Distinguished Fellows Program ofThe Honors College

Overview

The Distinguished Fellows Program engages highly meritorious members of the UA faculty with The Honors College for a period of one academic year, during which time they will teach one course per semester tohonors studentsand actively engage with honors students and other faculty members in The Honors College. The goals of the program are:

  • To provide honors students with new and exciting course opportunities in their majors and minors that will challenge their thinking, advance their skills, and assist them in completing their required honors units.
  • To provide courses that meet the best standards of honors education in terms of intellectual intensity, interdisciplinarity, discussion-based work in a seminar setting, and exposure to the latest methodologies and content in the field.
  • To offer members of the faculty the opportunity to teach some of the University’s best and most committed students, and to explore innovative or advanced material with an eager undergraduate audience.
  • To introduce faculty to The Honors College community not only through working with students but by engaging in the decision-making process for honors curriculum and education.

For AY 2014-15, one tenured or tenure-track faculty member from SBS and one from COH will be chosen as Distinguished Fellows. Their commitment to The Honors College will constitute 30% of their workload – 20% teaching and 10% service. The Honors College will work with each college to support this effort. The remaining portion of the faculty workload (70%) will typically be distributed across teaching, research, and service in the home department. Colleges will transfer funds to the department as part of this program, but no individual faculty member may be provided a stipend or payment for participation.

Distinguished Fellows will teach one courseeach semester to Honors students.These courses will be upper-division courses, must count toward one or more majors/minors, and becapable of enrolling 15 or more honors students.The preference is for innovative courses that challenge students in new ways, inviting them to examine a familiar topic from several different perspectives, offering theoretical sophistication, engaging in experiential and applied learning, or in some other way engaging students at a higher level as opposed to demanding additional work from them. Distinguished Fellows will hold regular office hours in The Honors College for students in their classes and other honors students interested in their research. Distinguished Fellows will also participate in the Honors College Curriculum Committee, helping to form the evolving vision of The Honors College academic plan. Distinguished Fellows may also direct honors theses and projects or in other ways provide service to Honors within the limits of their 10% service commitment.

Selection Process

Tenured or tenure-track (and, in SBS, also continuing status or continuing status eligible) faculty members who areinterested in participating in this program must submit a completed application packet to their home college dean’s office by 1 November 2013. The packet should include the following:

(1)A completed application form and two-page narrative (see attached).

(2)A sample of at least one current syllabus, which might be a course that the faculty member proposes to teach for The Honors College.

(3)Summary TCE reports from the last 3 years(if available) and, at the discretion of the applicant, qualitative comments from students in their courses.

(4)A short CV (3 pages maximum) that highlights teaching, research, and service applicable to the program.

(5)A brief letter of support from an administrator (typically the unit head)commenting on the applicant’s qualifications and acknowledging the teaching and service obligation to the Honors College.

Applicants will be evaluated by a group of their peers in their home college, and a ranked list of applicants will be submitted to the Associate Dean of the applicants’ home college for final evaluation and recommendation to the Honors College. The appointment will be made by the Associate Dean of the Honors College.