Minutes of Honors Program Committee for Meeting Held On

Minutes of Honors Program Committee for meeting held on

Monday, October 17, 2016, 8:00 -9:30 am, UI Commons 315A

UHP Committee Members Attending

Minutes:

Welcome- Brian He (Chair), UHP members in attendance decided to meet without a quorum as voting and decision making were not necessary with the agenda.

Honors Leadership Council (HLC) updates – Lauren Kees (HLC President) absent; however, Dr. Campbell reviewed past HLC & UHP events with estimated attendance as listed below.

Honors Enrollment for fall 2016 –Alton summarized overall enrollment numbers - 566 total new students and 173 first-year students, a 16% increase in new students from the 2015-2016 academic year. Reviewed and discussed incoming student profile to ensure Honors is maintaining a high standard. Kathryn is continuing to compile data and an enrollment table will be available by the next meeting.

Final course list for spring 2017 (see attachment) – Alton reviewed overall course schedule including new seminars (INTR 404: Research Proposal Writing, INTR 404: Historical Memory in the NorthWest, INTR 400: Utopia, SOC 404 Political Economy of Eating) as well as a new Core Science 233 How Humans Use Insects. UHP hopes to increase the overall number of courses during the next year to lower class enrollment from 30 to 20-25, students per class as well as increase diversity of courses. Discussed “hybrid courses” in which students and interested faculty work together in traditional courses to create an alternative learning environment such as Genetics 310 with 5 honors students meeting in a recitation section every couple of weeks to read and discuss research papers.

Thursday, September 22: “Mind the Gap: Meditation for Health and Life” Fireside Chat featuring Dr. Pam Bathurst (approximately 20 in attendance) Students appreciated the time to learn how to slow down and practice breathing.
Friday, September 23: “Ex Machina” Movie and a Prof Night featuring Dr. Russell Meeuf (approximately 20 in attendance). Overall numbers for Movie and a Prof Night have increased in comparison to spring 2016 when the event was started.
Sunday, September 25: HLC Bike trip to Pullman (approximately 5 students) Event overlapped with another University function – contributed to low attendance.

Saturday, October 1: HLC sponsored Homecoming Football Game Tailgate Party (~25 students) HLC had anticipated a higher turnout.
Tuesday, October 4: Food for Thought featuring Stephanie Ramirez & Ro. Afatchao (4 students) Small group but good discussion.
Thursday, October 6: Washington State Chinese Lantern Festival (7 students led by Dr. Campbell and Mindy McAllister). Good experience, fun was had by all.
Friday, October 7: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Movie and a Prof Night featuring Dr. Janice Anderson (25 students). Dr. Anderson led a 5-minute discussion at the beginning of the movie to establish historical context then concluded the evening with a group discussion. Excellent film and appreciated by the students.
Saturday, October 8: Day trip to Nez Perce Historical Center, fish hatchery and Dworkshak reservoir (8 students in attendance) Group led by Dr. Campbell and Mindy McAllister)
Tuesday, October 11: Fireside Chat“Sex and the Citizen: Doctors, ‘How-To’ Manuals, and Political Constituencies during the French Revolution around the year 1800” featuring Dr. Sean Quinlan (20 students in attendance)
Honors Book Club, led by Kate Ringer (student)
Already read: Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Abbotand The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
Currently reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson

Update on Honors Director Search – Committee will be made up of 3 faculty members, 1 staff member, and 1 student. Position is currently posted with an initial due date of November 10. Jeanne Stevenson is administrating the search with the expectation of filling the position before Christmas break.

Proposed changes to Honors Curriculum passed by Honors Program Committee will be reviewed by UCC on Monday October 17at 3:30 p.m.

Review of draft Honors Strategic Plan (attached): The first draft of the honorsstrategic plan was created with help from the Ad Hoc Curriculum Committee (Dave Pfeiffer, Bill Smith, Ashley Kerr, Alyssa Ertel, Krista Stanley, and Traci Craig). With additional input from HLC and the Honors Program Committee, Alton will edit and provide an updated draft to Jeanne Stevenson. The UHP Strategic Plan is intended to act as a guide to assist the new director. Discussion included whether to include the “Go on measure” of Societal Impact.

Review and decision making process for honors applications – discussion was postponed for a future meeting

Final Comments (Brian) Request for those committee members not in attendance to review the Strategic plan. Request for Kathryn to review UHP-committee list online to determine if response was sent. (Kathryn found that our “UHP-committee” email list was not sending emails correctly and she will fix it.)

Remaining fall semester meetings:

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