Liberal Studies Commons^™

Breaking Barriers In Teaching And Learning: Selected Book Resources

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Achacoso, M. V., and M. D. Svinicki, editors. Alternative Strategies

for Evaluating Student Learning. New Directions for Teaching

and Learning, No. 100. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Allen, M. J. Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education,

Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Anderson, L. W., D. R. Krathwohl, and B. S. Bloom. A Taxonomy

for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy

of Educational Objectives. Longman, 2001.

Angelo, T. A., and K. P. Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A

Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Arreola, R. A. Developing a Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation System:

A Handbook for College Faculty and …

A Study Of State College Faculty Trust In Immediate Supervisors, Anna Byrd

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated faculty trust in their immediate supervisors (academic deans and faculty chairs) in a state college setting. A survey instrument created for this study was based on existing research on trust in schools by Bryk and Schneider (2002) and Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (1998), as well as research on trust in corporate setting. The study’s purpose was to determine the types and frequencies of interactions between community college faculty and deans/faculty chairs – i.e., faculty immediate supervisors – that are related to higher levels of faculty trust. Also investigated were the relationships between faculty trust and demographic characteristics …

What Makes That Autistic Student Tick? Strategies For Classroom Behaviors, Amanda Puleo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Inclusion of autistic students in mainstream classrooms may make it difficult for teachers to identify and proactively address disruptive behaviors. That is, mainstream teachers may not know how to respond to these specific behaviors and their standard classroom management techniques may not work with autistic students. It will take commitment and hard work to identify strategies to regulate the disruptive behaviors of students with autism. To address this issue, the perspectives of directors and teachers who specialize in autism, as well as mainstream public or private school teachers were obtained through interviews. Three options for action emerged from an analysis …

Effects Of Outdoor Orientation Program Participation On Honors Program Completion, Joanna Gonsalves

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Improving rates of honors program completion is a goal of virtually all honors directors and deans, and research can help identify and evaluate promising strategies. A number of recent empirical studies have investigated predictors of program completion, including students’ admission credentials and honors program features. Though specific indicators of honors program success vary across institutional contexts and even by student cohorts within programs, some patterns have emerged. For instance, high school grade point average (GPA) tends to be a better predictor of honors program success than SAT scores (McKay; Savage et al.; Smith & Vitus Zagurski). Other completion studies focusing …

Honors Student Thriving: A Model Of Academic, Psychological, And Social Wellbeing, Amanda Cuevas, Laurie A. Schreiner, Young Kim, Jennifer Bloom

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Although academic success in honors programs is easily quantified, student thriving has not been previously measured. Honors students are often recruited to raise the academic profiles of their institutions (Carlson; Hebel) and so tend to excel academically in ways that can be measured by grades and graduation rates. Little is empirically known, however, about their holistic success and wellbeing while in college (Boazman; Moon; Slavin, Coladarci, & Pratt; Walker). Because they are no more immune than other students to psychological and social impediments, they may be succeeding but not thriving in their college experience. Thriving—defined as academic, psychological, and interpersonal …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Open , Vol. 18, No. 2. Fall/Winter 2017

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Editor’s Introduction — Ada Long

Open Forum Essays

Teaching an Honors Seminar on #BlackLivesMatter in East Texas — Ervin Malakaj, Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Kimberly Bell, Patrick J. Lewis, and Julia D. May

Helping with the “How”: A Role for Honors in Civic Education — Craig Kaplowitz

A Part Of… or Apart From: A Reflection from South Africa — Ken Mulliken

Mental Health Needs in the Honors Community: Beyond Good Intentions — Maureen Kelleher

Research Essays

Aided by Adderall: Illicit Use of ADHD Medications by College Students — Amber D. Rolland and Patricia J. Smith

Honors …

Moving From Forecast To Prediction: How Honors Programs Can Use Easily Accessible Predictive Analytics To Improve Enrollment Management, Joseph A. Cazier, Leslie Sargent Jones, Jennifer Mcgee, Mark Jacobs, Daniel Paprocki, Rachel A. Sledge

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Most enrollment management systems today use historical data to build rough forecasts of what percentage of students will likely accept an offer of enrollment based on historical acceptance rates. While this aggregate forecast method has its uses, we propose that building an enrollment model based on predicting an individual’s likelihood of matriculation can be much more beneficial to an honors director than a historical aggregate forecast. Many complex predictive analytics techniques and specialized software can build such models, but here we show that a basic approach can also be easily accessible to honors directors where a small amount of data …

Two Neglected Features Of Honors Advising, Jeffrey P. Hause

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Recent studies on advising show considerable agreement about the sorts of practices that constitute good advising, whether by a professional staff advisor, an official faculty advisor, or an unofficial faculty mentor. These practices include creating a welcoming atmosphere, building a trusting relationship, and helping the student find resources to envision a flourishing future and make concrete plans to achieve it (Gregory and Edwards; Bloom et al.; Cooperrider et al.). Two important features of advising, though, do not receive the focus they deserve. The first is the advisor’s practice of attention, an activity that forms the basis of a trusting relationship …

Mental Health Needs In The Honors Community: Beyond Good Intentions, Maureen Kelleher

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In addressing mental health needs in honors communities, I first need to explain that I am not a mental health practitioner; I am a sociologist. The types of issues that interest me are structural: what can we do to set up supportive environments that help all our students. We need to respond appropriately to individuals, but we also need also to look at the larger system (Bertram et al.; JED Foundation, “A Guide”; Atkins & Frazier). For honors educators, the challenges that students face in their daily lives are an ongoing concern. We are all aware of the rising rates …

Institutional Variability In Honors Admissions Standards, Program Support Structures, And Student Characteristics, Persistence, And Program Completion, Andrew J. Cognard-Black, Patricia J. Smith, April L. Dove

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In the autumn of 2014, the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) launched the Admissions, Retention, and Completion Survey (ARC) in an attempt to collect for the first time honors program benchmarking data on important admissions, persistence, and completion metrics, data that are already widely used throughout higher education generally. The ARC survey is part of NCHC’s ongoing effort to collect such data, which began in 2012 with the first iteration of what has come to be known as the NCHC Census, an omnibus survey asking a wide range of questions about honors administrative practices, curricular offerings, basic staffing, and the …

Teaching An Honors Seminar On #Blacklivesmatter In East Texas, Ervin Malakaj, Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Kimberly Bell, Patrick J. Lewis, Julia D. May

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In spring 2017, Ervin Malakaj (Assistant Professor of German) and Jeffrey L. Littlejohn (Professor of History) led a Difficult Dialogues seminar on #BlackLivesMatter for the Sam Houston State University (SHSU) Honors College. The seminar considered the complex historical, economic, and cultural forces that produced the movement along with the various responses to it. By mid-semester, however, the course had become a target for fake news blogs and websites. Critics of the #BlackLivesMatter movement attempted to portray the course as a propagandistic endeavor intended to force a left-wing ideology upon unwilling students who had reluctantly enrolled in the course in order …

Transformative Learning: Lessons From First-Semester Honors Narratives, Kyler Knapp, Phame Camarena, Holly Moore

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Although the National Collegiate Honors Council has clearly articulated the common characteristics of “fully developed” honors programs and colleges, these elements describe the structures and processes that frame honors education but do not directly describe the intended honors outcomes for student learners (Spurrier). Implicitly, however, the intended outcomes of distinct curricula, smaller course sizes, honors living communities, international programming, capstone or thesis requirements, and any number of other innovative forms of pedagogy are qualitatively different from faster degree completion, better jobs, or higher recognition at graduation. When intentionally directed, honors education promotes the full transformation of the student (Mihelich, Storrs, …

Stimulating The Diffusion Of Innovations In Honors Education: Three Factors, Inge Otto, Chris De Kruif

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

So far, few articles about innovations in Dutch or American honors programs appear to link their findings to an existing body of research about innovations in higher education in general. Although scholars are starting to make this connection more and more (see Kallenberg; NRO, “Excellentie” and “EXChange”; NWO, “Excellentie” and “EXChange”; Jong), both parties could profit from greater contact. Scholars who study innovations in honors programs could benefit from a comparison of their findings to those in more mature fields, i.e., research about innovation in higher education. At the same time, a full model of innovation in higher education should …

Helping With The “How”: A Role For Honors In Civic Education, Craig Kaplowitz

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The current political moment in the United States puts an exclamation point on years of growing concern for our civic culture. We have a president who neither understands nor cares for the processes and norms of the American system of government, a Congress that seems almost indifferent to the real issues of governing for the public good, a news cycle driven by flippant tweets, and a toxic social media environment. There is little current recognition that, in our system, how we debate the alternatives and arrive at policies is as important for our long-term civic enterprise as the resulting policies …

A Part Of . . . Or Apart From: A Reflection From South Africa, Ken Mulliken

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

“All of humankind originated in Africa,” our tour guide, Richard Randall, announced as he greeted us in Johannesburg, “so I want to welcome you home.” This reminder of our shared ancestry, as distant as it may be, set the theme for this year’s Democracy Project field experience in South Africa. In the summer of 2017, fourteen students from Southern Oregon University (SOU) traveled to South Africa as part of SOU’s Democracy Project. Involving students, faculty members, and community partners, the Democracy Project (DP) is a comprehensive international examination of democracy organized by the SOU Honors College. To solve shared challenges …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2017): Editorial Matter

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Cover

Masthead

Contents

Call for papers

Editorial policy / Submission guidelines

Dedication: Richard I. Scott

Editor's Introduction - Ada Long

About the Authors

About the NCHC Monograph Series

NCHC Monographs & Journals

NCHC Publications Order Form

Back cover: In this Issue

How The Implementation Of Honors Sections Affects The Academic Performance Of Non-Honors Students, Art L. Spisak, Sam Van Horne, Keri C. Hornbuckle

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Research in honors education generally credits honors students with elevating the academic experience for all students at an institution (see Andrews; Clauss; Brimeyer et al.). Honors students are seen as having a positive peer effect: setting a standard for other students to follow as well as stimulating and challenging faculty, thereby raising the level of the classroom for all ( Joseph W. Cohen, cited by Andrews 38). Thus, many assume that moving honors students into separate sections adversely affects the academic performance of non-honors students, an assumption we faced at our institution. In the context of a study done in …

Aided By Adderall: Illicit Use Of Adhd Medications By College Students, Amber D. Rolland, Patricia J. Smith

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

“I don’t know that many kids that have done coke, none that have tried crack, and only a few that have dropped acid. I can’t even count all of the ones who’ve taken Adderall” (Stice). This statement made in an interview by a freshman art history major at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2007 effectively highlights a still growing problem among undergraduate students in the United States: the nonmedical use of stimulant medications prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as “study aids.” Even as early as 2004, up to twenty percent of college students had used …

Exploring Teacher Candidates’ Civic Efficacy Through Civic Engagement And Critical Literacy In A Literacy Methods Course, Dana M. Karraker

Theses and Dissertations

Public school spaces play a large role in developing people’s understandings of civic knowledge and responsibility. Teachers, administrators, and policy-makers design school curriculum to reflect the types of citizens they believe a society needs, and thus, determines approaches to teaching and curriculum development (Labaree, 1997). This action research study examined the civic efficacy and critical literacy understandings of seven elementary education teacher candidates enrolled in a content area literacy course. The course and the study were designed using a critical literacy and civic efficacy framework as literacy practices are closely connected to the ways in which people are able to …

Open Source Micro Diplomas: New Credentials For New Learning, Jack F. Powers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The standard model for college in America—a four-year bachelor’s degree that teaches critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication skills—is unaffordable and unattainable for most Americans. Only about a third of citizens aged 25 and over have achieved a baccalaureate degree or better. Two-thirds are left behind in precarious jobs that pay substantially less and that are losing ground. Everyone from politicians to parents repeats the mantra of “college for all”, but the reality is more like “college for the socio-economically gifted.”

At the same time, the modern world of work is evolving into a more complex, technical, and computerized …

In Conversation With Seth Pollack, Seth Pollack, Marshall Welch

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

In November 2016, EPiCHE Editor Marshall J. Welch sat down with service-learning scholar and practitioner Seth Pollack. They explored how the spiritual and religious dimensions of Seth’s life have influenced his personal passions and academic career.

Seth Pollack is Professor of Service Learning, and the founding faculty director of the Service Learning Institute at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB). For the past 17 years, Seth has provided overall leadership for the Service Learning Institute at CSUMB. In 2005, he received the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning, recognized as the nation’s outstanding faculty in the field of community …

School, Melissa F. Carter

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project asked the question: What is the role of the undergraduate liberal arts institution in American society, now? I initially searched for answers through secondary research. This did not provide me with a single, concrete answer, but contextualized the topic and showed me that there is a multitude of roles that the university plays in society. I then formed and trained an ensemble and together we explored these roles through group discussion and exhaustive improvisation. Out of the many answers that presented themselves, we focused on the concept that the primary purpose of the university is to create the …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council. Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2017. Forum On National Scholarships And Honors

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Contents

Call for Papers . v

Editorial Policy, Deadlines, and Submission Guidelines . vi

Dedication to Peter C. Sederberg. . vii

Editor’s Introduction ix by Ada Long

Forum on “National Scholarships And Honors”

First, Do No Harm 3 by Lia Rushton

The Strange Game of Prestige Scholarships . 11 by John A. Knox

Open Letter to Lia Rushton . 19 by Linda Frost

Of Groomers and Tour Guides: The Role of Writing in the Fellowships Office . 23 by Leslie Bickford

Becoming Legible: Helping Students Navigate Promotional Genres of Self-Narration 29 by Anton Vander Zee

Lessons from Honors: …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Spring/Summer 2017, Volume 18, Number 1 -- Frontmatter

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Cover

Masthead

Editorial Board

Indexing Statement

Production Editors

Contents

Call For Papers

Editorial Policy

Deadlines

Submission Guidelines

Dedication: Peter C. Sederberg

Slaves, Coloni, And Status Confusion In The Late Roman Empire, Hannah Basta

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

From the dawn of the Roman Empire, slavery played a major and essential role in Roman society. While slavery never completely disappeared from ancient Roman society, its position in the Roman economy shifted at the beginning of the period called Late Antiquity (14 CE–500 CE). At this time, the slave system of the Roman world adjusted to a new category of labor. Overall, the numbers of slaves declined, an event that historian Ramsey MacMullen, drawing from legal debates and legislation of the period, attributes to the accumulation of debt and poverty among Roman citizens in the third century CE. One …

Of Groomers And Tour Guides: The Role Of Writing In The Fellowships Office, Leslie Bickford

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

When Lia Rushton asserts that “it takes a village to raise a fellowship recipient,” she accurately describes the culture of mentoring and undergraduate research at Winthrop University, where often faculty not only refer students to my office but also email or call me to make sure I plan to seek them out. In one such recent referral, a colleague used a term I’ve heard and winced at many times, suggesting I “groom” a certain student for a particular award. Coming as it did on the heels of my first reading of Rushton’s “First, Do No Harm,” this call made me …

Lessons From Honors: National Scholarships, High-Impact Practices, And Student Success, Craig T. Cobane, Audra Jennings

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

High-impact educational practices (HIPs) have long been central to honors pedagogy. From undergraduate research to service learning, study abroad, internships, and writing-intensive courses, these practices shape the honors educational experience and influence retention successes in honors. These practices also inform the synergy between honors and national scholarships by helping students to develop the skills and experiences necessary to compete for prestigious scholarships.

Across the United States, university and college administrators expend tremendous time and energy worrying about student retention, persistence, and graduation rates. Recently, university communities have focused considerable attention on the potential of HIPs to address these issues and …

Open Letter To Lia Rushton, Linda Frost

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

I want to write this response as a letter to you, Lia, in part because I worked with you in helping national scholarship applicants at the University of Alabama at Birmingham but also because I know you are the kind of person who fully commits herself to the conversation at hand. What you emphasized in your essay and in all your years as a national fellowships advisor was the key importance of listening. I observed firsthand that your skill as a listener made you the successful, trailblazing, and legendary scholarships advisor that you were at UAB, focusing first and last …

Developing Citizenship Through Honors, Jacob Andrew Hester, Kari Lynn Besing

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

For decades, research has shown that higher levels of education correspond to increased interest in politics and civic engagement. Despite the vast amount of scholarly attention, why this link exists is still disputed. One theory about the connection is the civic education hypothesis, which claims that the causal link between education and civic engagement depends not only on the amount of education a person receives but also on the type of curriculum studied. For example, Hillygus argues that “some courses are more likely than others to develop the skills fundamental to political participation” (31). Similarly, Condon argues that the development …

The Strange Game Of Prestige Scholarships, John A. Knox

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

As the “haunted” Rhodes finalist whom Lia Rushton accurately cited in her essay, I would like to provide some context for that reaction. I also wish to discuss some disquieting conclusions I have reached about prestige scholarships through my own experiences as a candidate, as an advisor to multiple nominees, via personal and family knowledge of nearly twenty Rhodes Scholars ranging from the Class of 1910 to the Class of 2000, and during twenty years as a faculty member at two universities.

What stood out most about my final Rhodes interview was its tone of bigotry and belligerence. I am …