Liberal Studies Commons^™

Counterstories Of Honors Students Of Color, Michael Carlos Gutiérrez

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study explores the experience of high-achieving students of color in an honors program at a large research university. Qualitative methods involve surveying students (n = 39) and interviewing a select group (n = 5) in attempts to measure both the frequency and severity of racial microaggression as well as subjective experience relating to diversity and representation in honors. Using critical race theory, a discourse analysis of four broad questions pertaining to pre-entry, entry, continuation, and exit of honors programs suggests that more is needed to foster an honors community that better understands and meets the needs of students’ racial, …

The Critically Reflective Practicum, Aaron Stoller

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A defining feature of honors education is meaningful engagement within and across disciplines, yet significant challenges for creating and sustaining meaningful transdisciplinary research remain. One such challenge involves a nuanced understanding of a discipline, or what educational researchers call “disciplinary literacy.” This article introduces critically reflective practicum (CRP) as a pedagogy for developing disciplinary literacy among honors students. CRP acknowledges forms of inquiry as design situations and seeks to simulate instructional scaffolding so that students both experience and reflect on their questioning. Through the practicum, students begin to understand, engage with, and critique the methods and sociocultural standards of one …

Inclusive And Effective Holistic Admission Frameworks For Honors Programs: A Case Study Continued, Andrea Radasanu, Gregory Barker

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study continues an earlier (2021) examination of a program’s move from an admissions framework that used standardized test score thresholds to a test-blind holistic review. While the initial study evinced holistic review as a more equitable gateway to honors education for students from underserved backgrounds (as compared to admission frameworks that rely heavily on SAT/ACT thresholds), the current study further substantiates this finding as the program fully transitions to its subsequent admission cycle. In addition to affirming holistic admissions practice as effective for diversifying honors populations, the study considers two additional results. First, the holistic review rubric is assessed …

The Video Essay, Nicholas Vick

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The video essay is an opportunity for students to record their words and combine other visual elements to complete the typical requirements of a standard written paper. Applicable across disciplines and pedagogically aligned with an honors ethos of self-directed learning, video essays allow for individual and collaborative forms of expression while providing unique approaches to compositional assessment on an array of subjects.

The Role Of Admissions Practices In Diversifying Honors Populations: A Case Study, Andrea Radasanu, Gregory Barker

Honors in Practice Online Archive

While there is scant evidence that standardized test results (SAT/ACT) predict college success, these scores can act as barriers to college admissions and honors programs, particularly for students in underserved communities. This study examines the impact of transitioning from an honors admission framework—in which standardized tests are a key variable in the process—to a test-blind environment with holistic admissions protocols that identify students who are academically strong as well as engaged in extracurricular activities. Parallel (test-dependent and test-blind) admissions protocols were used in 2020–2021 applications to determine if a test-blind environment fostered greater inclusivity and diversity in the first-year honors …

Health And Wellness: An Honors First-Year Experience Assignment In Response To The Pandemic, Cathlena Martin

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Responding to pervasive mental and physical stresses of the COVID-19 crisis, the author assigns first-year students various routine wellness practices for one hour each week along with requisite reflective writing exercises. Student expectations, experiences, and outcomes are presented.

Fostering Community In The Face Of Covid: Case Studies From Two Community College Honors Programs, Anne Dotter, Kathleen King

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article features the work of two community college honors programs toward establishing and fostering community amid the COVID-19 crisis. Authors describe shared goals and priorities for their students during abrupt and extended shutdowns of both campuses. While working in tandem to ensure that their students felt cared for and contented, each program achieved the same goal in different ways, leading to long-lasting changes to be preserved after the pandemic.

Founders Award Acceptance Speech (18 December 2020), Jeffrey Portnoy

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Jeffrey A. Portnoy offers some history of the journals and monographs published by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) as well as insights into the work done by NCHC’s Publications Board and its editors. He provides several morals or lessons based on his leadership roles and long career in honors education.

(What follows is a slightly revised version of the address that Jeffrey A. Portnoy delivered on December 18, 2020, at the Zoom Awards Ceremony during the COVID pandemic. Portnoy received the Founders Award in recognition of his inauguration and editorship of NCHC publications during the past two decades.)

From Program To College: The Vision And Curriculum Evolution Of The Virginia Tech Honors College, Stephanie N. Lewis, Anne-Lise K. Velez, Desen S. Ozkan, Raymond C. Thomas, Kimberly A. Carlson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article describes one program’s thoughtful and strategic transition to a college and subsequent innovations to its curricular framework. Acknowledging that such a change affords honors practitioners the opportunity to implement best practices established within the honors community, authors describe the unique evolution of the honors college experience at their institution by way of expanding collaborative transdisciplinary courses, offering a new diploma option, and increasing opportunities related to undergraduate research. Collaborative transdisciplinary courses encourage critical thinking about complex problems in a small group setting. A new diploma option combines disciplinary depth with transdisciplinary capabilities through a four-year, multidisciplinary studio curriculum. …

We Found Ourselves In The Twilight Zone, Brigett Scott

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The author describes how using free internet extensions allowed for the continuation of a media-based honors course during the COVID-19 crisis.

I am a big fan of science fiction and have a bit of a crush on Rod Serling, so deciding what topic to teach in my Honors Forum course this semester was a clear choice. The Twilight Zone television series provided a wide selection of material that could be linked to the students’ diverse fields of study. The television series tackled social issues through nonthreatening disguises (okay, sometimes aliens were threatening), moral lessons, and fun. These features fitted well …

Building Bridges In Interdisciplinary Team-Taught Honors Seminars, Laurence Carlin, Heike Alberts

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study presents perceived advantages of thematic, teamtaught interdisciplinary seminars for first-year honors students. Two student cohorts (n = 174) surveyed in two subsequent years (2018, 2019) weigh in on the challenges and benefits of different team-teaching models. Three first-semester offerings on the themes “Food,” “Creativity,” and “Social Justice” are evaluated. Results indicate that most students (70.1%) recognize the understanding of multiple perspectives to be the greatest benefit of the team-taught seminar. Other perceived benefits include the acquisition of additional information (21.3), cultivation of critical thinking (13.2), and the ability to make transdisciplinary connections (10.9). Data suggest that the degree …

Teaching Hamilton: A Team-Taught, Interdisciplinary Honors Course, Rusty Jones, Gregory Shufeldt

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay gives a broad overview of a team-taught course on Alexander Hamilton that merges discourses in music theory and political science. Authors describe pedagogical approaches to teaching both the musical Hamilton to non-musician students and Hamilton’s history and politics to students not majoring in these fields. Contrasting challenges and outcomes of the seminar’s first (2017) offering with its second (2020), authors consider the scope and implications of cultural intelligence and scholarly interdisciplinarity, maintaining that courses team-taught by instructors of different disciplines make connections across disciplines more explicit for students and enhance the transdisciplinary nature of the honors experience. Pre-course …

Virtual Improvement: Advising And Onboarding During A Pandemic, Lucy Morrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An honors practitioner describes various challenges in onboarding and training a new academic advisor during the coronavirus crisis. Virtual interaction and multitasking skills prove fruitful for training in best practices while also bringing experienced and first-year students together in unexpected ways. The author cites several improvements in advisement, observing how remote technologies also allow for certain privacies and discretion.

Tough Talks: Student-Led Programs To Facilitate Civil Discourse, Leah Horton, Doug Corbitt, Booker White

Honors in Practice Online Archive

These student-led, co-curricular programs are designed to give honors students the opportunity to learn and practice civil discourse through difficult conversations. Issues such as race, religion, politics, gender, and sexual orientation are carefully curated to help students practice and hone their dialogue skills outside the classroom where grades are not a factor. A brave spaces ideology provides the foundation for shared pools of meaning, encouraging students to move from certainty to curiosity with the shared understanding that discomfort is an opportunity for growth. By teaching students how to engage in controversy with civility, Tough Talks support an honors ethos of …

Coordinating Multi-Campus Honors Programs And Colleges, Larry Andrews

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The leadership responsibility for coordinating a multi-campus honors program or college can be complex, and it needs to succeed in an atmosphere of mutual respect and flexibility. The work can be broken down into several key components: institutional context, quality standards, curriculum, faculty selection, student mobility, communication, scholarships, budget, and governance.

About The Authors

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

Free Minds Book Club: Students Reading And Responding To Incarcerated Writers' Poetry, Bonnie Gasior

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Nearly two hundred students, faculty, staff, and community members gather in a series of events to read and respond to poetry written by incarcerated authors. The program engages inmates in poetic self-expression, reflection, and personal growth while challenging honors students to consider what they have learned in literature classes in a broader context of incarceration. Monthly write-nights via Zoom and Miro prove rich and cathartic during the coronavirus crisis.

Checking-In To Create Instructor-Student Immediacy In Honors, Cadi Kadlecek, Rebecca Bott-Knutson, Hanna Holmquist

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Weekly, self-evaluative briefs are used to assess students’ general wellbeing during the coronavirus crisis. Authors discuss the efficacy of personalized check-ins and remote, interpersonal rapport, suggesting a positive impact on student learning outcomes.

Honors In Practice, Volume 17 (2021)

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Contents

Editorial Policy, Deadline, and Submission Guidelines

Dedication to Elaine Torda

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

Founders Award Acceptance Speech (18 December 2020) • Jeffrey A. Portnoy

Coordinating Multi-Campus Honors Programs and Colleges • Larry R. Andrews

From Program to College: The Vision and Curriculum Evolution of the Virginia Tech Honors College • Stephanie N. Lewis, Anne-Lise K. Velez, Desen S. Ozkan, Raymond C. Thomas, and Kimberly A. Carlson

The Role of Admissions Practices in Diversifying Honors Populations: A Case Study • Andrea Radasanu and Gregory Barker

A View of Health as a Human Right: A Snapshot from an Honors …

Dedication: Elaine Torda

Honors in Practice Online Archive

For all her contributions to the NCHC and to honors and also for steering the Ship of Honors in the Year of Covid, we gratefully dedicate this volume of Honors in Practice to Elaine Torda.

Meditations In An Emergency: Collaborating Online In Narratives Of Illness And Care, Jayda Coons

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article describes a collaborative writing project involving narratives of health and caregiving. An interdisciplinary seminar titled “Narratives of Illness and Care” examines literary and medical narratives to better understand disease, therapeutic communication, empathy, and the social determinants of health. During the COVID-19 crisis, however, the instructor adapted course structure and curricular assignments to help students make meaningful connections with their immediate circumstance. The author reflects on the significance of the project during a time of global upheaval and suggests changes for future iterations.

Preparing For An Honors Capstone: Interdisciplinary Methods And Ethics In A Research Methods Course, Lauren Collins, Kylla Benes, Krista Manley

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Teaching interdisciplinary research methods to honors students across disciplines is complex. A pre-capstone seminar, The Art of Inquiry, centers ethical considerations within and beyond individual research interests, helping junior and senior students of all majors prepare for ethical, scholarly projects.

Learning In Teams During A Pandemic, Aaron D. Cobb

Honors in Practice Online Archive

As the COVID-19 crisis disrupts students’ sense of community and appreciation for in-person instruction, the author presents a pedagogical experiment involving several collaborative, team-based learning strategies to engage all learners, regardless of location. Students in a sophomore-level required seminar are tasked with various team-based assignments, including notetaking, critical essays, interviews, and reflective writing exercises. Outcomes suggest a framework for the creative use of teams and out-of-classroom collaboration, even in challenging contexts where disruption and displacement complicate both teaching and learning. Curricular objectives are described, and student feedback is summarized.

“Movies, Tv Shows, And Memes . . . Oh My!”: An Honors Education Through Popular Culture And Critical Pedagogy, Evan W. Faidley

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Entertainment media and popular culture often overdramatize the college experience. An honors colloquium engages students in scholarly research and discourse involving thematic elements of academic life in popular culture. An interdisciplinary approach to race, class, the professoriate, Greek life, and foreign experience is espoused. Through a lens of critical social theory, students deconstruct misinformed “stories most often told” to reconstruct more cogent understandings of college life and student experience. With a curriculum designed to advance social justice through equitizing education and amending cultural perceptions, this colloquium helps develop self-motivated, self-regulated, and engaged learners.

Editor’S Introduction, Ada Long

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This journal of the plague year has attracted a record number of submissions, creating the thickest volume of Honors in Practice since its inception in 2005. The inclusion of essays in response to a Call for Papers about COVID- 19 is no doubt responsible for some of this torrent of submissions, but research essays have also come in at a greater rate than before, not to mention the “Brief Ideas about What Works in Honors.” As you will see, the essays on the pandemic’s effects on honors mostly make the best of a fraught and frustrating year for honors administrators, …

Creativity In The Age Of Covid: Honors Comes “Home”, Ilene D. Lieberman

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay explores the conceptual and practical implications of an honors forum relating to artful expression and the phenomenon of sequester in place (SIP). As monthly general education offerings for first-year students, Honors Forums feature an array of thematic events associated with the freshman cohort. Noting challenges relating to remote instruction, social distancing, and general anxiety as well as the consequent effects on the typical first-year experience, the author, an art historian, presents a novel response to COVID constraints through communal, creative expression. A visual and textual curriculum helps bring students together, mitigate pandemic-related anxieties, and introduce the honors living-learning …

Developing And Encouraging The First-Year Undergraduate Researcher, Stacia Kock, Jennifer F. Nyland

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A simulated conference in first-year curriculum reinforces undergraduate research as beneficial to both honors and campus communities while fostering scholarly development and campus engagement among honors freshmen during the coronavirus crisis.

Forming Oral History Researchers: Diversifying And Innovating Honors Experiential Learning Across Campus, Myrriah Gómez, Anna M. Nogar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article presents a transdisciplinary, cross-campus collaboration among honors and non-honors students in the field of humanities. Trained in oral history methodologies and integrated as IRB-certified researchers into an ongoing (2018–present) project, a cohort of students (n = 34) participate in place-based, community-engaged learning and research involving Hispanic New Mexicans, known as Nuevomexicanas/os. Drawing on the tenets of experiential learning as a mode of honors discourse, the authors describe how this challenging ethnographic project serves to bring a diverse group of learners together while deepening interpersonal, intercultural, and interdisciplinary connections. Results indicate that students benefit from working with more diverse …

Close Reading Responses: A Streamlined Approach To Teaching Critical-Thinking Writing In Honors, Katie Quirk

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study presents a scaffold approach to building critical academic writing skills among honors students. Faced with limited instructional time, a reading-intensive curriculum, and students in need of rigorous writing instruction, a scaffold model was developed to include a series of condensed writing assignments called “Close Reading Responses.” Coupled with rubrics and guided peer review, these assignments allow for repetitive critical practice at various stages along a trajectory toward the final paper. Results indicate that this incremental, explicit form of writing instruction allows students to hone critical-thinking skills in a condensed manner without demanding that they produce (and instructors read) …

“One Singular Sensation”: Integrating Personal Narratives Into The Honors Classroom, Marc Napolitano, Mimi Killinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Contemporary emphases on standardization, specialization, and selectivity in higher education alienate students and teachers from their own creativity, intellectual curiosity, and personal stories. This trend runs counter to the central focus of honors on fostering a diverse, scholarly learning environment. Authors suggest that integrating student personal narratives into honors curricula reinforces its values of multiplicity, inclusivity, and meaningful learning. Using metaphorical reference to the Broadway musical A Chorus Line as a unique lens into the pedagogical benefits of such integration, this essay provides ways of incorporating and sharing personal narratives in the classroom and offers strategies to ensure that all …