National Collegiate Honors Council

April 2012

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:08:47 +0000

Boston Commons in Spring, Photo by cerebros1

New Membership Database Launch

The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) is pleased to announce the launch our new online MemberPoint™ membership database. This secure, member driven, web environment allows us to streamline many of our member services and provides many added benefits to members on a 24/7 basis.

The MemberPoint system provides a one stop shop to access the following activities and features:

One login for any NCHC information or related activity and the ability to change your password to whatever is best for you. Staff will always be able to send your password when in the office and you have the ability to reset it at all times.
Meetings Calendar – Access the dates and details regarding all NCHC-sponsored conferences, meetings, workshops, and institutes.
Meetings Registration – Register for Annual Conference and faculty institutes directly from the new Meetings Calendar.
Email Rosters – Subscribe/unsubscribe to NCHC E-Letter and other email, committee email or special interest group email rosters.
SharePoint Workspaces – Members of a Committee or special interest group will have access to all related documents, discussion groups, and announcements in their own private space.
Directories – Do real time searches for NCHC members, organization officers, professional members and committee members, or identify all participants from a single state or interstate area or Regional Honors Council area and download your search with one click to an Excel spreadsheet.
Access Documents – On the right side of the home page and within each SharePoint workspace, you will be able to access important files and NCHC documents. If you have selected electronic publications, you will access those in this space. All NCHC electronic publications will be available to all members at no charge.
Invoices – View all invoices and payment history for all memberships and all other transactions.

If you have not received your new login, please let us know. If you have any questions or issues when using NCHC’s new MemberPoint data system by calling 402-472-9150 or sending an email to nchc@unlserve.unl.edu.

Institutional Contacts will also receive the 2012 NCHC Institution Survey. NCHC has not surveyed all institutional members in many years and now has the database to utilize the survey results for members benefit as well as create a baseline for future surveys. Access to the survey results will be limited to those members completing the survey. All institutions completing the survey by May 15th will have their names placed in a drawing for one $500 Institutional membership for 2013, one $375 conference registration and twenty $100 stipends to be used for conference registration or 2013 membership.

Annual Conference Registration is Now Open!

Boston, Massachusetts, November 14 – 18, 2012

Registration for the 2012 Annual Conference in Boston is now open.

Conference Registration fees for 2012:

Early Registration NCHC Member (on or before October 3, 2012): $375

Late Registration NCHC Member (after October 3, 2012): $425

Non Member Registration: $750

Presenters conference registration fees and all AV fees must be paid by September 21, 2012.

NEW IN 2012 — STUDENT REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS!
Who qualifies for the Student Discount?
All Student Presenters/Moderators – $50 per Student – Code: STUPRE
All Member Institutions who register 5 – 9 students in one transaction – $50 per Student – Code: 5XREG
All Member Institutions who register 10 or more students in one transaction – $75 per Student – Code: 10XREG
Only one discount per student and all discounts must be applied prior to the completion of the online registration.

The 2012 Student Conference registration discount is provided through the continuing support of the NCHC membership which has contributed greatly to the current financial health of our organization. This discount will be reviewed annually. Thank you again for your support of NCHC.

General questions should be directed to nchc@unl.edu or 402.472.9150.

See you in Boston!

NCHC Board of Director Nominations

Nominations are now being accepted for NCHC leadership positions. Please consider getting involved in your organization and helping to move it toward a more visible position on the national stage of higher education.

Vice President (1 year term*)
The candidate elected as Vice President is committed to serving four years on the Board of Directors, as Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Past President. The 2013 Vice President serves as chair of the planning committee for the 2014 national conference.

Secretary (3 year term)
The Secretary takes minutes and records votes at Board of Directors meetings and serves as a member of the Executive Committee.

Four At-Large Professional Board members (3 year term)
Four professionals are elected to serve as members of the Board of Directors.

Four At-Large Student Members (1 or 2 year terms)
Two students are elected to serve as 1-year members and two students are elected to serve as 2-year members of the Board of Directors.

Prior to making the nomination, nominators should contact the nominee to verify his or her willingness to serve.
Nomination materials must be submitted online no later than Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 5:00 pm Central Daylight Time.

If you have any questions about the requirements of these positions or the functioning of the Board, please contact Bonnie Irwin (chair of the nominating committee) at bdirwin@eiu.edu. Questions about the nominations process should be directed to Betty Talley at the National Collegiate Honors Council office at btalley2@unl.edu or by telephone at 402-472-9151.

Nominations are also being accepted for NCHC Standing Committees. Individuals may serve on a maximum of two standing committees. Please note that if you are already serving on a committee, you must still submit a nomination form indicating your interest in continuing to serve.

2012 Nominating Committee:
Bonnie Irwin, Chair
Lisa Coleman
Emily Jones
Jim Ruebel
Art Spisak

Call for Drama Master Class Facilitator

NCHC is seeking a faculty member interested in developing the drama/theatre area of the Arts in Honors Education thread for the annual NCHC conferences. Past facilitators have provided critiques to student applicants who have performed theatrical scenes, written their own scenes, or directed scenes. Other facilitators have provided scenes to participants prior to the conference which were discussed and performed at the conference.

Members interested in this position should have theatre experience, preferably a theatre faculty position, and the desire to promote drama in honors arts education. Please contact Brent Register, register@clarion.edu to discuss the possibilities.

In addition to our new film Master Class facilitator, Michele Forman of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, we have a wonderful, dedicated group of Master Class facilitators for our annual conference.
P. Brent Register of Clarion University is the Master Class liaison, Donzell Lee of Alcorn State University is the Music facilitator, and George Moore of the University of Colorado-Boulder is the Poetry facilitator.

From the President

Hello Everyone!

As I think most of you know, I’m from the great state of Really Bad Ideas, colloquially known in some quarters as Florida. Each year we hold our collective breath when the Florida Legislature meets ’cause we just don’t ever know what might happen. Most years I’m not overly worried, but for the past few years some of what has happened in Florida, Texas, and California has, alas, occurred elsewhere later.

This year’s Florida legislative session contained a most unexpected challenge for higher education in our state: by unanimous votes in both chambers, the Florida House and Senate passed a law that reduces the number of semester hours in public general education from 36 down to 30. Further, the law stipulates that 15 of those 30 semester hours must come from a group of “core course options” that “must consist of a maximum of five courses within each of the subject areas of communication, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences” (Florida HB 7135). In effect, the State of Florida will identify 25 courses, five in each of those five areas, that will constitute the core of general education. Even though the law states that each institution can identify the other courses that will satisfy the second 15 semester hours of coursework, there are those of us (and I am one) who think that the law’s long term impact will severely restrict general education, and that in the end, the 25 identified courses will become the dominant-perhaps only-general education paradigm in Florida since the law also stipulates that “All public post-secondary educational institutions are required to accept the general education courses.”

The impact of this change on honors programs in Florida will be immense, especially in the two-year institutions as well as in any institution that locates a substantial amount of its honors curriculum within the general education paradigm. And given the inherent frenzy in the high schools to push the best students to complete more and more accelerated credit opportunities (dual enrollment, AP, etc.), it may be that most students eligible to enter an honors program will have completed between 50% to 100% of their general education requirements before they set foot on any college campus. If that happens, what happens to the purpose of honors? How are we supposed to craft our curricula in a context in which the creativity and variety of honors learning is-by state mandate-eliminated?

I confess that at this point I have no answer to those questions, only a vague and fleeting hope that I’m overreacting. But I don’t think I am. One of the speculations circulating is that this is just the first salvo in a push to reduce a college education to just 3 years and move all of general education down to the high school level. If that happens, I hope I’m ready and able to retire.

And I really hope that this is one very, very bad idea that stays here. In this case, I really hope that what happens in Florida stays in Florida. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Greg Lanier
NCHC President

Conference 2012

Boston, Massachusetts November 14-18, 2012

As we send out acceptance notices this month for proposals to be presented at the 2012 NCHC Conference, we are also beginning to schedule what will be a record number of sessions in Boston this November. Of the nearly 700 proposals received, more than 250 were for general sessions. Examining the session topics allows us to glimpse current concerns and initiatives of our membership. Consider this list of general session topics with ten or more accepted proposals:

Honors as Community/Living-Learning Programming (29)
Civic Engagement/Service Learning (23)
Diversity (20)
Recruitment/Retention (15)
First-Year Experience/Freshman Orientation (14)
Administrative Themes (Budget/Finances) (14)
Advising (10)

These topics suggest concerns with assembling, orienting, advising and retaining honors students by forming learning communities to foster identification with one another, and to marshal efforts of honors communities to engage in public service. Let me suggest why community is critical for honors education.

Higher education divides undergraduates into interest groups whose members have varying levels of ability. The major provides a ready-made community, and departments use their curricula to prepare students for participation in the professional community associated with its discipline. Central to certifying preparedness are standards of accomplishment-a minimum level is established above which students earn degrees. Those with low ability or motivation will either exceed the minimum by improving performance or they will not be retained. Resources (where possible) promote faculty development in keeping abreast of the discipline, helping faculty embody standards of accomplishment as models for undergraduates. Common teaching strategies aim to have majors understand disciplinary content transmitted by lecture, texts and exercises.

In contrast, collegiate honors education divides undergraduates into ability groups, admitting students with high capacity and motivation but with wide variation in aspired-to professional interests. Honors programs and colleges develop students’ scholarly capabilities to prepare them to lead and participate in communities of residence (civic polities), interest (professional and employment settings) and value (references groups with shared morals that guide social action). Expectations of accomplishment are both higher (given the aptitudes students bring to honors settings) and more diffuse (given the arenas of participation that are broader than the profession associated with the major).

Resources (where possible) promote student development to foster proficiency in skills associated with scholarship, leadership and citizenship. Curricula in university-wide honors programs or colleges often has students use scholarship to structure moral reflection that, in turn, expresses itself in professional leadership and community action. Honors classroom practices are therefore writing- and speaking-intensive; more likely to involve research, projects, student collaboration and service learning; and less likely to locate authority solely in the voice of a lecturer than would a department in which the classroom centrality of the faculty member is justified by disciplinary expertise.

As a result, honors teaching practices often challenge pedagogical structures of higher education. Those of us in honors tend to use non-faculty centric pedagogies, and that pushes us to develop and depend on living-learning communities that flatten classroom hierarchies and require students to take charge of their own schooling. Finally, if the connection among scholarship, leadership and citizenship is to take place in sites beyond the classroom, it helps to have a living-learning environment. When students form and learn through a community, they can more effectively organize outward-turning service and more meaningfully integrate it with their own lives.

Rick Scott
President-Elect

Call for NCHC Portz Scholar Nominations

Deadline: June 4, 2012

Four NCHC Portz Scholars will be featured in a plenary session at the 2012 NCHC Conference in Boston in November and one of them could be from your institution! The NCHC Awards & Grants Committee invites all institutional members to nominate one undergraduate paper per institution for the 2012 NCHC Portz Scholars competition. Each NCHC Portz Scholar selected will receive a $250 award and complimentary conference registration. The student’s nominating institution agrees to defray travel expenses.

Please click here to submit a nomination. Honors directors and deans must submit the nominated paper electronically by June 4, 2012 and there is no length limitation on paper submissions. Additional information is available on the NCHC website.

Begun in 1990 to enable NCHC to acknowledge John and Edythe Portz’s many contributions to honors education, the NCHC Portz Scholars Program continues to honor their memory by selecting the top four research/creative papers by undergraduate honors students who have been nominated by their institutions for their outstanding work. Previous NCHC Portz Scholar award recipients may be viewed here.

We are looking forward to a record number of nominations this year!

From the Students

Hello Students! We hope the weather is improving for all of you and you’re getting to enjoy some sun and warmth outdoors! We’ve remained busy in planning the conference in Boston and are closing in on a fun and rewarding activity to do Sunday morning, November 18. More details will follow, but plan to stay in town until Sunday afternoon if that’s feasible for you and your program.

As always, contact us if you have any questions. Best of luck as final exams approach and summer gets closer!

Jared Knight, co-chair
Student Affairs

Honors Newsletter Contest Call for Entries

Deadline: June 30, 2012

Sponsored by The National Collegiate Honors Council Publications Board

The Newsletter Contest now has two divisions: 1) electronically published and 2) printed. Within each division there are two categories: Student Published or Faculty/Administrator/Student Published.

To enter your honors program or college’s newsletter in the electronically published division, complete the online form and attach electronic versions or include live hyperlinks of published newsletters from the current academic year.

To enter in the printed division, complete the online form then print and mail a copy of the form along with 4 copies of each of two issues from the current academic year (a total of 8 newsletters) to the NCHC office. 1100 NRC, 540 N. 16th St, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588.

Entries for both divisions must have a completed submission form to be considered.

If you have any questions about the contest, contact Richard Badenhausen at rjb@westminstercollege.edu. If you have technical questions, contact adalong@uab.edu.

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Officers

President
Greg Lanier, University of West Florida

President Elect
Rick Scott, University of Central Arkansas

Vice President
Jim Ruebel, Ball State University

Immediate Past President
Bonnie Irwin, Eastern Illinois University

Secretary
Bob Spurrier, Oklahoma State University

Treasurer
Gary Bell, Texas Tech University

Board of Directors
Kyoko Amano, University of Indianapolis
Lisa Coleman, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Barry Falk, James Madison University
Laurie Fiegel, Iowa State University
Emily Harris*, Montana State University Billings
Jerry Herron, Wayne State University
Rachael Hurd* , Ball State University
Emily Jones*, Oklahoma State University
Joe King, Radford University
Kim Klein, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Jared Knight*, Iowa State University
Jonathan Kotinek, Texas A & M University
Jaskiran Mathur, St. Francis College
Marjean Purinton, Texas Tech University
Jeremiah Sammons*, Gallaudet University
Art Spisak, University of Iowa
Elaine Torda, Orange County Community College
Audrey Van Acker*, Ball State University

*Student Board Member

Staff

Cindy Hill, Executive Director
chill2@unl.edu

Teri King, Finance Manager
tking5@unl.edu

Carolee Martin Brink, Membership Director
nchc@unl.edu

Kristi Smith, Project Coordinator
nchcassist@unl.edu

Trish Souliere, Technology Manager
psouliere2@unl.edu

Betty Talley, Director of Operations
btalley2@unl.edu

Conference Registration

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:32:31 +0000

Registration for the 2012 Annual Conference in Boston is now open.

Conference Registration fees for 2012:

Early Registration NCHC Member (on or before October 3, 2012): $375

Late Registration NCHC Member (after October 3, 2012): $425

Non Member Registration: $750

Presenters conference registration fees and all AV fees must be paid by September 21, 2012.

NEW IN 2012 —STUDENT REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS!

Who qualifies for the Student Discount?

All Student Presenters/Moderators - $50 per Student - Code: STUPRE
All Member Institutions who register 5 – 9 students in one transaction – $50 per Student - Code: 5XREG
All Member Institutions who register 10 or more students in one transaction - $75 per Student - Code: 10XREG

Only one discount per student and all discounts must be applied prior to the completion of the online registration.

General questions should be directed to nchc@unl.edu or 402.472.9150.

See you in Boston!

March 2012

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:59:07 +0000

NCHC Board Nominations

Deadline: May 1, 2012

Nominations are now being accepted for NCHC leadership positions. As your Immediate Past President and Chair of the Nominating Committee, I urge you to consider getting involved in leading our organization into the future as we move toward becoming a more visible participant in the national conversation on higher education. We need your talents, skills, motivation, creativity, energy, and wisdom. The Board of Directors is not a closed society: we enthusiastically welcome bright, new minds and eager hands. Nominate now!

The Nominating Committee is accepting nominations for the following positions:

Vice President (1 year term*)
The Vice President serves as chair of the planning committee for the 2014 national conference, serves as a member of the Executive Committee, and performs other duties as provided in the Bylaws or as assigned by the Board of Directors consistent with the Constitution and Bylaws. *The candidate elected as Vice President is committed to serving four years on the Board of Directors, as Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Past President.

Secretary (3 year term)
The Secretary takes minutes and records votes at Board of Directors meetings, serves as a member of the Executive Committee and performs other duties as provided in the Bylaws or as assigned by the Board of Directors consistent with the Constitution and Bylaws.

Four At-Large Professional Board members (3 year term)
Four professionals are elected to serve as members of the Board of Directors.

Four At-Large Student Members (1 or 2 year terms)
Two students are elected to serve as 1-year members and two students are elected to serve as 2-year members of the Board of Directors.

Nominators should contact the nominee to verify his or her willingness to serve prior to making the nomination.

Nomination forms are available on the NCHC website and must be submitted electronically.

All nomination materials must be submitted online no later than Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 5:00 pm (Central Daylight Time). If you have any questions about the requirements of these positions or the functioning of the Board, please contact Bonnie Irwin (chair of the nominating committee) at bdirwin@eiu.edu. Questions about the nominations process should be directed to Betty Talley at the National Collegiate Honors Council office at btalley2@unl.edu or by telephone at 402-472-9151.

Nominees should understand the requirements of the position as noted below:

·All candidates for positions as Officers or Professional At-Large Members of the Board of Directors must at the time ballots are distributed be institutional member representatives, professional members of NCHC, or affiliate members of NCHC and must continue to be members of NCHC during their terms of office. Student At-Large members of the Board of Directors must at the time of assumption of office be student members of NCHC and must continue to be members of NCHC during their terms of office.

·It is expected that officers and members of the Board of Directors will attend the winter and fall Board of Directors’ meetings. If a summer meeting is called, officers and members will be expected to attend a summer meeting.

·Please note that NCHC will cover hotel costs for Board members’ attendance at the winter meeting and a summer meeting, if one is called.

·Officers who have completed their terms of office may not be elected immediately thereafter to the same office or as an At-Large Member of the Board of Directors, with the exception of the Secretary and the Treasurer who may be re-elected to their respective offices for a second term in succession. An At-Large Member of the Board of Directors who has completed a full term may not succeed himself or herself as an At-Large Member of the Board of Directors.
·Student nominees for the Board of Directors must provide a statement of institutional support for their travel to two or three meetings each year.

2012 Nominating Committee:
Bonnie Irwin, Chair
Lisa Coleman
Emily Jones
Jim Ruebel
Art Spisak

Conference 2012

Boston, Massachusetts
November 14-18 2012

More than 650 proposals have been submitted for the 2012 NCHC Conference in Boston-what a wonderful, overwhelming response. Just so you know, with that many presenters we will be staging some of the sessions on the sidewalk outside the hotel, so pack your scarf and gloves. (I kid.)

I hope you are as excited as I am about our gathering this November in Boston. Among the many features that fuel my excitement is the encounter with Michael Sandel. If you have not had a chance to get to know his work, let me tell you about him.

A moral and political philosopher at Harvard, Michael Sandel teaches the wildly popular course on Justice, held at the Sanders Theater. His erudition, Socratic teaching style, vivid examples, and engaging personality have drawn thousands of students to this course over the past couple of decades. You can witness it for yourself, online at least, by visiting http://www.justiceharvard.org/ and watch him in action with his students. Professor Sandel will have to travel all of three miles from Cambridge, across the Mass Avenue Bridge above the Charles River, to join us at the Sheraton Hotel in the Back Bay.

Last July Professor Sandel appeared on The Colbert Report. Mr. Smarty Pants-that would be Professor Sandel-played the part of the communitarian. Mr. Truthiness-that would be Faux-Journalist Colbert-played the part of the free-market libertarian. They were discussing “what is the right thing to do,” but the seven-minute clip of the tete-a-tete ends before it really gets started, given the time limits of TV (http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/392600/july-20-2011/michael-sandel). I would have enjoyed seeing the conversation play out further, even if one of the partners had jokes more than justice in mind.

When Mr. Smarty Pants appears before us at the NCHC Conference, he will speak about civility in public discourse, a talk that is exquisitely timed, occurring as it does the week following the 2012 Presidential Election. (Notice I am making an assumption that by then we will have completed a months-long slog through political mud and be searching for a civil shower and warm towel.) I expect his keynote to be rich in substance and memorable in delivery. Immediately following Michael Sandel’s plenary, we are planning to hold discussion sessions about his ideas that will keep the conversation going.

I hope to see you at the plenary this autumn, not to mention at the other important sessions and meetings and get-togethers being planned for Boston. In fact, if you don’t mind, I will mention them in upcoming newsletter columns that will lead us month by month to our November assembly. In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact me at ricks@uca.edu.

Rick Scott
2012 Conference Chair

Call for Panelists: Developing in Honors

Deadline: March 30, 2012

Dear NCHC Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who submitted possible topics for the annual “Developing in Honors” (DIH) Workshop at the 2012 NCHC conference in Boston!

Now it is time to ask our colleagues to volunteer to share your expertise with other honors professionals at this signature NCHC workshop for experienced honors administrators, faculty, and professional staff (defined as having at least one year’s experience in one’s current honors position by the time of the 2012 conference).

DIH panelists make very brief (5 minutes, maximum) initial comments, and the remainder of the session is for interaction with the audience. DIH sessions should generate conversations among colleagues and not be formal paper presentations.

We hope that we can have a mixture of types of institutions represented on almost all of the panels, but we plan to keep the panels small to allow time for audience interaction. No presenter may be a member of more than one of the morning DIH session panels.

Please note that DIH takes place on Thursday, November 15, 2012, so you will need to plan to arrive in Boston by Wednesday, November 14, 2012 night if you would like to be on a panel.

Again this year we will have several afternoon DIH Extended Discussion Sessions in addition to the 17 morning sessions (the General Opening Session and two rounds of eight breakout sessions). Most of the afternoon sessions are “constituency” sessions organized by NCHC committees (Small Colleges, Large Universities, Two-Year Institutions, etc.), and we will provide additional information a bit later.

To volunteer, please send a reply e-mail to Jessica Roark at Oklahoma State University jessica.roark@okstate.edu in which you indicate:

Your Name
Your Institution
Your Honors Position
Your Institution Type (Small College, Large University, Mid-Size Institution, Two-year Institution)
Approximate Number of Honors Students at Your Institution
Your E-mail Address
Your Office Telephone Number
DIH Session Number(s)/Topic(s) to Which You Can Contribute as a Panel Member (See list below, and feel free to provide several options!)

Please respond by Friday, March 30, if at all possible! We would like to be able to have the panels organized by early April.

Thanks!

Jessica Roark, Oklahoma State University
Ricki Shine, Clemson University
2012 DIH Co-chairs

2012 Developing in Honors Panel Topics

Opening session: Retention in Honors: The Arguments to Keep the GPA High or to Keep the GPA Low

Breakout sessions:

Helping Senior Honors Students in their Transition from College
Developing Community Among Upper-Level Honors Students
Working with Faculty, Students, and Administrators to Develop Expectations for Honors Theses
Cultivating Honors Alumni Engagement and Support
Effective Programming in Honors Residences
Recruiting and Retaining Honors Students
What Makes the “Honors” in Honors Study Abroad Programs
How to Define Your Honors Mission
Combating Charges of Elitism as your Honors Program Grows
Alternative Teaching in Honors: Team Teaching, Experimental Approaches, etc.
Honors Curriculum Development
Honors as a Campus Resource
Honors Pedagogy
Why Honors Advising Matters So Much
Maximizing the Honors Budget in Difficult Economic Times
Honors Housing

Call for Panelists: Forum on International Education

Deadline: April 16, 2012

Each year the Forum on International Education addresses pertinent issues facing all honors programs that organize and/or send students on study abroad trips.

Increasingly, study abroad has become a more professionally run, educationally astute venture. Campuses recognize that new challenges have arisen in light of mounting global concerns (environmental impact of travel, major incidents such as riots in Egypt, ethnographic concerns over the impact of visitors on a host culture, etc.). At the same time, old challenges must still be addressed given the current realities facing higher education, not the least of which are questions of value and cost amid the funding crises. Into this challenging potpourri of issues one adds the particular requirements and concerns of offering honors-level quality programs.

The Forum on International Education will offer three panel-led discussions on a set of related topics. Panelists, who will have expertise and extensive experience on their topic, will each offer brief, pertinent comments (5 minutes), before opening up the discussion, engaging all attendees. Each panel will address a set topic for a period of 50 minutes before breaking and switching to the next panel.

The International Education Committee welcomes proposals for those with experience and expertise to address one of the following topics:

debriefing students returning from international experiences;
managing security for study abroad trips;
beginning a study abroad trip or program;
evaluating and then developing international partnerships;
assessing and evaluating international experiences;
using study abroad experiences to enhance the rest of the campus.

All NCHC attendees with interest or concern are invited to come to the Forum. Those interested should contact the International Education chair, Stan Rosenberg at stan.rosenberg@wycliffe.ox.ac.uk.
Please submit a very brief (less than a page) précis of your work and indicate the topic you wish to address, (which would be limited to 5 minutes). Deadline is 16 April.

Call for Master Class Proposals

Deadline: April 16, 2012

The Master Class proposal submission deadline has been extended. Proposals for all four master classes, music, drama, poetry, and film, will be accepted through April 16, 2012.

We are pleased to announce that Michele Forman, M.A., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham has agreed to serve as the facilitator of the drama/theatre area of the Arts in Honors Education thread for the annual NCHC conference. Ms. Forman is Director of Visual Literacy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Co-Director of the Media Studies Program, an interdisciplinary minor she co-founded in 2003. The aim of the program is to educate college students about media and film history, as well as connect them with crucial community issues in the Greater Birmingham area through documentary filmmaking, digital storytelling, and multimedia-based research. Her work with the UAB Media Studies Program has created a student-produced archive of over 100 community-based social justice short films.

Forman is a documentary filmmaker who gained her experience as an executive in feature films at Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Forman served as associate producer on Mr. Lee’s Academy Award-nominated film 4 Little Girls, a feature-length documentary for HBO about the bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

Since 1997, Forman has been directing and producing documentary projects for film and television, earning an Emmy nomination in 2001 for Coat of Many Colors. Her most recent feature-length documentary is Climb for the Cause: A Breast Cancer Story (2007) about five women who became activists for women’s health after surviving breast cancer. To raise money and raise awareness about what women can accomplish after cancer, they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, one of the world’s tallest peaks. The film follows their journey.

Forman began her film work at Harvard University, where she double-majored in English and filmmaking. She consults on media pedagogy in higher education and media messaging for a number of non-profit organizations.

For more information regarding the Master Class sessions, please contact Brent Register, register@clarion.edu.

Call for Newsletter Entries

Contest deadline: June 30, 2012

Sponsored by The National Collegiate Honors Council Publications Board

The Newsletter Contest now has two divisions: 1) electronically published and 2) printed. Within each division there are two categories: Student Published or Faculty/Administrator/Student Published.

Entries for both divisions must have a completed submission form to be considered.

A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place award will be given in each category for each division. Winners in the “Faculty/Administrator/Student” categories are ineligible the year immediately after they have won an award in that category. Entrants in the “Student Published” categories may re-submit their newsletters each year. Winners will be announced at the 2012 NCHC conference in Boston, Massachusetts. If you have any questions about the contest, contact Richard Badenhausen at rjb@westminstercollege.edu. If you have technical questions, contact Trish Souliere at psouliere2@unl.edu

Call for NCHC Portz Scholar Nominations

Nomination deadline: June 4, 2012

What a great opportunity for four scholars to be featured in a plenary session at the 2012 NCHC Conference in Boston in November! And one of them could be from your institution. The NCHC Awards & Grants Committee would like to invite all institutional members to nominate one undergraduate paper per institution for the 2012 NCHC Portz Scholars competition. Each NCHC Portz Scholar will receive a $250 award and complimentary conference registration. The student’s nominating institution agrees to defray travel expenses.

To submit a nomination, please click here. There is no length limitation on paper submissions but honors directors and deans must submit the nominated paper electronically by June 4, 2012. Additional information can be found on the NCHC website. Previous NCHC Portz Scholar award recipients may be viewed here.

The NCHC Portz Scholars Program began in 1990 to enable NCHC to acknowledge John and Edythe Portz’s many contributions to honors education. We continue to honor their memory by selecting the top four research/creative papers by undergraduate honors students who have been nominated by their institutions for their outstanding work.

Let’s have a record number of nominations this year!

NCHC Book Fair

What is your favorite book this year? Is it a series or a “one hit wonder”? Each year the NCHC annual conference features a book fair, customized to the interests of conference attendees. This year’s book fair will be hosted by Barnes & Noble. To ensure that the widest variety of important and appealing titles is available at the Boston conference, we need your input.

We welcome suggestions for works of all kinds, in particular those dealing with our keynote speaker and conference theme along with books that address and highlight the many important and engaging historical and cultural aspects of the city.

This year’s plenary speaker is Michael Sandel, A moral and political philosopher at Harvard, Michael Sandel teaches the wildly popular course on Justice. His presentation will be followed by a book signing session.

Please assist us by submitting requests on the online form or by sending requests directly to Betty Talley at btalley2@unl.edu no later than September 1, 2012.

Conference Sponsorships, Graduate School Fair and Exhibit Space

Still Available in Boston

Conference sponsorship is a great way to support NCHC and honors education. The NCHC Annual Conference in Boston offers a variety of sponsorship levels designed to encourage participation. A Graduate School Fair is being considered for the 2012 annual conference along with exhibit space on Friday, November 16, 2012. If your institution is interested in the Graduate School Fair or general exhibit space, let the NCHC office know nchc@unlserve.unl.edu or call 402-472-9150.

To be considered for sponsorship, please review our materials online and contact us at nchc@unl.edu or 402-472-9150. We look forward to speaking with you about becoming a sponsor of the 2012 NCHC Annual Conference.

Congratulations

New President

NCHC would like to congratulate NCHC Student Affairs co-chair and Student Board member Jared Knight on his recent election to president of the student body at Iowa State University, Jared and his running mate were up against an incumbent team and ran on a platform focused on reducing student debt and the residence halls.

Congratulations and best of luck in achieving your goals.

From the President

Hello again everybody!

As many of you probably know, the NCHC Board of Directors meets every year in February to orient the newly elected members and officers of the organization to their roles and responsibilities, and to chart as well the course of action for the upcoming year. As part of this ongoing process, we started this year by revisiting the NCHC mission, asking ourselves to keep close in mind these governing questions:

What is the purpose of the National Collegiate Honors Council as an organization?
What does the National Collegiate Honors Council intend to accomplish?
How will the Board of Directors and the Executive Director deploy resources toward accomplishing these goals?

As we discussed these questions, we tried to remember that, as an organization, the purpose of the National Collegiate Honors Council is not quite the same as the mission to deliver a high-quality honors education on our campuses. In order to gain focus for the NCHC mission, we also asked ourselves: “What are the tangible benefits NCHC offers its membership?” In a process that is typically used in strategic planning exercises, the Board of Directors and the NCHC staff identified the following items as central benefits of the organization (the number in parentheses identifies the total number of votes each item received in the exercise):

A community of honors professionals and students (29)
Opportunities for professional development (20)
Standards of excellence (18)
A national conference (17)
An organization that is financially stable (16)
Wonderful publications (14)
A competent, productive, and responsive national office (14)
A repository of intellectual concepts for honors education (13)
Support for opportunities in honors (9)
Opportunities for the student voice to be heard in a national organization (6)
Opportunities for service & leadership (6)

With those benefits in mind, we then re-examined the NCHC Mission Statement to see how well it did the two things that are central to workable mission:

The Mission Statement explains why the organization exists
The Mission Statement describes what the organization does

After a bit of reflection, we concluded that our current mission statement does not really fulfill those conditions, and so a sub-committee chaired by Cindy Hill, our Executive Director, is already hard at work crafting a new and more succinct statement.

We then turned our attention to the NCHC Vision in an attempt to delineate where we wanted the organization to head in the future (never forgetting that we have many wonderful activities currently underway). In that discussion, the Board identified the following priorities (ranked) as important for the future direction and growth of the organization:

Become a truly internationalized organization
Continue to develop and steward the NCHC finances and resources
Establish formal relationships with the regional honors organizations
Develop more extensive means of electronic/social communication
Continue and expand the opportunities for professional development and student mentoring
Expand our reach-out to students

So that’s where we came to as a Board. We would like some feedback on all of these items, and if you have other ideas that you would like to see included, or if you think we are totally off base, please let us know.

I hope all goes well for all of you as spring begins to unfold wherever you are!

Greg Lanier
NCHC President

From the Treasurer

NCHC Endowment & Reserve

It is vitally important for the membership to understand that a position of “nearly approached, institutional lack of financial viability”, or even outright bankruptcy, starting in 2004, and projected for 2006, has been reversed. It was the calling of our attention to this developing situation that earned the then two co-chairs of the Finance Committee, Jackie Rogers and Gary Bell, the appellations of Doctors Doom and Gloom (it was never really clear who was whom). After this near miss, and thanks to a dues increase that was, in my judgment, wisely approved by the membership plus an increase in conference fees charged, the following has occurred:

NCHC has been able to continue to finance the functioning of a professional central office and staff;
NCHC has been able to maintain conference services at a level that our surveys indicate that the vast majority of the membership expects and indeed demands;
Most importantly, NCHC has been able to build a reserve of monies as well. For the older members of NCHC, this has been the answer to a prayer. A near death experience always sharpens one’s focus.

Endowments

The NCHC endowment as of December 31, 2011 was valued at $1.25 million. The income from the NCHC endowment will serve ultimately to be a source of revenue for the operation of the organization and the benefit of the members. We have a standing order which stipulates that 25% of any annual operating surplus be transferred to the corpus of the endowment.
In addition to the NCHC endowment, we have an endowment called the Portz Fund, named after University of Maryland honors activists John and Edythe Portz, which similarly consists of an inviolable corpus, and which generates revenue for the Portz Fellowship. As of December 31, 2011, its value was $331,924.

Both endowment funds are maintained currently in Smith Barney investment accounts that are designed, by approved investment policies, to secure a maximum rate of return that is consistent with prudent security.

Reserves

NCHC has two formal reserve funds, both maintained to avoid the vagaries of an unexpected world, national or organizational economic emergency. One reserve is maintained to “back up” a year’s worth of NCHC operational expenses, and stands at $550,000. The other is considered a protection against a serious conference loss that could occur for a variety of reasons, and it is evaluated at $250,000. This is not the full cost of the annual conference, but it does provide protection against a serious shortfall. Both of these amounts are maintained in interest bearing CDs.
Lastly, there is approximately $25,000 in the NCHC Wells Fargo savings account, which may be used as a contingency fund for unexpected expenses or for any purpose that the Board may designate.

All of the above represents a serious effort on the part of your Board of Directors to ensure the financial stability, and the continued recent financial good health of an organization that we all value and trust.

There is one final note about which you, the membership, should be apprised. In its last meeting at the end of February in Omaha, the Board of Directors voted, by an overwhelming majority, to begin to anticipate the day when we need either to expand our current national office space, or provide for new space altogether. At the present time, through the very real generosity of the University of Nebraska, we have very good accommodations, and the university provides additional services as well. This generosity is gratefully received and acknowledged by NCHC. The day will come, however, when changes may be necessary, and again, from my perspective, the Board wisely has chosen to build a reserve for this future contingency. That savings account currently stands, by Board direction, at $50,000.

I hope that this explains, to a limited degree, the financial reserves and endowments that the NCHC has been able to build over the last seven years.

Sincerely submitted,

Gary M. Bell
NCHC Treasurer

From the Students

How’s your second semester going? I bet one of your first thoughts was “busy.” …Time flies, doesn’t it? Before we know it, we’ll be in Boston!!! I can’t wait to see you there. In the meantime, we have some news to share with you. At the annual NCHC Board of Directors meeting in February, the “Student Concerns Committee” underwent a name change. We are now “Student Affairs.” We hope this new name is more indicative of our purpose and more welcoming to students. We will have a Student Affairs meeting at the Boston Conference, and we want to see you there! If you have any questions about how you can get involved or if you have any recommendations, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the other student board members. You do not have to have concerns, ideas, or a particular reason to come to the Student Affairs meeting in Boston…just come and you’ll be glad that you did!

Don’t forget that April 13th is a student service day across the nation. We would love to hear what you have planned. E-mail us with your service stories.

Audrey Van Acker
alvanacker@bsu.edu
Co-Chair, Student Affairs

Pub Board

The Publications Board held its spring meeting at the home of JNCHC and HIP editors Ada Long and Dail Mullins. Thanks to their hospitality and fueled by their excellent cuisine, the group completed its long agenda. The NCHC membership can look forward to the fruits of the meeting–exciting periodicals and monographs.

Membership Update

MemberPoint

MemberPoint software (Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner) will be introduced to all NCHC members in April, 2012. The NCHC headquarters staff has started training and will continue throughout March in order to make the transition to the new customer relationship management software as seamless as possible. MemberPoint will track all member information in one record. Accessible by members 24/7, members will be able to print invoices and receipts for conference and faculty institute registrations from within their own record at any time. Members will be able to search for other member institutions, committee lists or individuals, and export their list to an Excel spreadsheet with one click. All this and much more will be available with one username and a password of your choice.

Watch for more details to arrive in your email soon!

2012 Institutional Membership at an all-time high

Please welcome our newest members

Central Lakes College
Gainesville State College
Hamline University
Our Lady of the Lake University
Oxford Study Abroad Program
Pearl River Community College
Southwest Jiaotong University – China
St. Joseph’s College New York
University of Alaska Southeast
University of California-Los Angeles
University of San Francisco-School of Management

NCHC Student Membership

Student membership is a great opportunity for students to be involved with NCHC before conference. Encourage your students to join as NCHC members before attending conference. For only $35, students receive a great custom-designed t-shirt, a membership certificate, and the current year’s HIP. NCHC is a terrific way to network with students who attended a previous conference and paves the way for a much richer experience that will last long past November. If you would like an invitation to send to your students, please contact nchc@unlserve.unl.edu.

NCHC Summer Institute on Assessment and Evaluation

July 15-21, 2012

The Assessment and Evaluation Committee would like to invite NCHC members to attend a Faculty Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska, July 15 – 21. The institute will include an Institute on Assessment and an Institute on Evaluation.

Participants are encouraged to register for either or both of the workshops.

The Assessment workshop will provide in-depth training in the areas of creating an honors program/college assessment plan, including the development of student learning outcomes for honors, writing a self-study, preparing for a program review, and developing a strategic plan.

This workshop will be particularly useful for honors directors or deans who have no experience in preparing for program reviews and/or consultations in honors education or who are charged with institutional assessment for honors. In addition, this session will provide background and preparation for the Site Visitor training offered in the second half of the Assessment and Evaluation institute.

The Evaluation Workshop is designed for honors professionals who wish to develop more effective annual reports, including honors deans, directors, coordinators, and professional staff preparing for a program review and those interested in collaborating about various honors models. Completion of this institution is required for NCHC members who are interested in being designated as an NCHC Recommended Site Visitor.

Attendance at both sessions is optimal for participants interested in understanding current issues in assessment, evaluation, and program review in the context of higher education and applying this knowledge to honors education.

Registration fees are as follows:
Both sessions: $800
Assessment only: $450
Site Visit only: $450
Complete details and registration forms are available on the NCHC website.

Please remember that the early registration deadline is May 1; the final registration deadline is June 1, 2012. Participation in the institute is limited. Register now to reserve your place.

Consultant Mini-Grants

Deadline March 30, 2012

Honors education implies the highest standards for quality. Therefore, a consistent cycle of meaningful assessment, program review, and strategic planning is important for program growth. The National Collegiate Honors Council offers these mini-grants as a way of assisting honors programs and colleges to implement widely-recommended evaluative practices.

Applications are available on the NCHC website. Applications must be submitted by midnight CST March 30, 2012 to be considered. Applications received after midnight CST March 30, 2012 will not be considered. For more information contact Hallie Savage, hsavage@clarion.edu or Douglas Sullivan-Gonzalez, dsg@olemiss.edu, co-chairs of the Assessment and Evaluation Committee.

Student Service Day

April 13, 2012

Is your honors program looking for a great way to build friendships and give back to your local community? If yes, NCHC Service Day may be the perfect solution! On Friday, April 13, colleges and universities across the country will be performing service projects in their local communities to give back. Email us if you have questions or would like some ideas!

Into the Jungle

Thanks to Carolyn Tiry and The Spectator, the official student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire for the following article on the NCHC Honors Semesters Amazon Winterim.

A three-week sojourn in the Peruvian rainforest seems like an experience best left to explorers and outdoorsmen. But for two UW-Eau Claire honors students, that trip was how they spent their winter break.

Christine Manwiller, a junior bachelor of fine arts student with an emphasis in painting and drawing, and Shauna Stoeger, a senior double-majoring in psychology and Spanish, traveled to northern Peru to study the interaction of the local culture and the environment.

Manwiller and Stoeger were two of 12 honors students who participated in the Honors Amazon Winterim 2012 program, called “Living on the Edge of a Rainforest Frontier.” The program was organized by the National Collegiate Honors Council and the honors college at Florida International University. The program was based in Iquitos, Peru, which is the largest city in the northern Peruvian rainforest. However, the group also spent part of their time at the Madre Selva Biological Station, 90 miles east of the city.

The station is run by Project Amazonas, a Peruvian-American non-profit organization that focuses on humanitarian, educational, research and conservation work in the Peruvian Amazon. During the trip, Manwiller and Stoeger enrolled in two three-credit courses – “Living Off the Rainforest: Biodiversity, Sustenance and Sustainability” and “Culture, Identity and the Environment in the Peruvian Amazon” – to learn about the local environment and culture and how they interact.
Each student was required to complete an independent study research project related to their major and each of the classes.

Devon Graham, president of Project Amazonas and professor at Florida International University, said that even though this was the inaugural year of the trip, the group had few problems and gelled immediately.

“It was pretty amazing,” he said. “By day two, it seemed as though everyone had gone to kindergarten together.”

Both Stoeger and Manwiller said they went in to the experience trying to avoid any preconceived notions about the local culture and people.
“I had absolutely no idea what to expect,” Manwiller said, “and I was really nervous because I had never traveled before.”

Stoeger had previously spent a semester abroad in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where she stayed with host families. Because this trip was much shorter and they didn’t stay with locals, she didn’t think it would be as affecting.

“I didn’t expect to get such a life-changing experience out of this trip, but then I did,” she said. “So now I’m back, and I’m like, ‘Crap, now I have to go through reverse culture shock again.’”

What made the experience so welcoming, Stoeger said, was the openness of the people.”You couldn’t walk 20 feet without somebody striking up a conversation,” Stoeger said, “so you really got to know the people you were working with.”

Stoeger attributed the strong sense of community in part to the poverty in the area. Families simply don’t have the material possessions to worry about, so they focus more on taking care of each other. “When you’re actually immersed in the culture of an impoverished community,” she said, “it’s so beautiful because people just do let you into their community so readily.”

“I kind of went in expecting to feel sorry for people or be ashamed of being an American,” Manwiller said, “but at the end of the trip I almost felt like I wished I could live there, mostly because of the community. They just live more.”

The complete article is available here.

Memory and Monuments:Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan

Registration Deadline May 1, 2012

The NCHC Honors Semesters Committee and Long Island University Brooklyn would like to invite you to attend the Ground Zero/Lower Manhattan faculty institute this summer in New York City. This institute will focus on the interlocking concepts of memory, change, and time through exploration of the monuments and memorials of lower Manhattan. Home to a wide range of memorial sites, lower Manhattan oﬀers participants the opportunity to consider important questions: What or who determines whether something is a memorial? What motivates people to create diﬀerent kinds of memorials? What categories of memorials exist and how do we evaluate them? Do material memorials like statues and museums work diﬀerently than living memorials like trees and gardens? From small objects to vast complexes, memorials serve diﬀerent purposes–to both the people who interact with them and the places where they are located. Through readings, discussions, and observations, participants will explore the linkage of site to place and the ways in which our shared sense of place develops.

The Ground Zero/Lower Manhattan Institute is designed for honors and non-honors faculty and administrators who wish to incorporate interdisciplinary and ﬁeld-based elements into their courses and programs. Alumni of earlier Institutes have used City as Text™ pedagogy in disciplines ranging from the arts and social sciences to math and science. Ideal as integrative learning modalities, these experiential strategies include reﬂective practices and writing assignments that can be adapted for use in student orientations, campus assessments, and professional development workshops. Identifying and transferring principles of integrative experiential learning are important goals of this Institute.

For more information, please see the Institute brochure on the NCHC website. To register, complete the online form. Questions should be directed to Bernice Braid at bernice.braid@liu.edu.

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Officers

President
Greg Lanier, University of West Florida

President Elect
Rick Scott, University of Central Arkansas

Vice President
Jim Ruebel, Ball State University

Immediate Past President
Bonnie Irwin, Eastern Illinois University

Secretary
Bob Spurrier, Oklahoma State University

Treasurer
Gary Bell, Texas Tech University

Board of Directors

Kyoko Amano, University of Indianapolis
Lisa Coleman, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Barry Falk, James Madison University
Laurie Fiegel, Iowa State University
Emily Harris*, Montana State University Billings
Jerry Herron, Wayne State University
Rachael Hurd* , Ball State University
Emily Jones*, Oklahoma State University
Joe King, Radford University
Kim Klein, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Jared Knight*, Iowa State University
Jonathan Kotinek, Texas A & M University
Jaskiran Mathur, St. Francis College
Marjean Purinton, Texas Tech University
Jeremiah Sammons*, Gallaudet University
Art Spisak, University of Iowa
Elaine Torda, Orange County Community College
Audrey Van Acker*, Ball State University

*Student Board Member

Staff

Cindy Hill, Executive Director
chill2@unl.edu

Teri King, Finance Manager
tking5@unl.edu

Carolee Martin Brink, Membership Director
nchc@unl.edu

Kristi Smith, Project Coordinator
nchcassist@unl.edu

Betty Talley, Director of Operations
btalley2@unl.edu

Student Moderators

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:16:33 +0000

Applications are still being accepted for Student Moderators.

February 2012

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:58:24 +0000

In This Issue:

2012 Conference: Proposal Submission Deadline: March 5, 2012

Greetings – Thoughts of Boston swirl through my head as I look forward to the 2012 NCHC Conference in November. I trust that you share my eagerness about gathering in this lively place to exchange ideas about honors education. Our theme is “Challenging Structures,” and we want to highlight the scholarship of teaching and learning. Proposals are landing on our electronic doorstep but if you have not submitted yours, please be advised that the deadline is midnight on March 5.

We are categorizing general sessions this year to help you better navigate the conference. You can choose from the following topics:

Administration/Budget/Scholarships/Fundraising/Development
Advising/Career Placement/Leadership Programs
Assessment and Program Evaluation
Buildings/Facilities for Honors Programs and Colleges
Certification of Honors Programs and Colleges in NCHC
Civic Engagement/Service Learning/Alternative Spring Break/Citizen-Scholar Programs
City as Text™
Curriculum Planning and Revision
Diversity
First-Year Experience/Freshman Orientation
Honors and … (Athletics or Arts or the Professions or Science and Math, etc.)
Honors Community/Living-Learning Communities
Honors Faculty Development
Honors Programs Located Outside the United States
International Education/International Service Learning/Study Abroad
Internships/Undergraduate Research/Practica
Newsletter/Website for Honors Programs and Colleges
NCHC Portz Grant Recipients-Program Innovations
Major Scholarship Preparation
Mentoring Students
Recruitment and Retention
Research in Honors (Data-based About Any Topic)
Teaching and Learning/Pedagogy
Technology and Honors Education

A faculty poster session that features innovative course ideas is another new feature this year. We hope that contributors will submit syllabi and supporting course materials to an archive on the NCHC website. As it grows over the years, a course archive can become an important resource for NCHC members.

Political philosopher, Michael Sandel, will discuss civility in American political discourse at a plenary session to be held the week following the 2012 Presidential Election. Continuing the conference emphasis on teaching and learning, we will also hold a post-conference workshop on Sunday morning that explores the topic. The event has a fee of $50 and will be led by NCHC Fellow, Alison Primoza, (San Diego Mesa College) and Carolyn Kuykendall (Mt. San Antonio College). If you have any questions about proposal submissions or the conference itself, please contact me at ricks@uca.edu.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day, Teachers and Students,

Rick Scott
2012 Conference Chair

Call for Drama Master Class Facilitator

P. Brent Register
Master Class Chair

Conference Sponsorships

Conference sponsorship is a great way to support NCHC and honors education. The NCHC Annual Conference in Boston offers a variety of sponsorship levels designed to encourage participation. To be considered for sponsorship, please review our materials and complete the online form or contact us at nchc@unl.edu or 402-472-9150. We look forward to speaking with you about becoming a sponsor of the 2012 NCHC Annual Conference.

For the 2012 Conference in Boston, we are accepting applications for $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500 sponsorships.

$10,000 Sponsorship-sponsor will receive the following:

Exclusive Sponsorship of a special event or program.
A table or booth space in the registration area.
Two complimentary conference registrations.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the pre-conference online program.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the printed conference program.
Signage recognition at Conference.
One program page (8 ½ x 11) online and in the printed program.
Link to Sponsors website in the online conference program.
One insert of your choice (with NCHC approval) in the registration materials received by each conference attendee.
Option to provide conference bags or other promotional item with your logo (with NCHC approval) for each conference attendee.

$5,000 Sponsorship-sponsor will receive the following:

Exclusive sponsorship of a special event.
A table or booth space in a general reception area.
Two complimentary conference registrations.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the pre-conference online program.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the printed conference program.
Signage recognition at Conference.
One ½ program page (5 ½ x 8 ½) online and in the printed program.
Link to Sponsors website in the online conference program.
One insert of your choice (with NCHC approval) in the registration materials received by each conference attendee.

$2,500 Sponsorship-sponsor will receive the following:

A table or booth space in a general reception area.
One complimentary conference registration.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the pre-conference online program.
Sponsorship recognition/thanks in the printed conference program.
Signage recognition at Conference.
One ¼ program page (4 ¼ x 5 ½) online and in the printed program.
Link to Sponsors website in the online conference program.

If you have any questions or would like to consider sponsorship at any other level, please contact the NCHC office at 402-472-9150 or nchc@unl.edu.

NCHC is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. As such, all contributions are tax deductible as allowable by law. Please consult with your accountant. NCHC’s FEIN number is 52-1188042.

Graduate School Fair and Exhibit Hall
Deadline: July 1, 2012

The exhibit hall experience in Boston will feature tables for our institutions and other organizations to promote their institution. A Graduate School Fair has also been proposed. The Graduate School Fair fees will be the same as the Exhibitor fee ($250 for members and $500 for non-members) and will be held on Friday, November 16th.

If you are interested in being an exhibitor at the 2012 NCHC conference, please complete the exhibitor application by July 1, 2012. The exhibit hall will be available for members at $250 and non-members at $500. Complete the online form and watch for more information about the NCHC Annual Conference Exhibit Hall on Friday, November 16 from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm in Boston, MA. Each exhibitor will be listed in the online conference program, beginning July 1, and in the final printed conference program.

Please review our 2011 conference program for more detailed information about NCHC and our conference. E-mail us at nchc@unl.edu or call us at 402-472-9150 with any questions.

Partners in the Parks: Proposed Projects for 2012

Partners in the Parks is an NCHC outdoor experiential learning program co-sponsored by Southern Utah University and Cedar Breaks National Monument. In 2012 we will host a variety of academic adventures at national parks across the country. These week-long projects include seminars led by university faculty and park rangers as well as exciting recreational opportunities to broaden participants’ understanding of the overall value of national parks to our country and its citizens. PITP programs are open to honors faculty and students from all majors and disciplines.

If you are interested, send inquiries to honors@suu.edu

Proposed projects for 2012

Virgin Islands National Park, Virgin Islands (May 19-26)
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, AZ
(May 28-June 2)
Fire Island to Ellis Island, NY (June 3-9)
Acadia National Park, ME (Aug 4-10)
Olympic National Park, WA (Aug 5-11)
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT (Aug 6-11)
Sequoia & King’s Canyon, CA (Aug 6-11)
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO (Aug 13-18)

More information and online registration can be found on our web site: http://partnersintheparks.org.

What students have said…

“Not only did PITP enrich my mind it helped me reevaluate the world and my role in it.”
Acadia National Park 2008

“I have a deep appreciation for the work and planning that goes into managing and our national parks.”
Zion National Park 2008

“Trips like this can’t not change you.”
Fire/Ellis Island 2008

“I’ve already planned my own backpacking trip later this summer!”
Bruce Canyon National Park 2008

“I loved meeting new people and sharing our thoughts and ideas.”
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument 2009

“The seminars by range

rs and faculty were all well done. The parks are a wonderful and difficult responsibility.”
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park 2009

“I loved being in the backcountry and seeing snow in the desert.”
Zion National Park 2010

” I learned a lot about myself. It taught me the value in team work.”
Joshua Tree National Park 2009

“I helped with a whale necropsy.” Cape Hatteras National Seashore 2010

“The wildness of Alaska, seeing all the large mammals, and the commitment of the park rangers to our group. Having Alaskans travel with us and engage with the students over the course of the week made this a very “personal” PITP adventure. ”
Denali National Park and Preserve 2010

“Our leaders were beyond fantastic and could not have done a better job coordinating the trip. Their passion and energy was a huge factor in making the trip so inspirational. ”
Olympic National Park 2011

“I enjoyed the opportunity to learn directly from the rangers, as well as the fact that we were left largely to our own in camp instead of being told what to do and when to do it.”
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 2011

I really enjoyed the chance I had to meet students from other schools and hear from their perspectives. But I also really enjoyed listening to the Park Rangers, who really had a lot of expertise and a lot to share.”
Great Basin National Park 2011

NCHC Summer Institute on Assessment and Evaluation: July 15-21, 2012

Participants are encouraged to register for either or both of the workshops.

Registration fees are as follows:

Both sessions: $800
Assessment only: $450
Site Visit only: $450

Complete details and registration forms are available on the NCHC website.

Please remember that the early deadline for registration is May 1; the final deadline for late registration is June 1, 2012. Participation in the institute is limited. Register now to reserve your place.

President’s Column

Hello everybody!

I hope your winter or perhaps spring term is unfolding well and that you are being happily productive but having a lot of fun as well. But if you aren’t, keep the chin up and the outlook sunny; the universe will someday catch up to you (or so my momma always told me!).

I’d like, however, to ruminate this month on a topic that may not be quite as bright and pleasant: the question of ethical standards in honors programs and colleges. And in the interest of full disclosure, I will confess that this month’s issue cuts very, very close to home for me. The guiding questions for me are: First, should there be a specific and explicit (honors?) code of conduct that parallels the many privileges and perquisites that we so carefully construct for our honors students to enjoy? Second, should that ethical standard for behavior be somewhat higher than the generic standard of behavior for the general student population? Third, what should happen when there are violations of those standards?

As I said above, I am personally quite invested in those issues, and here’s the reason. For the very first time in my professional career, I had to endure a major cheating scandal, not only in my program, but in my very own class. At UWF all incoming honors freshmen are required to take Great Books 1; it’s basically the time-honored Mortimer Adler sequence, although in the first term we don’t get out of the Greeks (it’s Homer to Plato, really). It is the only large class in my honors program and can reach over 150 in total enrollment. The final for the class is admittedly designed to be a bear, but some years ago I put all of the possible final exam questions online to help them prepare (it’s a question bank that is now nearing 500 questions). For years and years and years, things went smoothly, but this year not so.

One student in the class requested permission to take the final exam early; I have routinely granted such requests for over twenty years. But this year, when a small core of students learned someone was taking the test early, things went a bit haywire. The student who took the exam early (and did so under controlled conditions) memorized the questions, and then immediately afterwards reconstructed the examination and emailed it to six friends (the subject line of the message was–wait for it–”Merry Christmas”). Some of the original group simply forwarded on the list of questions to others in the class; others added answers to the questions and forwarded those on. All in all, it may have been that nearly one-third of the class had advance knowledge of the final exam questions. One thing that really took my breath away was the sheer speed of the activity-now I know full well what it means for something to go viral on the internet.

So what did we do (are doing, since the mess is still ongoing)? Well, we managed to pop the core group very quickly, and those students are going through the UWF Academic Misconduct process, and I expect that the sanctions there will be quite severe. But what really struck me during the proceedings was the emergence of a clear conflict between two very strong codes of behavior.

On the one hand, I do have an Honors Code of Conduct that all incoming honors students must sign; it’s pretty generic and says all the things we’d expect to have said about cheating: no stealing questions (or answers), no helping anyone else on a test, no plagiarism, etc. And in the hearings I was pleased that all of the students confessed and openly admitted that they knew that what they were doing was wrong and they were being stupid and reckless, etc. But on the other hand, it was also very clear to me that there was a second code of conduct in play, one that was much, much stronger than the Honors Code, and that’s code that governs how they treat each other. To a person, they all felt like their loyalty to each other as friends was far more important than any other consideration, and that once the chain started, they felt that they had a deep obligation to pass the information on to their friends (and hide it from me).

That’s what bothers me most about the whole shebang, and I think it has something to do with something else that is to me strange about this generation of students. I may be totally out of whack on this one, but it seems to me that students who are entering college now have no sense whatever of hierarchy and how ethical and hierarchical behaviors are necessary for the proper workings of organizations. This is to me the “Facebook” generation in the sense that-to them-everyone is a friend; everyone is always on the same level, and whatever you do, you don’t ever buck that system since if you do, no one will like you. And the potential chaos that fundamental assumption can bring can be huge, at least in my eyes.

So in conclusion to this sad tale, I’m wondering if there are others out there who have similar stories or who have observed something like what I have observed, so if you have, please let me know.

Ya’ll be careful out there.

Greg Lanier
President, NCHC

Understanding NCHC Finances

Greetings from the Financial Side of NCHC:

One of the objectives of your elected officers, as we have mentioned in several addresses to the membership, is to achieve total transparency in the financial affairs of our organization. Structurally speaking, the Treasurer has oversight for the finances of NCHC. Pragmatically and operationally, our Executive Director, Cindy Hill, manages the day-to-day business of the organization, including securing annual financial reviews, and maintaining close contact with our designated CPA firm, which prepares our annual Form 990. In the central office as well, Teri King accumulates the financial data and produces the spread sheets and graphs upon which we all rely for snapshots into our current situation. Finally, the Finance Committee, with Doug Peterson and Jennifer Lane, appointed as co-chairs, also monitor our organizational finances and annually, if not more often, makes recommendations to the elected Board of Directors about future courses of action that need to be taken. Indeed, there are a great many participants in the process that continues to keep our finances transparent and above board.

But in any democratically structured institution, as is the case with NCHC, ultimate sovereignty and decision making rests with the constituents-you, the membership. Therefore it is critical to make sure that the membership of NCHC understands the financial dynamics of the organization. It is the intention of this column, episodically, to bring to the membership’s attention both new developments, and an elaboration on established practices so that the membership can make the best possible financial decisions. This is part of the drive for full transparency.

For instance, I would like to address, this time, the recent NCHC annual conference. This is arguably our most important function, it certainly touches more of us than all other NCHC activities combined, and it is far and away our most expensive undertaking. There has, of course, always been controversy surrounding the fees associated with the conference, and your Board of Directors, even now, continues to wrestle with the appropriate amount to charge for this costly production, and more importantly, how to allocate the charges to the participants. This will be a major topic of discussion in the up-coming Board of Directors meeting in Omaha at the end of February.

The most recent conference in Arizona was greatly successful. However, another goal of the recent Finance Committee members and the recent Executive Board has been to start to be more realistic in identifying the true costs of what it takes to administer from the central office in Lincoln, Nebraska, all of the activities, such as conference, membership renewal, publications, semesters, the various institutes, etc., of the organization on which we pride ourselves. Conference registrations, membership renewals, receipt of fees, phone calls answered, hotel arrangements, accounting procedures for each activity, planning, handling the needs of individual participants, and the like demand an enormous amount of time in the central office. Thus, not long ago, we instituted a fee that was attached to many of the activities. This was designed to cover the administration of the programs that NCHC sponsors.

The same has not happened with the annual conference. And yet the central office estimates that approximately 60% of its total annual working time is conference related. In the past couple of years, conference registration has been brought in-house and we no longer pay an exorbitant fee to a third party to outsource that function. However, since the central office now handles formerly outsourced functions, the need still exists to have personnel manning the computers, phones and email replies that are essential to providing superior member service.

It is going to be the recommendation of the Executive Board that future conferences start to take into consideration these administrative costs so that there is a true accounting for what the conference really costs, by reflecting in our financial reports the actual cost of experienced and dedicated personnel who provide these services. Transparency (with illuminating details provided to the membership) and true costs of activities have thus become some of the most important and compelling financial goals of your current Executive Board.

Next time, I hope to address the issue of reserve accounts, the justification for them and the role they play in the organization.

Gary Bell
NCHC Treasurer

From the Students: Student Service Day April 13, 2012

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? The Student Concerns Committee has made some goals for this year too.

First, we want to change our committee name. “The Student Concerns Committee” has some undesired connotations. Do you have any ideas? We have started a discussion feed in the student section of the Discussion Forum on the NCHC website. We would love to have your input!

This year we have goals to increase student membership and participation and to connect with the Regional NCHC student members as well. At the Boston Conference, we hope to have not only a fun student party, but also a service project through which we will be able to work together to “give back” to the community.

In addition, we plan on making a student guide to accompany the conference manual so that you will not miss out on all of the great events, sessions, and opportunities that are especially “student friendly.”

Those are a few of our New Year’s resolutions. Has your Honors College/Honors Council made resolutions for the New Year? I would love to hear about them. Email me at alvanacker@bsu.edu. Meanwhile, I wish you the best in your studies this semester!

And don’t forget that the proposal deadline for the 2012 Boston Conference in March 5^th…you still have a few days to get yours in!

Audrey Van Acker & Jared Knight
Co-Chairs, Student Concerns Committee

Consultant Mini-Grants: Deadline March 30, 2012

The National Collegiate Honors Council is pleased to announce that applications are now available for grants which support program review and campus consultation visits by NCHC-recommended Site Visitors. These mini-grants will help fund the costs for those NCHC member honors programs and colleges that would like to bring one or more seasoned NCHC professionals to their campus to assist with honors program review or honors educational development.
Honors education implies the highest standards for quality. Therefore, a consistent cycle of meaningful assessment, program review, and strategic planning is important for program growth. The National Collegiate Honors Council offers these mini-grants as a way of assisting honors programs and colleges to implement widely-recommended evaluative practices.

A typical program review consists of a self-study document completed by the program or college and then forwarded to the reviewers in advance of the campus visit. Such reviews will provide recommendations for strategic growth and program development that have been found to be extremely useful in capturing precious on-campus resources. New honors programs or colleges, or those programs or colleges that have undergone recent leadership changes, are especially encouraged to apply.
Applications are available on the NCHC website. For more information, contact Hallie Savage, hsavage@clarion.edu or Douglass Sullivan-Gonzalez, dsg@olemiss.edu, co-chairs of the Assessment and Evaluation Committee.

Call for Spring Portz Grant Proposals: Application Deadline March 15, 2012

The NCHC Awards & Grants Committee would like to invite interested NCHC institutions and professional members to submit an application for an NCHC Portz Grant. These grants are intended to support honors program/college innovation and can be small, up to $500, or large, up to $1,000.

To apply, submit the NCHC Portz Grant Application Form and supporting narrative to Kate Bruce by March 15, 2012. Applications that demonstrate clearly the way in which the proposed innovation will be of benefit beyond the confines of the institution’s own honors program/college are normally favored as are applications that demonstrate commitment of the institution’s own funds.

The narrative statement should address the way in which an NCHC Portz Grant will help your honors program/college in terms of one or more of the Basic Characteristics of a Fully-Developed Honors Program. NCHC Portz Grant award recipients are expected to present the results of their grants at an NCHC or regional honors conference.

Information regarding past NCHC Portz Grant recipients is available here.

For questions or more information, please contact Kate Bruce

Call for 2012 Portz Scholars Nominations: Application Deadline June 1, 2012

The NCHC Awards & Grants Committee would like to invite all institutional members to nominate one undergraduate paper per institution for the 2012 NCHC Portz Scholars competition. The four scholars selected will be featured in a plenary session at the 2012 NCHC Conference in Boston in November. In addition, each NCHC Portz Scholar will receive a $250 award. NCHC also awards complimentary conference registration to those chosen as NCHC Portz Scholars. The student’s nominating institution agrees to defray travel expenses.

There is no length limitation on paper submissions but Honors Directors & Deans must submit the nominated paper electronically by June 1, 2012. To submit a nomination, please click here.

Additional information can be found on the NCHC website. Previous NCHC Portz Scholar award recipients may be viewed here.

NCHC awards complimentary conference registration to those chosen as NCHC Portz Scholars. The student’s nominating institution agrees to defray travel expenses.

Questions should be directed to Ann Eisenberg.

Memory and Monuments:Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan: Registration Deadline May 1, 2012

For more information, please see the Institute brochure on the NCHC website. To register, complete the online form. Questions should be directed to Bernice Braid at bernice.braid@liu.edu.

Call for Papers: Deadline March 1, 2012

The next issue of JNCHC (deadline: March 1, 2012) invites research essays on any topic of interest to the honors community.

The issue will also include a Forum focused on the theme “The Economy of Honors.” We invite essays of roughly a thousand words that consider this theme in the context of your campus and/or a national/international context.

The lead essay for the Forum is by Richard Badenhausen, Director of the Honors Program at Westminster College in Utah. His essay-titled “Costs and Benefits in the Economy of Honors”-considers numerous perspectives on the topic ranging from the impacts on honors of a faltering national economy to the discomfort some honors directors feel in their roles as money managers, concluding with a call to action to preserve and advance honors in a time of financial peril. Contributions to the Forum may-but need not-respond to his essay or the issues he addresses.

Other questions to consider might include: Under what circumstances should honors administrators accept, protest, or defy budget cuts? What are the best strategies for adapting to funding cutbacks? Are cutbacks always bad for the program, and are funding increases always good? What might be some counterintuitive consequences to budget changes? What are the impacts of large (or small) endowments and scholarship funds on the quality of honors education? How have honors programs and colleges fared over the past decade or more in comparison to the institutions in which they are housed? Has the comparison been favorable or unfavorable to the status and success of honors? How has the expanding role of fundraising and money managing affected individual honors directors and deans? How has it affected the NCHC? What is the best economic model for an honors program: a market, barter, or gift economy, or some other model? What are the implications for honors and for the NCHC of the wide range of compensation for honors administrators, salaries averaging $123,198 for honors deans (2011-12 Almanac Issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education) while some directors receive no special remuneration for their honors duties?

Forum essays should focus on ideas, concepts, and/or opinions related to “The Economy of Honors.” Examples from one’s own campus can be and usually are relevant, but essays should not simply be descriptions of “what we do at our institution.”

Please send all submissions to Ada Long at adalong@uab.edu.

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Officers
President – Greg Lanier, University of West Florida
President Elect – Rick Scott, University of Central Arkansas
Vice President – Jim Ruebel, Ball State University
Immediate Past President – Bonnie Irwin, Eastern Illinois University
Secretary – Bob Spurrier, Oklahoma State University
Treasurer – Gary Bell, Texas Tech University

Board of Directors
Kyoko Amano, University of Indianapolis
Lisa Coleman, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Barry Falk, James Madison University
Laurie Fiegel, Iowa State University
Emily Harris*, Montana State University Billings
Jerry Herron, Wayne State University
Rachael Hurd* , Ball State University
Emily Jones*, Oklahoma State University
Joe King, Radford University
Kim Klein, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Jared Knight*, Iowa State University
Jonathan Kotinek, Texas A & M University
Jaskiran Mathur, St. Francis College
Marjean Purinton, Texas Tech University
Jeremiah Sammons*, Gallaudet University
Art Spisak, University of Iowa
Elaine Torda, Orange County Community College
Audrey Van Acker*, Ball State University

*Student Board Member

Staff

Cindy Hill, Executive Director

chill2@unl.edu

Teri King, Finance Manager

tking5@unl.edu

Carolee Martin Brink, Membership Director

nchc@unl.edu

Kristi Smith, Project Coordinator

nchcassist@unl.edu

Trish Souliere, Technology Manager

psouliere2@unl.edu

Betty Talley, Director of Operations

btalley2@unl.edu

Elizabeth C. Beck (2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:02:18 +0000

Kate Bruce (2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:33 +0000

Bernice Braid (2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:27 +0000

Gary Bell (2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:22 +0000

Elizabeth C. Beck (2010)

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:16 +0000

National Collegiate Honors Council

April 2012

New Membership Database Launch

Annual Conference Registration is Now Open!

Boston, Massachusetts, November 14 – 18, 2012

NCHC Board of Director Nominations

Call for Drama Master Class Facilitator

From the President

Conference 2012

Boston, Massachusetts November 14-18, 2012

Call for NCHC Portz Scholar Nominations

Deadline: June 4, 2012

From the Students

Honors Newsletter Contest Call for Entries

Deadline: June 30, 2012

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Officers

Staff

Conference Registration

March 2012

NCHC Board Nominations

Deadline: May 1, 2012

Conference 2012

Boston, Massachusetts November 14-18 2012

Call for Panelists: Developing in Honors

Deadline: March 30, 2012

2012 Developing in Honors Panel Topics

Call for Panelists: Forum on International Education

Deadline: April 16, 2012

Call for Master Class Proposals

Deadline: April 16, 2012

Call for Newsletter Entries

Contest deadline: June 30, 2012

Call for NCHC Portz Scholar Nominations

Nomination deadline: June 4, 2012

NCHC Book Fair

Conference Sponsorships, Graduate School Fair and Exhibit Space

Still Available in Boston

Congratulations

New President

From the President

From the Treasurer

NCHC Endowment & Reserve

From the Students

Pub Board

Membership Update

MemberPoint

2012 Institutional Membership at an all-time high

NCHC Student Membership

NCHC Summer Institute on Assessment and Evaluation

July 15-21, 2012

Consultant Mini-Grants

Deadline March 30, 2012

Student Service Day

April 13, 2012

Into the Jungle

Memory and Monuments:Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan

Registration Deadline May 1, 2012

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Officers

Board of Directors

Staff

Student Moderators

February 2012

In This Issue:

2012 Conference: Proposal Submission Deadline: March 5, 2012

Call for Drama Master Class Facilitator

Conference Sponsorships

Graduate School Fair and Exhibit Hall Deadline: July 1, 2012

Partners in the Parks: Proposed Projects for 2012

NCHC Summer Institute on Assessment and Evaluation: July 15-21, 2012

President’s Column

Understanding NCHC Finances

From the Students: Student Service Day April 13, 2012

Consultant Mini-Grants: Deadline March 30, 2012

Call for Spring Portz Grant Proposals: Application Deadline March 15, 2012

Call for 2012 Portz Scholars Nominations: Application Deadline June 1, 2012

Memory and Monuments:Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan: Registration Deadline May 1, 2012

Call for Papers: Deadline March 1, 2012

NCHC Officers, Board, & Staff

Boston, Massachusetts
November 14-18 2012

Graduate School Fair and Exhibit Hall
Deadline: July 1, 2012