Newsletters 2012

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@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
• All Member Institutions who register 5 – 9 students in one transaction – $50 per Student
• All Member Institutions who register 10 or more students in one transaction – $75 per Student

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.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin for more information or go to our website.

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.

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 adalong@uab.edu.

Web Site Competition for Small College Honors Programs

Deadline: August 13, 2012

Update your websites over the summer and get them ready for the Small College Website Contest. Small colleges who are proud of their online presence-or simply interested in feedback–can enter their site in the Small College Web Site Competition. Web sites will be evaluated by students from multiple colleges on several characteristics. The evaluations will be shared with program administrators at the end of the judging period and competitors have loved the actionable feedback that this contest provides. Winners will be announced at the NCHC national conference in Boston.

Eligible programs are at four-year institutions with an institutional size of fewer than 4001 undergraduate students or a program size of fewer than 76 students.

There is no fee to enter the competition, but there is an entry form to complete. Entries will be accepted through Monday, August 13, 2012.

Conference Book Fair

Deadline: September 1, 2012

The book fair is coming! The book fair is coming! And we need and want your input – please. This year’s NCHC conference book fair will be hosted by Barnes & Noble, and we would like to customize it to the interests of the conference attendees.

We welcome suggestions for works of all kinds, 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, or the latest fiction.

By submitting requests on the online form or by sending requests directly to Betty Talley at btalley2@unl.edu no later than September 1 you can help ensure the quality and value of the book fair.

~George Mariz, Pub Board

Memory & Monuments: Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan, a City as Text™ Institute

June 20-24, 2012

The deadline is quickly approaching for the Ground Zero/Lower Manhattan faculty institute this summer in New York City. Hosted by the NCHC Honors Semesters Committee and Long Island University Brooklyn, this institute will focus on the interlocking concepts of memory, change, and time through exploration of the monuments and memorials of lower Manhattan. Lower Manhattan, home to a wide range of memorial sites, offers participants the opportunity to consider a range of important questions. 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 Institute brochure is on the NCHC website and questions should be directed to Bernice Braid at bernice.braid@liu.edu. Please complete the online form prior to the deadline of May 1.

Summer Institute on Assessment & 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 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.

JNCHC: Call for Papers

Deadline: September 1, 2012

The 13.2 issue of JNCHC (fall/winter 2012) will focus on “Honors Around the Globe” and will feature essays about honors programs in countries other than the United States and designed for students in those countries, not for U.S. students. Current plans include essays on the Netherlands, Chile, Peru, Mexico, China, Australia, Qatar, and Oxford, UK. Honors administrators, faculty, and students from countries other than the U.S. are invited to submit essays that might describe their programs, curricula, extracurricular activities, or other practical and/or theoretical matters connected with honors education in their national context. The deadline for the JNCHC 13.2 issue is September 1, 2012.

Given the focus of the 13.2 issue of JNCHC, we will be including neither general research essays nor a Forum, but those features will return with the 14.1 issue (spring/summer 2013), for which we invite research essays on any topic of interest to the honors community. That issue will also include a Forum focused on the theme “Nontraditional Students in Honors.” The deadline for the 14.1 issue is March 1, 2013. As always, authors are invited to submit at any time and will receive external reviews and decisions about publication within, typically, two weeks.

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