THE HONORS COLLEGE PHENOMENON - ed

THE HONORS COLLEGE

PHENOMENON

Editor

Peter C. Sederberg

Jeffrey A. Portnoy

Georgia Perimeter College

jeffrey.portnoy@gpc.edu

General Editor, NCHC Monograph Series

Published in 2008 by

National Collegiate Honors Council

110 Neihardt Residence Center

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

540 N. 16th Street

Lincoln, NE 68588-0627

(402) 472-9150

FAX: (402) 472-9152

Email: nchc@unlserve.unl.edu



? Copyright 2008 by

National Collegiate Honors Council

2nd Printing 2009

International Standard Book Number 978-0-9796659-4-3

Managing Editor: Mitch Pruitt

Production Editor: Cliff Jefferson

Wake Up Graphics, Birmingham, AL

Printed by EBSCO Media, Birmingham, AL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Peter C. Sederberg

Part I: Background

Chapter 1:

The Genesis of an Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Ted Humphrey

Chapter 2:

Characteristics of the Contemporary Honors College:

A Descriptive Analysis of a Survey of NCHC Member Colleges. . . . . . 25

Peter C. Sederberg

Part II: Alternative Models

Chapter 3:

The Honors College in a Two-Year College Setting:

Miami Dade College. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Alexandria Holloway

Chapter 4:

The Multi-Collegiate University Setting:

Kent State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Larry Andrews

Chapter 5:

The Freestanding Honors College:

Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Nancy Kason Poulson

Chapter 6:

You Say Tomato; I say Tomahto:

Honors College? Who Needs It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Rosalie C. Otero

3

Part III: Stories of Creation and Recreation

Chapter 7:

How to Create an Honors College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Bob Pepperman Taylor

Chapter 8:

How not to Create an Honors College:

A Dystopian Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

¡°Donald Publius¡±

Chapter 9:

Sustaining Vitality in the Established Honors College . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Peter C. Sederberg

Chapter 10:

Following in the Footsteps of the Founders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Davis Baird

Chapter 11:

The Pillars of College Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Gary M. Bell

Appendix A:

Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program . . . . . 159

Appendix B:

Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors College . . . . . . 163

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

4

INTRODUCTION

PETER C. SEDERBERG

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

After a number of years of strenuous discussion, The National

Collegiate Honors Council Executive Committee endorsed a statement

of the ¡°Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program¡± in

the spring of 1994 (Appendix A). That year, as the newly appointed

dean of the South Carolina Honors College, I attended my first national conference. Not having participated in the earlier dust up over that

document, I began asking, somewhat naively, whether the organization

should attempt something similar with respect to the emerging phenomenon of the honors college. I recall suggesting to Bill Mech at the

1995 conference that perhaps the NCHC should pursue such a task,

and he smiled benignly and recommended that I take it on.

Over the next decade, I began participating in panels on the honors

college phenomenon, and each year the sessions grew larger as more

schools considered moving in this direction. I participated in two presidential task forces charged with conducting a survey of existing colleges and drafting a set of basic characteristics. Neither of these accomplished this goal, so in some frustration, at the 2003 conference, as my

annual presentation at the inevitably scheduled panel/workshop/

roundtable, I developed my own set of characteristics of a fully developed honors college. As punishment for my presumption, Norm

Weiner appointed me chair of the third presidential task force on honors colleges.

During the next year, our task force devised and conducted a survey

of honors colleges affiliated with the NCHC and refined a proposed

statement of the ¡°Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors

College¡± (Appendix B). We presented the results of our survey and the

recommendations we developed at the 2004 conference and submitted

our report to the Executive Committee. They gave preliminary

approval to our recommendations and final approval in June 2005. At

the 2004 conference, I ran into Bill Mech. I reminded him of his earlier remarks to me and reported that it took me nine years, but I did it.

So much time had elapsed that he had no recollection of our 1995

exchange.

Following the tradition of no good deed going unpunished, Jeff

Portnoy then asked me to assemble a monograph that would address

the various facets and issues of honors colleges, especially those raised

by our survey. I proposed an organization for this volume and

5

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