Newsletters 2005

Edited by
Patti Speelman (speelman@unlserve.unl.edu)
Carol Lamb (cjlamb@iastate.edu)
NCHC Website:   www.nchchonors.org
NCHC email: nchc@unlserve.unl.edu

Please remember to distribute this e-letter to other faculty, staff, and students who might be
interested.

Included in this month’s e-letter are the following:

• ED-ifying News
• Headquarters Move
• Conference 2005 Information
• JNCHC call for essays
• Honors in Practice call for submissions
• Peterson’s Guide 4th EditionHonors Colleges Discussion Listserve (new information)
• Institutions that joined/renewed after March 7

Upcoming Deadlines/Events

Deadlines
April 15:         Consultants Center applications due to Lydia Lyons (ldaniel@hccfl.edu) April 22: Deadline for JNCHC Forum essays on what honors students are like now
(adalong@uab.edu)
May 1:            Deadline for submissions to the inaugural issue of Honors in Practice (adalong@uab.edu)
June 3:            Portz Scholars deadline (aeisenberg@utsa.edu)
June 30:          11th Annual Honors Newsletter Contest (klyons2@unl.edu)
Committee Meetings
April 16:         Finance Committee, Contact Gary Bell (gary.bell@ttu.edu)
May 20 – 22   Publications Board,  Contact Hallie Savage (hsavage@clarion.edu) June 16 – 19 Honors Semesters Committee,  Contact Bernice Braid (braid@liu.edu) June 22 – 25   Executive Committee Meeting/Retreat, Contact Virginia McCombs (vmccombs@okcu.edu)
July 22 – 23    Conference 2006 Pre-planning meeting,  Contact Kate Bruce (bruce@uncw.edu)

ED-ifying News! by Patricia Ann Speelman (Patti)

Hello! I’m your brand new Executive Director and I am deeply honored (no pun intended) that you have selected me to establish NCHC’s first professional office. As you know, this month we’re hard at work getting set up in a beautiful suite of rooms in the honors program building at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I can’t wait to hear from you! I look forward to meeting many of you in person (at the Finance Committee meeting next weekend, at the Pub Board meeting in May, the Semesters Committee and Executive Committee meetings in June, the Conference Planning Committee meeting in July and, of course, at the conference next fall) and by phone and e-mail beginning
right now! I’d love to talk with any and all of you about your questions, your concerns, and your ideas about NCHC. What a thrill for me to get to know this venerable organization as we all work together to achieve an exciting vision of growth and influence. I can’t do it without YOU. So thanks for your help. You can reach me by phone at 402-472-9150, by e-mail at Speelman@unlserve.unl.edu, and by post at NCHC, 1100 Neihardt Residence Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 540 N. 16th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0627.   Happy Spring!

Headquarters Move

As we write this newsletter, NCHC headquarters is being moved to a permanent location at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.  Executive Director Patti Speelman began her duties on April 1, 2005.  She now has an address, phone number and email address.

NCHC,
1100 Neihardt Residence Center
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
540 N. 16th St
Lincoln, NE  68588-1627
Phone:  402/472-9150
Fax:  402/472-9152
Email:  nchc@unlserve.unl.edu spellman@unlserve.unl.edu

Patti brings both energy and terrific ideas for NCHC. She has hit the ground running, first by attending the Conference 05 section head meeting in Kansas City on April 2, then attending the Great Plains regional conference April 8-10, hiring the Lincoln based NCHC staff, and settling into the new set of offices.  Please take a minute to welcome her to our organization.

During the next few weeks transition plans are to have both the Iowa State NCHC office, phone lines and email and the Nebraska office open for business.  However, as we make the move, it is necessary to pack up files, monographs and most of the NCHC materials and ship them to Lincoln.  Once there, it will take the Lincoln office some time to unpack the moving pallets and boxes and to organize the materials; therefore, for questions about NCHC in general:

Before April 30, 2005: write to NCHC, Iowa State University, 2130 Jischke Honors Building, Ames, IA  50011-1150.  Email:  nchc@iastate.edu or call 515-294-9188.

After May 1, 2005:  write to NCHC, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1100 Neihardt Residence Center, 540 N. 16th St, Lincoln, NE  68588-0627.  Email: nchc@unlserve.unl.edu or call 402-472-9150.

Prior to July 31, 2005: all 2005 Conference questions should directed to NCHC, Iowa State University, 2130 Jischke Honors Building, Ames, IA  50011-1150.  Email:   nchc@iastate.edu or call 515-294-9188.

After July 31, 2005: Conference questions should be directed to the NCHC office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

We appreciate your patience during this transition period.  We believe your patience will be
rewarded.

Conference 2005, St. Louis, MO, October 26 – 30

Conference Proposal Submissions Update
Section heads met at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS, April 2, to go over the proposals and determine acceptances and categories. Acceptance/denial notices will be emailed by the end of April to those who submitted proposals. These will be sent to the primary presenter; that person will have the responsibility of notifying co-presenters.

Registration forms
On-line forms will be available at www.nchchonors.org on May 1 for Conference Registration and City As Text© Registration.  Through September 30, the registration fee for attendees from member institutions is $250; for attendees from non-member institutions $500. After that date the fees increase to $300 and $550 respectively. Conference fees include admittance to all sessions as well as the President’s Welcome Reception, the student party, the St. Louis Experience, the President’s Luncheon, and continental breakfasts on both Friday and Saturday.

City as Text©
The registration form for City as Text© will be up on the NCHC web site (www.nchchonors.org)on May 1. Bernice Braid and committee have worked hard to make the St. Louis CAT, Thursday, October 27,  a memorable as well as a valuable learning experience.  Locations vary from the Black World History Museum, to Forest Park, to Union Station and points in between.

The St. Louis Experience
The St. Louis Experience, Friday, October 28, will include admittance to the Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse, the location of the Dred Scott decision.  Because these venues will not hold everyone at once, the evening will start with heavy hors d’oeurvers at the hotel and participants will visit the sites at their leisure.  The evening will end back at the hotel with dessert and jazz!

Hotel Information
We realize that many of you may be planning your budget for this year’s conference, so you will find below information about the hotel and room rates.  Hotel reservations for the 2005 Conference opens July 1.   PLEASE do not call the hotel to make your reservations yet since they are not yet ready to process requests for NCHC Conference rooms.

Reservations should be made by phone directly to Marriott reservations: 888/225-6459 or 314/621-9600.  Be sure to reference either National Collegiate Honors Council or NCHC when making your reservation to qualify for the conference rate.

Renaissance Grand Hotel, St. Louis, MO
Room rates:
Single/Double occupancy                              $179.00
Triple occupancy                                            $199.00
Quadruple occupancy                                     $219.00
(No more than 4 occupants will be allowed in any one room.)

The cut-off date for the conference room rates is Friday, September 23, 2005.  After this date, the hotel will determine whether or not it can accept reservations on a space- and rate-available basis at the National Collegiate Honors Council group rate.

Call for Consultants
Again this year, Lydia Lyons is asking for your help in the Conference Consultant’s Center. Please contact Lydia Lyons; Hillsborough Community College; 10414 E. Columbus Dr; Tampa, FL  33619 for more information.  Email  ldaniel@hccfl.edu.  Please respond by
April 15.

Book Sales at the Conference
Also again this year, you will be able to purchase books by the plenary speakers as well as other books that might be of particular interest to you.  If you have suggestions for books to feature, please send the title, author, publisher and ISBN to George Mariz, george.mariz@wwu.edu.

The 2005 Portz Scholars Competition
NCHC institutional members are invited to nominate one paper per institution written by an undergraduate honors student for the 2005 Portz Scholars competition.  The three 2005 Portz Scholars will be featured at a plenary session at the 2005 National Collegiate Honors Conference in St. Louis. In addition, each Portz Scholar receives a $250 stipend. (The NCHC Portz Fund Committee will pay the Scholar’s conference registration fees, and the nominating institution agrees to make a good faith effort to defray travel expenses of the Portz Scholar.)  Complete information is available at the NCHC website (www.nchchonors.org), scroll down to the bottom of the home page and
click on the Portz Fund website.

The Portz Nomination Form, twelve (12) copies of the nominated paper, one (1) copy of a one- page abstract, and a letter of nomination must be postmarked by June 3, 2005 to:  Dr. Ann Eisenberg; Honors College; University of Texas at San Antonio; 6900 N. Loop 1604 West; San Antonio, TX  78249.  All entries must be postmarked  by June 3, 2005.

Eleventh Annual Honors Newsletter Contest (sponsored by NCHC Publications Board)
The Pub Board is soliciting submissions for the 11th Annual Honors Newsletter Contest.  To enter your Honors Program’s newsletter, send 4 copies of each of two issues (a total of 8 newsletters) and a 4 copies of a cover letter containing the following information:

First, select the category that best fits your newsletter:

A.  Student published
B.  Faculty/administrator and/or student published

Next, supply the following:

1.   Number of honors students in your program
2.   Number of copies per issue.
3.   Number of issues published per year.
4.   The cost of printing one issue.
5.   The total cost of production and mailing a single issue
6.    Estimated time to edit and lay out one issue.
7.   The target audience (honors students only, honors faculty, all faculty etc.)
8.   The purpose of the newsletter
9.   The name and title of the program director
10.  The name(s) of the editor(s)

Winners will be announced at the President’s luncheon in St. Louis.  We are planning a special session at the conference on How To Edit a Newsletter.

Send your newsletter entries and cover letter by June 30, 2005 to:  Karen Lyons, Ph.D. ; University of Nebraska, Lincoln; 118 NRC, 540 North 16th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588-0659

JNCHC Forum from Ada Long

The Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council (JNCHC) occasionally includes a “Forum” section, wherein Honors administrators and faculty are invited to respond to an essay on a particular topic.  We had such a forum section a year ago on what constitutes research in honors.  For the 2005 spring/summer issue, we want to include a forum on what honors students are like now.

I would like to invite and encourage each of you to consider writing a short essay on what you perceive to be the defining characteristics of honors students today. I am not soliciting research articles but opinion pieces.  The JNCHC Editorial Board will exercise quality control based on writing and ideas, but we are interested in getting a broad range of your opinions on this issue.

The suggested length of these essays is 1000 words or so, and the deadline for submission is Friday, April 22.  Please send all essays by email attachment to adalong@uab.edu.

Honors in Practice from Ada Long

Honors in Practice (HIP) accommodates the need and desire for articles about nuts-and-bolts issues, innovative practices in individual Honors Programs, and other Honors topics of concern to the membership.

The first volume of HIP will be published in 2005, with a deadline of May 1.  In future years the deadline will be January 1.

HIP complements the semi-annual scholarly journal of the NCHC, Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council (JNCHC).  Both journals employ a double-blind review system. JNCHC publishes scholarly essays that stress research in and on honors education.  HIP publishes practical and descriptive essays: descriptions of successful honors courses, suggestions for out-of-class experiences, administrative issues, and other matters that were formerly published in the National Honors Report.

Ada Long and Dail Mullins are the editors of both HIP and JNCHC, but the journals have separate, non-overlapping editorial boards that review all submissions.

All submissions to HIP should be forwarded via email attachment (unless another mode of submission is approved in advance) to Ada Long at  adalong@uab.edu.  For inquiries about the journal, you may also contact Ada Long or Dail Mullins at 850.927.3776 or, by regular mail, at316 Cook Street, Saint George Island, FL 32328.  Submissions are being accepted now for the 2005 inaugural volume of HIP.

Peterson’s Guide 4th Edition

Entries were due by April 1 and should have been sent to Fern.Oram@peterson.com.  If you have not yet submitted your information but intended to, please contact Fern Oram at once. Reminder:  Only institutions with fully paid 2005 dues will be included in the book.  Once we have a list of all the schools that have submitted information, we’ll check them against our database and notify those institutions who do not hold a current membership.

Honors Colleges Discussion Listserve (new information)

An  ad hoc committee, chaired by Peter Sederberg, was charged with determining the basic characteristics of an Honors College.  After much time and effort, the committee wrote a draft document for discussion at the 2004 Conference in New Orleans.  Taking into account the suggestions and discussion that happened there, the committee revised their document which is available on the NCHC web site (www.nchchonors.org). In addition, we have set up a listserv for those of you who are interested in continuing the discussion.  If you are interested in joining this listserve, please send an email to:    majordomo@iastate.edu In the body of the email type: subscribe nchchonorscolleges   You must type  this in the body of the message, and leave a space between subscribe and nchchonorscolleges.

We have added a page to the Honors College Discussion on the NCHC website that includes all the email conversation that has happened on this listserve, collated into one document.  To access this, go to the NCHC web site (www.nchchonors.org), scroll down to Fully Developed Honors College Discussion Group, and choose either link (the discussion so far or the Basic Characteristics).  We will continue to add new email discussions to the bottom of the discussion page.

Institutions that joined/renewed after March 7 when the 2005 Handbook Update was printed