Higher Education Commons^™

Barriers To Transfer: Navigating The Obstacles Community College Students Face When Moving To Four-Year Universities, Tirth Desai

A with Honors Projects

Research project, analyzing and examining the social, financial, and institutional problems community college students face while preparing to transfer to a four year university.

Understanding Motivations For Graduate Assistant Unionization At A Large, Private, Elite Research University In The Midwest, Cynthia Shannon-Hutchison

Dissertations of Practice

The right of graduate student workers to unionize at private universities within the United States was reconfirmed in 2021 after years of uncertainty. The focus of this study was to understand specific challenges and desires, beyond wages and benefits, that drove students at a large private research university to organize for collective bargaining. This instrumental case study used constructivist grounded theory methodology to explore the motivations and issues that prompted students to unionize at a large, private, elite research university in the Midwest of the United States. The study provides insights into specific issues that were the platform for organizing, …

Jasmine Mata Diaz Honors Portfolio, Jasmine Mata Diaz

Honors Capstone Portfolios

Jasmine Mata Diaz's honors portfolio captured in May 2025.

Lgbtq+ Maine Timeline (Sources Included), Megan Macgregor

USM Libraries & Learning Scholarship

This timeline is in no way complete. If you would like to add something to the timeline please reach out to Megan MacGregor ([email protected]) with the event AND a source showing that it happened.

2024-2025 Continuous Improvement, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Assessment Center Reports

The 2024-2025 Continuous Improvement report produced by the SWOSU Assessment Center.

Leadership Academy: Fostering Honors Faculty Growth Through Peer-To-Peer Learning, Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, Doug Stucky, Cindi Mason, Bobby Berry, Samantha Gregus, Kimberly Engber

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Discusses the Lead for Tomorrow program at the Cohen Honors Leadership Academy at Wichita State University, fostering honors faculty growth through peer-to-peer learning.

Empowering Honors Education: A Joint Initiative For Teaching Excellence And Curriculum Enhancement, Alexandra Bitton-Bailey, Ryan Z. Good, Gabriela Hamerlinck, Melissa L. Johnson

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Honors leaders should consider faculty development partnerships as outlets for not only communicating instructional opportunities to a wider audience but also broadening teaching opportunities for faculty in departments that are not always represented and for faculty in non-tenure-track as well as tenure-track lines. An ongoing partnership with a faculty development group can also help honors leaders stay aware of teaching with new technologies, manage emergent trends in the classroom such as the use of artificial intelligence, contribute to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and provide an outlet for reflection about honors instruction. The CTE-Honors partnership at the University of …

Leadership And Change From Within: An Honors College And Ctl Partnership, Connie M. Schroeder, Hilary K. Snow

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Scaling sustainable change in teaching and learning is an institutional priority in higher education, yet often it is elusive, given the decentralized and siloed academic landscape. Most colleges and departments lack the necessary expertise to design and implement scaled change or the critical organizational structures to sustain change. Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) seek to advance improvement in teaching and learning and highlight improving institutional culture as part of their mission. Reliance on traditional programming and consultations, however, primarily targets individual change versus scaled or sustainable change.

The successful process of change at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Honors College …

Reimagining An Honors Education: Building A Community Of 21st-Century Learners, Robyn M. Brighton, Rebecca J. Toole

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Throughout the spring 2021 academic term and in response to a multiyear redesign of the long-established Seneff Honors College, faculty and staff from both the honors college and the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Valencia College set out to develop a professional development certification that would provide faculty with the information and tools needed to develop an honors curriculum aligning with the newly designed honors college.

The Brief Life Of A Students-As-Partners Model For Improving General Education, Rick Fisher, Janel Seeley

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

A Students-as-Partners (SaP) model has significant potential for meaningful relationships between centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) and honors programs or colleges. Honors programs and colleges are excellent partners in that they often have flexibility in course offerings and students interested in non-traditional learning opportunities. Too often, education planning and assessment are done to students rather than with them. Having students conduct scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) on university-wide initiatives not only provides the institution with valuable information about its teaching and learning efforts but also offers applicable research experience for students that can meaningfully impact future programming.

A Comprhensive Honors College Faculty Certification Model, Magda J. Castineyra, Virginia Fuillerat, Marianne Maduro

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Provides an overview of the Honors College (HC) at Miami Dade College (MDC) which uses a faculty certification process to introduce the honors college model and present classroom expectations.

Honors Civic Foundations Faculty Fellows Program, Lauren E. Davis, Kevin D. Egan

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In 2022–2023, Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College implemented the Honors Civic Foundations Faculty Fellows Program, a new initiative for faculty development and enrichment grounded in principles of civic education.

A Faculty Inquiry Group For The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning In Honors, Kevin Sackreiter, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Christine Larson, Evren Celik-Wiltse

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This chapter details a collaboration between the Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College and the Center for Professional Enrichment and Teaching Excellence (CPETE), formerly known as the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), at South Dakota State University (SDSU). This collaboration launched an Honors Faculty Inquiry Group (FIG) on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Greater philosophical themes, such as the desire to normalize scholarly emphasis on teaching and learning and how honors faculty can serve as teaching leaders on campus, will be explored in addition to the practical details and outcomes of the collaboration.

From Classrooms To Communities: Integrating The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Into Honors Education, Megan Mcilreavy, Pamela L. Martin

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Embracing the United National Education for Sustainable Development (SDG) framework empowers students to reflect on their actions and understand current and future social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues from local and global perspectives. Inherent in the concept of lifelong learning, these values should resonate with our next generation of students (Gen Z) who, studies show, are making career choices that contribute to making real changes on our planet. Leveraging different institutional strengths, honors programs and colleges can tailor their education within the framework that SDG provides to accommodate various needs that will benefit the institution itself.

Oregon Institute Of Technology: Program Profile, Christopher J. Syrnyk

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Located in southern Oregon, the Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) was founded in 1947 and is Oregon’s public polytechnic university. Its main residential campus is in Klamath Falls, OR; its other locations include an urban campus in Wilsonville, OR; an online campus; and additional sites in Salem, OR, and Seattle, WA. Oregon Tech’s mission is to provide professionally focused applied degrees. It offers forty-nine bachelor’s degrees, eight master’s degree programs, one doctoral program, and several certificates. As of fall 2023, 1,976 students were enrolled at the main campus in Klamath Falls: 51% were male, and 49% were female. Approximately …

Keeping Company: Genuine Conversation As A First-Year Honors Seminar Pedagogy, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Despite the challenges of a conversational approach to the FYS, the pedagogy has become engrained enough in the gateway seminar to the Westminster University Honors College that it would be hard to imagine adopting another strategy. Faculty tend to improve over time at leading such classrooms and regularly focus on the conversation-based features of their classes in their end-of-term self-reflections, as two teaching partners did in the following comments about the honors core course Global Welfare and Justice: “The strength of the class was the group dynamic and constellation of voices. It was an incredibly engaged class. Students challenged and …

College Of Charleston: Program Profile, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett, Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, Robert Maynor

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Founded in 1770 and located in historic Charleston, South Carolina, the College of Charleston (CofC) is a public comprehensive university with a curriculum grounded in the liberal arts and sciences. Academic offerings include 67 majors, 81 minors, 20 master’s degree programs, and 9 graduate-level certificate programs. The College of Charleston had 10,660 undergraduate students enrolled in fall 2023, along with 1,069 graduate students. Of those enrolled students, 68% identify as female, and minority students comprise 19% of the student population. Nearly a third of the undergraduates live on campus in residence halls, and 53.2% of the students are SC residents. …

Disrupting Privilege: Community Engagement In The First Year, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett, Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, Robert Maynor

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In the opening essay for an issue of JNCHC focused on this question of risk-taking in honors, Cognard-Black posits that the problem of students’ apparent rejection of risk may be the structure of honors programs themselves. He challenges honors educators to consider how the structure of their programs perpetuates an elitism that causes honors students to maintain their focus on status and external reward, which are potential barriers to deeper and more critical engagement with ideas (6). In this chapter, we take up Cognard-Black’s challenge and use our experiences creating the first-year seminar at the College of Charleston to argue …

Flourishing In The First Year And Beyond: Promoting Personal Wellbeing And Mindfulness In An Honors First-Year Seminar, Christy Tyndall, Jacqueline Smith-Mason

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Describes students’ experiences in the Virginia Commonwealth University Honors College’s first-year seminar course, Flourishing: The Applied Science of Wellbeing.

Know Thyself: A Model For Integrating Gifted Research Into The Honors First-Year Seminar, Jodi Meadows

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

As this monograph demonstrates, numerous first-year honors seminars exist to address the various needs of honors first-year students. Each institution has its own curricular goals and emphases. The FYS example from the Gordon & Judy Dutile Honors Program at Southwest Baptist University is one way to create a student-focused, research-based seminar that encourages growth in metacognition, connections within the honors community, and instruction in research skills by integrating gifted education research regarding the academic, psychological, and social concerns of gifted students. Regardless of the setting, honors educators have a rich resource in gifted education research that can be used to …

West Chester University Of Pennsylvania: Program Profile, Kevin W. Dean, Zachary Wooten

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Founded in 1871, the institution, which eventually became West Chester University (WCU) of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, transitioned in 1927 from a Normal School to a State Teachers College. In 1960, the institution introduced a liberal arts program, turning the one-time academy into a comprehensive college. Finally, in 1983, the institution attained university status. Located in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley in Chester County, WCU sits 25 miles west of Philadelphia and 17 miles north of Wilmington, Delaware. WCU is a public, comprehensive institution offering undergraduate education and graduate programs. In fall 2024, the university enrolled …

Reflection In First-Year Honors Courses: Why We Can’T Take It For Granted, Kevin W. Dean, Zachary Wooten

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Existing scholarship suggests that intentional reflection, during or shortly following an event, can impact future vocational choices and generate memories that participants can recall years after the undergraduate experience. Inspiring accounts of reflection, decades following honors City as Text experiences, demonstrate the influence that reflective experiences played in vocational formation (Daniel; Schock). Given the community focus of an honors FYS, studying the long-term impact of that experience on alums would be interesting.

Developing Peer Mentors As Co-Educators For The Honors First-Year Seminar, Kimberly Baldus, Gerianne Friedline, Ann Torrusio

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Our decision at the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) to develop a peer mentor program in the Pierre Laclede Honors College (PLHC) First-year seminar (FYS) began in a spring 2014 campuswide FYS committee meeting. Having previously developed three essential cornerstones that all variations of the FYS on campus would need to include—campus connections, academic engagement, and development support—university leaders decided that best practices in FYS courses demanded the inclusion of peer mentors in all versions of the course. As honors faculty, we had frankly never contemplated this addition to our fully developed and successful academic FYS program. In fact, without …

University Of Mary Washington: Program Profile, Kelli M. Slunt, Mara N. Scanlon

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, situated between the nation’s capital and the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the University of Mary Washington (UMW) is a public, co-educational, and predominately four-year liberal arts and sciences institution. The university is committed to the shared values in our ASPIRE principles: accountability, scholarship, personal and institutional integrity, respect and civility, and engagement. Founded in 1908, UMW has evolved from a normal and industrial school for women to a university that offers 48 majors, 44 minors, and 3 graduate programs. In fall 2023, UMW enrolled 3,611 undergraduates and 197 graduate students. Fifty-five percent of the …

Rutgers University–Camden: Program Profile, Lee Ann Elliott Westman

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, was founded in 1766 and is the eighth-oldest university in the nation. Rutgers has three regional campuses: Rutgers–Camden, Rutgers–Newark, and Rutgers–New Brunswick. The Camden campus was founded in 1926 as the South Jersey Law School and College of South Jersey; it merged with Rutgers University in 1950. Academic offerings at Rutgers–Camden include 38 undergraduate majors and 29 graduate programs. An R2 research facility, Rutgers–Camden had 6,075 undergraduate and graduate students in the spring 2024 semester. Rutgers–Camden is designated as a Minority Serving Institution, with more than 50% of the student population identifying as …

East Carolina University: Program Profile, Todd Fraley

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The mission of East Carolina University (ECU), which is located in Greenville, North Carolina, is to be a national model for student success, public service, and regional transformation. As of fall 2023, ECU serves over 26,000 students and offers 85 bachelor’s degree programs, 68 master’s programs, 13 doctoral degree programs, and various other certificate and advanced programs. Current enrollment includes nearly 20,000 full-time students (17,104 undergraduates, 2,700 graduate students, 591 in the School of Medicine, and 207 in the School of Dental Medicine). Almost 90% of these students are from North Carolina, with the remaining students coming to ECU from …

Colorado School Of Mines: Program Profile, Lauren Schumaker, Carrie J. Mcclelland, Toni Lefton, Sarah Jayne Hitt

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The Colorado School of Mines (Mines) was founded in Golden, Colorado, in 1874, two years before Colorado became a state. Mines is a public four-year university specializing in applied science and engineering, offering 21 undergraduate and nearly 40 graduate degrees. In addition to strong education and research programs in traditional fields of science and engineering, Mines is one of the few institutions in the world with broad expertise in resource exploration, extraction, production, and utilization. A total student body of about 7,600 (5,800 undergraduates, 1,800 graduate students) allows for an average student-faculty ratio of 17:1. About 56% of Mines undergraduates …

University Of Maryland, College Park: Program Profile, Christine A. Jones

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) is the state’s flagship university and one of the nation’s preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship, and innovation, UMD is home to 14,000 faculty members and staff and has nearly 400,000 alums. In 2023, UMD enrolled more than 30,000 undergraduates (76.3% are Maryland residents, and 20.0% are first generation) and almost 11,000 graduate students (35.5% are international). The racial/ethnic makeup included 39.5% White, 23.8% Asian, 12.9% Black or African American, 10.6% Hispanic/Latino, and 4.9% Two or More Races. The gender makeup included 49.2% female, 50.7% male, and a number …

Elon University: Program Profile, Steve Bednar

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Located in Elon, North Carolina, Elon University was founded in 1889. It currently offers 76 undergraduate majors within the College of Arts and Sciences, the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, the School of Communications, the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, and the School of Health Science, as well as 10 graduate degrees from the main campus and the School of Law. Elon University had 6,202 undergraduate and 655 graduate students enrolled in spring 2024. Fifty-nine percent of undergraduate students are female, and 25% are North Carolina residents. The university has an 11:1 student-faculty ratio.

Elmhurst University: Program Profile, Mary Kay Mulvaney

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Elmhurst University is a four-year regional institution of higher education in the Chicago area that blends a liberal arts education and professional preparation. Founded in 1871, Elmhurst offers more than seventy undergraduate programs of study, more than twenty graduate and certificate programs in flexible formats, and the Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy for young adults with differing abilities. Elmhurst University enrolls approximately 3,600 students, most of whom are in undergraduate programs. A minority-majority institution, Elmhurst achieved Hispanic-Serving Institution status in 2022. The student body is approximately 60% female, and roughly half of its students are first-generation college students. Approximately 60% …