make payment. Both the membership form and the
invoice on our website offers institutions and professionals the
opportunity 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 future 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 Martin Brink, NCHC Membership
Director, at 402-472-9150 or by email at nchc@unlserve.unl.edu.
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Amazon Link
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Remember that
you can support NCHC while you do your shopping. Simply click the Amazon link at http://www.nchchonors.org/ and a percentage of your purchase will go to help support the mission of NCHC,
at absolutely no cost to you! What can you buy at Amazon.com? Books, movies, music, clothes,
electronics, toys, musical instruments, kitchen sinks, cat and dog food,
espresso machines, text books, jewelry, and groceries. In fact, you can
find just about anything on Amazon.com and help support NCHC at the same time. Purchases made through Amazon.com are subject to their policies and
procedures. Order fulfillment and customer service are the sole
responsibility of Amazon.com. |
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NCHC Trivia
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The current "nuts and bolts" journal Honors in Practice was formerly called
A)
The World of Honors
B) The National Honors Report
C) Honors News
D) Forum for Honors
E) Honors Regalia
(answer below)
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Conference 2009 Update
Honors friends,
Our NCHC national headquarters and
Conference Planning teams continue to work diligently as we get closer to our
national conference in Washington, D.C., 28 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2009. If you have not
already made your hotel reservations at the Grand Hyatt, 1000 H. Street, I
recommend that you give them a call right away as our early numbers suggest
that our annual meeting will be a huge success with very strong
attendance. The toll-free number to dial is 1-800-233-1234. Rooms are $199
single/double, $229 triple/quad; be sure to ask for the NCHC conference rate.
Please be courteous and help us and the hotel provide the best service by
reserving only the rooms you actually need and promptly canceling any excess
rooms if your plans change.
We all know-some of us more acutely than
others-that we face difficult economic times in our home institutions, in our
various academic organizations, and in our personal lives. NCHC, as you can
expect, has not been immune to the financial challenges all around us, and as I
reflect on my role as conference chair and your President-Elect, I return to my
strong personal belief in the value of honest communication. I want to be as
frank, sincere, and open with you as I strive to be with all my students,
colleagues, friends, and family. You can always count on me to tell it like it
is, and that is why I have already shared with you that we had to raise
conference fees after holding steady for many years in order to ensure a high
quality conference in a first-tier city. Even so, you will notice the impact of
funding limitations: modest food, tight holds on technology, no extravagant
gala event at an exclusive external site, no printed pre-conference program,
fewer mailings, and other steps taken to protect our organization and annual
convention. We have had to be frugal on incidental concessions and some events
with which we have become comfortable over the years, but we have not at all
sacrificed the most important reason for our convention: academic excellence
still is at the vital center of all our sessions and programs. I trust that
even just a quick glance at our preliminary online program will provide
sufficient proof that the high quality, innovation, energy, and collaborative
spirit that define our honors community will be prominent features of our D.C.
conference.
Take
a look at the draft program available on the conference web site: http://www.nchchonors.org/2009-annual-conference.php.
You will be pleased and inspired. While you're browsing, let me and Trish
Souliere in our national office (psouliere2@unl.edu)
know if you see any changes that need to be made before our deadline of 1 Sept.
so that our printed program can be as accurate as possible.
The online draft program will also give
you a preview of some new and traditional exciting components of our national
conference:
· Best
Honors Administrative Practice sessions
· City
as Text™,
Beginning
in Honors™,
Developing
in Honors™, Students in
Honors™
· Technology
in Honors Workshop
· Student
Moderators, Roundtable Discussions, Student Interdisciplinary Research Panels,
Portz Scholars
· Partners
in the Parks excursion to National Mall
· Diversity
and International Education Forum sessions, Global Engagement Fair
· Plenary
events: Freeman Hrabowski, The Linguists, John Murray and
Israeli/Palestinian/U.S. panel
· Silent
Auction to benefit local charity
· Capitol Steps performance, Master Classes and
Performance Showcase
· Science
strand on Darwin's 200th birthday celebration and 150th
anniversary of On the Origin of Species
· Celebration
of Teaching and Learning and Student Fishbowl
· Open
Forum and Annual Business Meeting with Presidential Address
Remember, too, that NCHC committees meet
at various times throughout the conference, and all members are invited to
attend any of our committee meetings. Joining an NCHC committee is a great way
to get involved in our organization's leadership activities and help make a
difference in the future of NCHC.
Registration is open (https://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/nchc/quickregister.html),
and I hope to see your name soon on our list of registered members.
Enjoy the first days of our new school year. I look forward to greeting you
warmly in Washington, D.C.
John Zubizarreta
2009 Conference Chair
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Featured Conference Session
The Linguists
The film The Linguists
will be shown
at 11:00 on Friday morning of the conference in Washington.
This film will awaken you to one of the greatest global and
intellectual challenges of the twenty-first century - that's what
the
National Science Foundation hoped when it awarded a 2005 grant to fund The
Linguists. Ditto the Sundance Film Festival when it made The
Linguists a 2008 Official Selection. The challenge concerns
endangered languages. By the
latest count, humans currently speak 7358 different languages (Ethnologue,
2009). Of those languages, at least 2500 are threatened with extinction (UNESCO's
recent Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger). In the United States
alone, UNESCO lists 192 threatened languages, including 71 that are "critically
endangered." http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00139.
The loss will be not only to human diversity and to those communities that speak the endangered languages, but to
everyone's knowledge of human history
and the human mind. What is to be done? Many more young scholars
around the world must step forward, win the trust of the "last speakers" and
work with them to create records of our enormous linguistic diversity before it
is lost. Come see The
Linguists to learn more about this
profoundly important work.
Dr.
James Herbert
AgoraAssociates@att.net
1-202-547-2073
Washington, DC
USA
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Portz Scholars
On behalf of the Portz
Committee, the Committee on Awards and Grants is pleased to announce the 2009
Portz Scholars for the 19th year of the competition. Members of the Portz
Scholars Committee read a record breaking 54 outstanding papers during the
first part of the summer and selected the top three student papers.
The Portz Scholars Program began in 1990 to enable NCHC to acknowledge John and
Edythe Portz's many contributions to Honors education. These two
altruists have been an inspiration to the members of the Portz Committee
through their financial commitment to support the Portz grants for innovation
in Honors programs and colleges.
The three 2009 Portz Scholars will be featured at the plenary session on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at the
National Collegiate Honors Council's Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. and will be awarded a
$250.00 stipend.
The NCHC 2009 Portz Scholars
are:
Lindsay Kerns
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Patrice Berger, Director,
Honors Program
Dr. Carole Levin, Portz Prize
Paper Advisor
"the life and surprising
adventures of mary ann talbot:
Autobiographical Biography as a Mysterious Act of Translation"
This project uses film, a
one-act play, and historical writing and presents the lessons learned from an
attempt to adapt the true, high seas, adventure story of Mary Ann Talbot into a
short film set in Nebraska.
Joseph Kundukulam
University of South Alabama
Dr. Robert Coleman, Director,
Honors Program
Dr. David Forbes, Portz Prize
Paper Advisor
"Polymer-Supported
Suflenylations"
This project involves the
development of a novel method to exploit the advantages of using
polymer-supported chemistries, such as JandaJel technologies, for drug
synthesis.
Allie McNutt
University of North Carolina
Wilmington
Dr. Kate Bruce, Director,
Honors Scholars Program
Dr. Lavonne Adams, Portz
Prize Paper Advisor
"An Introduction to: Lessons"
Lessons is a
collection of historical poetry written to demonstrate that the demands of the
historical moments in which people live do not alter the fundamental nature of
their humanity. |
President's Column
Dear Colleagues:
August
has come to us all much too quickly. Where have those lazy days of summer lore
gone? For most of us in honors, we are in the midst of completing
orientations and registering students for classes. As we try to avoid the
cutting blades of our helicopter parents, some of us have orientations for the
parents with special sessions to explain FERPA. As I correspond with colleagues
across our nation, they are sharing these activities with me and
expressing in the clearest of details how much they must focus their time and
attention to these activities as their budgets become slim versions or shadows
of what they once were. Nevertheless, and regardless of funding challenges for
most of us, our college and university doors will be open for the first day of
fall 2009 classes in a couple of weeks.
As
you juggle all of your activities, I ask you to consider how much honors has
changed the lives of our students, colleagues, institutions, and our own lives.
As you knead your budgets, somehow hoping that they will rise up as though
filled with warm yeast, please recall how important honors is and how much we
learn and share and are invigorated by our annual conferences. These economic
times do demand that we be more innovative than ever. Your Board of Directors
and 2009 Conference Planning Committee join me in encouraging you to set
attendance at our annual conference in Washington, DC as a priority. Even a
quick visit to our conference website is exciting as we view all of the
activities and benefits of the conference attendance. If you haven't registered
yet, please be aware of deadlines for priority registration and hotel
conference rates.
Yours in Honors,
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Call for Portz Grant Applications
The NCHC Portz Fund
Committee would like to invite interested NCHC institutions and professional
members to submit an application for a Portz grant. These grants are
intended to support Honors program/college innovation and can be small, up to
$500, or large, up to $1,000.
To apply, submit the Portz Fund Grant Application Form and supporting narrative to Kate Bruce by
September 15, 2009. Applications that demonstrate clearly the way in which the
proposed innovation will be of benefit beyond the confines of the institution's
own Honors program/college are normally favored as are applications that
demonstrate commitment of the institution's own funds.
The narrative statement should address the way in
which a Portz Fund grant will help your Honors program/college in terms of one
or more of the Basic Characteristics of a Fully-Developed Honors Program.
Portz Grant award recipients are expected to present the results of their
grants at an NCHC or regional honors conference.
Spring Portz Grant recipients were:
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Otterbein College for their project "Kneading
Minds: Integrating Service in the Otterbein College Honors Center."
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Kent State for their project "Medieval Boot Camp".
Further details about these projects are available in the
May 2009 NCHC newsletter.
For questions or more information, please contact Kate Bruce.
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2010 Student Logo Contest
Kansas City
October 20-24, 2010
 The
National Collegiate Honors Council is looking for inspired students to
participate in the 2010 NCHC Conference logo design contest.
The theme of the Kansas City conference
will be "Rhythms and Currents." In keeping with NCHC tradition, the
Conference Planning Committee would like to invite student participation
through the annual logo design competition. NCHC member institutions are
invited to submit one original, student-created logo. The student creator of
the winning logo will receive complimentary registration to the 2010 Conference
along with recognition on the website and in both the online and printed
conference program.
To assist entrants, we ask them to
consider the following conference theme statement:
Kansas City, "The Heart of the
Midwest," pulsates with jazz rhythms and the currents of the Kansas and
Missouri Rivers that flow through its environs, nourishing the landscape and
nurturing its rich ethnic and economic diversity. Like the exquisite fountains
that grace Kansas City's plazas and boulevards, turning water into art, honors
programs and colleges channel the currents of higher education, providing
access to challenging academic opportunities and enriching life experiences for
students and professionals. To sustain these programs, especially in uncertain
times, NCHC members work together to improvise variations on the themes of
excellence and achievement, creating our own honors jazz.
NCHC is goin' to Kansas City in 2010 - Kansas City, here we come!
Multiple nominations by one
institution are not permitted.
Keep in mind that the logo must be
scalable--from as large as the front of a t-shirt to as small as the cover of
the printed conference program and must render well in color as well as
grayscale. Logos must be submitted by the honors director, dean or coordinator
of the member institution accompanied by a cover letter on the honors program
letterhead verifying the following:
- The institution is a current member of NCHC.
- The student is in good standing in the honors
program/college during the 2009-2010 academic year.
- The logo is the student's original work and includes no
copyrighted or otherwise protected information material other than the
NCHC logo, if used.
- The student understands that, upon submission the
conference logo becomes the property of NCHC.
Please note: Logo entries must be
submitted electronically (pdf, jpeg, or tiff) by Monday, October 12th, 2009.
Entries received later than Monday, October 12th will not be considered.
Forms are available here. All documents may be
uploaded or e-mailed.
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Student of the Year
Nominations for the NCHC Student of the Year Award are now being accepted by
the Student Concerns Committee. The NCHC Student of the Year Award is
presented to one Honors student who has made an impact on his or her Honors
program, and who has participated in Honors at the regional and/or national
level.
If there is an honors student currently in your program you would like to
nominate for this award, please complete the online form
and submit an optional resume or list of accomplishments. You must also
provide a letter in support of your student's nomination. The Student
Concerns Committee would like you to elaborate on why this student should be chosen
NCHC Student of the Year. Please nominate only one student from your program
for this award.
The Student of the Year Award is the only NCHC award designed, judged, and
presented by Honors students. Since the award will be judged by members of the
NCHC Student Concerns Committee, committee members are ineligible.
The winner will be recognized during the 2009 Conference in Washington,
D.C., and will receive a $500 cash award, a medallion and the auspicious
recognition the Student of the Year deserves.
Nominations must be received by Monday, September 28, 2009 to be considered. We will be unable to accept nominations after
the deadline. Any questions should be
directed to Sara Brady at bradysa@email.unc.edu.
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Student Auction
Now accepting donations
Students
from the Paul H. Nitze Scholars Program, at St. Mary's College of Maryland, are
preparing to host the 5th Annual Student Charity Auction and Raffle at this
year's NCHC conference in Washington, D.C.
The beneficiary
of the auction this year will be the Youth Leadership Foundation. The Youth Leadership Foundation (YLF) is an
organization focused on serving disadvantaged youth from Washington's inner
city by boosting academic performance while developing character. In 2008/2009, based on distinction, merit,
cost-effectiveness, and accomplishment,
the YLF was selected as one of the top Washington charities in the Catalogue
for Philanthropy. More information about
the program is available on their website http://www.helpingkids.org.
Due to space and time constraints, the 2009 auction will revert to a silent
auction, which will run concurrently with the Opening Reception for the
conference (Thursday evening, 7:00-8:30).
Items will be displayed on tables across the hallway from the reception, thus
inviting people to flow easily back and forth. (Place some bids...stroll
across the hall to chat and get some food...float back to see if you've been
outbid...repeat.)
As in the past, auction items will range from items of moderate value (signed
books, gift baskets and certificates, a college-insignia back-pack or folding
chair, a bottle of high-end bourbon, etc.), to the idiosyncratic bigger-ticket
items. Last year's items in this latter category included a hand-made
quilt, tickets to Cirque du Soleil, a book signed by Stephen King, an
evening sail on Tampa Bay, and two nights in a London inn. We want all
budgets to be accommodated.
As with last year, there will be a raffle at the student party of
college-insignia hoodies, which students can enter by purchasing raffle
tickets, available throughout that day and at the party.
(The rationale for separating these two is to prevent all those well-heeled,
deep-pocketed honors administrators and faculty from purchasing all the
sweatshirts!)
But the students won't have an auction and raffle to run unless you provide
items to be auctioned and raffled. So do think of something interesting
to bring to D.C.
For more information, contact Michael Taber, Director of the Nitze Scholars
Program: mstaber@smcm.edu
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Call for Titles
2009 Conference
Don't forget to submit your suggestions for book titles to
be available at the annual meeting this fall.
The Conference Planning Committee is working hard to ensure that the
widest variety of important and appealing titles is available at the book table.
The conference will
feature an array of excellent and stimulating speakers along with other
featured events. Washington, D.C. 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
- The legal scholar John
Murray and a three perspective panel, Israeli, Palestinian and
American, discussing the conflict in the Middle East
- A special screening of The Linguists with follow-up discussion by linguist K. David Harrison
and film maker Seth Kramer.
- A performance by the
political satire group, Capitol Steps.
The 2009 Conference Planning Committee invites suggestions for
works that deal with our speakers as well as the many important and engaging historical
and cultural aspects of the city. To
submit your suggestions for the book table, you may send your requests directly
to George Mariz at george.mariz@wwu.edu or complete the
online form available on the conference website no later than September 25.~ George Mariz |
Featured Committee
Membership & Marketing
The Membership & Marketing Committee, more familiarly known
as M&M, is charged with recruiting members and marketing NCHC to both
internal and external audiences. The committee
makes suggestions to the Board of Directors on NCHC's message, works
with the Publications Board to develop publications for prospective members and
other constituencies, and serves an advisory role to external relations to
communicate NCHC's vision and goals to external audiences. Through the
leadership of Bonnie Irwin, a recent initiative of the committee is mentoring
first-time conference participants.
M&M is located at the nexus of several important NCHC
initiatives. The M & M committee works to address key questions, such as
how do we best promote NCHC and serve our members? How do we raise our profile
in the higher education community? How can we as an organization advocate for
honors issues? How might we better promote special NCHC initiatives?
This year, the Membership and Marketing Committee has been
working on producing a new brochure scheduled for posting on the NCHC website,
pending approval from the Publications Board.
This membership brochure will be available online in PDF format to print
on an as needed basis. Watch for a
special email notice when the brochure is available.
Membership and Marketing
has also been working on a special recognition event for NCHC Professional
members at Annual Conference this year.
If you are a Professional member of NCHC watch your NCHC email to learn
more.
NCHC membership for 2009 is
up across nearly all categories as the result of efforts by the committee and
Carolee Brink, NCHC Membership Director to market the benefits of membership.
· Institutional members are up by 10 from 804 to 814.
· Affiliate memberships are up from 3 to 8.
· Professional memberships have grown to from 105 to 280, an
increase of 166%.
· Student memberships have grown from 17 to 52, an increase of 205%.
Future plans include
research about what benefits are most meaningful to each of the respective
membership categories.
The Committee is always
interested in your input-what is most important to you as an NCHC
member? Email your comments and suggestions to
nchc@unlserve.unl.edu.
The M&M committee
invites interested members to join the committee as we develop new directions
and strategies.
Please contact M&M chair Bonnie Irwin bdirwin@eiu.edu or Kathleen King kathleen.d.king@maine.edu for more information.
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NCHC Student Service Day
The National Collegiate Honors Council announces Student Service Day.
Friday,
October 16, 2009
Don't miss out! Get your Honors program involved this fall.
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.
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New Directors Go to Camp
Discussions
of fundraising techniques, a taxonomy of honors-style classes, questions about recruitment,
reflections on moving into academic administration, and an impromptu "name game"
were highlights as nearly 30 new directors convened in Ames,
IA at the NCHC New Directors' Summer Camp,
held in July at Iowa
State University.
During their two-day stay, camp participants from large research universities,
2 year colleges, liberal arts colleges, and mid-sized institutions enjoyed meeting
one another as well as workshop facilitators Charlie Slavin, Dean of the Honors
College at the University Maine, Sam Schuman, Chancellor Emeritus of the
University of Minnesota Morris, and author of the NCHC monograph, Beginning in Honors, Laurie Fiegel Administrative
Director of the Honors Program at Iowa State University, and Ted Estess, former
Dean of the Honors College at the University of Houston.
Two
years in the development, this first biennial New Directors' Summer Camp is the
newest NCHC workshop to support honors education. This session was designed to assist honors
administrators who have been in their current positions less than two years to
understand the nuts-and-bolts of an honors program or college. Envisioned as an opportunity to provide more
space for exploring many of the issues discussed in the very popular conference
staple, Beginning in Honors, that Ted and Sam co-lead, camp participants spent
time engaged in seminar sessions, networking, having fun, and working on a case
study. Networking with other campers and
sharing tips for best practices with other participants and facilitators were
by far the hits of the show. Within days of returning to their home campuses,
participants were invited to join a Facebook group for new Honors
directors/deans and a listserv. In
addition, many campers chose to meet individually with one or more of the
facilitators to discuss ideas and concerns about their individual
programs.
Curriculum,
co-curricular activities, development, and faculty recruitment seemed to be on
the minds of many campers. Throughout the course of the camp, at lunch, during
breaks, unwinding at the hotel, many campers could be overheard discussing how their
own programs handled these subjects. The
format of the camp provided numerous opportunities for the sort of informal
conversations that are often extremely fruitful. No matter the size of the program or
institution, it became evident that we all share the same enthusiasm and
frustrations when it comes to honors administration.
The
facilitators had hoped that the workshop would energize honors directors for
their new roles and responsibilities, and were pleased to find out how much
they - the "old hands" at honors administration - learned and were energized by
the enthusiasm and creativity of the campers.
~Laurie Fiegel
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Call for Papers
The next issue of JNCHC (submission 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.
The lead essay in the Forum, by George Mariz of Western
Washington University, is available on the NCHC website. It is titled "Honors
in the Electronic Age". Contributions to the Forum may respond to
this essay or take an independent approach.
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.
Information about JNCHC and submission guidelines are also
available on the NCHC website.
Please contact Ada Long with any questions.
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Candidates for Board of Directors
Nominee for Vice President
Greg Lanier
University of West Florida
I am truly
honored to be nominated to serve the NCHC as Vice President. As I have said many times before, my roots in
Honors run embarrassingly deep-all the way back to the mid 1970s as an
undergraduate at the University of Colorado.
As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, I was fortunate
enough to teach sections of that institution's core Honors Great Books course;
as a member of the Department of English at the University of West Florida, I
was one of the founding faculty of the UWF Honors Program (1989), and I was
named Director of the University Honors Program in 1999. I remember clearly the excitement that my
students and I felt when we attended our first conference: the 1999 NCHC conference
in Orlando, and I've been back every year with students, faculty, staff, and
administrators in tow. I cannot thank NCHC and all the marvelous colleagues I
have met over the years enough for all I have learned at the national
conference, and my three years of service as a member of the NCHC Board of
Directors has only deepened my indebtedness to my friends in Honors. (more)
Nominee for Secretary
 Robert "Bob" Spurrier
Oklahoma State University
Bob
Spurrier is Director of The Honors College and Professor of Political
Science at Oklahoma State University. He originated our annual
"Developing in Honors" workshop and founded NCHC's Satellite Seminar
(now managed by Phi Theta Kappa). He is co-developer of the new "Best
Honors Administrative Practices" series of NCHC conference sessions
that will be part of our Washington conference. The author of numerous
articles in the Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Honors in Practice, Forum for Honors, and The National Honors Report,
Bob has presented many national conference sessions on the "nuts and
bolts" of honors administration. He is the co-author of NCHC's Assessing and Evaluating Honors Programs and Honors Colleges: A Practical
Handbook
monograph. In addition, he is the author of books and professional
journal articles on American law and government, and has been
recognized by a variety of awards for his teaching and advising. (more)
Professional Nominees for Board of Directors
 Kyoko Amano
University of Indianapolis
I would be thrilled to serve on the NCHC Board of
Directors. I have served on the University of Indianapolis's Honors College Faculty
Committee since 2004, taught two Honors freshman English courses, and directed two
Honors projects. I have attended the NCHC
annual conferences every year since 2006.
In my capacity as an Honors faculty, I brought UIndy's Honors students
to NCHC conferences and enjoyed the student-centered culture of NCHC. In addition, I was recently appointed the associate director of the Honors College at the University of Indianapolis.
UIndy Honors College
and I have benefited from the support the NCHC provides for institutions,
faculty, staff, and students in developing Honors colleges, especially when
UIndy's Honors Program became an Honors
College in 2005. UIndy's Honors College has grown tremendously
since then. In 2005, the retention rate
between junior year and graduation with distinction was less than 50%, with an
overall program retention rate of 10%.
Now, the retention of the junior class is 91.6% with an anticipated
retention to graduation of 81%, and the overall retention rate in the Honors College
is 62%. UIndy
Honors College
now offers Harris Manchester College
(Oxford University) Scholarship, has the Honors
Studio for meetings, and provides the Honors & Scholars floor option for
housing. Also, the quality of Honors projects has improved. I would like to join the board to help carry
out the NCHC's mission and advocate academic excellence and social
responsibility. (more)
 Jerry Herron
Irvin D. Reid Honors College
Wayne State University
I am honored to be considered for a position on the National
Collegiate Honors Council Board of Directors. As a faculty member,
administrator and scholar for nearly 30 years, I have never been as proud or
excited to hold a position as the one I hold now: Dean of the Irvin D. Reid
Honors College at Wayne State University in Detroit. I learned the value of the
NCHC at the beginning of my tenure as Honors Director - starting in 2002 - when
I first consulted a new NCHC friend who provided valuable programmatic and
development advice necessary to secure enhanced funding from university
leadership, the funding that would make it possible for our program to grow and
develop. (more)
 Joe King
Radford University
I have been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology
at Radford University since 1981. My background is in Neuroscience (undergrad
in Biology and Grad
School in Psychology) and
for many years I maintained a collaborative research laboratory in which
students were responsible for all the research projects conducted in the lab
and served as co-authors on publications and presentations that came out of our
research. (more)
 Kim Klein
Shippensburg University
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. (more)
 Steve Kramer
Southwest Minnesota State University
I currently serve as president of the
Upper Midwest Honors Council. I am also
the director of the Honors Program at Southwest Minnesota State University, a
position I have held for seven years. In addition, I will be entering my fourth
year as chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, Humanities and Philosophy
at SMSU. SMSU is a small, public liberal
arts university and a long-time affiliate of the NCHC. I believe that this combination of experience
has prepared me well for addressing the kind of budgetary, planning and
programmatic questions that the Board of Directors faces. (more)
 Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin
Missouri Western State University
I
have now been the Director of the Honors Program at Missouri Western State
University for four years. I wrote proposals for our faculty (two of which were
delivered at the national conference that took place in St. Louis a few years
ago). I participated most recently in the NCHC Faculty Institute in Lincoln,
Nebraska in 2007 and have just edited a booklet of faculty participants'
writings and photos for the group and the Board.
 Larry Levinson
Governors State University
Serving both as a faculty member and as an honors
administrator, I passionately believe that honors programs are a means of
creating an enriched integrative learning community that extends the "great
conversation" of the academy (R.M. Hutchinson) beyond the classroom.
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, student participation in regional honors conferences, and a
service learning project. I have served
two terms as the president of the HCIR (Honors Council of the Illinois Region)
where I worked toward expanding its membership and organized three student
research conferences. (more)
 John Loughney
Westfield State College
Beginning with my attendance at the Albuquerque site visitors workshop,
I pursued NCHC Site Visitor accreditation, which was awarded in 2008.
As listed in my footnote, I have also had other roles associated with
honors accreditation.
My interest in being selected for the NCHC Board arises from a sense that I could bring at least six dimensions to such service:
- significant,
decades-long honors teaching, program development, and program
oversight at a public, four-year, comprehensive college
- experience of honors program coordination within the very large,
multi-level (university; four-year; community-college), multi-campus
(27 institutions) state system in Massachusetts
- practical experience from attending and consulting at recent NCHC national conferences
- site-visiting experience, along with various roles involving accreditation on my own campus over the past thirty years
- a history in recent years of involvement with others who either taught or were enrolled at the NCHC Albuquerque workshop
-
a career-long academic specialization in "organizations," pursued
through the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and
interdisciplinary programs (Women's Studies; American Studies; Latin
American Studies, Film Studies, and Ethnic & Multicultural
Studies). (more)
 Jaskiran Mathur
St. Francis College
My name is Jaskiran Mathur, I am the Director of the
Honors Program and Associate Professor of Sociology at St. Francis College in
Brooklyn, New York.
Lydia Lyons was kind enough to appoint me to the
NCHC committees for 'Small Colleges' and 'International Education' last year. Much to my
disappointment, a fractured knee from an accident earlier in October 2008
prevented me from attending the Annual Meeting in San Antonio and deprived me
of an excellent opportunity to meet with numerous NCHC members and office
holders. I am really excited about the October 2009 meeting especially as we
have two proposals accepted, and the venue is close enough to afford a larger
contingent of students and faculty! (more)
Student Nominees for Board of Directors (2-year term)
 Jamie Beko
University of Indianapolis
Hello,
my name is Jamie Beko and I am a junior at the University of
Indianapolis in Indiana. My chosen major is social work with a
concentration in community organizing. One reason I chose to
follow the path of being an honors student is that the honors college
at UIndy has allowed me to take the school's motto of 'Education for
Service' to a much higher degree. I have been able to participate
in many different community service projects. I am also a
Presidential Assistant, Campus Ambassador, and a member of the Social
Work Association; all while volunteering at several Indianapolis
non-profit organizations (i.e Damar Services, Indianapolis Animal Care
and Control, and Second Helpings) and working part-time at a small
non-profit organization that helps the elderly. I am pursuing a
degree in social work because I have a strong passion to continue this
service for my entire life. (more)
 Alex Cler
Eastern Illinois University
Hello everyone! My name is Alex Cler, and I'm a finance major at
Eastern Illinois University. Currently, I am very actively involved in
the honors program at EIU. I am a member of the local Association of
Honors Students and a Presidential Scholar. The latter is geared
towards integrative learning and enriching a student's experience in
honors, college, and life. My integrated learning project is an
internship with SCORE, a small business consulting organization run by
the federal government. (more)
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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
(trivia question answer: B.) The National Honors Report)
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