Annual Report 2004-05

28 July 2005

 

Prepared by Charlie Slavin, Dean

 and the Staff of the Honors College

 

 

Contents

 

Section 1: A Brief Report on the 2004-05 Academic Year in the Honors College (page 1)

            (Data Snapshot, Programmatic Highlights, Advancement Highlights, Challenges)

 

Section 2: A Four-Year Review of the Recommendations in Toward a Century of Honors at Maine: A Blueprint (The University of Maine Honors College), the Report of the Provost’s Commission on an Honors College (page 7)

 

Section 3: Action Items for Academic Year 2005-06 (page 16)

 

Appendix A: Honors College Presentations at the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council (page 17)

Appendix B: “Instructions to the Jury” (page 18)

Appendix C: The Mission of the Honors College at the University of Maine (page 19)

Appendix D: The Membership and Charge of the Honors Council (page 20)

Appendix E: The Faculty of the Honors College (page 20)

 

 

 

A Brief Report on the 2004-05 Academic Year in the Honors College

 

The 2004-05 academic year marked the third year for the Honors College at the University of Maine and the 69^th year for Honors at the University.  Honors at UMaine continued to grow as it has over the past eight years, and the substantial growth spurt that began with inauguration of the College in 2002 was persistent.  This strong growth and ongoing support from the University have allowed us to begin to institutionalize many of our recent initiatives, and generous gifts from private sources have allowed us to investigate new opportunities for our students.

 

This coming academic year, 2005-06, marks the end of a transition.  The cohort of first-year students entering in September 2005 will be the fourth to have entered as Honors College students.  The 2006 graduates will be, for the most part, the first ones to have entered as the Honors College and to have completed the current curriculum. 

 

 

An Honors College Data Snapshot

 

o        The Honors College admitted an entering class of approximately 250 (the third such class following 240 in 2002, 225 in 2003 – the 2005-06 incoming class is likely to be even larger; 260+ as of this writing.)   Approximately 600 students enrolled in Honors College courses during the academic year.  The Honors College population, always a moving target, is estimated for this year to be about 650.

 

o        More than 50 students completed their Honors Theses in this academic year – the third consecutive year at this level, a level considerably higher than cohorts prior to the 2003 graduates.  (More than 80 students are registered for the theses for academic year 2005-06.  This is particularly significant as it illustrates increasing retention within the College.  While this cohort was approximately 33% larger upon entering the University than the cohort that graduated this year, it looks to have over 60% more students completing their theses.)

 

o        The registration enrollment in second-year Honors, as it has been for the two previous years since the new curriculum was instituted, was over 75% of the initial first-year enrollment.  Even though this number may decrease somewhat due to academic action within the College, it illustrates a strong commitment on the part of the students to remain a part of Honors and a strong retention rate.

 

 

o        Assuming a ratio of 4:1 for in-state to out-of-state students, yields a weighted-average for tuition is $215/credit hour.  Using that estimate, the tuition revenue generated by Honors College courses for the year was $823,235 – considerably more than the overall budget for the College and more than four times the instructional budget without benefits (almost three times the instructional budget if benefits are computed at the greatest rates).

 

o        The Honors College received over $130,000 in private support through gifts and endowment payouts.  Endowed funds for the College grew to over $600,000.  ($100,000 of an additional $400,000 endowment has already been received.)

 

o        Over thirty faculty members are involved as preceptors in the first- and second-year Honors College Civilizations sequence.  (Approximately two-thirds are tenure-track members of the University faculty.)  When the number of tutorial instructors and thesis advisors are included, the Faculty of the Honors College is nearly 100.  The number of faculty involved with the Honors College is actually much great when lecturers and thesis committee members are considered.

 

 

Honors College Programmatic Highlights (2004-05 Academic Year)

 

o        The Honors College Associates, for this year Jonathan Beever ’03 (Philosophy) and Jennifer Saucier ’04 (Chemical Engineering), continued to be invaluable resources for the Honors College and its students, as well as for the entire University.  [Pending final approval, they will be succeeded by Isaac Record ’03 (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Alice White-Cyr ’05 (Environmental Management and Policy).  Isaac returns to UMaine after receiving a M.A. in the philosophy of science from the University of Toronto.]

o        In November, 24 students, 5 faculty members, and 4 staff members attended the annual meetings of the National Collegiate Honors Council in New Orleans, Louisiana.    Student travel to the conference was supported through the Honors Student Research and Travel Fund.  Twenty-two of the students were involved in presentations at the conference as well as all the faculty and staff.  (Details can be found in Appendix A.)

o        In March, 35 students and 5 staff members traveled to Washington, D.C. for 5 days.  The primary event, A Celebration of Honors, was hosted at the Library of Congress by Charles V. Stanhope ’71 (French, Honors), Director of Development for the Library.  Attendees at the event included former Governor John Reed, Senator Susan Collins, and Representative Tom Allen.  In addition, the students toured the Pentagon and attended a performance of the Capitol Steps.  This travel was also supported through the Honors Student Research and Travel Fund.

o        Almost all of the 50+ students working on theses this year received research support either through the funding provided by the office of the Vice President for Research or through the grant opportunities provided by the Honors Student Research and Travel Fund.

o        A new course offering, HON180 A Cultural Odyssey, was added as an Honors College requirement for the cohort that began Honors in Fall 2004.   A Cultural Odyssey incorporates six on-campus or nearby cultural opportunities including art, poetry, music, theater, and dance, as seen through the eyes of artists and musicians.  The initial iteration of the course was facilitated by Professor Burton Hatlen (English), and supported by two Honors College student-assistants (Michael King ’06 and Sarah Gamble ’07).  Reviews from students and faculty were positive in the inaugural year, and A Cultural Odyssey will continue as a signature course in the Honors curriculum.  All aspects of this course are funded through the Dennis Rezendes ’57 and Jacqueline Beau Rezendes Honors Arts and Citizenship Curriculum Fund (see below), an endowment held at the University of Maine Foundation.

 

o        Graduating senior Katie M. Gray ’05 (Political Science & Philosophy), in conjunction with the Dean, developed a model and basic curriculum for a new Honors College course, HON 170 Currents and Contexts.  The goal of this one-credit course is to create an atmosphere which fosters Honors students’ curiosity for and understanding of current events in local, national, and international contexts.  In so doing, the hope is that Currents and Contexts will encourage students to follow the news regularly, explore the historical and cultural roots of current world issues, and become eager to engage in substantive discussions with peers about a broad range of these issues.  Each section of the course will be facilitated by a pair of trained, upperclass Honors College students, and the entire program will be overseen by a faculty member [likely Richard Powell (political science)].  This course is scheduled to become a required part of the curriculum as early as Fall 2006.  Eventually, it will be fully supported, along with HON 180, through the Dennis Rezendes ’57 and Jacqueline Beau Rezendes Honors Arts and Citizenship Curriculum Fund (see below).

 

o        The Functional Genomics of Membrane Transport (HON 350) seminar/laboratory taught at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory over Spring Break had a very successful fourth iteration.  This course is funded primarily through the NIH BRIN/INBRE grant in which the University of Maine is a partner.  Over the past four years, approximately fifty Honors College students have taken part in this unusual opportunity to interact with first-rate researchers in an immersion into research.

 

o        Working in conjunction with the Office of International Programs, the staff of the Honors College developed the Study Abroad Tutorial Portfolio, an initiative to encourage more College students to study abroad.  Based partially on models found at other institutions and tailored to the University of Maine, this program allows students who study abroad to submit a collection of documents that will allow them to waive the Honors College third-year tutorial requirement.  These students will also be required to present at the Honors College International Experiences Symposium upon their return. 

 

o        The International Experiences Symposium will join the Thesis Symposium (initiated in 2002) as part of the Honors College Symposia Series.  This series will consist of four, all-day events hosted by the Honors College and open to the University community.  The other two events will be re-vitalizations of the Compleat Undergraduate’s Toolbox initiative bringing information of academic opportunities and possibilities to students across campus.

 

o        Julia McGuire ’06 (Ecology and Environmental Sciences) received a Morris K. Udall Scholarship for Excellence in National Environmental Policy which will provide $5000 toward her education this coming year.  Julia is one of 81 such recipients across the country from a pool of 436 nominated by 211 colleges and universities.  In each of the previous two years, Honors College students received Goldwater Scholarships: Adam Burgoyne ’04 and William Olver ’05, both students in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology.  Adam is currently pursuing an M.D./Ph.D at Case Western Reserve Institute and Bill will start his Ph.D. work at the University of Wisconsin in the fall.

 

o        The John M. Rezendes Ethics Essay Competition was won this year by an Honors College student, Dylan Montgomery ’07 (Chemistry).   His essay was titled “A State of Equality: The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in Maine.”  The second place writer, Nicole Mercier ’08 (Forest Ecosystem Science), “Untested, Unlabled, Uneatable:  Genetically Engineered Foods,” is also a member of the Honors College.  The John M. Rezendes Visiting Scholar in Ethics for 2004-05 was Professor Eric Meslin, Director of the Indiana University of Bioethics.  Dr. Meslin’s talk was “Bioethics & Public Policy: Lessons from Dolly, Stem Cells and Biobanking.

 

o        The first Bernard Lown ’42 Honors Thesis Fellowship was awarded to Seth Robertson ’06 (Microbiology) for the 2005-06 academic year.  Seth will be working on his thesis with Professor Jean MacRae of the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering.  He will be studying, chemically and genetically, bacteria that utilize arsenic compounds in metabolism.

 

o        The Honors College continues to make progress articulating its curriculum with that of all courses of study across the campus.  Approximately 50 majors now accept the Honors Thesis as an alternative capstone experience, and a number of other majors allow credit for programmatic electives for thesis work.  Over the past two years, we have had particular successes recently with departments in the College of Engineering, and we are currently exploring possibilities with the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health as well as departments in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture.

 

o        In response to a charge by the Honors Council in Fall 2003 to prepare guidelines for thesis committees in their deliberation on the level of honors to award graduating students, the Director constructed a set of “Instructions to the Jury” in Spring 2004 which were then approved by the Council.  These “Instructions” were first circulated to students and advisors/committee members as part of the latest revision of the Thesis Handbook for the 2004-05 academic year.  The “Instructions to the Jury” can be found in Appendix B.

 

o        In September, the Board of Trustees approved the change of title for the administrator of the Honors College from Director to Dean.

 

 

Honors College Advancement Highlights (2004-05 Academic Year)

 

o        Betsy ’55 and Bill Leitch continued their generous support of the Honors College through annual contributions to both the Honors Student Research and Travel Fund and the Honors Student Cultural Enrichment Fund.  They also initiated the Honors College Study Abroad Scholarships which will support 10 students in 2005-06.  In a very significant show of support, they agreed to fund the Honors College Associates positions through the 2005-06 academic year.

 

o        Dennis ’57 and Beau Rezendes continued their generous support of the Honors College by completing the endowment of the Dennis Rezendes ’57 and Jacqueline Beau Rezendes Honors Arts Curriculum Fund which will support the ongoing Honors 180 A Cultural Odyssey initiative.  The fund was expanded and renamed the  Dennis Rezendes ’57 and Jacqueline Beau Rezendes Honors Arts and Citizenship Curriculum Fund.  Once the new fund is fully endowed, it will also support the Honors 170 Currents and Contexts citizenship initiative which is designed to “promote and increase civic engagement and discussion among students in the Honors College, encourage greater understanding of local, national, and world political events, problems, and human conditions, and offer Honors students a forum in which to discuss solutions by perpetuating dialogue around these problems, as opposed to cynicism about them.”  The Rezendeses have also initiated the Dennis Rezendes ’57 and Jacqueline Beau Rezendes Honors College Global Service Fund, the income from which will be “used to support one or more Honors College students as volunteers to programs offered by the Global Volunteers organization (St. Paul, Minnesota) or a similar entity or program.”  (The Global Service Fund is now fully endowed and will start to pay out for the 2006-07 academic year.)

 

o        Thanks to the support of the President’s Office, Emily Ann Cain ’02 (Music Education, Honors) has been hired in a half-time position as Coordinator of Advancement for the Honors College.  Emily’s primary responsibilities will be in development and advancement areas.  She will work 20% for the College from January through June and 80% from July through December.  This position is funded through June 2006.

 

o        The second issue of the Honors College annual publication Minerva was distributed in November.  Once again, it was circulated to all UMaine Honors alumni/ae, friends of the Honors College, all the high schools in Maine, administrators on campus, and members of the state legislature.  This year, we also sent a copy to all prospective students who indicated their interest in joining the Honors College if they attended the University of Maine.  All indications are that Minerva 2004 was well-received in all of these venues, and it will continue to serve as our primary instrument of communication with our graduates and friends while also being very useful as a recruiting tool.

 

o        For the fourth consecutive year, TIAA-CREF sponsored our Distinguished Honors Graduate Lecture.  This year the lecturer was Federal District Judge George Z. Singal ’67, who spoke to a good-sized audience on 11 April.  His talk titled “Wandering through the Garden of Eden: How do I get out of here?” was very well-received.

 

 

Honors College Challenges (2004-05 Academic Year)

 

o        Fundraising for the Colvin Hall renovations was stalled.  In part this was due to changes in the Development Office on campus, but it was also connected to our own internal development efforts.  At the same time, the new estimates for the renovations were several times higher than our original numbers (estimated in 1998!).  This is a challenge that we must address and, eventually, get behind us.

 

o        We need to continue to work to secure articulation agreements with departments for thesis work as capstone.  There are several departments in which we always have a number of students who do not yet accept the thesis as an alternative capstone.  Some of our discussions this year were not fruitful, others were somewhat problematic.  This may involve persistence, but it may also involve thinking about these issues in a new way.

 

o        Securing funding for one Honors College Associate for fiscal year 2007 is vital.  We have an agreement to include one in our base budget for FY07, and both for FY08, but securing the second one for FY07 is the challenge.  We had hoped to do that through external funding this year, but were unsuccessful.

 

o        For the past three years, the number of incoming students requesting Honors Housing has far exceeded that available, even with the addition of Balentine Hall as an Honors residence.  There are factors here, both political and fiscal, that need to be assessed and addressed.

 

o        The percentage of faculty teaching in the Honors College who are tenure-track faculty in the University has been decreasing markedly.  While our adjuncts are well-qualified, excellent teachers, and dedicated to their work, it is important that we keep connected with the “regular” faculty involved in other colleges.  It is not clear how to go about doing this, particularly in these times of shrinking resources across campus.

 

o        At the same time, we have adjunct faculty members to whom we are not doing justice based on our inability to pay them at reasonable or competitive rates.  Our instructional budget is precisely equal to the number of preceptorials and tutorials we teach multiplied by the minimum overload/part-time compensation for a 3-credit course (we use a rank average).  This allows us very little flexibility to address either enrollment growth or compensation equity.

A Four-year Review of

 

Toward a Century of Honors at Maine: A Blueprint

The University of Maine Honors College

 

Report of the Provost’s Commission on an Honors College

7 May 2001

 

[Note: Text from original report is italicized.  New initiatives related to the recommendations, but not directly addressing them, are denoted by boldface.]

 

(from) Introduction

The Provost’s Commission on an Honors College strongly and unanimously recommends the creation of an Honors College at the University of Maine at the earliest possible time and no later than Fall 2002.

 

Status: Accomplished.   We completed our administrative transition on 1 August 2002, and held the Inauguration (and rededication of the Honors Center) on 26 October 2002.

 

(from) I. Mission Statement

The Commission recommends the adoption of the following mission statement for the Honors College.  It is a modification of the current Honors Program mission.

 

Status: Accomplished.   The mission statement was accepted by Honors Council, November 2001.  (See Appendix C)

 

(from) II. Academic/Governance Structure

The Commission recommends an administrative structure wherein students in the Honors College will be enrolled in one (or more) of the five “traditional” colleges of the University of Maine. 

 

Status: Accomplished.   This has been administratively instituted (by the Office of Student Records) on the ISIS system, beginning August 2002.

 

We further recommend that the Honors College be headed by a Director who will report jointly to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Executive Vice President and Provost and will sit on the Provost’s Council... The Director will be assisted by a professional staff sufficient to carry out the Honors College’s Mission.

 

Status: Accomplished, pending continued funding.   Beginning with academic year 2002-03, the Director of the Honors College was given a seat on the Provost’s Council. 

 

In September 2004, the Board of Trustees approved a change in title to Dean of the Honors College.  At that time, the reporting line for the Dean was amended to report directly to the Provost.

 

Reclassifying a staff member to fill the Coordinator of Student Academic Services and Budget position has addressed some of the administrative load. 

 

The two Honors Associate positions, currently funded from external sources, have proved invaluable in the organization and implementation of The Honors College.  The University has committed to base-budget funding for one Associate in FY07 and the second in FY08.

 

As is currently the case with the Honors Program, the Director will be advised by the Honors Council which includes representation from the Honors Faculty, each College, Fogler Library, and the Honors student body.  The structure of the Honors Council below includes some slight modifications of the current structure, in particular term lengths for College Honors Secretaries and requiring representation from the Honors Faculty (see section IV) have been addressed.

 

Status: Accomplished.   The Honors Council membership was re-written and approved in March 2004.  This revision introduced five year terms for the College Honors Secretaries and insured representation from the Faculty of the Honors College. 

 

In October 2004 the membership was again amended to include an Admissions Liaison.

(See Appendix D)

 

Following the common practice in academic departments and colleges, we recommend that the Honors College undergo a regular external review on a five-year schedule, possibly using the services of the Evaluation Committee of the National Collegiate Honors Council. 

 

Status: Scheduled.   The next external review is scheduled to take place in the 2006-07 academic year.  This timing will allow the College to develop its infrastructure and will also coincide with one complete cohort of students going through the College and the new curriculum.

 

In addition, the Commission recommends the establishment of an Honors College Advisory and Development Committee, composed of Honors alumni and benefactors, to promote and support the Honors College.       

 

Status: Accomplished.   The Honors College Development Committee has been organized and primarily charged with development work aimed to complete the renovation of Colvin Hall which began in 1998.  With the completion of that project, the committee will turn its work toward continuing programmatic development for The Honors College.

 

This Committee has undergone several changes, both in membership and in direction.  However, with the hiring of a half-time Coordinator for Advancement this is an opportune time to reconceptualize the committee.

 

(from) III. Curriculum

In particular, we recommend an Honors Core Curriculum composed of courses offered by the Honors College:

 

The four-semester Civilizations: Past, Present, and Future sequence integrates the fundamental ideas of the humanities, social sciences, and sciences in the context of both European and non-European cultures.  This sequence is an integration and extension of the two current Honors sequences: The Development of Western Thought and The Sciences and Western Culture.

 

Status: Accomplished.   Approximately 25 faculty members from across The University have crafted a four-semester sequence which addresses the issues in this recommendation.  The first two semesters of the sequence were taught first in academic year 2002-03 and the third and fourth semesters were introduced in academic year 2003-04.  The success of the new sequence is supported by a retention rate into the second year of nearly 75% for each of the cohorts that have experienced it.

 

In addition, the success of this new curriculum is suggested by an increase of more than 60% (from 50 to approximately 85) in the number of students who will complete their Honors theses in academic year 2005-06, the first cohort to come through the new model.

 

A new three-semester sequence, Science: A Human Endeavor, an interdisciplinary integrative approach to laboratory and exploratory science and mathematics.

 

Status: In process.   Work began on this initiative, but due to concerns surrounding funding and staffing, it has been on hold.  The current plan is to begin work on this sequence again in academic year 2005-06 with a dedicated effort to get it up and running.   The funding and staffing issues will still need to be addressed, but the nature of this initiative coordinates well with some other on-campus projects.

 

During academic year 2005-06, the Dean will be working with a student intern on developing materials and curricula to share with a steering committee charged with this task.

 

We further recommend that students who complete the entire Honors College curriculum will be exempt from the University’s general education requirements.

 

Status: Accomplished, in major part.   In June 2002, the UPCC agreed to allow the Honors core curriculum (Civilizations plus an Honors tutorial) satisfy the entirety of the Human Values and Social Contexts requirements, as well as the Ethics and College Composition (ENG101) requirements.  Moreover, the third and fourth Civilizations courses are listed as writing-intensive.  The only general education requirements (other than the capstone) not subsumed by the Honors College curriculum are the mathematics and science requirements.  We hope to address them via the recommendation directly preceding this one.

 

In addition, with the inclusion of Honors 180 (A Cultural Odyssey) and, in the near future, Honors 170 (Currents and Contexts) into the required Honors Curriculum, Honors College students will have sufficient credits and coverage to fulfill the HVSC, Ethics, and College Composition requirements without having to complete a tutorial (which will still be required for graduation with Honors).  This works well with the new initiative involving the Honors Study Abroad Tutorial Portfolio.

 

In addition, the Commission recommends extending the current Honors model to require students in the Honors College to complete nine credits of Honors work in the major.  This coursework may take various forms, mutually agreed upon by the academic department or College and the Honors College (and approved by the Honors Council).

 

Status: Reconceived/Accomplished.   Discussions with the Faculty Senate, Honors Council, and Student Advisory Board led initially to the modification of this recommended requirement and its re-conceptualization as “Honors Experiences,” and subsequently to its removal by the Honors Council in April 2005.   The institution of the arts and culture requirement (Honors 180: A Cultural Odyssey) and the planned citizenship requirement (Honors 170: Currents and Contexts) coupled with the concern that students would be overburdened with requirements, led to this decision.

 

The Thesis, whenever possible, will be completed in the student’s major discipline and serve as the major-mandated capstone experience.

 

Status: Ongoing initiative.   Currently twenty-five departments, representing nearly fifty majors, accept the Honors Thesis as all or part of an alternative capstone experience.  A number of departments are also accepting the thesis work as “prescribed electives.”  An ongoing goal of the upcoming academic year 2005-06 is to expand the number of these articulation agreements, with a particular emphasis on looking at the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health.  Discussions with faculty in that College have already taken place, and they have been very positive.

 

(from) IV. Honors Faculty

The Commission recommends the institution of an Honors Faculty, modeled on the Graduate Faculty.  The Honors Faculty, like the Graduate Faculty, will be drawn from faculty members who hold appointments in the five academic colleges.  By a variety of mechanisms, these faculty members will teach some of their course load in the Honors College.

 

Status: Accomplished.   The Honors Council finalized this policy in April 2004.  (Appendix E)

 

The Commission recommends that the Director continues to reach out to bring new faculty voices into the College via the opportunities provided by curriculum revision and expansion and the annual call for tutorial proposals and preceptorial leaders.

 

Status: Accomplished and ongoing.   More than fifteen new faculty preceptors began teaching in Honors since th