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. The Commission believes that now is the appropriate time to expand the University’s Honors Program, a leader in the honors movement nationally since the Program’s inception in 1935. Such an expansion can provide new opportunities for current students and enhance the visibility and potential of honors education for future students.

To provide the highest possible quality education to the greatest possible number of individuals is a lofty vision of the University of Maine. This goal imposes a responsibility on the faculty to offer both a broad curriculum reflective of the best of which humans are capable and one that is responsive to the emerging realities of our time. It mandates a pedagogical flexibility responsive to the different kinds of abilities, goals, and potentials embodied in a diverse student body. The prevailing educational commitment of all the University’s colleges and faculty members is to encourage each learner to perform at the limits of his/her abilities. The quest for academic excellence can demand nothing more; it can tolerate nothing less. An Honors College represents yet another way for the University to institutionalize this commitment. It will provide students evidencing a certain constellation of competencies the opportunities to develop their full potential in ways that excite, challenge, and encourage them to make the pursuit of excellence not only a standard for all their academic studies in each of the Colleges but also to make it a way of life.

The Honors College will work in partnership with UMaine’s five academic colleges to offer the intellectual experience and close working relationship with faculty members characteristic of the best small colleges, coupled with the extensive choice of majors and opportunities for original scholarship available primarily at a research university. The Honors College will have a bricks-and-mortar home in the Robert Thomson Honors Center in Colvin Hall. Colvin Hall will continue to serve as residence for some of the students in Honors. In most other respects the Honors College will be defined primarily by its curriculum since it will not award degrees nor will it be the tenure home for faculty members. Students accepted into the Honors College will be jointly enrolled in at least two colleges, those in which they complete their major(s) and the Honors College.

The Commission believes that the recommendations which follow form a coherent vision for an Honors College which will significantly impact the University of Maine. Taken together, they conceptualize a College which can provide exciting and challenging opportunities and support the commitment to undergraduate academic excellence throughout the University.

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

The mission of the Honors College is to provide an enriching environment for students who are among the most academically motivated and talented at the University, an environment that enhances their college experiences through a curriculum that is intellectually challenging and engaging. The Honors College seeks to involve students, faculty members, and staff members from across the University in a community of scholars who together explore questions both within and beyond their various disciplines. The Honors College seeks to focus campus attention on excellence in undergraduate education while enhancing the University’s reputation as an academic leader.

The Honors College endeavors to promote a climate which develops and fosters independent scholars and challenges them to achieve their potential. The Honors College integrates three primary objectives:

• to critically engage students and the faculty in a shared intellectual experience based on active learning, analyses of fundamental primary sources, and extra-curricular opportunities;

• to provide students with an exposure to and an understanding of a wide variety of disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary perspectives; and

• to promote University-wide undergraduate research opportunities of a substantive nature based on individual faculty mentoring in the discipline.

The Honors College embodies the belief that genuine excellence in college-level studies entails substantial understanding and informed appreciation of areas outside a major field of specialization as well as focused excellence within it. With an emphasis on learning which both broadens and deepens intellectual pursuits, the Honors College serves to expand students’ perspectives by exploring areas of thought not closely related to their disciplines and to encourage them to work in their majors with greater intensity than would be possible within a conventional curricular pattern. Honors study begins with interdisciplinary breadth and concludes with an in-depth thesis project in the major.

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. They will be required to complete all the requirements of their major(s) and college(s) and will be subject to all the regulations of those units. To graduate from the Honors College, students will have to complete the expanded Honors College Curriculum including the Core, work in the major, and an Honors thesis (discussed below in Section III).

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 responsible for the overall academic and administrative functioning of the Honors College, faculty recruitment and evaluation, coordination with the other colleges and units of the University, advising, and teaching. The Director will be assisted by a professional staff sufficient to carry out the Honors College’s Mission.

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.

Function: The Honors Council is the policy advisory body of the Honors College. The Council meets at least twice each semester to review the current activities of the Honors College (recruitment, retention, enrollment, etc.), to consider curricular matters, to review requirements and policies, and to advise the Director on issues of policy and guidelines.

Membership: Director of the Honors College, Chair, ex-officio & non-voting; the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, ex-officio & non-voting; the college Honors Secretaries appointed by the college Deans for five-year terms, ex-officio; the Library Liaison to the Honors Program appointed by the Dean of Cultural Affairs & Libraries for a three-year term, ex-officio and non-voting; three faculty members nominated by the Faculty Senate and appointed by the President for three-year terms; and four students recommended by the Student Advisory Board and the Director and appointed by the President for one- or two-year terms. If the Honors Faculty is not represented by two members on the Council, additional Council members from this body will be appointed by the Director. The Honors College Administrative Associate will act as Secretary to the Council.

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. 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.

The Commission recommends the expansion of the current Honors Program curriculum to further meet the needs of the students in the Honors College. Such an Honors College curriculum will involve coursework within the Honors College and in the major.

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.

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

• The third-year Honors tutorials, the final element of the Honors Core Curriculum, continue to provide the link between the breadth of the Civilizations and Science sequences and the depth of the Honors Thesis. These tutorials, a part of the current Honors curriculum, provide a vital interdisciplinary experience to students as well as an opportunity to reach out across the campus for faculty members interested in exploring new realms of research and new pedagogical models.

The Honors College Core Curriculum is designed to provide students with challenging and interesting coursework that addresses and fulfills the intention of the University’s general education requirements. In particular, the courses will focus on an integrated liberal education and emphasize critical thinking and engaged scholarship. We further recommend that students who complete the entire Honors College curriculum will be exempt from the University’s general education requirements.

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).

We believe that the culmination of the Honors College Curriculum should continue to be an Honors Thesis/Project, independent scholarship under the personal direction of a member of the University faculty. The Thesis, whenever possible, will be completed in the student’s major discipline and serve as the major-mandated capstone experience.

• Specially designed departmental "honors" courses;
• Honors work by contract in departmental courses; or
• Graduate courses.

V. Thesis (Credits: 2 x 3)

Two semester sequence resulting in a thesis or capstone project. Individual work with an advisor and committee of five faculty members. Culminating in an oral defense of the thesis and discussion of the student’s reading list. Weekly meetings determined by student and advisor.

As proposed by the Commission, the Honors College Curriculum enhances the current Honors Program curriculum (an expanded I, III, and V) with new options that augment students’ opportunities (II) and strengthen the connections between Honors and the major (IV).

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 courseload in the Honors College. 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.

The Commission firmly believes that those faculty who contribute to the curriculum of the Honors College should be rewarded for their teaching and service to the University. This includes faculty who guide preceptorials in either the Civilizations or Science sequences, who lead third-year tutorials, who provide lectures or panel presentations for Honors courses, and who advise or sit on the committees of Honors thesis students. In all of these ways faculty members provide invaluable support to some of our brightest and most motivated students. Involvement of these faculty members most certainly leads to greater visibility for both their home departments and the University of Maine.

We recommend the following definition of the Honors Faculty:

The Honors Faculty consists of those members of the University faculty who are currently teaching an Honors College preceptorial or tutorial, or who have taught in Honors within the preceding four years. Membership in the Honors Faculty is conferred on those faculty members approved by the Honors Council to teach in the Honors Core Curriculum (preceptorials in Civilization or Science, or a tutorial). A member of the Honors Faculty who does not teach in the Honors College for a four year period is subject to the initial approval process should she or he wish to teach in the Honors College again. In addition, Honors thesis advisors are appointed to the Honors Faculty for the duration of their students’ thesis work.

Members of the Honors Faculty are expected to

• participate in course and curriculum meetings
• receive acceptable teaching evaluations
• engage in scholarship
• serve on Honors thesis committees
• be active in student-focused Honors College events

In order to provide for continuing broad-based assessment of the work done by the members of the Honors Faculty, the Commission recommends the establishment of an Honors College Faculty Committee composed of those Honors Faculty members who have had four or more years of continual service to Honors. In addition, we recommend that the Director of the Honors College and the Honors College Faculty Committee annually review each member of the Honors Faculty and share review findings with the chair of the faculty member’s department as well as with her/his peer committee. During the third year following the initial appointment to the Honors Faculty and at four year intervals thereafter, there should be a reappointment review by the Director and the Faculty Committee.

In special circumstances individuals who have unique contributions to make to the Honors College and are not members of the University faculty may be appointed as Adjunct Honors Faculty for one year terms by the Director with the consent of the Honors Council. Such appointments may be renewed by the Director based on the individual’s performance with reference to the expectations listed above.

The Commission also recommends establishing a program of Honors College Sabbaticals. These would be an option the University of Maine makes available within its overall policy on sabbaticals, i.e. a faculty member eligible for sabbatical leave could choose this opportunity in lieu of a traditional sabbatical. Faculty members approved for an Honors College sabbatical would spend either one semester at full salary or one year at three-quarter salary teaching one section of the Honors College core courses in Civilization or Science. Faculty members would have no other University responsibilities during the period of the Honors College Sabbatical. However, they will agree, at the request of the Director of the Honors College, to continue to teach one Honors section each semester for each of the two academic years following the completion of the Honors College sabbatical. If the Honors College sabbatical was for one semester, the commitment would be to teach one Honors section during one semester for each of the following two years. Funding for this initiative is discussed in Section V below.

Currently Honors is a revenue-positive Program funded by a base budget from the Division of Academic Affairs. This budget includes salaries for the Director and the staff of the Program, operating expenses, and approximately $86,000 for instruction. The total budget is currently approximately $210,000. To address the rapid growth of the Program in the past few years (approximately a doubling in student participation in the past 4 years) as well as increase in faculty compensation levels, the Division of Academic Affairs has supplemented the base budget with "section fund monies" of approximately $35,000. Thus, the Program is currently operating on approximately $250,000 annually.

At present, the tuition dollars (based on an 80%/20% in-state/out-of-state formula) generated by Honors Program courses is approximately $320,000, or $200,000 in excess of the instructional funding. The increased visibility of the Honors College and the value-added nature of the curriculum changes recommended above are expected to result in an increase in both the number of entering students and the retention rates of students in the College. We estimate that the number of students involved each year in courses taught in the Honors College will be approximately double the number currently in the Honors Program, with a corresponding growth in the number of student credit hours. Using current rates, the cost of instruction for such an increase in student credit hours would rise from the current $120,000 to approximately $300,000. This is slightly more than double due to the projected expansion occurring disproportionately in four-credit rather than three-credit courses.

However, the Commission also recognizes that there is an corresponding increase in the revenue stream that offsets the increase in instructional and operating costs incurred by enrollment increases. The projected figures for a fully-implemented Honors College curriculum result in a surplus of tuition revenue in excess of $450,000 over instructional costs.

Based on these analyses, the Commission recommends that the Honors College be funded through a formula based partly on student credit hours taught in the core and thesis work. The salary lines for the full-time staff would be base budgeted along with a small operating budget. The remaining instructional and operating budget would be equivalent to the tuition revenue generated by HON courses. An estimate based on projections and previous year figures would be credited to the accounts at the beginning of the fiscal year with adjustments being made at the end of each semester.

The Commission further recommends that home departments of faculty members teaching Honors College courses be encouraged to integrate Honors teaching into regular faculty work loads. In those cases, the department would be compensated with funds equivalent to the assistant professor rate on the appropriate overload compensation schedule and the department would receive a five hundred dollar personal development grant on behalf of the faculty member for each Honors course s/he teaches. In cases where the faculty member is teaching as an overload, s/he would be compensated at the rank/credit appropriate overload compensation rate with no additional grant. Faculty members supervising a thesis or other Honors independent work would also be credited with a five hundred dollar personal development grant. In all situations, student credit hours from Honors instruction (as they are now) would be allocated to the home department of the faculty member involved in the course or advising.

The Commission’s projections and estimates are based on a model, with half the faculty being released from departmental obligations and the other half teaching as overloads. Such an analysis results in a surplus of tuition over instructional costs of approximately $475,000. After professional development grants and allotting $150,000 yearly for Honors College Sabbaticals (see section IV), the surplus is $270,000. Even if the current base budget was also funded this way, there would still remain $145,000 to be used for initiatives, student travel, enhanced programs, and redistribution to the University. However, if the base (full-time staffing and operating) budget remained as it is currently, the funds for initiatives and redistribution would be substantially greater.

The Commission realizes that in addition to offering a strong, challenging core curriculum and opportunities for independent research, the Honors College should seek to incorporate students into a broader community of intellectual endeavor; this is the heart of honors education. We thus recommend that expanded Honors advising be instituted to enable students to integrate the Honors curriculum with their department and college requirements. To this end, College Honors Secretaries will serve as additional points of contact for students majoring in their colleges.

The Commission further recommends the adoption of an Honor Code for the Honors College. All academic behavior in the Honors College will be governed by this Code. The Code, as in many institutions across the country, will be developed and administrated by student members of the Honors College and will affirm each student’s responsibility to behave with academic integrity, both individually and as part of a community. The Code will further emphasize the Honors College’s commitment to integrity and ethical conduct. The Honor Code is designed to build trust among students and the faculty and to maintain an academic community in which there is a shared set of values. The Commission believes that instilling a sense of honor and of high principles that extend to all facets of life is an inherent aspect of a liberal education.

The Commission agrees that it is important to continue the current practice of the Honors Program where as members of a community of scholars, students, along with faculty and staff members, participate in presenting research at national, regional, and local honors conferences. We expect that the Honors College will continue to provide opportunities for students to publish their work in disciplinary journals as well as in undergraduate and honors publications such as The Maine Scholar and to emphasize that the academic life of the Honors College includes close contact between students and established scholars through lectures and conversations, both formal and informal.

The Commission recommends the continuation of the current Honors Program procedures for inviting students to do Honors work at the University of Maine. For the most part students will be invited into the Honors College in their first year at the University based on their performance in high school – these students will be identified from recommendations from guidance counselors and from data from Enrollment Management. Students would also be encouraged to apply to become part of the Honors College based on motivation and past success. In addition, the faculty will continue to be urged to recommend students who perform well and show potential in their first semester or first year; these students are then invited to join the Honors College. We further recommend, that in accord with its mission, the Honors College strongly encourage faculty members to recommend students who exhibit exceptionally high potential for academic success but whose past performance has not necessarily reflected this potential. Each year, a number of such students might be invited to join the Honors College after interviewing with the Director. For highly motivated current University of Maine or transfer students who wish to enter after their first year, the administration of the Honors College will determine if adjustments to the curriculum can be made to allow for the completion of the Honors Curriculum.

The Commission recommends continuation, with slight modifications, of the current processes for monitoring and managing the progress of students toward a degree with Honors. Remaining in good standing in the Honors College will require that students are successful in their coursework; guidelines for continuation, caution, and separation will continue to be set by the Honors Council. Each semester, the full-time staff of the Honors College will process academic actions: separation prohibits students from taking Honors courses; caution allows students to continue to take Honors courses while addressing their academic deficiencies. Students placed on caution or separated will be required to meet with one of the full-time staff or their College Honors Secretaries before registering for classes or rejoining the Honors College.

The Commission believes that financially supporting students in the Honors College is a priority. Increasing funding for academic scholarships for students in the Honors College will be a major part of the ongoing fundraising efforts to be overseen by the Honors College Advisory and Development Committee. In particular, the Honors College should try to offer, to the extent permitted by available monies, all of its students full textbook scholarships and a cultural affairs stipend to be used at performances and museums in the greater Bangor area.

Students in the Honors College will continue to have the opportunity to live in two Honors housing alternatives. Colvin Hall, site of the Robert B. Thomson Honors Center, has two floors of Honors-only residence housing thirty-six students. Stodder Hall has a policy of Honors-first housing with a potential occupancy of approximately 150 students. All Honors housing on campus will be governed by those policies developed by the Honors Program to provide for fair allotment of rooms.

VII. Recommendations on Honors Initiatives

The Commission fully supports the partnership between Honors and the Graduate School that is currently working to coordinate projects from various colleges, departments, and units into a University of Maine Student Research Week. This will raise the visibility of each of the components and provide a context and audience of broader scope for all.

The Commission recommends the further development and implementation of external connections to provide additional opportunities for undergraduate research. These might take the form of initiatives such as the Honors Program’s substantial part of the University’s commitment to a BRIN (Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network) NIH grant proposal headed up by the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory: Biomedical Research Training in Maine in Comparative Genomics. The BRIN would enable students to complete their thesis research at MDIBL, the Jackson Laboratory, or other member institutions and also calls for an Honors 310 tutorial to be taught in conjunction with MDIBL each year. Alternatively, there might be direct connections with such facilities: MDIBL and the Honors Program have agreed to implement many of these joint initiatives regardless of the outcome of the proposal.

We encourage the establishment of a partnership involving the Honors Program, the Franco-American Studies Program, the Native American Studies Program, and academic colleges to submit a proposal for a McNair Scholars program at the University of Maine. This Department of Education program is directed to first-generation college students and students from groups under-represented in graduate education and aims to provide support and opportunity to juniors and seniors in the hopes of increasing the number of these students in graduate programs.

The Commission recommends the investigation of other models of undergraduate research of all modalities, both discipline-based and interdisciplinary and spanning the spectrum of students at the University. The Honors College might also coordinate such opportunities involving students not in the College.

Currently, twenty-nine majors accept the Honors thesis as a capstone experience in lieu of the departmental capstone requirement. The Commission recommends continuing the discussion with other departments and colleges to provide similar understandings.

At present, Honors has articulation agreements with the departments of anthropology, biochemistry, microbiology & molecular biology, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, food science & human nutrition, geological sciences, mathematics & statistics, modern languages & classics, natural resources, political science, psychology, and sociology.

The Commission recognizes that scholarly meetings, such as the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, provide an opportunity for students to present papers, exhibit posters, and learn from their peers from across the country. We fully support as a high priority increasing these opportunities and funding students to attend and present at the National Collegiate Honors Council annual and regional meetings, National Collegiate Undergraduate Research conference, and disciplinary conferences in their majors. We recommend investigating partnerships where funding for this travel could be jointly arranged among the Honors College, the student’s department, and the student’s college.

The Commission recommends that the Honors College continue to explore new pedagogical opportunities for its students. This would include elective courses intended to broaden the scope of the Honors experience such as Honors 251: A Cultural Odyssey which integrates attendance at area cultural events: plays, art shows, musical performances, with discussions of the societal connections and impacts of those events and Honors 252: The World in Perspective which provides an opportunity for students to explore timely questions of the world stage with a diverse group of faculty members.

Through several outreach efforts, the Honors College should continually attempt to enrich and strengthen connections with its graduates. The ongoing Honors Thesis Archives Project, for example, is designed to bring to one place, in both electronic and physical format, all of the over eight hundred Honors theses written at the University of Maine. Likewise, an expanded web presence and the reinvigorated newsletter, Minerva, now provide ways to keep in touch with graduates and provide visibility for Honors at Maine. Another new initiative would invite two outstanding University of Maine Honors graduates each semester to deliver public lectures for the University community.

Thank you for visiting our web site and for your interest in The Honors College at The University of Maine. As with any work- in- progress, we appreciate your indulgence as we work out the bugs. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this site, please contact Charlie Slavin.

This page was last updated on 18 September 2007 10:41 AM -0400

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