In This Issue...
Hello,
As I write this I am in my office listening to our students buzz around our lounge and classrooms. The students are working their way through midterms and spring break is on the horizon. Like many of you, I work with a diverse group of students that include many first-generation college students from immigrant families. The trust these families have in sharing their children with us is remarkable. Sometimes this is the first time my students have left rather sheltered neighborhoods, religious communities, and schools. Their ability to thrive in a community of students from radically different backgrounds speaks to their resilience as well as to the ability of community to create bonds between different people. Honors programs and colleges matter immensely. I am so honored to be part of this community, and to learn alongside our members and our students.
I am delighted to share that the final proposal count for our conference in Chicago is robust. The many submitted proposals are being reviewed as we speak by a dedicated conference planning committee. Accepted presenters will be notified in late April or early May. I look forward to seeing you there in November!
Our work on the search for the Executive Director continues. We have met with Scion, the search firm, and they have interviewed members of the search committee, members of the staff, and a few of our past presidents to better understand what we seek in a leader. A finalized position description has just been released,and we will post it to our job board as soon as we can. If all goes well, we will be interviewing candidates in May.
All the best,
Susan
Your staff is growing!
Hello NCHC members,
I am delighted to share with you that we are making advancements in the right direction to grow our full-time NCHC staff at the home office in Lincoln, Nebraska. Your staff has been busy reviewing and interviewing candidates for vacant positions in the office, and we look forward to introducing you to some new faces very soon.
We greatly appreciate the patience you've shown over the last year with reduced staffing capabilities, and we trust that you will join us in welcoming our new staffers as they familiarize themselves with our wonderful organization and its inner workings. More information coming soon!
Laura Damuth
NCHC Interim Executive Director
Proposals have closed for NCHC23 Proposals (except SIRP - closing March 31)...
Now What Happens??
Click below to view the Life Cycle of a NCHC Conference Proposal!
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- Volunteer Opportunities for the following will open soon. Watch your email for details about:
- Master Class Participants
- Student Moderators
- Student Fishbowl
- Students in Honors Facilitators
- *NEW* Consultant Connect - A Consultant Center 2.0 experience
- *NEW* NCHC:Engage Breakfast
NCHC Events: Virtual DEI Roundtables
Sign up for a free Virtual Roundtable in 2023 to dive deep with your NCHC Community!
These free virtual events are presented by NCHC Committees, and available for all in the honors community to participate in! Add these to your calendar today:
- Exploring LatinX & APIDA Identities Through Race, Ethnicities and Cultures
Wednesday, April 26 | 1:00pm CST
- Teaching CRT: Pitfalls and Challenges
Wednesday, August 9 | 11:00am CST
NCHC Events: Partners in the Parks
Take honors outside the classroom with NCHC's Partners in the Parks!
Partners in the Parks is an outdoor experiential learning program coordinated by the National Collegiate Honors Council. PITP projects at national parks across the country offer unique opportunities for collegiate honors students and faculty to visit areas of the American landscape noted for their beauty, significance and lasting value. For over a decade, PITP has led over 100 projects in more than 50 different national parks.
With five student projects across the country, there's an outdoor adventure waiting just for you in 2023.
Registration for our 2023 PITP project season is now open!
Hurry... spaces are filling quickly!
NCHC Events: Place as Text Faculty Institutes
Register today for a Place as Text experience in 2023!
NCHC Faculty Institutes are development opportunities for honors and non-honors faculty and administrators who wish to incorporate interdisciplinary and field-based elements into their courses and programs. The City as Text™ experiential strategies of the Institute include reflective practices and projects adaptable to study abroad, service learning, student orientations, campus assessments, and professional development workshops as well as honors courses in any discipline. Identifying and transferring principles of integrative experiential learning are important goals of these Institutes.
NCHC Events: Summer Institutes
2023 Summer Institute Series
NCHC is bringing you a series of Professional Development options for 2023 that includes both in-person and virtual options. Grow your skills and your honors cohort this summer, no matter your travel situation! Whether you are new to honors or an experienced director or staff member, you can find creative approaches and best practices from NCHC's expert facilitators.
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NCHC Awards
- NCHC Consultant Grants
If you are interested in a program review and campus consultation visit from an NCHC-recommended program reviewer, apply for a grant to offset your admin costs! New honors programs & colleges, as well as those with new leadership changes, are especially encouraged to apply. Deadline: March 31, 2023 -
Portz Interdisciplinary Research Fellowships
The Portz Fellowship program was launched in 2010 and is supported by the John and Edythe Portz Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship. It is intended to support creative and innovative endeavors that cross boundaries, inviting application from individuals who wish to undertake cross disciplinary research or from a team of two students from different disciplines who propose a single collaborative project. Three $5,000 awards and three $1,500 awards will be given by the selection committee.
Honors students in good standing from 2-year colleges or 4-year colleges and universities with current Institutional membership in NCHC may apply at any point in their undergraduate studies. In addition to two letters of recommendation from faculty members, an endorsement from the institutional representative named in the NCHC membership is required. Only ONE PROPOSAL per year from each member institution is permitted.
Deadline: March 31, 2023 -
NCHC Faculty Awards
Is there an honors faculty member with exemplary teaching skills that you'd like to thank? Consider nominating them for the Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence at a Two Year Institution, or the Sam Schuman Award for Excellence at a Four Year Institution! Both awards were created to recognize outstanding honors faculty who give their all in the classroom and are committed to expanding the minds of their students through honors education. Nominations close June 15, so submit your information today!Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence at a Two-Year Institution
Dates and Deadlines
Take note of these upcoming important dates for NCHC members!
| March 31 | Consultant Grants Close |
| March 31 | Portz Interdisciplinary Fellowship Awards Close |
| April 1 | UReCA Student Editor Applications Close |
| April 3 | Student Awards Open - Portz Scholars Competition (closes Friday, June 2) - NCHC Newsletter Competition (closes June 30) - Freddye T. Davy Student Scholarship (closes June 2) - John J. Hanigan Student Scholarship (closes June 2) - NCHC Student of the Year Award (closes Sept. 8) |
| April 3 | NCHC23 Registration opens |
Call for UReCA Student Editors
UReCA strives to further the exchange of scientific and creative work between undergraduate students by providing a platform where students can contribute to their academic community. Here is a link to the site: http://www.nchcureca.com/.
We are looking to recruit new Associate Editors with diverse academic backgrounds from universities across the United States. Associate Editors are responsible for the selection of creative work and research articles that will appear on the website. Additionally, Associate Editors provide feedback and revision suggestions to authors of the selected pieces. In order to apply, students must be pursuing their undergraduate degrees and be enrolled in an honors program or college that is a member of NCHC. The selection of editors for UReCA is a competitive process.
Applications should consist of the following:
- Resume
- Statement of interest (single page)
Selected editors will serve for one academic year and will be allowed to reapply for the next cycle. This is not a paid position.
We require that all new editors attend an editorial retreat held in Dillon, Montana, June 8-11. Airfare, food, and lodging are provided. The deadline for application is April 1, 2023. All applications will be handled through our submissions manager: https://ureca.submittable.com/submit. Please direct any questions to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@nchc-ureca.com.
Call for JNCHC Submissions
The next issue of JNCHC (deadline: September 1, 2023) invites research essays on any topic of interest to the honors community.
The issue will also include a Forum focused on the theme “Creating an Honors Faculty,” in which we invite honors educators to examine how honors faculty are defined, selected, recruited, retained, and rewarded. We invite essays of roughly 1000-2000 words that consider this theme in a practical and/or theoretical context.
The lead essay for the Forum is by Lynne C. Elkes of Loyola University Maryland. In “Creating and Celebrating Honors Faculty,” Elkes applauds the unique quality of honors educators, who approach their students and their work with a passion beyond what is expected of higher education in general. Teachers attracted to honors become part of a community of learners along with their students, contributing not just their academic expertise but their whole selves to their shared love of learning, going beyond any expected job requirements to partner with their students, to mentor them in their research, and to help them become better people as well as students. At the same time, honors programs tend to lack structure compared to typical academic disciplines, which have defined hierarchies and systems of rewards such as tenure, promotion, and salary protocols. Honors programs typically attract different kinds of faculty at different ranks and with different levels of job security, from tenured to contingent. This flexibility and ineffability—sometimes controlled chaos—can create authenticity, but it can also lead to abuse when faculty are taken for granted and expected to take on significant extra responsibilities without attendant expectations of reward. Elkes suggests that some standardization within the practices of hiring, retention, compensation, and job responsibilities could reduce this kind of abuse, acknowledge the special dedication of honors faculty, and evoke a higher level of respect not just for honors teachers but for the kind of devotion they commit to teaching and learning.
Contributors to the Forum on “Creating an Honors Faculty” may, but are not obliged to, respond directly to Elkes’s essay. Questions that Forum contributors might consider include:
- Is the loose structure and hierarchy of honors faculty a benefit, liability, and/or inevitability?
- How should honors faculty be selected, and who should select them?
- Is there any hard evidence for the assumption that honors faculty are exceptionally dedicated to teaching?
- Would a traditional academic reward system disrupt the passion and personal dedication we associate with teaching in honors?
- Does honors have—or can it create—a just and satisfying reward system different from that of a typical academic discipline?
- Can a different kind of reward system for honors faculty promote diversity, equity, and inclusion?
- How is an honors faculty created on your campus, and does it work?
- What character traits are essential for a good honors teacher?
- What academic credentials (if any) should be required to teach in honors?
Information about JNCHC—including the editorial policy, submission guidelines, guidelines for abstracts and keywords, and a style sheet—is available on the NCHC website.
Please send all submissions to Ada Long at adalong@uab.edu.
NCHC journals (JNCHC and HIP) and monographs are included in the following electronic databases: ERIC, EBSCO, Gale Cengage, and UNL Digital Commons. Both journals are listed in Cabell International's Directory of Publishing Opportunities.
Call for Monograph Papers
Belonging in Honors - NCHC Monograph Series Call for Papers
The concept of belonging has gained traction in higher education over the course of the past decade. That concept, however, has a much longer history in fields such as psychology, evolutionary theory, or more recently social cognitive neuroscience. These fields converge to affirm the human need for belonging because it supports identity development, well-being and happiness. More importantly, social psychologists and student affairs scholars have demonstrated that a sense of belonging has implications for students' persistence and retention in college and graduate school. Because “belonging is inherently tied to our social identities and the nuanced forms of oppression experienced, and resisted by students from minoritized social identity groups” (Vaccaro and Newman 4), much of the work on belonging has focused on the nuanced needs of specific identity groups, especially students who were long excluded from institutions of higher education.
One of the strengths of honors education is our collective investment in building community among our students, faculty, staff, and administrators. This monograph concerns itself primarily with the essential but fluid sense of belonging and its relationship to more common concepts in the literature on honors education, such as diversity, inclusion, and community. Theorists and practitioners have contributed ideas for what constitutes best practices to create more inclusive honors programs and colleges and increase the diversity of our students' identities. Belonging in Honors proposes to build upon this rich literature to explore the structural changes as well as the critical practices and pedagogies implemented over the last decade to support all honors students from matriculation to graduation and to prepare them for a changing world. While a sense of belonging might be subjective and prove challenging to measure, it is essential to create space for excellence for a larger number of people. Honors practitioners’ reflections on, and systematic analyses of, the mechanics of belonging are essential to the identification of future directions and frameworks for honors education.
The editor of Belonging in Honors invites critical and scholarly submissions that reflect honors practices far and wide, qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Specific disciplinary approaches and clearly positioned voices that engage with, respond to, and add to the following prompts are expected:
- Intersectionality and identity are key to understanding barriers to a sense of belonging to institutions whose audience was originally conceived more narrowly. What structural changes have been implemented to ensure that less represented minorities or differently abled students, for instance, also have a sense of belonging? How have efforts to give all students a sense of belonging impacted enrollment management, financial aid, curricular approaches and other practices affecting honors students’ experience in college.
- Students, faculty, and staff will derive a sense of belonging from intentional and mindful practices. How do institutional size and demographic makeup impact what makes a successful strategy? What lessons can be applied across institutions?
- If the literature on sense of belonging has clearly demonstrated its positive correlation to retention, few studies to date extend their analyses of retention to completion. How has the value of giving students a sense of belonging in honors been measured? Have such quantitative analyses been helpful in advocating for honors more broadly?
- Honors educators have long been concerned about building and fostering community. Who is made to feel at home in honors? How has the increasing diversification of honors students’ identities led practitioners to foster community in new ways to provide all our students a sense of belonging?
Submission Guidelines & Deadlines
Deadlines
Submission of abstracts due: 15 June 2023
Submission of essays: 1 November 2023
Submission
Traditional essays, the length of which may vary. The editor of this monograph encourages all authors to familiarize themselves with the NCHC Style Sheet. All submissions, solicited and unsolicited, will be peer-reviewed by the Publications Board of the National Collegiate Honors Council.
Questions, abstracts, and full essays should be sent to Anne Dotter at adotter@jccc.edu as word documents.