In This Issue...
NCHC23: Revolutionary Honors
Hello NCHC members! .jpg)
We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Chicago for the 58th Annual NCHC Conference. The Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk is in the heart of the city, an excellent location less than a mile from Millennium Park, Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile. Right on the Chicago River, our venue offers easy access to the best of an exciting city. And of course everyone needs to experience some Chicago pizza or German food - many nearby choices!
As we consider all that Chicago has to offer, plans are being finalized to make this conference one of our finest. Our signature programs, such as Place as Text, Beginning in Honors, Developing in Honors, Partners in the Parks, and many more are gearing up for our return to the “Windy City.” It will also be a great time to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, while creating new networks and associates. What wonderful memories the annual conference always brings to mind for me.
Proposals are now being accepted for both general sessions and Signature Programs at the 2023 conference. Note the fast-approaching deadline for all our 2023 session content! I urge you to double-check your membership status, and then submit your student and professional session ideas to one of our variety of proposal options. I hope you are thinking of ways to address “Revolutionary Honors: Liberty, Equality, and Humanity.”
You might notice in the process that you won't find an option to select the Idea Exchange format this year. Instead, we are piloting a new idea for our breakfast fair event in 2023 - an opportunity for members to peruse the ways they can get involved in NCHC and find their connection points within our broad honors community. Committee chairs, interest group leaders, and project facilitators - keep your ears to the ground for details on how to represent your project or group during this new event!
Conversations are in the works to secure incredible keynote speakers who can address our theme and all of its elements. Watch for more information to be released soon.
I can't wait to read your proposal submissions, and to see you in Chicago!
Eddie Weller
NCHC23 Conference Chair
NCHC23
NCHC23 Call for Proposals
One Week Remaining!
February 1-28, 2023
Proposals are now being accepted for the 2023 NCHC Annual Conference, being held in-person at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk in Chicago, Illinois. The conference theme is Revolutionary Honors: Liberty, Equality, Humanity.
Submit Your 2023 Proposal
Important Notes for 2023:
- Signature Programs:
Submissions for Signature Programs (DIH, PSIH, BHAP) will be open simultaneously with General Submissions, February 1-28 and will be accepted through the Ex Ordo review platform.
- Student Interdisciplinary Research Panels:
In 2023, SIRP submissions will open for abstracts AND completed papers on February 1 and extended to March 31.
- Forums:
In 2023, forum content will be selected based on topics and keywords of submitted proposals. No need to submit directly to a forum track for inclusion.
- 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:
- Serving LGBTQIA+ students
Wednesday, February 22 | 2:00pm CST
- 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: 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 Awards
• NCHC Fellows Nomination
NCHC Fellows are distinguished individuals who have given substantial time and energy to furthering the cause of honors education. Nominate a colleague or mentor for their outstanding service to honors and to NCHC! Deadline: March 15, 2023
• NCHC Founders Award Nomination
The NCHC Founders Award is the most prestigious award bestowed by our organization. The Founders Award serves to honor members who have been instrumental in the development and advancement of NCHC and its programs. They have continually given of their time and talents to support honors faculty and students across the country, and their contributions have been vital to the growth of NCHC and the development of its future. Deadline: March 15, 2023
• 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
• NCHC Spring Portz Grants
Working on an innovative classroom project in your honors curriculum? NCHC has financial support available to assist in your creative endeavors. Apply today! Deadline: March 15, 2023
Dates and Deadlines
Take note of these upcoming important dates for NCHC members!
| February 28 | NCHC23 Proposals Close |
| March 15 | Founders Award Closes |
| March 15 | Fellows Award Closes |
| March 15 | Spring Portz Grants Close |
| March 15 | UReCA Student Editor Applications Close |
| March 31 | Consultant Grants Close |
| March 31 | Portz Interdisciplinary Fellowship Awards Close |
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.nchc-ureca.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 (please only include academic activities or relevant work experience)
- Statement of interest (single page)
- A letter of approval from your Honors Director committing to send you to the NCHC conference.
Honors directors must commit to providing travel and lodging to the annual NCHC conference during the fall semester where the UReCA team meets and presents the newly-published journal. Honors directors should also confirm that students are in good academic standing with their program. This is not a full letter of recommendation but rather a letter of affirmation and support. The letter can be uploaded by the student through Submittable or emailed by the faculty member to editor@nchc-ureca.com.
Selected editors will serve for one academic year and will be allowed to reapply for the next cycle.
The deadline for application is March 15, 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: March 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 “Regime Change in Honors,” in which we welcome perspectives, insights, and analytical narratives about the impact that changes in higher administration have on the success or hardships of honors. 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 John Zubizarreta, Director Emeritus of the honors program that now bears his name at Columbia College, South Carolina. In “A Defiant Response to Regime Change,” Zubizarreta describes the perils and possibilities that new higher administrators can create for honors programs and colleges. He lays out a range of potential advantages, problems, and responses, suggesting ways that honors directors and deans can make the best of peremptory change or, when necessary, resist it. His focus is always on the well-being of the students, the program or college, the staff, the faculty, the honors administrators, the institution, and, above all, the quality and integrity of education. The backbone of Zubizarreta’s essay is his narrative of the prolonged, tortuous, and eventually successful resistance and revitalization of honors he led at Columbia College with the help of a former president and advocate of honors, along with his colleague who succeeded him as director and scores of loyal alumnae and friends.
Contributors to the Forum on “Regime Change in Honors” may, but are not obliged to, respond directly to Zubizarreta’s essay. Questions that Forum contributors might consider include:
- Describe (or imagine) a strategy for responding to a difficult regime change and suggest how other honors administrators might adapt such a strategy.
- Was Zubizarreta’s resistance worth the emotional toll it took on him and his program? Would it have been worthwhile even if it had failed? Why?
- In adopting a strategy of accommodation or resistance, does being a dean rather than a director provide greater or lesser freedom of choice?
- Imagine a situation where a university or college president demands that the honors program establish a minimum SAT score in order to look competitive in a regional or national context, a mandate that would virtually eliminate the racial diversity of the program. How could a director best respond to such an official directive?
- How should an honors director or dean respond to the growing institutional and national trends to scale back or even eliminate academic programs that are deemed unnecessary toward earning a job-ready degree?
- What role can site visits and external program reviews play in resisting threatening administrative plans for honors?
- When is it fair (or not) for an honors director or dean to involve students in a struggle with higher administration?
- Recount a regime change that has presented you with challenges and describe how you responded. In retrospect, how would you evaluate the effectiveness and integrity of your response?
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.