Liberal Studies Commons^™

Building An Honors Community That Values And Celebrates Faculty, Kristine A. Miller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The National Collegiate Honors Council’s “Shared Principles and Practices of Honors Education” (2022) outlines the level of commitment, pedagogical innovation and inclusivity, mentoring, and intellectual leadership that honors programs and colleges expect from their faculty. These high expectations require institutional support structures that compensate faculty fairly, foster ongoing professional development, and build a sense of belonging and community in honors. Emphasizing the importance of faculty who teach, mentor, and guide honors students on their educational journeys, the author draws on firsthand experience to offer specific ideas about how to engage and reward honors faculty. The essay suggests that building a …

Developing Honors Faculty Through Faculty Development Programs, Aaron Hanlin

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Despite its crucial role in student success, there is scant research on how honors faculty develop teaching expertise and pedagogical authority. This essay considers the ways in which faculty development programs assist instructors by enhancing the critical skills necessary for positive student outcomes and successful honors programs. While honors scholars continue to advocate for institutional support toward faculty development, this essay provides further rationale and a specific example.

A Relational Model For Honors Education: From Contagion To Permeability, Andrea Radasanu, Rebecca C. Bott, Leigh Fine, Jonathan D. Kotinek, Joy L. Hart, Timothy J. Nichols, Hedi Appel, Daniel M. Roberts, Paul Knox, William L. Ziegler

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This article considers the value of honors education beyond its marked contributions to enrollment management goals. Suggesting that quantitative assessments toward understanding the value of honors fail to capture its breadth, interdisciplinary focus, and engagement, authors posit a new way of measuring impacts from “contagion model” (spillover to campus and beyond) to “permeability model” (interface across campus). Pointing to the benefits of permeability for both honors and the broader campus communities, authors encourage practitioners to foster exchange in curricular offerings, spatial inputs, scholarly outputs, extramural funding, and institutional support. The meaning and history of organizational permeability is explored, and examples …

Facilitating Change: Examining Honors Students’ Perceptions Of Learning Facilitation Techniques, Conner W. Suddick, Lindi Dice

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Despite advancements in global communication and interpersonal networks, in-person discussions and scholarly discourses often falter in the classroom—stifling innovation and preventing opportunities to foster deeper human connection. This study explores the remedy of facilitation: the art and science of enabling a group to unleash its creativity, address conflict, and unlock collective wisdom. Authors present a variety of facilitation techniques used in teaching honors students (n = 13) and closely examine how students articulate their personal learning outcomes after practicing effective facilitations. Liberating structures, which engage everyone in problem-solving, practicing self-discovery, and envisioning potential solutions, are used. Reflective assessments indicate …

Preparing To Serve: Sensemaking, Sensegiving, And Diversity Learning In An Alternative Break Program And Connected Honors Course, Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, Jean A. Patterson

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Atypical in Alternative Break (AB) practice, an intentionally connected course was examined to understand students’ perceptions of their semester-long experience. Using qualitative narrative analysis, authors analyze data from 20 AB participants to evaluate student perceptions and experiential outcomes before, during, and after their service trips (one involving the social issue of human environment impact and the other, hunger and homelessness). Pre- and post-trip instruction on the causes and issues related to privilege, oppression, dominant narratives, and potential pitfalls related to immersive service is presented. Reflective blogs are measured against two theoretical frameworks: diversity learning and sensemaking. Results indicate powerful sensemaking …

A Mindfulness-Based Honors Education, Annie Lampman

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Developing a mindfulness-based curriculum with a focus on emotional and social intelligence enhances the honors learning experience. Multidisciplinary coursework includes workshops, guest speakers, community engagement, service learning, global learning, and traditional discourses exploring current research and age-old philosophies on living a rich and engaged life.

A Creative Midterm Alternative: The Horror Author Poster Session, Annmarie Guzy

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A midterm assignment affords honors students from all disciplines the opportunity for creative expression. Poster subjects cover a range of writers in the genre of horror, and the event showcases students’ artistic abilities while promoting interdisciplinary socialization and a sense of community in honors. A sample list of authors and examples of document design are included.

Science And Science Fiction In An Interdisciplinary First-Year Experience Honors Course, John D. Carrell, Robert G. Weiner

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Engineering and pop-culturist instructors team-teach a first-year experience course exploring science through the lenses of history, literature, film, television, and sequential art. Authors present science fiction discourses as unique for synthesizing fields in the humanities and STEM, and they present curricular and co-curricular design strategies for harnessing its potential in the honors classroom. Course objectives and outcomes are presented, with authors noting specific challenges in implementation and emendation. Adaptability and compatibility figure prominently in the successful delivery of the course. A review of literature relating to interdisciplinary education and team-teaching in honors is included.

Honors In Practice, Volume 19, 2023

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In This Issue:

Dedication to Kathleen B. King

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

2022 Presidential Address: The NCHC’s Inclusive Mission • Christina M. McIntyre

NCHC Article Reprinted from Inside Higher Ed: Can Honors Education Reach More Students? • Richard Badenhausen and James Buss

Essays:

Promoting Holistic Wellness in Honors Students through Peer Coaching • Leah Horton, Aaron Conrad, and Patricia J. Smith

Empowering Student Leadership amid Transition: Student-Centered Revision of First-Year Honors Peer Mentoring • Jacob R. Schlange and Tamy Burnett

Relational Peer Review Practices in the Honors Research Methods Classroom: Toward a Scaffolded and Multidisciplinary Model • Holly Riley …

Using Photovoice: Honors Students Explore Youth Vaping, Kandi L. Walker, Joy L. Hart, Alison C. Mcleish

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A photovoice project provides students the opportunity to convey observations and experiences via photographs, share perspectives on these photographs, and critically reflect across photographs from the class. Additionally, students have opportunities to share the work with others.

Creating Experiential Opportunities In Honors With Diminishing Resources, Colin M. Walker, Michael P. Savoie

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors consider practical implications of America’s Great Resignation for institutions of higher learning and present a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) designed around innovative practice in experiential learning. Models and activities relating to Place as Text pedagogy are described; the process of automating oversight is discussed; and activity objectives, milestones, and deliverables are presented.

Front Cover, Masthead, Contents, Call For Submissions, Dedication For Kathleen B. King

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

About The Authors, Nchc Monograph Series, Publications Order Form, Back Cover

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

Review: Unwell Writing Centers: Searching For Wellness In Neoliberal Educational Institutions And Beyond, Aurora Matzke

English Faculty Articles and Research

“Unwell Writing Centers: Searching for Wellness in Neoliberal Educational Institutions and Beyond” blends narrative, mixed methods research, and rhetorical analysis to make a case for the possibilities inherent in homegrown wellness practices that are “communal, political, and rooted in defiance of white supremacy.”

“My Purpose Is To Assist”: How Chatgpt Can Push Liberal Arts Institutions To Think Critically About Themselves, Clare B. Martin

Scripps Senior Theses

Since its release, ChatGPT, a chatbot specialized in writing content and answering questions in response to user prompts, has posed an unclear threat to liberal arts institutions. Can it serve as an effective tool for cheating? Can its responses replace work done in the liberal arts? This thesis argues that ChatGPT’s limitations—particularly its inability to think critically—prevent it from replacing real liberal arts work, which involves questioning, critique, and re-examination. If anything, this thesis suggests, ChatGPT can push liberal arts institutions to better promote critical thinking by serving as a litmus test for liberal arts-level work.

Lawrence, Fall/Winter 2023, Lawrence University

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.

Advising First-Generation And Socioeconomically Diverse Honors Students, Angela D. Mead

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Honors programs and colleges increasingly consider socioeconomic status as a form of diversity by actively recruiting first-generation and low-income college students. Supporting this movement, the National Collegiate Honors Council’s “Shared Principals and Practices of Honors Education” (2022) highlights the need for inclusive excellence from across all communities. First-generation and low-income students are often high-potential students, and their inclusion into honors communities enhances the whole. The challenge, though, is retaining and graduating these students at rates similar to their more advantaged peers. Academic advising can be an effective tool in these efforts.

First-generation and socioeconomically diverse college students are a large …

Telling Your Story: Stewardship And The Honors College, Andrew Martino

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Honors administrators, particularly honors college deans, find themselves in positions not necessarily equivalent to academic deans in other disciplines. Often, honors college deans function more like provosts in that they need to attend to multiple disciplines simultaneously, while also often carrying obligations in teaching and advising. In addition, the initiation, cultivation, and stewardship of donors to the college are essential components to the honors college dean’s portfolio. This task may be particularly challenging for a dean in honors in that many potential donors are intellectually and emotionally tied to their specific major and/or school or college. And yet, fundraising, especially …