Liberal Studies Commons^™

Honors Thesis Preparation: Evidence Of The Benefits Of Structured Curricula, Steven Engel

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

A recent study of honors curricula across the nation indicates that 75.6% of honors programs and colleges at four-year institutions have thesis or capstone requirements (Savage and Cognard-Black). In addition to institutions with thesis requirements, many more also have the option for students to complete theses. For example, an earlier study found that 94.3% of honors colleges offered the opportunity to complete an honors thesis (Sederberg). As Anderson, Lyons, and Weiner indicate, the origins of the honors movement in the United States included an emphasis on the completion of an honors thesis. While discipline-based modes of research and creative scholarship …

A Digital Literacy Initiative In Honors: Perceptions Of Students And Instructors About Its Impact On Learning And Pedagogy, Jacob Alan English

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Researchers acknowledge the necessity of acquiring digital competencies to participate adequately in society (Ala-Mutka; Boyles; Cobo; Davies; Littlejohn, Beetham, & McGill; Teske & Etheridge; Tryon; Warf). Although the development of digital competencies has become increasingly important in higher education, integrating digital literacies in the college classroom has occurred at a slow pace. Honors programs and colleges represent one area of the academy that typically values a more traditional approach to skill development while resisting technology. My research study describes a digital literacy initiative in the Georgia State University Honors College, a large urban research university, and explores its perceived impact …

Ap, Dual Enrollment, And The Survival Of Honors Education, Annmarie Guzy

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

At the NCHC annual conferences, in publications, and on the discussion list, honors educators frequently compare admissions criteria for individual programs and colleges, including minimum ACT and SAT scores, high school coursework and GPAs, and AP and IB credits and scores. In light of the seismic issues NCHC has faced over the past two decades—significant restructuring of governance, establishment of a central office, the accreditation debate—matters of admissions criteria and freshmen with incoming credits seem mundane, but a new admissions crisis has begun to emerge in the honors community. In an increasing number of states, legislatures are mandating uniform minimum …

Helping The Me Generation Decenter: Service Learning With Refugees, Louanne B. Hawkins, Leslie G. Kaplan

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Recent research has empirically demonstrated that young adults today are different from prior generations in their decreased empathy, increased narcissism, and decreased civic engagement. The formative years of young adulthood are a critical period for the development of civic values and civil ideologies, a time when college-age adults need to acquire the experiences and skills to decenter and develop into civic-minded stewards of their communities. Engagement in service learning with individuals unlike themselves, i.e., outgroup members, is the approach we have taken at the University of North Florida to encourage this decentering through service learning engagement with refugees embedded in …

Reading Place, Reading Landscape: A Consideration Of City As TextTm And Geography, Ellen Hostetter

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The fundamental concepts employed by City as Text^TM (CAT)—the established experiential learning practice in honors education—and the discipline of geography, specifically the landscape tradition within human geography, share much in common. The overlaps offer CAT practitioners additional intellectual support from a source outside of honors while the differences suggest opportunities for incorporating new material into CAT programs. While CAT and the landscape tradition share the general concepts of professional orientations grounded in place, of close attention to place, and of place as a text to be read, the landscape tradition offers specific terminology to support and build on these …

Editor’S Introduction, Vol. 17, No. 2, Ada Long

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors students have long entered college with Advanced Placement credits already on their transcript, but in recent years the number of these credits has increased dramatically. At the same time, the more recent phenomenon of dual enrollment credits has ballooned. In a recent article called “As Dual Enrollments Swell, So Do Worries about Rigor,” Katherine Mangan writes, “Fueled by desires to cut college costs and improve access to underserved students, enrollment in dual-credit classes has been growing at a clip of about 7 percent a year nationally” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 Aug. 2016, A8). While the …

Demography Of Honors: Comparing Nchc Members And Non-Members, Patricia J. Smith, Richard I. Scott

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Recent research describing the landscape of honors education has demonstrated that honors programs and colleges have become an important and expanding component of American higher education. Since its inception nearly a century ago, collegiate honors education offering campus-wide curricula has spread to more than 1,500 non-profit colleges and universities (Scott and Smith, “Demography”). NCHC has served as the umbrella organization for the collegiate honors community during a fifty-year period in which the number of known programs delivering honors education has experienced a more than four-fold increase (Rinehart; Scott and Smith, “Demography”).

In 2012, NCHC undertook systematic research of its member …

The Effect Of Honors Courses On Grade Point Averages, Art L. Spisak, Suzanne Carter Squires

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

High-ability entering college students give three main reasons for not choosing to become part of honors programs and colleges; they and/or their parents believe that honors classes at the university level require more work than non-honors courses, are more stressful, and will adversely affect their self-image and grade point average (GPA) (Hill; Lacey; Rinn). Some of them are likely basing their belief on the experience they had with Advanced Placement (AP) classes in their high schools. Although AP classes are not specifically designed to be more work or more difficult, at their worst they can be little more than that …

Ap: Not A Replacement For Challenging College Coursework, Margaret Walsh

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

College affordability is weighing heavily this year on the minds of students, parents, faculty, and the U.S. electorate. Intent on saving money on college tuition as well as impressing college admissions committees, high-achieving students frequently start college-level work early through Advanced Placement courses. However, these courses do not replace the learning that takes place in college-level honors courses. For honors students, making the transition between high school and college means finding opportunities to learn in new ways, taking risks, and diving deeper into ideas.

For more than fifteen years I have been a professor of sociology at a public liberal …

Using Hybrid Courses To Enhance Honors Offerings In The Disciplines, Karen D. Youmans

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

How honors faculty and administrators might best respond to the challenge of AP/IP/dual enrollment credit mandates across the country will depend largely on the nature of their institutions and the size, structure, and mission of their individual programs. While the debate will continue about long-term consequences for the quality of higher education, the realities of the mandates have begun to force new and creative thinking about curriculum design in honors programs that could lead to positive developments for both students and faculty. In response to the demand to develop honors course offerings beyond the general education curriculum, the honors program …

The Honors College Experience Reconsidered: Exploring The Student Perspective, James H. Young Iii, Lachel Story, Samantha Tarver, Ellen Weinauer, Julia Keeler, Allison Mcquirter

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Often administrators overlook the student voice in developing strategic plans, mission and vision statements, marketing strategies, student services, and extracurricular programming. Engaging students in these areas may enhance students’ cooperation, interactions, responsibility, and expectations. In order to assess honors students’ perspectives and experiences, the present study, rooted in a phenomenological approach, conducted three focus groups of traditional honors students, senior honors students, and honors college ambassadors. Students described their honors experience in three contexts: connectedness, community, and opportunity. This study informed a new vision and a new set of goals for the University of Southern Mississippi Honors College, and it …

Design Thinking Accelerated Leadership: Transforming Self, Transforming Community, Danielle L. Lake, Michael E. Ricco, Judy D. Whipps

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

Higher education institutions are continually seeking to recruit nontraditional adult students yet struggle at the same time to meet their needs effectively. The following case study offers strategies to address this situation by documenting the pedagogical design and initial outcomes of an interdisciplinary, nineteen-month leadership-themed liberal studies undergraduate degree completion program at Grand Valley State University. As an innovative, accelerated, hybrid cohort model, it incorporates a wide range of high-impact practices focused on developing the skills leaders use and employers require. The curriculum integrates practices from motivational and experiential learning, community-based learning, and design thinking to scaffold students' learning across …

The Grizzly, December 10, 2015, Brian Thomas, William Diciurcio, Chi-E Low, Haruka Fuchida, Sarah Hojsak, Rachel Dickinson, La'shante P. Cox, Jordan Ostrum, Johnny Cope, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Museum Studies Minor Coming in Spring 2016 • Students Demand Diversity • BEAR Pitch Competition Crowns Winners • International Perspective: Differences in Cultural Cleaning Routines • Flapjacks for Finals • Artists' Tribute to Chadwick • Bringing Safety to the Students • Opinions: Protests Prompt Hate on Yik Yak; Why Syrian Refugees Don't Pose a Threat • Outrunning the Competition • Men's Basketball Set to Take on Division I Penn

An Analysis Of The Financial Impact Of Changing Athletic Conference Affiliation Within The Ncaa, Christopher Parker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal comparative study was to provide Division I athletic programs with athletic and institutional fundraising insight when considering a change in athletic conference affiliation. The study provided descriptive data regarding athletic conference affiliation pre and post-conference change. The research evaluated if there was a significant increase in athletic and educational fundraising when changing athletic conferences. The quantitative study compared educational and athletic foundations’ IRS 990 forms for 15 NCAA Division 1 institutions that changed athletic conferences between 2012 and 2013. Data was analyzed using an ANOVA and t-tests from the institutions’ academic and athletic foundations. The …

Faculty Perceptions Of The Purpose And Value Of General Education: A Comparison Between The Liberal Arts And Health Professions, Shireen Rahman

All Theses And Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of the purpose and value of the general education curriculum in those undergraduate faculty members who teach in the liberal arts and the health professions at the University of New England. Perceptions were evaluated within each college and then compared between each College. A mixed-methods approach was utilized with concurrent implementation of qualitative and quantitative strands. Data were gathered from the Faculty Survey on General Education which was completed by fifty-six (29.3%) of the undergraduate faculty members. In addition, twelve faculty members were randomly selected to participate in open-ended interviews. Descriptive statistics and independent t-tests …

The Grizzly, November 19, 2015, Brian Thomas, Courtney A. Duchene, Kristen N. Costello, Chi-E Low, Yiu Fai Wan, Irina Lessne, Sarah Hojsak, Rachel Dickinson, Annie Rus, Johnny Cope, Hunter Gellman, Bryce Pinkerton

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

On the Way to the Final Four • Watson Finalists Prepare for Next Steps • U-Imagine Center Offers First Course • Committee Searches for Violence Prevention Educator • International Perspective: Dealing With Graduation Concerns Abroad • Warming Up to the Challenge • Podcast Roars to Life • Preparing for Professional Life • Opinions: "It's On Us" is Insufficient; Wellness Critics are Ill-Informed • New Era Begins for Women's Basketball • Two Wrestlers Named Preseason All-Americans • Final Four Bound

The Grizzly, November 12, 2015, Brian Thomas, Darrah M. Hewlett, Valerie Osborne, Kristen N. Costello, Brandon T.G. Carey, Azeb Kieda, Rachel Dickinson, Erin Mckinney, Berett C. Babrich, Hunter Gellman, Jake Banks

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Highlighting a New Trend on Campus • Making Connections: Ursinus Prepares to Break Ground on a Structure Between Pfahler and Thomas • Acclaimed Literary Critic to Give Talk on Campus • Ursinus Brings Top Lawyer Aboard in New Position • International Perspective: How One Student Uses Dance to Connect Ethiopia and Ursinus • Can You Really "Netflix and Chill" Without Killing Your Grades? • Opinions: Are You a White Feminist?; "Bridge of Spies" • Defensive Lineman Unleashes Passion for Music • Field Hockey Upsets F&M for Title

The Grizzly, November 5, 2015, Brian Thomas, Jay Farrell, Chi-E Low, Kristen N. Costello, Berett C. Babrich, Hunter Gellman, Johnny Cope

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Wellness Increases Accessibility to Students • Trending: Discounted Jerseys • U-Imagine to Host Annual Bear Pitch Competition • A New Take on an Old Genre • STAT: More Than Just an Acronym • Opinions: Students Who Go the Distance; "Sicario" • Field Hockey Set to Defend Centennial Conference Title • Battle in Gettysburg

The Grizzly, October 29, 2015, Brian Thomas, William Diciurcio, Deana Harley, Valerie Osborne, Kristen N. Costello, Blaise N. Laramee, Caitlin Tillson, Phoebe French, Hunter Gellman, Kayla Anelli

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

SPINT Hosts Trick-or-Treating • Fall Foliage at Ursinus • Antisemitism Panel Seeks Nuance • HEART Lab Brings Promising Results • Harvest Festival Ends Sustainability Week • Rekindling the Lantern • A Poem a Day Keeps Writer's Block Away • In the Voice of the Frog • Opinions: Voter Ambivalence is Harmful; Gun Control a Loaded Issue • Division III Sports Offer Big-Time Benefits to Ursinus Athletes • Men's and Women's Swimming Prepare for Start of Season

The Grizzly, October 22, 2015, Brian Thomas, Deana Harley, Kristen N. Costello, Valerie Osborne, Sophie Snapp, Berett C. Babrich, Gerard Brown, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

New President on the Brock: Brock Blomberg Takes the Helm at Ursinus • Blomberg Installed as 17th President • Blomberg Begins New Era with Intellectual Discussions • Homecoming Court Crowned • 5 Questions with Brock • A Historic Moment Celebrated in a Historic Place • A Taste of the Workplace • Dr. Hess has Good Chemistry with Freshmen Students • Opinions: Should UC Ban Cigarettes?; New Film "Green Inferno" Rates 3 / 10 • Distance Doesn't Matter: Two Women's Soccer Players Come From Very Far Apart • Men's and Women's Soccer Look to End Seasons on a High Note

The Grizzly, October 8, 2015, Brian Thomas, Deana Harley, Chi-E Low, Alessandra Psomaras, Sarah Hojsak, Rachel Dickinson, Morgan Pambianco, Berett C. Babrich, Johnny Cope, Bryce Pinkerton

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Regional Threat Prompts Increased Safety Measures • Students Help Teach English to Cleaning Staff • U-Imagine Resources Help Entrepreneurs get Started • Not Your Ordinary Librarian: Interview with Ursinus' New Instructional Technology Librarian • Fighting for Ophelia Hosts Biannual Kindness Week • UC Students Use Spanish Outside the Classroom • Hungry for a Good Discussion • An Honor and Opportunity • Opinions: Another Home: Studying Abroad; New Film "Black Mass" Rates 6 / 10 • Volleyball Eyes Turnaround in Second Half of Season • Making Strides • Football Looks to Bounce Back Strong After Bye Week

Gettysburg: Our College's Magazine Fall 2015, Communications & Marketing

Gettysburg: Our College’s Magazine

Table of Contents

From the President Janet Morgan Riggs '77

Helping Others Get A Great Start (Bill Seeman '73, Professor Charles Glatfelter '46, Nate Pugliese '98)

Scott Hancock: History and Africana Studies Professor Scott Hancock

Pursuing Music's Stories Devan Grote White '11

The 411: Lauren Eby '06 (Lauren Eby '06)

"It's All About Helping People" Devan Grote White '11

The 3% Conference: Increasing Female Creative Leadership (Kat McCaw Gordon '87)

DIY G-Burg

Come Here and Make a Difference (Troy Datcher '90)

A Full G-Burg Experience is a Key to Success Paul Seale '75, P'06

Gettysburgreat: The Campaign for Our College …

Tempo Fall 2015, Touro College New York School Of Careers And Applied Studies

Yearbooks and Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Volume 16, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2015 (Complete Issue)

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

50th Anniversary Issue

Forum on the Value of Honors

with essays by James Herbert and by 39 college and university presidents:

Paul W. Ferguson, President of Ball State University; Honors Dean: James S. Ruebel

J. David Armstrong, Jr., President of Broward College; Honors Director: Sheila Jones

Soraya M. Coley, President of Cal Poly Pomona; Honors Director: Suketu P. Bhavsar

Elizabeth A. Dinndorf, President of Columbia College; Honors Director: John Zubizarreta

Quintin B. Bullock, President of Community College of Allegheny County; Honors Director: Julia Fennell

Michael T. Benson, President of Eastern Kentucky University; Interim Honors Director: David Coleman

Jake B. Schrum, …

The Information Literacy Imperative In Higher Education, Todd J. Wiebe

Faculty Publications

This article contends that information literacy should be considered a standard component in a 21st century liberal education. It explores the role of libraries and librarians within this context while contrasting the "Google it" mentality with deep researching and critical thinking about information and the information-seeking process, both in libraries and in the free online environment.

The Grizzly, October 1, 2015, Brian Thomas, William Diciurcio, Valerie Osborne, Deana Harley, Chi-E Low, Rachel Dickinson, Sarah Hojsak, Caitlin Tillson, Sarah M. Gow, Johnny Cope, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Safety First: New Campus Safety Officer Looks to Connect with Students • Artist Transforms Ursinus Faces into Famous Painting • Design Philly Festival Kicks Off with Pop-up Exhibition • Politics Professor Looks to Expand Research on Africa • U-Imagine Center Promotes Entrepreneurship • UC Students Get Down to the Heart of the Matter • Putting Passion into Practice • Opinions: Is "Fun Home" Appropriate for CIE?; The Cleaning Staff Should Not be Ignored • In the Swing of Things • Men's and Women's Rugby Teams Prepare for Season

The Grizzly, September 24, 2015, Brian Thomas, Brandon T.G. Carey, Deana Harley, Sophie Snapp, Ryan Costello, Rachel Dickinson, Maddie Mathay, Kristin G. Mcgillis, Berett C. Babrich, Daniel M. Pineda, Johnny Cope, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

CIE Professors Lend a Hand at Columbia U. • As Rush Week Ends, Greek Numbers Defy Expectations • Getting Back on Track • Healthy Addition: HEP Welcomes Rugby Coach to Faculty Lineup • Improving the Higher Education Experience • UC Student Trains Service Dog on Campus • Students Work with College Communications Office • Main Street Life: Upperclassmen Debate Housing's Pros and Cons • Opinions: "The Visit" Rates 5 / 10; Extra-curricular Options for Students • "Going Pro": Symposium on Sports Business and the Entrepreneurial Mindset Comes to Ursinus • Looking to Three-peat

The Grizzly, September 17, 2015, Brian Thomas, Brittany Hawley, Deana Harley, Sarah Hojsak, Valerie Osborne, Neomi Haut '17, Sophie Snapp, Johnny Cope, Hunter Gellman, Gerard Brown

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Professor Choreographs for Fringe Festival • Three First-Year Students Win New Performing Arts Awards • Hillel Celebrates High Holidays • New Professor to Teach English • Crigler Institute Helps Incoming Freshmen Prepare for College • Opinions: Rough Road to Peace; New Bill: $10 Rejects Hamilton for a Woman • Spiking the Competition • Siblings from Souderton • Women's Soccer Starts Season Strong

The Grizzly, September 10, 2015, Brian Thomas, William Diciurcio, Deana Harley, Brittany Hawley, Kristen N. Costello, Sarah Hojsak, Valerie Osborne, Berett C. Babrich, Bryce Pinkerton, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Campus Adapts to Canvas Roll Out • Blomberg Spends Summer Traveling, Meeting with Alumni • New Greek Organizations Look to Form Chapters on Campus • Student Government Launches Free Textbook Pilot Program • Ursinus Songwriter Explores Human Nature Through Music • Mentors in Academics and Life: Ursinus Remembers Dr. Cameron and Dr. Hemphill • Theater Community Welcomes Performing Arts Scholar • Opinions: New Tips for a New Year at UC; "Straight Outta Compton" Rates 7 / 10 • Globetrotters: Men's Basketball Competes in Europe • Bears Upset Millersville in Record Five Overtimes

Collaboration Opportunities With The Society To Enhance Indonesian Citizenry By Furthering Higher Education With The Liberal Arts (Seiche), Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Conference Presentations

The Society for the Enhancement of Indonesian Citizenry through Higher Education (SEICHE) is an Indonesian organization analogous to The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in the United States. SEICHE and ASHE use similar organizational structures and promote scholarly research and debate about issues and possibilities in the advancement of higher education. SEICHE was launched on November 22, 2014, in Bandung, Indonesia, with representatives from seven universities and one non-profit organization. The SEICHE vision is to help achieve international recognition of Indonesia’s higher education system, accomplished principally through collaboration and engagement with research in curriculum, instruction, service, and …