Honors program changed to increase retention
Due to changes in the recruitment and admissions procedures at Utah State University, the honors program has been revamped to focus more on recruiting and retaining the school’s best and brightest students.
“Honors is a work in progress,” said David Lancy, director of the program at USU.
He said the program is changing with an emphasis on more aggressive recruitment of high-ability students, especially those awarded scholarships.
“We’re not just interested in students who have done well in high school, we actually want students who are really eager to excel in college,” Lancy said.
He said emphasis is also placed on following up on the progress of those students to make sure that if they don’t want to continue in honors, at least they’ve had the opportunity to make an informed decision. Throughout the entire process, the honors department is making a greater effort to listen to student feedback and ideas so they can continue improving the experience for successive generations of USU students.
The honors program, or Honors Pathway as it is often called, begins at the first semester for incoming freshmen. Those who have been awarded scholarships and others who have proven themselves in high school are strongly encouraged to try the Honors Pathway, if only for just one semester.
During this first semester, students are enrolled in a special University Studies breadth requirement class, in which the various sections have limited enrollment to ensure small class size and are taught by hand-picked professors who are leaders in their disciplines.
They are also enrolled in a one-credit Honors Forum taught by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research Joyce Kinkead. The goal is to help incoming freshmen to see the rewards they could earn at the end of the pathway, in the form of fellowships and references that can help university graduates on the road to graduate school or meaningful employment.
About 350 students have been enrolled in these courses this semester.
“This is a decision you make now, in your first semester, that is going to have an impact on your entire life,” Lancy said about the first semester experience for prospective honors students.
During the second semester of their freshmen year, students are encouraged to continue taking the honors breadth courses as well as a one-credit course named Inquiry.
The sections of this course are differentiated by discipline and are taught by deans and department heads that are at the top of their respective fields. The purpose of this course is to get students to begin to think of their discipline as a practitioner of it, not just as a student, Lancy said. This prepares the students to begin working with faculty members and doing research projects now during their undergraduate career, things that normally only graduate students do.
This course also focuses on giving students a clear picture of what lies ahead for them if they continue in the honors program, Lancy said. All too often freshmen leave after their first year, especially young men leaving on Mormon missions, and they feel uncomfortable returning to USU or returning to the honors program. The Inquiry course is designed to prevent that from happening, to make students feel that they will be welcome when they return.
Students who continue in the program will find there are honors classes that correspond with all of the University Studies requirements, including English 2010 and the depth classes. The completion of all of these general education requirements qualifies one to receive University Honors upon graduation. Once students have finished with these requirements they are encouraged to continue with the honors program in their respective departments, Lancy said.
The purpose of departmental honors is to get regular students looking like graduate students by their senior year. With the help of their professors and honors advisers in each department, students who want to earn departmental honors plan and execute special projects in each of their upper division classes. These projects could deal with research, library work, service, or anything else that the professor and the student decide. This allows students to work one-on-one with professors in their discipline and do the type of projects normally only graduate students do. Through working with their professors, students can gain valuable references that are hard to obtain if the student is just another face in a large classroom. Students are also encouraged to share their work at national conferences, such as “Posters on the Hill” in Washington, D.C.
As students approach the end of their undergraduate career, the honors program helps them prepare applications to receive prestigious national fellowships such as the Truman, Goldwater, and Rhodes fellowships.
“If you are ambitious, would like to have a distinguished career, if you see yourself as a leader in your profession, if you plan on going to graduate school, if you want to be at the very top of your field, then you choose the Honors Pathway,” Lancy said.
Even students who did not get involved in the honors program their freshman year can still graduate with departmental honors. Students interested in the honors program can get more information in the Merrill Library, Room 374.
-sjeppesen@cc.usu.edu