2010 Site Visitors - Sam Schuman
| Email: | sschuman@unca.edu |
| Institution: | The University of North Carolina Asheville |
| Address: | Karpen Hall |
| Phone: | (828)250-2351 |
| Fax: | |
| Institution Type: | Public Liberal Arts College |
| Program Type: | Institution-wide |
| Program Enrollment: | 250 |
| Present Position: | Chancellor Emeritus, The University of Minnesota, Morris |
| Previous Honors Positions: |
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| NCHC Member Since: | 1972 |
NCHC Activities Related to honors program/college assessment & evaluation etc.
Facilitator, NCHC Site Visitor training, 2008.
Consultant at over 35 institutions -- among the most recent: Keene State Universeity, St. Leo University, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, Wayne State University, College of Charleston.
Activities in other areas or organizations related to assessment or site visits, workshops, etc.
Senior partner, Blue Ridge Higher Education Consultants; affiliate, Performa Higher Education.
Author of "Old Main: Small Colleges in Twenty-First Century America" (Johns Hopkins University Press); "Seeing the Light: Religious Colleges in Twenty-First Century America" (Johns Hopkins University Press); "Leading America's Branch Campuses" (ACE); "Small College Honors Handbook" (NCHC)
Served as Chancellor of two public liberal arts colleges and chief academic officer at three institutions.
Self-Identified Areas of Special Interest and Experience
- Beginning new honors programs/colleges
- Working with new honors directors/deans
- Assessing honors programs/colleges
- Strategic planning for honors
On the Role of the Site Visitor as Consultants & Program Reviewers
Thoughts on the Role of NCHC Site Visitors
Sam Schuman, Chancellor Emeritus, The University of Minnesota, Morris
The particular role of an NCHC site visitor is usually defined by the specific circumstances which occasioned the visit. For example, some honors programs or colleges may wish to strengthen their curricular offerings by creating greater coherence of courses; some may want to think about more effective recruiting of outstanding students; others may be interested in improving honors student retention. Sometimes site visitors are invited by other academic administrators (provosts, deans, vice presidents, etc.) with an eye to providing some extramural perspective on the honors enterprise at their institutions. It is always very wise, indeed, necessary, for the prospective visitor to be sure and to be clear about who has invited her or him to the college or university, and for what purpose. Similarly, it is important to be clear what sort of final product (document, oral report, sent to whom, etc.) is expected.
In general, honors consultant/evaluators can provide a valuable external vision of the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for honors at the institutions they visit. Sometimes, external reviewers can validate existing options within honors programs or colleges; sometimes they can suggest different options and approaches. Consultants should carefully avoid the impulse just to suggest importing aspects of their own honors programs into others: each college or university is different, and therefore, each should devise honors options which are specifically designed to serve the students and educational needs of that institution. So, NCHC consultants need to work to understand the institution as a whole, as well as its honors offerings.
As external visitors, NCHC consultants can speak to honors administrators, collegiate administrators, staff, faculty and students without any pre-existing “baggage.” Since we don’t bring any set agenda to a visit, all the various constituents tend to speak to us with openness and candor.
The purpose of an NCHC site visit should always be to strengthen the Honors program or college, of course. More particularly, the consultant should always keep in mind the educational well-being of the students in the program: are the students getting as much as they possibly can from their honors experience? What could be done better? What should be strengthened? What can be eliminated? What tweaked? Site visits should be occasions to celebrate the successes and vigor of honors, not intimidating or judgmental trials. They are opportunities for honors students, faculty and staff to think carefully about what they have already accomplished and what they can achieve in the future.