National Honors Report, June 1982 - Tennessee Tech University

..I--- - 

National Collegiate Honors Council 

[i&NEWSLETTER 

NEWSLEXTER 10 (Vol. III, #2:,) 

PRELIMS 

What You Might Wish to Look At, p. 1 

OFFICIAL UTTERANCES 

TABLE OF CONTENTS ' 

Grey Matter, by Grey Austin (Ohio State), p. 1 

The Search for Workshop Topics for Albuquerque Goes on, by Bill Daniel 

(Winthrop), p. 2 

Concerning a Change in NCHC's By-Laws, by Lothar Tresp (Georgia), p. 2 

FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY 

A New Idea: the University of Baltimore's 1983 Honors Smr Session, 

by Minna Doskow (Baltimore), p. 2 

Getting It All Together: The Articulation of Honors Programs, Walter 

Hohenstein (Maryland), p. 3 

Honors Programs in the Budgeting for Public Higher Education: Illinois 

as a Representative Case, by Ira Cohen (Illinois State), p. 4 

Funding an Honors Program on a Shoestring, by Sterling Kernak (Western 

Illinois), p. 5 

Ball State University: Ever on the Ball (As you Might Say), p. 6 

The Stress in Excellence: Northern Illinois U., by Bill Johnson, p. 6 

Converting Study Abroad Into an Honors Experience: The University System 

of Georgia, by Charlotte McClure (Georgia State), p. 8 

A New Idea Concerning Alumni? Maryland at College Park, p. 9 

The Trumans That Bloom in the Spring, Tra-la, p. 9 

Brief Notices, p. 10 

Directorship Available at Delaware, p. 10 

PARAGRAFFLTI 

Candour with Students Concerning Budget and Recruitment of Faculty, 

Lisle Sunaner Intercultural Programs in USA and India, p. 10 

The Irene Wang Memorial Awards, p, 10 

Salisbury State's Essay Competition, p. 10 

Wisconsin at Lacrosse's 'Vhe Catalyst," p. 11 

Shelton Williams and the Washington Sumner Forum, p. 11 

What is a Peer Career Counselor? p. 11 

The Winter '83 Edition of Kansas U.'s "Report," p. 11 

Syracuse's "Cormnent Cards," p. 11 

Marshall Scholar Kathryn Bretscher, p. 11 

Bill Mech's Protege/, Jay Luo, p. 11 

June, 1982 

p. 10 

: 

.

HONORIFICS: OR THE DOINGS OF NCHC AND THE VARIOUS HONORS COUNCILS 

A Reply to Sam Schuman's "Inflamnatory Meditation," by Scott Vaughn 

(Michigan State), p. 11 

The National Comnission on Excellence in Education--Continued, p. 12 

The Atlanta Hearing of the Conmission on Excellence in Education, by 

Charlotte McClure (Georgia State), p. 12 

The Tennessee Honors Council's 1982 Conference, p. 13 

Did the "Olde Handes" Idea Work Out Successfully at Omaha? by Robert 

Thomson (Maine at Orono), p. 13 

The 1982 Illinois Region State Conference, p. 13 

The Two-Year College Honors Coarnittee at Work, p. 13 

BYANDABOUTSTUDENTS 

Honors Semesters (y Puerto Rico, Especialmente), by Bernice Braid 

(Long Island), p. 18 

A Call for Material, by Eileen Mooney (New Rochelle), p. 14 

Internships with CC Available, p. 15 

Nancy Nethery's "Unique Experience," p. 15 

A New Idea: A Magazine For and By Illinois 

North American Essay Contest, p. 15 

Region Honors Students, p. 15 

OUR REGULAR COLUMNISTS 

Faith Gabelnick (Maryland at College Park), Selecting and Training Honors 

Faculty (First of a Few...), p. 16 

Wally Ray (Southern Mississippi), More Bent Notes from theBlue Harpoon, p. 16 

Jim Herbert (Carnegie Foundation), Human Capital, Humane Labor , p. 17 

ECIRY! EXTRY! 

Big Honors Powwow at SUNY, p. 18 

UNS Best Paper Award Winner: Martin Bertocchi, p. 18 

Pitt's Pitch; or Guy's Guide, p. 18 

What NCHC Newsletter Needs From You, p. 19 

Temporary Change of Editor's Address 

\ 

Beginning June 5 and ending September 1, the Newsletter 

Editor, John Portz, may be reached at P.O. Box 34, 

Chincoteague, VA 23336 Tel: 

also send your comnunications 

they will take a week longer 

c 

N 

(804) 336-3069. You may 

to the usual address, but 

to reach their destination. 

The NATIONAL COLLEGIATE HONORS 

cated to the encouragement of undergraduate 

COUNCH, 

honors 

(NCHC) 

learning. 

is a professional organization composed of faculty, 

The nationwide membership of NCHC includes both 

administrators, and students 

public and private, large and 

dedismall, 

colleges and universities. 

The Council provides its members with information about the latest developments in honors education, encourages the interinstitutional use of learning 

resources, fosters curricular experimentation, and supplies expertise and support for institutions that are establishing honors programs or that are seek- 

ing to maintain, revise, or evaluate existing programs. It also institutes educational experiments of its own. 

The NCHC NEWSLETTER is edited by John PortL, 3151 Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, Cnllege Park, 

ted NEWSLETTER materials and personal communications for Hr. Ports should be sent to him at the above address. 

MI) 20742. (301) 454-2731. Submit- 

The NEWSLETTER is printed at the University of Georgia which serves as headquarters for the NCHC offtce of the Executive Secretary-Treasurer 

Lothar L. Tresp. All communications concerning subscription, membership, address changes, and other matters of business should be sent to him at: 

302 Academic Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. (404) 542-1050.

PRELIMS 

&AT You MIGHT WISH To LGOK AT 

The Executive Secretary-Treasurer’s Teutonic sense 

of order and sequence has called upon us to install a 

“Volume/Number” wording above our Table of Contents. 

Rather hoity-toity. To us, this is still ole Number 10. 

But we comply, Lothar, we comply. 

This issue is distinquished by a number of informa- 

tive and well-written short pieces by various hands. These 

will be particularly obvious in the section entitled “From 

Around the Country.” Note the Illinois sequence-well, 

a sort of sequence--by Ira Cohen, Sterling Kemak, and 

Bill Johnson. Bill’s item is really a reduced form of a 

larger piece based upon his research. We’d be surprised 

if you did not find it difficult to put down his treatment 

of the nature of stress among Honors students. 

The State of Maryland is also particularly well re- 

presented in this issue in the work of Minna Doskow, Walt 

Hohenstein, and a new student idea from College Park for 

making use of Honors alumni. Walt is new to Newsletter, 

and he deals most helpfully with the conmon problem of 

articulation. We put Minna’s contribution first, because 

we think she and the University of Baltimore have got 

hold of an A#1 idea which could be duplicated by a number 

of other Honors Programs. 

We are under a comfortable burden of debt ‘co the State 

of Georgia also, since we have received contributions from 

Charlotte McClure (2 of them!), Nancy Nethery, and Lothar 

Tresp. Why these 3 States should have such high visibility 

in this issue we’re sure we don’t know. Just worked out 

that way. 

There are, of course, the productions of our regular 

columnists, from among whom Brad Bums has had to excuse 

himself this issue. He promises to return to the quartet 

to sing in harmony in Number 11. Forgiven, Brad. 

Bernice Braid reminds us of the Puerto Rican Honors 

Semester coming up next Spring, and the Illinois Region 

(State, that is) students have come up with a new idea 

for a State-wide magazine for Honors students. In fact, 

this issue bears the boon of 3 (hopefully) “New Ideas.” 

Hunt for ‘em. Maybe they are things you can use. 

President Austin outlines some provocative and chal- 

lenging new lines along which he hopes to develop NCHC. 

Our apologies to those of you who have turned in de- 

scriptions of unusual Honors courses. We had thought to 

publish them in this issue of Newsletter, but space would 

not permit it. You have our vow--now made for the second 

time to some of you!--that a spcacial section on unusual 

Honors courses will appear in the September issue of News- 

letter. 

For the rest of you: note that Newsletter is still 

on the prowl for Honors course titles and descriptions. 

Do submit them over the Summer. 

In this issue you will have an opportunity to read Bill 

Johnson’s fine essay on Honors and non-Honors student stress 

or “burnout . ” Newsletter would be interested in receiving 

retlurks on “Honors Director burnout,” if there is such a 

thing. If rcading Bill’s study finds you nodding in agree- 

ment and applying some of his categories and characteristics 

to yourself, taking pen in hand may help to ease the pain. 

Anonymity is guaranteed if you prefer. 

And there’s lots more to pick and choose from. Our 

special thanks to our many communicators. Newsletter 11 

will be ccminp out abouL the middle of September, just 

beiort: the uncional convrnLion aL Albuquerque, but-ouy 

lhvt~ a really good Sumner. 

GREY MATTER 

OFFICIAL 

UTTERANCES 

Any report of the deliberations of the Executive Canmittee 

must begin bv sc!aowledning the loveliness of the 

Albuquerque setting and climate and the nraciousness of 

Bob Evans’ hospitality. 

As a foretaste of the October con- 

ference, 

it simply affirmed my desire to spend a few extra 

days in the area, either before or after the conference 

to visit Santa Fe, Taos, Chaco Canyon, Bandelier Natio& 

Monument and a few other places. Lothar and I plaved ten- 

nis in 70 degree sunshine and also managed, with the other 

members of the Executive Committee, to conduct a bit of 

business on your behalf. Here is a quick swry of major 

decisions, after which I will move on to offer a few new 

opportunities for your participation: 

1. We approved the report of the Conference Program 

Committee for the 1982 conference. with the theme. “Know- 

ledge, the Disciplines, and Interdisciplinary Studv.” See 

? more complete report on the conference in this issue and 

In the Spring Forum for Honors. 

-- 

2. We approved a system bv which the Form will be 

catalogued along with all other items for distribution and 

as the basis of a pattern for the national office to re- 

spond to requests. 

3. We decided that all future handbooks shall be pro- 

duced by the Forum for Honors, either as special issues in 

the annual cycle of the Forum or as supplemental issues. 

1983. 

4. We approved the Puerto Kican Semester for Spring, 

See mall from Bernice Braid. 

5. We encouraged the Small College Honors Ccmnittee 

and the Two-Year College Honors Committee to move forward 

with their plans for handbooks. 

6. We noted Joe Riley’s promise that a new Consul- 

tants List will be available within the next few weeks. 

7. We accepted a $2,530 gift from Edythe and John 

Portz to be applied to scholarships for the Puerto Rican 

Semester, with the students holding them to be named as 

“Portz Scholars .‘I 

8. We voted $2,000 to the University of New Mexico 

to cover losses in planning the ill-fated Earth, Air, Fire, 

Water Semester . 

9. We decided not to approve a proposal from the 

Pittsburrh Undergraduate Review for annual support. while 

leaving the way open for further negotiations to relate 

PAIR with NCHC. 

- 

10. We authorized the Executive Secretary-Treasurer 

to purchase a micro-computer system, with appropriate 

software, for the national office. 

Under the heading of New Business, the Executive Com- 

mittee has taken several initiatives that I hope you will 

find interesting enough that you willwantto participate 

in one of them. Here they are: 

1 An nrl tioc Long Range Planning Committee is to be 

formed: aZ % ~111 lncllldp a small number of persons well 

known in higher education circles who are not Aembers of 

NCHC . The NCHC members of the Committee will be as widely 

representative as possible. The concern that prompted 

this recmendation is that while NCHC has developed a 

fairly solid foundation of internal service for its members, 

it has played no substantial role in contributjnp 

the cause of higher education In eeneral. 

2. An ad hoc ccmmittee to prepare a proposal for a 

national membfrship drive is to be appointed.

- 

f 

3. There will be a committee to set guidelines and 

to review candidates for honorary life memberships. 

4. Each year the annual conference includes workshops 

for new directors, and it now appears time to prepare a 

Handbook for New Directors. An ad hoc comaittee will be 

ionned for this purpose. 

5. A Committee on the Status of Women and Minorities 

in Honors will be formed under the chairmanship of Becky 

Martin to follow up our earlier studies of these issues. 

There is interest ini but no committee to be formed 

yet, the professional achievements of honors students. 

This is an issue to which we will return at the fall meeting, 

but we would welcome ideas about ways in which we can fol- 

low up with sane kind of definitive report of honor gradu- 

ates. 

We have taken steps toward the compiling of a history 

of NCHC, indeed, a history of honors, and we would welcome 

the efforts of many persons to prepare an oral history by 

taping interviews with honors pioneers and to work in the 

NCHC archives at the University of Georgia and in other 

places to locate material for such a history. Newsletter 

#9 and the Spring ‘82 issue of Forum for Honors both carry 

notices of this project. 

If you would like to participate in any of these com- 

mittees and projects, please let me know, Committees will 

be formed in the near future, and we hope that they will 

have begun their work so that at least a oreliminarv re- 

port will be available at the October meetings of the Execu- 

tive Corrmittee and the Membership. Mv address is 9 Denny 

Hall, 164 W. 17th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210. Phone number 

is 614/422-5104. 

(Refer to the next issue of the Forum for Honors for 

a complete statement of the minutes, rncluding some de- 

cisions not noted here.) 

C. Grey Austin 

THE SEARCH FOR WORKSHOP TOPICS FOR PUUQUERQUE Goes ON 

Planning for the 1982 Conference is being finalized, 

but we are lookine for a few more workshon tooics to com- 

plete the program: Our theme is interdi&ipl&-y study, 

and we would narticularlv like to have a few more mini- 

courses that exemplify (rather than talk about) courses 

or various teaching methods that illustrate the interdis- 

ciplinary mode. 

We also need student-directed workshops. So if you 

know of students who would be interested in developing work- 

shops on such topics as student teachine and co-teaching, 

Honors and competition, Honors student organizations (role 

in Honors and on campus). Academic comnetition, etc.. please 

send alone their names. 

Please call or write me if vou have a workshoo tooic 

or mini-course for consideration. We need your shared 

exnerience 

Thanks. 

to make this as valuable an experience as wssit 

1 

AIY 

, 

I 

, 

William W. Daniel 

NCHC Vice-President 

Honors Office 

Winthroo College 

Rock Hill, SC 29733 

(803) 323-2295 

CQNCERNING A CAGE IN NCHC's BY-LAWS 

The following change in the By-laws is being proposed 

by the Executive Coarnittee and will be acted upon at the 

business meeting of NCHC in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 

October 1982: 

Ile. 

2 

Present: 

Article 7: Fiscal Year 

Section 1. The Fiscal Year of the Council s;aIl be 

July 1 through June 30. 

to be changed as follows: 

Article 7: Fiscal Year 

Section 1. The Fiscal Year of the Council shall be 

concurrent with the Calendar Year. 

Explanation: 

_.-..- __ .- 

1. The Calendar Year coincides mre closely with 

the changes of officers (particularly of the Executive 

Secretary-Treasurer) and of the new members of the Fxecu- 

tive Council after the December elections. 

2. The Annual Report of the Executive Secretary/ 

Treasurer for the completed calendar year would be sub- 

mitted to the Executive Council at its Spring Meeting 

and would be published in either the Spring or Sumner 

issue of the Fs An interim report on the current 

year and a budget proposal for the subsequent year would 

be presented at the Fall Meeting of the Council. 

3. NCHC, Inc. is now an “incorporated” organization 

and must comply with Federal reporting requirements. The 

fiscal cycle outlined above (under 2) would simplify the 

reporting procedure and time schedule with regard to the 

IRS April deadline. 

Lothar Tresp 

Executive Secretary-Treasurer 

FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY 

A NEW IDEA: THE UNIVERSITY OF PALTIKRE'S 1983 HONORS 

Sumz~ SESSION 

It is always interesting to see an Honors project being 

developed from the inspiration of the NCHC Honors Semesters. 

In Newsletter 9, p. 10, we paid some attention to Western 

Michigan’s Washington Semester, which has just completed 

its run--we hope to get an account of it for you--and which 

is avowedly modeled upon NCHC’s two Washington Semesters. 

For the past year we have kept one quiet eye cocked on 

certain stirrings at the University of Baltimore. Minna 

Doskow, HD and Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts at Baltimore, 

had alerted us to the fact that she and her colleagues were 

up to something quite unusual-an Honors educational ex- 

perience focussed upon the City of Baltimore, which, as 

you may know, not only has rich roots in America’s past 

but is undergoing arenaissancein the present. AS you 

will see in Minna’s ensuing discussion, “Regional Approaches 

to Social-Cultural History: Baltimore in Context” reflects 

the educational principles and structures which are to be 

found in any NCHC Semester, and it has been consciously de- 

signed to do so. 

What is particularly intriguing is the fact that two 

Honors Programs at individual institutions, unaided by 

NCXC, have felt able to design and support quite complex 

and experimental Honors learning experiences. That, it 

seems to us, is a big step forward. Along with Minna (in 

her seventh paragraph) we hope that Baltimore’s example 

will serve to stimulate similar regional and local ven- 

tures in the future. c 

What follows then is the first “public” description 

by Minna of what the University of Baltimore Honors Program 

proposes to do next Sumner. More will follow in subsequent

Newsletters; 

“The University of Baltimore, an upper division and 

graduate university located in the City of Baltimore, is 

planning,an interdisciplinary Honors Surmrer Session for 

1983 on Regional Approaches to Social-Cultural History: 

Baltimore in Context. ’ This Sumner Session is planned not 

only for Honors students at the University of Baltimore, 

but is also open to Honors students at other colleges 

and universities. It has the support of other colleges 

in Maryland and the endorsement of the Maryland Collegiate 

Honors Council. 

Located in the heart of Baltimore, the University has 

taken advantage of its setting by incorporating an urban 

focus in a number of its liberal arts programs. This has 

resulted in a history of curricular development related 

to its setting, and in an accumulation of both resources 

and faculty expertise in the study of urban society. Our 

proposed summer session builds on these accumulated strengths 

and resources, our unique location, and our desire for 

inter-collegiate Honors cooperation in Maryland. 

Our program combines seminars, scholar-in-residence, 

numberous guest speakers and discussions, media presen- 

tations, workshops on research methods, independent re- 

search, and field trips in an intensive Honors experience 

with the opportunity for publication of student papers 

in the College of Liberal Arts Honors Monograph Series. 

The curriculum itself consists of two parts. Most 

important is a B-credit seminar focusing on social and 

cultural history, literature, and the arts within the 

regional context of Baltimore and the Chesapeake. Second 

is a 3-credit faculty-guided independent research project 

on some aspect of Baltimore history and culture. 

The first part of the 6-credit seminar exposes students 

to the different and often complementary ways that histor- 

ians and geographers have sketched out patterns of growth 

in urban regions. It raises the questions: What does such 

growth mean? How has it shaped our lives beyond the self- 

evident proposition that most Americans live in metro- 

politan regions’? 

Subsequent parts of the seminar bring those questions 

to the center of attention by encouraging students to ex- 

amine literature, politics, and social structure as re- 

vealed in local documents of several kinds, from the 

memoirs of H.L. Mencken to the census tracts for an inrni- 

grant neighborhood at the turn of the century. 

. 

Not only does Sumner Session expand the Honors Progr 

at the University of Baltimore in two new directions by 

adding a new time, Suamer, and a new course for Honors 

students; it also initiates a model for inter-collegiate 

honors cooperation in Maryland by opening admission to 

the Sumner Session to all Honors students enrolled in 

colleges and universities both within Maryland and else- 

where. It also presents these students with an opportuni 

to undertake challenging advanced study which crosses dis 

ciplinary lines at the upper-division level in an atmos- 

phere that encourages both breadth and depth in a com- 

munit,/ of their intellectual peers. This cooperative 

project enables students at various institutions of highe 

education in Maryland to join with their intellectual 

peers throughout the state in an intensive integrated 

learning experience combining classroom and field trips 

in a new subject area. It will amrk the first all-state 

Honors Program attempted in Maryland and could be a proto 

type Ior other states to follow. 

It also provides a model for faculty to experiment 

with interdisciplinary teaching strategies, with curricular 

develcpment, and with cooperative activity among several 

institutions that might be especially appropriate in these 

times of tight budgets. While the two primary faculty 

teachfing in the summer session, Dr. D. R. Beirne and Dr. 

Thcma*, Jacklin, are fran the University of Baltkrore, the 

guest lecturers, scholar-in-residence, and resource people 

who wrll participate in the course are drawn from various 

colleges in Maryland and several from outside the state. 

3 

We decided to approach the study of Baltimore fran a 

regional perspective, that is, to study Baltimore in its 

role as the center of the Chesapeake area. This makes sense 

in two ways, one scholarly, one practical. First, it draws 

upon areas of faculty expertise, publication, and previous 

teaching. It also enables us to call upon the expertise of 

scholars working in nearby institutions, thereby exposing 

students to a variety of viewpoints while keeping costs 

within reason. Second, the subject matter allows students 

to use the resources available in the Maryland Historical 

Society, the Maryland Room of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 

the Baltimore Industrial Museum, this university’s own ur- 

ban archive, and other local institutions, all of them 

within easy walking distance of the housing set aside for 

residents during the Sumner session. 

To fund our grand scheme, we have applied to the Na- 

tional Endowment for the Humanities for a pilot education 

grant. We are also planning to apply to other foundations 

for funding, Moreover, in an effort to help students fi- 

nancially we are now approaching local businesses and other 

organizations with the hope of persuading them to offer 

tuition fellowships for students in need of tuition assis- 

tance . ” 

GETTING IT ALL ~&ETHER: IHE !JRTICULATION OF t!mxs PRO- 

GRAMS: ~-HE STATE OF MARYLAND 

Articulation is a very ccarnon problem among Honors 

Programs, but, rather surprisingly, very little has been 

written about it. In fact, the only article that Newsletter 

can recall on the subject appeared in the Winter, 1980 (Vol 

X, #2) issue of Forum for Honors, pp.Zl-‘23, and was written 

by Constance Carlson an5 Sam Schuman. It dealt with the 

methods invented for integrating Honors at Bangor Cannunity 

College and the University of Maine at Orono. 

So it seemed to us time to supply those of you who are 

struggling with the problem with a bit of help, this time 

from Dr. Walter Hohenstein, who has been Director of Arti- 

culation for the Central Administration at the University 

of Maryland for some years now and is thus thoroughly familiar 

with untying the knots involved. Moreover, Walt operates, 

really, on a State-wide basis and his remarks may be of 

especial use to those of you who have to live with large, 

interlocking academic systems. At any rate, here are his 

thoughts on the matter. If you should wish enlargement: 

Dr. Walter V. Hohenstein, Director of Articulation, Wilson 

H. Elkins Building, 7019 Adelphi Road, Hyattsville, MD 

20782 (301) 853-3611: 

“In the past few years, new Honors Programs have been 

springing up over the countryside like mushrooms. In 

Maryland, every state college has now instituted such a 

program, and over half of the ccnmunity colleges have either 

started an Honors Program or are seriously involved in plan- 

ning for one. 

What happens to students who begin in an Honors Program 

at one institution and later transfer to another? Can they 

join the Honors programs inthe newinstitution with a mini- 

mum of trials and trioulations? Will ccntaunity college 

Honors courses transfer as equivalents to Honors course at 

the receiving institution? 

If one is to discuss such problems of articulation 

intelligently, one must be specific as to what elements 

one is attempting to articulate into a coordinated whole. 

Specificity is vital in this case, since detailed 

features of Honors Programs differ widely. The first great 

bifurcation in Honors is into general and departmental 

programs. The formats also vary. In sane areas, Honors 

Programs involve only enriched sections of regular courses; 

in others, unique HonorsSeminars sre provided. In still 

others, there is a comprehensive set of Honors courses. 

Such courses and programs differ in their emphasis on re- 

search, in prerequisites, and in anticipated course out- 

cones or goals. , 

Uniting this plethora of features is a philosophical 

approach that results in an emphasis on learning s-thing

well, on stressing student initiative, on writing with 

skill, and on the need for talented students to interact 

with one another. If we look for this ccmtnon process in 

reviewing Honors Courses for possible transfer, articu- 

lation can be simplified. If we use a ‘registrar’s office 

approach’ of looking for cannon content, articulation could 

be almost impossible. 

Let’s refer to a few courses offered in our College 

Park Honors Program as examples: Three Recently Popular 

Theologies: Teilhard de Chardin, Buber, Bonhoeffer; 

Structuralism: Levi-Strauss, Chomsky, Piaget; The Idea 

of Infinity in Mathematics; Hemingway, Heller, Vonnegut 

and the American Military; and The History of Astrology 

and Magic from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. 

I would venture to guess that this set of courses is 

duplicated at no other institution. But it is not the 

content, however, thatneeds to be duplicated in possible 

transfer courses fran other institutions. Rather, it is the 

Honors process that should be the touchstone of Honors 

articulation. 

If we accept this emphasis on process rather than 

specific content, we then can proceed to a review of ac- 

tivities that could foster such articulation. 

I am convinced that persons involved in Honors Pro- 

grams love to meet. In my own state of Maryland, Honors 

personnel are active in: 

Maryland Collegiate Honors Council 

Maryland Board of Trustees Honors Comnittee 

Regional Collegiate Honors Council 

National Collegiate Honors Council 

This interaction is essential to articulation, as the 

most vital prerequisite to working together is knowing 

each other. These meetings also go beyond this basic level 

of articulation to actual discussions about programs. This 

additional information is vital to developing knowledge 

of other programs so you are in a position to evaluate 

accurately what is being done. 

In Maryland, 

. 

opportunrties for 

I have added one extra level 

interaction -- the subject-area 

to these 

articulation 

meeting. I have brought together the directors of 

the Honors Programs 

with the directors 

discussed in these 

in our University of Maryland 

of Cornsunity College programs. 

meetings have included: 

campuses 

Items 

-Honors programs on the University campuses 

-Actual and proposed programs at the Comrmnity Colleges 

-Articulation of the Comnunity College Honors courses 

with the College Park general education requirement 

-Advanced Placement tests 

-Transfer guides 

-Admission procedures for transfer students 

These sessions were especially useful for new direc- 

tors who were still developing their programs. 

Other useful techniques for better articulation are: 

-Invite Comaunity College Honor students to the 

. . . 

upper division institution for seminars, concerts, 

and similar academic activities. 

-Develop pamphlets specifically designed to help 

transfer students move into Honors work 

-Make agreements with neighboring Coaraunity Colleges 

specifying exactly how their programs will transfer 

and publicize those agreements. 

-Attempt to determine Honors course equivalencies 

so that transfer students can apply them where ap- 

propriate to meet general distribution and major 

requirements. 

-Maintain the flow of comnunication between the 

Honors Programs and the academic deans of the other 

institutions. 

I have centered my attention in this discussion on 

the relations between units 

clusion, however, I wish to 

of higher education. 

issue a challenge -- 

In connamely, 

4 

that college Honors Programs should not only continue their 

present levels of articulation, but start building bridges 

between their offering and the glfted and talented programs 

in high schools. If we move in this direction, we may finally 

be able to get it - all together.” 

HCNGRS VROGRAMS IN THE BJEETING FOR PUBLIC HIGHER E~CATIGN: 

I~moIs As A REPRESENTATIVE CASE 

Ira Cohen, Director of the Honors Program at Illinois 

State, presented a paper on the above subject at the Illinois 

Regional Honors Council conference this February. At News- 

letter’s request, he has graciously agreed to allow his paper, 

scmewhat altered, to be presented to Newsletter’s readers. 

Ira’s assessment of the Illinois situation is mindbogglingly 

gloomy until you ccme to the final paragraph, wherein you will 

find a glinmer. For a stoical, stiff-upper-lip, make-dowith- 

little approach, continue on to the next article, by Sterling 

Kernak, after you have read what Ira has to say: 

“For many of our programs in public institutions the 

future appears to look good in terms of the quality of stu- 

dents, and not quite as good when we consider the fiscal 

aspects of what we are about. This paper will review the 

situation in one large midwestern state in terms of the bud- 

geting process of the public schools. 

The budgets for Higher Education in the State of Illinois 

are the result of a very complex process and this 

process should be understood before anything else is discussed. 

Due to a series of decisions made in the late fifties 

and early sixties what has been described as a ‘system of 

systems’ exists. Precisely what that means is this: At the 

‘bottom’ there are campuses, be it the University of Illinois 

Urbana/Champaign, Illinois State University, etc. These individual 

campuses are organized in one of two ways at the 

state level: multi-campus systems--University of Illinois 

(3 campuses), and Southern Illinois University (2 campusesthe 

Medical School in Springfield is technically part of the 

Carbondale campus); and, the consolidated systems-the Board 

of Regents 

(Illinois State University? Northern Illinois 

University and Sangamon State University) and the Board of 

Governors system (Eastern Illinois University, Western Il- 

linois University, Governors State University? Chicago 

State University and Northeastern Illinois Unrversity); in 

addition there are two additinal boards which figure at this 

level, the Junior College Board and the Illinois State 

Scholarship Cannission. All of these bodies are ‘coordin- 

ated’ by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. In theory 

budgets are drawn up on each campus. However, realistically 

guidelines are ‘trickled down’ from the board staffs for 

recurring items and additional funds, very theoretically, 

are made available either through what are called NEPR’s 

(New or Expanded Program Reviews) or S.&S’s (Special Analytical 

Studies). 

If this system werenotccmplicated enough,there are 

constraining factors external to the system that play an 

active role in the system. First is the overall economic 

prospect of the state, Secondly, and most important, is 

the role of the Governor and his staff, in particular the 

Bureau of the Budget, in setting the parameters of the budget. 

Although the legislature votes the budget, the 1970 consti- 

tutron gives the Governor a line item reduction veto, which 

means that the Governor can reduce (not increase) an ap- 

propriated budget bill. An override of such a veto requires 

an absolute majority in both houses. The line item veto 

has been used with telling effect on Higher Education in 

this state over the last decade; in point of fact Illinois 

ranked 50th of the fifty states in increased funding in the 

decade of the seventies (although, in fairness it stood very 

high at the beginning of the decade).11 

Why, one might ask? is this so? Were the seventies 

so marked by hard times in Illinois that it rivaled Vermont 

in its unwillingness to increase the funding of higher edu- 

cation? I would suggest that that is not the case. Rather, 

the creation of a plethora of governing boards with attendant 

staffs has been the prime reason for this decline: There 

are several reasons why I would argue this: an 0bJective 

one-a recent comparative study done by M.M. Chambers L/

which breaks down support 01 Higher Education over the last 

decade by type of system. His findings are truly frightening. 

First, the State of Illinois has two campuses which receive 

more than 

of Illinois 

$100,000,000 per 

at Champaign/IJrbana 

year. lley 

and the 

are the University 

University of Illinois 

Medical Center. %elr two-year gain, 1980-1982, in 

appropriations has been 9T” and 15% respectively (although 

there was an absolute decrease LIL UIMC last fiscal year). 

This canpares to an average increase in appropriations of 

22% for the twenty-eight campuses in this category nationwide-only 

the :jniversitv o: Michi#n, Michigan State and 

the University of Washington, states with far- more severe 

economic problems, have done worse than UICfil in this 

period. What about the total system budgets? For the 

multicampus systems (University of Illinois and Southern 

Illinois University) the figures over the last decade are a 

124% and 82% respective increase in funding. This contrasts 

with an average increase for twenty-six multicampus systems 

nationwide of an 185% gain over the decade of the seventies. 

For the consolidated boards? the Board of Governors and 

the Board of Regents, the figures are 107% and 85% respectively-the 

Board of Regents’ Figure includes Northern Illinois 

University’s new law school--the comparable national 

increase is 174%. 

We are iaced with several fiscally eased crises in the 

next year in Higher Education. ‘lhc (Governor ’ s recornnenda- 

tions for the next fiscal year call for nothing in the way 

of new funding. Virtually evt’ry school in the state, not 

just the public ones, is threatened by a reprted decrease 

in Illinois State Scholarship Crnmission funds. Added to 

this is the near disappearance 01 federal funds in all 

areas of undergraduate education--especially financial aid. 

Here then are the obvious fiscai implications for Honors 

Programs; how will schools pa\’ their fixed bills with no 

additional monies coming in? ‘This is where I see Honors 

Programs ’ survival being threatened as budget cutters look 

to trim budgets. 

In all cases where 1 have exam~ncd Honors Sudgets,L/ 

even if one uses an arbitrary dollar figure for Honors 

sections offered without direct charge, the total expended 

on Honors Programs does not approach one percent of the 

University budget. SC then, no matter what happens to 

University budgets, we are tcoo insignificant for anyone to 

pay any attention to us, right? Wrong. From my recent experience 

on a budget-cutting ;omlittee, virtually every 

aspect 

school 

of 

is 

the University 

looking for 

is 

places 

closely 

to cut 

exami.ned. 

even nickels 

So, every 

and dimesand 

our nickel and dime operai.ions may yet become targets. 

t 

Still, my instinct tolls i”rr: t’mt thi.s is not likely, 

this for several lmlevel reasons. One, there is direct 

competition for good students among the schools--thus 

Honors Programs play the role of academic Loreleis. lwo, 

Illinois is a net exporter of students. However, given botlthe 

rising costs of education and the decline in financial 

aid, many good studentswho have tradi:ional.ly left the state 

or attended private schoois will non go, providing the 

various in-state campuses can offer them something. Thus, 

although our setting i.s glum. there is yet hope for the 

survival of Honors Programs in the in&ate future as 

important parts of the tctal public university package. 

The burden then is on us to convince adminls trations and the 

various publics that our programs are both worthwhile (we 

know it but does anyone else?) and important. 

--_- 

A/ MM. Chambers, pd., Grapevme, No. 26, Nov. 1981, p. 

1773. 

- 21 Grapevine, No. 285, pp. 1794 il. 

- 3/ I would 

Johnson 

like to thank in 

of Northern Illinois 

part.iculz 

University 

Or. William 

and Dr. George 

Brown of Southern Illinois University for their aid. 

5 

STERLING KERNAK: FWD~NG AN tloNoRs Ptxomm 0~ A SHOESTRING 

Sterling Kernak, former Director of the Arts and Sciences 

Honors Program at Western Illinois, has very kindly sent 

along the fo1:owi.r~ article, which Newsletter places in our 

“Planned Parsimony” pigeonhole. We wish that more people 

would coarsuni;ate with us about their saving ways. Our 

thanks to Sterling, who still continues to teach in WI’s 

Honors Program and to serve on its Honors Council. 

"The ;&liiiF: ovt:* slashed budgets has recently grown 

louder than the familiar I-amentation about declining enroll- 

ment s and low s! andards . ‘The grim financial outlook may 

discourage, univt,rsi.ties and colleges which have not yet 

established an Honors Program from implementing their best 

laid plans, and many of those who have already successfully 

established such a I’r~gram will undoubtedly feel dismayed. 

1~ is important to keep the lack of money in perspective 

by focussing first on essential purposes. Most of us would 

probably agree that Honors Programs should promote relatively 

rigorous curricula with an emphasis upon the development of 

excellent writing aru research skills. These goals will 

become more impor:ant during the eighties if various demo- 

graphic and fiscal factors continue to exert downward 

pressure on academic standards. Thus, it is somewhat com- 

forting to rt,aLizc, ! at, despite budget cuts, special pro- 

grams tor serious :’ Idents wili. still be ieasi’ole. They do 

not, in facL, necessarily require significantly more money 

than non-honors programs. Indeed, much Honors work consists 

of helping universities and colleges to do things that they 

are already supposed to be doing--getting students to read 

important. books, requiring research papers, providing de- 

tailed criticism, and so on. 

Many faculty mumbers are (regardless of the financial 

rewards) very willing to do special things for a few serious 

students. The well-tried technique of ‘in-course’ Honors 

can promote many admirable achievements ~ Students enroll 

in regular courses but agree with their professors to do 

extra work in returt for special attention, e.g.,confer- 

ences outside the classroom to discuss progress on a re- 

search paper. To be sure, it is highly desirable to offer 

courses that are designee: especially for Honors students. 

Yet, even in tllese cases, i.t is often possible to teach 

Honors seminars ‘in-load, ’ which means that a special 

teaching budget for the Honors Program is not required. 

Furthermore, departments suffering falling enrollments 

might be eager to offer a class ior a small number of stu- 

dents if they can justity it with the glowing rhetoric of 

Honors Programs, For a similar reason, departments which 

seem ‘oversLaifo:l’ might even be gla(1 to provide reassigned 

time to a professor for the preparation of an Honors seminar. 

Most of t.hr essential administrative duties in an Honors 

Program can be compensated largely on the basis of reassigned 

time. 7’his is not the ideal system. Since the mere reduction 

of a prOlessL)r’s :eaching load often fails to compensate 

chat person equitably for the time and energy demanded of 

an Honors Prilgram 0i ret tar , Lhe payment of a supplementary 

stipend is highly desirable. 

The basic point, however, 

remains : universities and colleges do not need to spend 

a large amount of additional money in order to maintain 

effective llonors “rogra,r*. 

‘To be sure, the Honors Director making do on a shoestring 

must ‘hustle.’ In the best of all possible worlds 

all Directors would have an ample, independent budget and 

a willing, professional staff, but in hard times--the foreseeable 

Iuture--rrany Honors Directors should try to exploit 

other people’s budgets. (Do not. regard this as 

mooching; i-t is an important reallocation of resources.) 

Look to I)eans XXI Academic Vice-Presidents. Whatever 

happens to the rest of us, they will generally have ample 

funds for paper-, postage and telephone services: they often 

have several good secretaries, and they usually have a 

good photocopier. If such Deans or Vice-Presidents can be 

induced to declare that they support an Honors Program but 

refuse to provide it with a satisfactory separate budget, 

try to put the burden on them to provide the necessary 

supplies and services. Many will meet their responsibilities. 

In fact, they are usually more interested than the 

average faculty member in having a good Honors Program.

Recruiting Honors students can be an expensive task. 

Gne widely-used option is to create scholarships by solici- 

ting private contributions to an Honors fund. Since our sub- 

ject is scarcity, however, let me quickly change directions. 

Less obvious is the tactic of linking existing scholarships 

to participation in the Honors Program. Since good students 

should be in the Honors Program, it is entirely appropriate 

for the Honors Director to have some influence on the dis- 

tribution of certain scholarships. Since many departments 

are content to let others do the work of recruiting, gaining 

such influence will often be easy for a tactful and ener- 

getic Honors Director. 

Many privileges can be extended to Honors students at 

little or no additional cost. Grant special borrowing 

privileges in the university library. If possible,permit 

seniors to have the use of carrels when they are writing 

their Honors theses. Try to arrange for Honors students to 

have priority when registering for their courses. Perhaps 

they could be permitted to register with graduate students 

or at the beginning of an undergraduate registration 

period. 

Rewarding Honors students with recognition, another es- 

sential aspect of all Honors Programs, can be done very 

inexpensively. It costs little to add flattering desig- 

nations to transcripts. Press releases can be planted 

virtually for free in the newspaper of a student’s hometown. 

Another possibility is to make sure that Honors students 

enter their research papers in any contests for prizes that 

they have a chance of winning. Sometimes it Is possible to 

have students’ work published. Also, if an Honors student 

has assisted a faculty member in research, urge the pro- 

fessor to acknowledge the student’s contributions as con- 

spicuously as possible if the results are published. The 

professor might even name the student as a coauthor. 

Discretion and limited space do not permit a descrip- 

tion of more devious and complicated techniques. SOme 

Honors Directors have turned a talent for low cunning into 

a high art, but one does not need to be a streetwise con 

man to succeed. The essential thing to remember is that 

while fat budgets can promote marvellous achievements, a 

respectable and rewarding Honors Program can still be run 

on what might appear to be a shoestring. The key ele- 

ments are intelligence, high academic standards, resource- 

fulness, work and lots of praise. Budget cuts are a lame 

excuse for not launchingormaintaining effective Honors 

Programs. They are too important to be regarded as ex- 

pensive frills .I’ 

BALL STATE UNIVERSITY: EVER ON THE BALL (As You MIGHT SAYI 

Warren Vander Hill, veteran HD at Ball State, has 

paused in the midst of a deluge of reactions to PBS’s 

“Middletown” Film Project, which has been convulsing not 

merely Ball State but the entire comaunity of Muncie (we 

imagine that Shakey’s can’t turn out the pizzas fast 

enough these day to keep up with the ‘TV-stimulated demand), 

in order to send along some news concerning Ball State’s 

Honors College. 

An Undergraduate Fellows Program has been set up at 

Ball State in the amount of $40,000, which will enable 25 

to 50 Honors students LO be paid stipends of $400 per 

qu,.>*ter to work with faculty on research projects. This 

is, of course, an enormous step forward for any Honors 

outfit. If the reader is interested in learning more about 

undergraduate research scholarships, Newsletter 5 (Jan., 

1981), pp. l-3 dealt at some length with such scholarships 

at 5 institutions. 

BSU has also begun a Non-Resident Honors Scholarship 

Program with $20,000 per year to be used entirely for ‘no- 

need’ awards to out-of-state Honors students. The 4- 

year budget for this program is $90,000. Warren must be 

dizzy with euphoria these days? and it is clear that BSU’s 

administration knows a good thing when it sees it. 

He has also included a copy of i)d sse a just-born 

magazine of work written by students --F-l+’ o t e Honors College. 

Handsomely printed in a most professional format, Od sse 

is edited by Laura J. Wirthlin, who is also represente +i% 

the journal by an article. 

remazsey casts a wide net. In her Foreword, the Editor 

“As doesHonor% the journal seeks to recognize and 

encourage excellence in either scholarly or creative en- 

deavors and in either general or specialized fields. Also, 

the submissions and, independently, the works selected for 

publication exemplify the ways in which Honors students 

achieve excellence. Included are slections of work from 

the Honors College core curriculum at each stage from 

Freshman Symposia to Senior Thesis or Project, work of 

Honors students in non-Honors classes, and work done out- 

side class. This distribution was not by design, but is 

a reflection of the diversity of the Honors population. In 

both principle and practice, the journal became a micro- 

cosm of Honors education at Ball State University.” 

By design or not, the idea of accepting for publication 

work done in or outside of Honors classes or even done out- 

side the University itself is an unusual but nontheless 

valid one. 

Odyssey’s contents consist of literary criticism, 

poems, prose narratives, pencil drawings, and research 

papers (the longest onsisting of 9 printed pages, another 

being 7 pages long) The most unusual feature is a generous 

sprinkling of photographs throughout the journal, all of 

them, of course, being the work of Honors undergraduates. 

We congratulate Ms. Wirthlin and her staff on a most 

promising beginning. 

THE STRESS IN EXCELLENCE: NGRTHERN ILLINOIS U, 

The following is a sunnmry of information provided in 

a workshop entitled “The Stress of Excellence: Recognizing 

and Coping with Stress in Honors Students” presented at 

the February? 1982, meeting of the Honors Council of the 

Illinois Region. The materials are based on a study done 

by William C. Johnson, Director of the University Honors 

Program, Donald H. Hopper, Department of Sociology at 

Northern Illinois University. 

While research andexperienceshow that college can be 

a source of great stress for many students, most literature 

on the subject has been limited primarily to the identifi- 

cation and/or ranking of students’ problems. Of these 

studies, many have focused on graduate and prolessional 

students . In view of the quantity of research on student 

stress and problems, however, there have been relatively 

few attempts to (a) predict the outcomes of stress, par- 

ticularly burnout, on students, (b) examine the complex 

relationships between students’ perceptions of problems 

and stress, and (c) examine stress and its outccmes in re- 

gard to high-ability undergraduate Honors students. 

The results of an extensive eighteen-month burnout- 

and-stress study among Honors students reveal that they 

share with graduate and medical students (the focus of 

many studies) similar sources of potential stress, in- 

cluding the amount and difficulty of materials to be ab- 

sorbed, the pressures of examinations and writing tasks, 

social isolation produced by grade demands and stiff corn- 

petition. In addition to these problems and concerns 

more common to graduate and professional students, Honors 

students must deal with situations c-on to many under- 

graduate students-learning self-direction, “learning to 

learn” in a university setting, struggling with financial 

problems, using a research library, structuring personal 

and study time, note-taking, living away frcm home (usually 

for the first time), and adjusting to the difference be- 

tween a regimented high school curriculum and a less- 

structured college atmosphere. While scme students clearly 

adjust more rapidly than others, stress emerges as a sig- 

nificant obstacle for many of those in pursuit of an Honors 

degree, and burnout may result in students’ not completing

Honors work or even leaving the university. 

The study mentioned above was conducted among 200 

Honors students at Northern lllinois University who were 

surveyed to identify potential sources of attrition from 

the Honors Program. At the same time and for comparative 

purposes, the study was conducted among a randcm sampling 

of 200 non-Honors students on the same campus. The Honors 

students represent approximately 23% of the total Honors 

student population. While a portion of them will leave the 

Honors Program as a result of leaving the university, in- 

ability to meet the program requirements, inability to 

schedule sufficient Honors courses in their respective dis- 

ciplines, or dissatisfaction with an Honors curriculum, a 

number of others will drop out of the Program because of 

the pressures (real or perceived) imposed on Honors stu- 

dents. 

It is with this last group that the study is most con- 

cerned. Researchers have examined the relation between 

students and stress, and the potential sources of stress, 

but the outcomes or consequences of such stress have been 

significantly overlooked or underplayed. Yet one of the 

most important potential consequences of stress is one which 

often leads to the direct or indirect termination of a de- 

gree program--“burnout .‘I 

When students find themselves subject to high levels of 

stress, especially over long periods of time, three distinct 

reactions may emerge and/or develop: (1) defense mechanisms 

may evolve whereby the student immerses himself in work to 

the point of total physical or mental exhaustion, or (2) 

the student may grossly misinterpret or lose touch with 

reality, feeling he or she has become dehumanized, or (3) 

the student may becane “burned out,” a condition which com- 

bines the above two and which occurs to some degree in each 

of us. However, if left to develop, the condition may occur 

with such intensity and frequency that the individual is un- 

able to function adequately in his or her present situation. 

Burnout traditionally has been one of the primary con- 

cerns of those researching in the fields of “helping pro- 

fessions”-counselors, doctors? teachers. Christina Mas- 

lath, a psychologist at the University of California and 

perhaps the most notable burnout researcher, sees burnout 

associated with job-related (here, school-related) stress. 

Others see it as a wearing out or exhaustion resulting from 

excessive demands made on energy, strength, or resources, 

resulting in the individual becoming emotionally detached 

from his or her work and perhaps, ultimately, leaving the 

situation which is perceived as having caused the problem 

(in this case either the Honors Program or the university). 

A modified version of Maslach’s 1977 Student Survey was 

included in the study in order to gauge students’ burnout 

level (a combination of the degree and intensity of ex- 

haustion and a “dehumanized” attitude about school, oneself, 

and others). Other items in the survey measured stress 

levels (anxiety, depression, discomfort), school work and 

non-academic problem levels, and measures of social parti- 

cipation and isolation (the former includes such items as 

involvement in sports, drama, newspaper staff, etc., the 

latter measures the willingness of students to seek help 

fran Honors Program or university counselors and advisors). 

Also explored were the extent to which the students at- 

tribute their academic successes and failures to themselves 

or to saneone or something else, as well as the extent to 

which the students believe they are or are not receiving 

recognition from teachers and peers. 

The surveys provided scme interesting and useful infor- 

mation. In particular we were able to locate three distinct 

categories among those students who measured high on the bum- 

out scale: estrangement, guilt concerning one’s treatment 

of others, and a feeling of being overworked and/or ex- 

haus ted. 

Those who felt most estranged from peers and faculty 

had a number of items in costnon: they perceived that they 

received much less recognition than other students, were 

having the most non-academic problems, considered themselves 

under great stress to achieve, had the lowest grade-point 

averages of those taking the survey, and had a tendency to 

blame others for their academic failures or successes. Ap- 

parently,when these students felt they had little or no 

control over their lives-academic and personal--they de- 

veloped anxieties, depression, and suffered from academic 

problems. 

Those students feeling guilty about their treatment of 

others, or who felt they were “dehumanizing” others and 

were, themselves “dehumanized,” also felt they had little 

control over their academic and personal lives. Addition- 

ally, they felt somewhat socially isolated, felt a conflict 

between getting high grades and still maintaining good 

personal relations, had more personal problems than others 

in the survey, were more tense, and had the most sleep 

problems. 

For the group oE students feeling overworked to the 

point of exhaustion, there were significant personal prob- 

lems and a feeling that they lacked control over their 

academic lives. These students were socially IM)re active 

than those not feeling overworked, had higher grade-point 

averages than those who felt they were not overworked, but 

reported high levels of anxiety about, and dissatisfaction 

with, the recognition they received fran teachers and peers. 

It appears these particular “overworked” students feel 

this way because they see themselves as having over-in- 

dulged in social or other non-academic activities (to the 

detriment of their studies) and have worked harder to catch 

Further since these students are those with the 

E!ghest grad& , it seems more effort is expended and re- 

quired to maintain the higher grades. As with those stu- 

dents experiencing the most estrangement and those feeling 

the most guilt, the overworked students report greater 

personal problems and lack of control over their academic 

lives than those students who do not “fit” into these 

categories of estranged, overworked, or “dehumanized.” 

Some cornnon patterns developed in examining those stu- 

dents who scored high on the burnout survey: students in 

all three of the above-named groups tended to feel a need 

to be “in control” in order to motivate them to devote the 

time and effort necessary to insure their satisfactory 

completion of the academic work. (Interestingly, there 

seemed little correlation between the actual grades and 

the students’ perceptions of how much or little they were 

in control.) The analysis shows that most of the Honors 

students actually were relatively free from school-related 

problems (at least significantly freer than non-Honors 

students surveyed at the same time); non-academic problems, 

however, emerged as significant obstacles for Honors stu- 

dents to overccme during their tenure in the Honors Program. 

While the answer might seem obvious, one might ask: 

“Why do Honors students report fewer school problems but 

many non-academic problems?” The survey suggests the 

reason lies in the Honors students’ greater willingness 

to seek help from faculty advisors and counselors when there 

are school-related problems as well as when there are prob- 

lems with alienation or estrangements from classmates, 

friends, and roomsates. In other words, Honors students 

in the survey were more likely than non-Honors students to 

seek help from counselors and advisors than from friends 

and classmates. While this worked much to their advantage 

with academic problems, such choices of “confidants” did 

not seem to help much with inter-personal relations. The 

non-Honors students, who experienced fewer personal prob- 

lems but greater school-related problems, tended to seek 

help more from friends and classmates than fran faculty 

and professional counselors. 

While much information was collected from the survey, 

this brief report can touch on only a small part of it. 

But even from what has been described above there are some 

practical ramifications which might be useful to Honors 

staff and those working with Honors students. 

First, by being able to predict more accurately which 

students are likely to proceed fran a relatively mild 

academic or emotional decline to an acute stage of burnout, 

and especially by being able to note more carefully the 

signs of burnout, advisors and counselors may be alerted 

to the potential problem. Because we in Honors education 

work with a fixed population of students, and because we 

have access to student records and schedules, Honors ad- 

visors and staff can readily prepare a composite picture

of a student’s progress or behavior. Prepared with such 

information an advisor has the opportunity to take pre- 

ventative measures in identifying, and counseling, those 

students who might need special attention. 

Secondly, armed with that same information, and adding 

to it one or more meetings with the student, an advisor 

might more readily recognize if more serious emotional 

problems exist, in which case the advisor, as a suppor- 

tive, caring adult, can attempt to involve the student in 

professional therapy. 

Finally, a third way in whi.ch the information disclosed 

by this survey may be of help is in the wider area 

of providing stronger group support systems with Honors prop- 

exist 

* While 

in each 

various support 

program-advising 

systems probably 

and counseling, 

already 

peer advising, 

possibly even peer assistance programs-knowing 

the various ‘types’ of students identified in this study 

can facilitate in directing the kinds of advising, the 

kinds of support systems, 

activities--stress-reduction 

which might 

seminars 

be developed. Special 

or burnout-prevention 

presentations, for example-can provide ‘preventative’ 

assistance: Just establishing clearly identifiable means 

of indicating faculty/staff concern for students, or for 

indicating that a student’s comments are really listened 

to, really can make a difference in an area where that difference 

might mean helping-or losing-a good Honors student. 

CONVERTING STUDY ~&ROAD INTO AN HONORS EXPERIENCE: THE 

UN~VERSUY SYSTEM 0F GEORGIA 

In Newsletter 9, after discussing the University System 

of Georgia’s Study Abroad Program, we raised the question 

of just how one would go about converting a regular--that 

is, a non-Honors--set of study-abroad courses into academic 

experiences which would be acceptable for credit in the 

Honors Program back home. We arbitrarily charged Charlotte 

McClure, Honors Director at Georgia State where the State 

of Georgia Study Abroad Program has its central office, 

and Lothar Tresp with the task of answering the question. 

Charlotte burned up the U.S. Mail with the promptness of 

her reply, which we herewith transcribe. Consider that 

Iothar has contributed points to the article via telephone 

conversation: 

“Through the efforts of the Foreign Semesters Comnittee 

of the National Collegiate Honors Council the possible 

opportunities for Honors students to beneiit from travel 

and study abroad are explored. One opportunity might be 

the addition of an Honors component to an established study 

abroad program. Such an addition might provide an alter- 

native as well as effective way to provide an in-depth 

Honors experience abroad. (See Newsletter 9, p. 7) To 

plan a foreign study program for students, Honors Directors 

could take advantage of the administrative structure of a 

study abroad program already established and investigate 

the ways to alter one or more of the regular courses in 

such a way as to make it acceptable for Honors credit in a 

study abroad program or create a special Honors course as 

a complement to the ongoing courses in the study abroad 

curriculum. 

The addition of Honors experience undoubtedly would 

attract honors students to a study abroad program. The 

institute of Anglo-American Studies at the University of 

Southern Mississippi (Wally Kay, HD) has already offered 

an Honors component in its summer session in the United 

Kingdom. An Honors student frcm Georgia State University 

participated in the program in the suamer of 1981 and ac- 

complished a considerable amount of her research for her 

Honors thesis. 

For the first time this sLmmer, Georgia State University’s 

Honors Program is offering a sixweeks Honors opportunity 

through the Universitv System of Georgia Studies 

Abroad 

Studies 

ponent 

Program. This opportunity occurs in the British 

Program in London. It consists of an Honors comin 

one of the three courses offered, ‘Contemporary 

British Drama,’ and an option to arrange an independent 

8 

Honors research project that would originate in this course 

or in one of the two other courses, ‘Tudor-Stuart England,’ 

or ‘A Survey of British Culture.’ The latter option would 

be arranged between the student and a Georgia State Univer- 

sity faculty member and with prior approval of the Honors 

Council. This Honors component is the result of two years 

of coordination of efforts among the USG Studies &road 

Program slaff, the Honors Director, the Honors Council, and 

Prof. Mary L. Grabbe, Department of Speech and Theatre, 

who will Leach ‘Contemporary British Drama.’ An outline of 

Georgia State University’s process of converting a course 

to an Honors dimension in a studies abroad program, noting 

the stimulating planning as well as the pitfalls to avoid, 

will provide a specific example for the short treatment of 

assimilating Honors experiences and foreign study ones. 

Perhaps the pitfalls to be avoided can be explained 

best through stating principles to guide the transformation 

process. (1) Coordinate all stages of the development 

of the Honors study abroad course with the Honors 

Director, the Honors Council , and the department offering 

the course. (2) Consult frequently with the Studies Abroad 

staff in regard to curricular goals and practical matters 

such as registering for and giving credit to the Honors 

component, housing, access to research, and other opportunities 

to be used by the student abroad. (3) Inform the 

student about all requirements for earning Honors credit 

and about the form and evaluation of the Honors project 

that should be completed before he or she goes abroad. 

The process of transforming a course for an Honors ex- 

perience abroad begins with a course proposal that is 

sought by the Honors Director or offered by a professor 

and is submitted to the Honors Council for approval. In 

case of the British Studies course, Professor Grabbe re- 

ceived approval to teach the Contemporary British Drama 

course with an Honors component at Georgia State in the 

Sumner of 1981, and this year she secured approval to teach 

it in the British Studies Program. Professor Grabbe 

points out several areas of planning to atLend to in arrang- 

ing an Honors component to a study abroad program.’ 

As Honors students will enroll in the Contemporary 

British Drama course and the Tudor-Stuart England course 

with non-Honors students the Honors component will have 

to be in the form of an in-depth project instead of or in 

addition to the syllabus of the regular course. The form 

this project takes should be worked out thoroughly with the 

instructor and the Honors Director, and with the Honors 

Council if the student is to do independent study, before 

the student goes abroad. This preliminary plan should 

contain a detailed outline of the course of study, a 

bibliography if applicable, and advance reading if appro- 

priate to the project. The plan of study should have writ- 

ten approval of the instructor in charge of the study 

abroad course, the instructor who might be directing the 

project from the home institution! and the Director of 

the Honors Program. Close attention should be paid to 

assure that the project and the credit earned are appro- 

priate to the student’s program at the home institution. 

Details such as the date by which the Honors project should 

be in final form should be designated in writing before 

the student leaves. It should also be clear who will as- 

sign the grade on the course and the Honors project-the 

professor-in-charge of the Studies Abroad program or an 

instructor in the home institution--and that the student 

will receive a written report from the professor of the 

Studies Abroad course. One GSU Honors student this summer 

plans to sit in on the Tudor-Stuart England course to be 

taught by a faculty member of another Georgia institution, 

and she will do a research project, drawing on her experience 

in the course? under the direction of a professor at Georgia 

State University, who will assign a grade to the research 

project. 

Ideally, this in-depth project in the form of a final 

report, a research paper, or an original (creative) project 

would be the basis for an Honors thesis or a publishable 

article or an exhibition-worthy artifact. The Honors stu- 

dent will benefit especially from the opportunity to do re- 

search in special libraries! to contact authors? critics, 

and pertinent authorities first hand, and to gain access 

to galleries, museums, and sites with appropriate materials. 

To make this mind-stretching research possible without

frustration to the student, the access to specialized li- 

braries and collections, which may necessitate letters of 

introduction and permissions, should be secured prior to 

departure. With all the parties to the Honors project fully 

involved in planning and fully informed before the student 

leaves, the Honors experience for the student can extend 

his or her opportunity not only to do the research project 

but to make positive contributions to class discussions 

and to field trip events, to assume leadership on outings 

in areas of expertise, and in innovative ways to learn and 

to share that learning with the group. 

Obviously, participation in an Honors component of a 

foreign study program depends on the requirements for en- 

trance into a study abroad program and the student’s eli- 

gibility for doing Honors work. For instance, to enter 

the Honors Program at Georgia State University, a student 

normally has a 3.5 overall grade point average. To par- 

ticipate in the University System of Georgia Studies Abroad 

Program, the Honors-eligible student would apply to the 

USG Program, and upor acceptance there, would then apply 

for admittance to the Honors Program at Georgia State Uni- 

versity where the Honors course is being offered. Out-of- 

state students desiring to enroll would follow the same 

procedure and would pay an out-of-state supplement. The 

Studies Abroad staff registers all students, both in-state 

and out-of-state, for the study abroad courses. The staff 

also notifies the registrar and president of each stu- 

dent’s college or university of the grade earned. The 

Honors Council or Faculty Advisory Council usually sets a 

policy on the number of Honors credits that students can 

transfer in from another Honors Program. Thus foreign 

study programs of colleges or universities that can arrange 

an Honors component become a convenient vehicle for pro- 

viding additional exciting and enriching learning oppor- 

tunities for outstanding students.” 

If we were sunming up, then, would it be fair to say 

that Georgia’s method of dealing with this particular 

Honors possibility is to create what generally are called 

“contract” courses’? Michigan State’s Honors College calls 

them “H-option” courses. Newsletter’s most elaborate 

treatment of this type of course (at MSU) will be found 

in Newsletter 6, p. 4. Although the article does not 

deal with the transformation that Charlotte has just des- 

cribed, it may be of some help to those who wish to combine 

Honors with study abroad. 

Are there other methods for combining the two’? We would 

be interested to hear of them. 

A NEW IDEA CONCERNING ALUMNI? MARYLAND AT CCLLEGE ~'ARK 

The Maryland Honors Program has come up with what, so 

far as we know, is a new idea and it concerns the question 

of what to do about and with alumni of an Honors Program. 

This is a matter with which we dealt in Newsletter 9, 

through a piece by Bob Evans (New Mexico) and another 

by an anonymous contributor. 

Maryland has installed what Anne Meixner and Sharon 

Scoffer, the instigators of this new wrinkle, call “The 

Career Education File,” It is “a list of Honors Alumni and 

their respective fields of study or work.” 

Each alumnus or alumna in the file has been contacted 

and has consented to respond to inquiries made of them by 

current Honors undergrads. The inquiries are, of course, 

those having to do with work in a specific field. If the 

undergrad wants to learn what the job amrket is like in, 

perhaps, accounting or law, there are a half dozen names 

to choose among. If the student wants to learn something 

about graduate school in music or physics or anthropology, 

the file contains the names of people who are interested 

and eager to talk about their experiences at specific 

graduate institutions and to give sensible? down-to-earth 

advice-and in the process, to relieve anxieties and 

perhaps even suggest avenues of access to monetary sup- 

port. And since the file is somewhat voluminous? the in- 

quiring student can make, as it were, a canparative ana- 

lysis by means of calling up a number of exfionors students 

9 

who have been through the ropes. 

Currently--that is, at the outset of the venture-117 

alumni have volunteered to have their names, addresses, 

telephone numbers, and services put at the disposal of 

present Honors undergraduates. A sampling of these: 13 

are medical doctors, 5 are dentists, 16 are lawyers, 9 are 

engineers, 11 are computer scientists, 13 are business- 

pef~m, 6 are,economists, and 2 are graduates of study 

. Additionally, there is one volunteer each in the 

unusual occupations of Congressional liaison and musical 

composition. One person promises to be very helpful to 

those who need knowledge concerning Bell Labs. 

Contact is initially made by the Honors student through 

a phone call, which, in turn, may lead to correspondence or, 

more likely, meetings. 

Anne and Sharon do not as yet have statistics on the 

use made by Honors students of this new service, but they 

plan to enlarge the Career Education File systematically 

year by year. It will be interesting to see how this new 

idea--if it is a new idea-works out in practice. 

We might add that Maryland also does the more custo- 

mary thing: it brings in alumni to give a talk on and to 

answer questions abvut a particular profession or job or 

graduate career. Newsletter knows of a number of Honors 

Programs which make this sensible use of their grads. 

THE TRUMNS THAT kom IN THE SPRING, TRA-LA 

Newsletter has heard of 2 Honors Programs which this 

Spring received two Truman Scholarships each, a quite un- 

usual honor. Taking them alphabetically! they are the 

University of Ceorgia and Pittsburgh University. 

Georgia’s two “Trumans” are Jonathan E. Gould of At- 

lanta and Frank 3. Hanna III of Smyrna. Jonathan is a 

political science major who plans on a law degree and 

Frank is a finance major who is headed for graduate work 

in business administration and anticipates a career in 

Georgia government and politics. Both have distinguished 

high school careers behind them, both academically and in 

terms of extra-curricular activities. 

Pittsburgh’s Honors Program has been particularly 

blessed with Trumans in the past 3 Years. In 1980. Bob Pane. 

the first Editor of the Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, . ’ 

was named as Truman Scholar. and he was followed in 1981 

by David Frederick, a Texas’citizen studying in Political 

Science at Pitt This year, Linda O’Connor, another 

Texas citizen majoring in political science and philosophy 

at Pitt, received the award, and Edward tehoucq, a history 

major, garnered a special at-large Truman appointment. 

The rest of us--green with, ah, Spring-wonder how 

these schools manage to aim their young Sophomores so 

successfully toward ‘Truman Scholarships. Alec Stewart, 

IID at Pitt, says that he keeps an eye out for prospective 

Trumans from the day his group of Frosh Honors students 

arrives on campus and sees to it that they get involved 

with the “right” courses (whatever they may be) and the 

best opportunities for gaining access to sophisticated 

converse and bright minds at an early age. Extra-curricular 

activities too. All this implies first-rate counseling, 

we suspect. No advice as yet from Lothar Tresp, our 

other “Coach of the Year.” But congratulations to and 

best wishes for these stellar students whose careers in 

government and civic service are opening for them so 

brilliantly. 

A late bulletin arrives precipitately fran the Honors 

Tuto?imCom Ohio University announcing that Martha 

Bailey, Political Science Junior and, of course, a member 

of the College has been named the Truman Scholar for Ohio. 

Our special congratulations to Martha and the College? 

which in the brief history of the Trunmns has had 2 wrn- 

ners and 2 finalists. In addition, this year, York 

Dobyns and R. B. Patterson have received National Science 

Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships, continuing a record 

of at least one of these Fellowships being awarded to an 

HTC graduate for the past 7 years. 

- -

BRIEF NOTICES 

David Gadziola, long a faculty member in Ball State’s T 

Honors College and active participant in NCHC’s national 

conventions, is interning now in the office of the Provost 

at Ball State . . . . . . . Catherine Cater, former President 

of NCHC and Honors Coordinator at North Dakota State University, 

will leave that position on June 1, 1982. The new 

Coordinator will be Johannes Vazulik, of the Department of 

Modem Languages (some of you may have met Johannes at 

(xnaha) . Catherine, ever active in Honors causes. will continue 

next year to-teach in Honors and serve on the Advisory 

Council for the Program. She and Johannes expect to be at 

Albuquerque next October . . . . . . . David Hart, longtime 

Coordinator of Honors at the University of Arkansas and 

member of NCHC’s Executive Cmittee, will be leaving that 

post at the end of this school year. David will be replaced 

by Richard Anderson of the Physics Department . . . . . . . 

a graduate of Ohio U’s Honors Tutorial College, 

ig-f=P s just een appointed Acting Assistant Director of the 

. . . . . . . Northern Illinois’ Honors Program periodically 

turns out a newsletter called “Prime,” to which Bill Johnson, 

the HD there. contributes a column. He entitles It “Johnson’s 

Waxings” . . . . . . . Kendell Hillstead, Co-Chair (with Sharon 

Thomas) of thetio-Year College Honors Committee. has iust 

gone aid got married. Blesszd by her new name-lKendeii-a 

honeymoon in Honolulu and Bs she 

herself to the day-to-dayness of Miami- 

Ran Hermes, of the University of Washington 

Honors Program s returned to campus following a term spent 

in Gemny . . . .!?. Bili Share, former HD and historian at 

Temple, will head up t e Temple University Japan Program! 

which will eventually make it the first American university 

offering academic degrees on Japanese soil . . . ...* The new 

Honors Director at the University of Northern Colorado is 

Robert Schulze; he replaces Tms Santos . . . . . . . NCHC’s 

Honors Semesters Committee is holding Its annual Sumner 

meeting this late June at Edythe and John Portz’s place on 

Chincoteague Island, Virgina . . . . . . . Donald Harward is 

leaving his post as Honors Director at Delaware and has 

accepted an administrative post at Wooster College .*..... 

The 1983 Southern Regional Honors Conference will be held 

1* Its theme WI e “Developing 

a World-View From an Honors Perspective.” Cheryl Delco of 

Clark College and Charlotte McClure of Georgia State are 

in charge--and need your input . . . . . . . 

DIRECTORSHIP AVAILABLE -UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE 

“The University Honors Program, established in 

1976, is a university-wide, independently budgeted 

and structured unit. It interacts with all under- 

graduate colleges and all administrative units of 

the University. The UHP Director who reports to 

the Provost and Vice-President fo: Academic Affairs, 

provides leadership for a program of enriched 

academic opportunities at all undergraduate levels 

in all Colleges. Major UHP activities include 

the lreshman year program which enrolls 300 new 

students annually; one hundred and thirty special 

honors-designated courses and seminars each semester 

enriched degree alternatives which involve special 

curricular features; undergraduate research; sup- 

plemental student services which integrate the honor 

and residence life programs. 

Candidates must have a record of scholarly ac- 

complishment and teaching excellence that would 

qualify Lhem for appointment at the associate or 

full professor level in an academic department. 

In addition, candidates must have administrative 

experience, at 1easL within an academic department, 

preferably at the level of college administration. 

Salary is competitive and is dependent on rank 

and experience. 

Position is available January 1, 

1483. Persons interested in making application 

should send a letter of inLerest, and vita, and 

have three letters of reference sent LO Dean Eric 

Brucker Chair, Search CommiLtee for Director oi 

Universjty Honors Program, College of Business 

IO 

and Economics, University of Delaware, Newark 

Delaware 19711. Deadline for receipt of all 

materials is July 15, 1982.” 

PARAGRAFFITI 

Candour with students concernin bud et and recruitment 

of faculky: “%e quarter began zest &ausplclously with 

rumors o massive budget cuts and the hard facts of some 

that actually were in the process of being implemented. 

There was a chance during the last days before the opening 

of the term that the new writing Labs for Honors students 

free Newsletter 7, p. 6 on the Northwest Writing Consor- 

tium] would fall victim to the freeze, but the Dean’s com- 

mitment to the Program carried the day with the result 

that four sections of Writing Lab are in operation. To 

date the Honors Program has not suffered from a budget 

cut, but it is far too early to say whether we shall have 

to give up any or all of our uncommitted funds for Honors 

before the crisis has passed. Our budget is extremely 

small, though we were fortunate to begin the new year with 

an increase over the previous year...1 am particularly 

sorry that we are unable to offer more fipper-level Honors 

seminars]. Faculty teach these as overloads for no com- 

pensa tion , and the current financial crisis has everyone 

hesitant to conmit energies for ‘extras.’ A number of 

students have individually convinced a faculty member to 

teach a seminar for an hour or so per week to five or six 

Honors students. Try it! The Honors Office will be 

happy to set it up!*’ 

. ..from Washington U’s Honors Newsletter 

bu HD Jack Haney 

Lisle Sumner Intercultural Programs in USA and India 

The Lisle Fellowship announces its 1982 Sumner il;tercultural 

programs in the US and India. Coordinated by 

the Lisle Center for Intercultural Studies at Rockland 

Community College, these groups are open to any student, 

staff or faculty member, age 18 or older. ‘Ihe college 

~111 award 3 credits for completion of a Lisle program. 

Limited financial aid is available. International students 

are especially encouraged to apply. Learning in a Lisle 

group is an opportunity to explore the moral and ethical 

dimensions to social conflict and world issues. Lisle 

has a commitment to empower people with greater confidence 

and skill as culture-learners. 

Groups encourage openness 

to dialogue and discussion. 

Write Martin Tillman, Director, 

Lisle Center for Intercultural Studies, Rockland Community 

College, 145 College Road, Suffern, NY 10901. (914) 

356-4650, ext. 530. 

The Irene Wang Memorial Awards at the University of New 

hXlC0 Honors PrOgram, COnSlSt of $250 in cash prizes for 

excellence in written work. This may include fiction, 

poetry, drama, essays, and analytical/technical writing. 

Entries are due by April 2. Irene Wang (1945-1964) was a 

former Honors student at LNM in whose memory the Awards were 

established by her mother on the occasion of Irene’s 

untimely death. 

Salisbury State (Tony I&all, HD) is in the midst of con- 

ductlng its Second Annual College Essay Competition. The 

winners will be announced on April 1. Ftrst prize con- 

sists of $125 worth of purchasing power at the campus 

bookstore; the second prize, $75 of the same. The 1981 

topic for the essay was “The Place of the Liberal Arts 

in Contemporary America.” This year the designated sub- 

ject is “Man’s Relation to his Environment: As It Is and 

As It Ought To Be. ” Many of the entries are expected to 

emerge from the Sophomore/Junior Honors seminar on “Man 

and His Environment,” an interdisciplinary seminar involvinfi 

the disciplines of chemistry, biology, and geography.

The students at Wisconsin at LaCrossehave produced an interesting 

magazine, e Catal st, which is apparently 

in its third year o + pu Ication. The December. , ‘81 - 

issue is devoted entirely to environmental issues and 

Consists of Several poems, an imaginary conversation, and 

a series of short essays on various aspects of the environmental 

problem. Perhaps the most unusual of these productions 

are an essay offering the Buddhist perspective on 

why we should care about the environment, and a clever 

and amusing parody of Eliot’s “Prufrock,” entitled “The 

Love Song of .I. Albert Trujock.” All the contents of the 

publication, 

expect from 

however, are argued solidlv 

Honors students, well written. 

and. as we wo111d 

W&at is less 

expectable, however, is the air of passionate conviction 

which emanates from every element of the publication. These 

students are -in that controlled way which is necessary 

for the most effective writing--as mad as wet hens! 

Shelton Williams, HD at Austin College, will for the second 

year be serving as symposium leader at The Washington Sumner 

Forum, sponsored by the Washington Center for Learning 

Alternatives. There will be two sessions: May 16-29 and 

August 15-28. The Forum will deal with the nature of the 

nuclear arms race, the origins and current status of stra- 

tegic arms talks, U.S./Soviet strategic thinking, the Euro- 

pean theater in the nuclear debate, China’s nuclear role, 

the spread of nuclear weapons beyond the present “Nuclear 

club,” Congress and strategic planning, and nuclear weapons 

and the future, organizing for arms control. For complete 

information, write The Washington Sumner Forum ‘82, 1705 De- 

Sales Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 

What is a Peer Career Counselor? “A Peer Career Counselor 

is a student who wants to help other students. She has been 

trained by the Counseling Center in a variety of career 

and counseling related areas, and can answer questions and 

be of assistance in whatever ways the individual student 

needs. She can be a resource. She can help you research 

careers and relate your major to them. Then she can help 

you prepare a resumk and practice interviewing skills. 

She can help you find information on colleges, if you are 

thinkimg of transferrimg or continuing on to graduate 

school. If you are trying to choose a major, she can help 

you find out in which areas your interest and strengths 

lie. A Peer Career Counselor can also be a fri.end. You can 

talk to her about anything specific or general, and she 

is willing to listen if you just need a chance to complain.” 

/Is this a new idea in Honors?/ 

. . ..written by Gerry Owens, College of New 

Kochelle 

The Winter ‘82 edition of the University of Kansas College 

of Liberal Arts and Sciences Report contained 4 long 

articles on Honors. The first was written by Deane11 Reece 

Tacha, a 1968 graduate of the Honors Program and now Vice- 

Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and dealt with Chancellor 

Tacha’s undergraduate career in Honors at Kansas. Needless 

to say, she not merely survived that experience, but found it 

essential in assisting her toward her present position at 

Kansas. The second was the product of Jay Gringrich, currently 

tory 

a member 

terms, his 

of Honors, and in 

recent experiences 

it he recounts in 

in Honors co&es. 

lauda- 

The 

last article was written by a graduate of NCHC’s Appalachian 

Culture Semester, Barbara Sterling, whose view is summarized 

in her final sentence: “Perhaps 

I can make for NCHC semesters is 

the 

that 

strongest endorsement 

if I started college 

over again, I would include an NCIIC semester in my academic 

program.” 

Director, 

The final 

who outlined 

article 

the 

was written 

architecture 

by David Katzman, 

of the Kansas program 

and gave some indications of where the Program was 

heading. Kansas, as many will recall, was one of the founding 

fathers of NCHC, and recently has been engaged in amking 

changes in its Honors Program. 

Syracuse U’s Honors Program has invented sanething called 

’ Cannent Cards .” Toward the end of each semester. Uonnrs 

students are encouraged to have their professors fill out 

Student Ccnrnent Cards. These cards allow professors to com- 

ment at some length upon the work of those students who 

hand in the cards. The Ctxsnent Cards are then turned in at 

the Honors Office and are assigned to the proper student 

11 

file and can be used in letters of reccamendation students, 

we suppose, would want to be pretty selective in 

choosing profs to approach. A new wrinkle on an old idea. 

Kathryn Bretscher is now a Marshall Scholar. A biochem major 

d Honors student at Texas Christian University Kathryn 

i?ans to spend the next 2 years studying and do& research 

in chemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

England. Kathrln was selected as a candidate-at-large from 

the Southern Region. She is one of only 30 students from 

across the nation to receive this prestigious award. Since 

her Sophomore year, Kathryn has held an undergraduate re- 

search fellowship in chemistry. Her research, dealing with 

enzyme model systems, has been done under the direction of 

Dr. Jim Kelly, chemistry professor and Director of TCU’s 

Honors Program. 

Bill Mech’s protege/, Jay Luo around whom much of Bill’s 

pit, has been graduated-at the 

age of 12-with Honors from Boise State’s Honors Program. 

Readers may have seen Jay on national television during 

graduation ceremonies, looking very young and lly3re than a 

little bewildered by all the attention. He was also the 

subject of an article 

is headed for Stanford 

in the May 17 Washington Post. 

grad school, but has not as yet Jay 

settled upon a major. Bill is quoted in the Post as saying, 

“It’s like a kid with a basketball always in hisnd. He 

enjoys doing 

studying.” 

whoI he does hest . What Jay does best is 

HONORIFICS: OR THE DOINGS OF 

NCHC AND THE VARIOUS HONORS 

COUNCILS 

-- A REPLY TO Sm SCHUMAN'S "INFLAYWTORY MEDITATION" 

Readers will remember that Sam Schtanan (Guilford 

College) tried to cool us all down a bit about what he 

felt might be our excessive enthusiasm concerning the newly 

appointed National Ccmuission on Excellence in Education. 

The gist of his argument was that while NCHC was lifting 

hozannahs to President Reagan for initiating the Comnission, 

we might be “failing to take into account the otherwise 

pervasive and cynical attack on high education being 

mounted daily in Washington.” Sam saw the Reagan administration 

as offering “one encouraging move as a palliative 

to a program of shockin contempt for our country’s colleges 

and universities. 

have seized upon 

We P NCHC7, _ 

the one good 

alas, have taken this bait, 

program and ignored the scandalous 

context in which it was offered . . ..The most offensive 

moves, which I see as parts of a series of anti-educational 

steps, 

student 

are the drastic cuts being 

aid. These cuts are not 

effected and proposed in 

the actions of an administration 

which believes that equality of educational opportunity 

is a national goal of any importance any more. 

These moves force our institutions to raise tuitions drastically, 

and to become cynical and self-serving in admissions 

policies. They threaten private and public education, 

and they are an insult to the intellectual aspirations of 

a generation of our countrymen.” For Sam’s full argument 

see Newsletter 9, pp. 17-18. 

Hackles along the neck of at least one well-known 

member of NCHC were raised by Sam’s blast. Scott Vaughn, 

Editor of Forum for Honors, has sent in the following 

response: 

“Sam Schuman’s ‘inflammatory meditation’ which appeared 

in Newsletter 9 is, to my mind, both overly inflaanmtory 

and insufficiently meditative. His inability (or unwillingness)

to distinguish issues relevant to NCHC from those irrelevant 

to NCHC has led him to offer us unsound and self-defeating 

political advice. Sam’s argument, such as it is, goes wrong 

in several important ways. 

--It confuses a collective attempt to participate 

in the political process on a matter of imnediate 

interest to the organization with an expression of 

organizational support for Reaganomics, free cheese 

and, by implication, military rntervention in Latin 

America. 

-It misinterprets (or misrepresents) a position 

held by many NCHC members on the issues surrounding 

the Equal Rights Amendment. Many of us have argued 

that collective, organizational political action 

must be restricted to issues which are directly and 

closely related to the concerns which define our 

particular collective. We have not argued that the 

NCHC should (or even that it could) avoid taking up 

political positions or participating in the poli- 

tical process. 

-Finally, it presumes that we, collectively and 

individually, should take our political message to 

those who already understand and accept it and & 

to them. Sam tells us that this Ccmnission is no 

more than a ‘sop’ and warns against participating 

in a charade. What he does not say is that if we 

fail to bring our expert testimony to bear on the 

deliberations of this Camrission, we will have ab- 

rogated our responsibilities, guaranteed that its 

recommendations are handed down without the in- 

sights we can provide and forfeited our right to 

say anything at all about the final product. 

I would hope that the NCHC and its individual members would 

take every possible step to bring our message to the 

National Ccmnission on Excellence inEducatIon and, in- 

cidentally, the press and general public. What better 

forum do we have?” 

THE IIATIONAL COWIISSION ON EXCELLENCE IN EMICATION--CONTINUED 

In Newsletter 9, relying upon information sent us by 

Neil Daniel (TCU), Chair of NCHC’s Ccernittee on Pre-College 

Education of the Gifted, listed the times, places, subjects, 

etc. of the 6 hearingsbeingheld by the Canaission at various 

places around the country fran March to October. See p. 18. 

Unfortunately and inadvertently we neglected to include the 

seventh and final hearing of the Camnssion: it will take 

place in Boston on October 7, 1982, and the Ccarsission Chair- 

person who will be in charge will be William 0. Baker, Re- 

tired Chairman of the Bell laboratories, Morristown, NJ. 

The omission was particularly unfortunate because the sub- 

ject to be discussed was one-perhaps the one among all 

seven--which plays upon the special in=ests of NCHC: 

“Education for the Gifted and Talented.” 

Plans are now going forwardtohave representatives 

of NCHC present at the Boston meeting in order to make 

written and oral presentations: And Neil has sent encouragement 

to NCHC members residing in or near the cities where the 

hearings aregoingto be held to be present at each of the 

hearings. 

tations 

However! he prefers 

with him, if you intend 

that 

to 

you 

speak 

clear your presenin 

any sense as 

an official voice 3 NCHC. 

Neil’s view of Sam Schuman’s remarks are sumned up as 

Iollows: “Sam is wise I think, to caution us not to expect 

too much from this national carmission. At the same time 

it would be foolish to pass up an opportunity to have sane 

inIluence on the recoarnendations of the Ccsrnission. It 

can’t hurt to make them aware of our presence.” 

Charlotte McClure (HD at Georgia State) has already 

been present at the Atlanta hearing of April 16. Her report 

follows: 

12 

CHARLOTTE MCCLURE (GEORGIA STATE) Amms THE ATLANTA 

HEARING OF THE CWISSION ON EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION 

Visitation at two schools in the city of Atlanta system, 

invited witnesses from national and professional organiza- 

tions related to teaching and teacher education, presen- 

tations by teacher/educators from the southern region, and 

general testimony from members of the audience--all were 

substantive features of the third of six public hearings 

of the National Carmission on Excellence in Education at 

Georgia State University, Atlanta, May 11 and 12. Six 

members of the Commission were present to hear the variety 

of witnesses and testimony and to ask their own questions 

and to answer other questions posed by the presenters. 

Annette Y. Kirk, Ccmnission member and parent of Mecosta, 

Michigan, presided over the hearing, while Yvonne Larsen, 

San Drego, vice chairman of the Commission, represented 

the Ccmnission Chairman, Dr. David Gardner, President of 

the University of Utah. Observations of the hearing in 

Atlanta provide one view of the pattern of the hearings, 

which may be helpful to members of NCHC who may want to 

attend a hearing in their area, especially in Boston in 

October where the topic will be on the gifted and talented. 

On the topic, ‘Teaching and Teacher Education,’ the 

Atlanta hearing was organized in closely timed segments 

to allow for maximum presentations followed by discussion 

periods . Each of two invited witnesses, one frcm the 

National Institut:, of Education giving an historical perspective 

and over;‘.ew of issues and the other frcxn Virginia 

Polytechnic Institute and State University giving a philosophic 

view of the relationship between teaching and learning, 

spoke for fifteen minutes. Six presenters, whose roles 

ranged from that of kindergarten teacher to membership in 

a state legislature, each spoke for ten minutes on national 

perspectives of the topic. Ten people, representing local 

and regional entities of the educational establishment, 

each spoke for seven minutes. Discussion periods followed 

these presentations. 

At the end of the hearing day, eighteen 

members of the audien%e, who earlier in the day had submitted 

their name and topic to the Conmission staff, were 

allotted five minutes each to address the Commission. Most 

of these presenters described teacher education or teacher 

assistance programs already established and achieving sane 

success, in their opinion, for promoting excellence in 

teaching. ‘I’he Carmission chairman announced that anyone 

wishing to add written testimony to this hearing can s&nit 

such testimony on or before June 12, 1982, on this topic or 

on other 

quality. 

topics related to the pursuit of educational 

As the Ccmtnission members conducted the hearing, they 

appeared to keep up with the written testimony both by 

skimning the written material beforehand and by listening 

to the speaker’s abstraction of main points. They showed 

a sense of humor, asked a few probing questions within 

the time limits, and fielded questions briefly. Because 

of the number of witnesses and presenters, not too many 

questions could be handled even in the two one-hour dis- 

cussion periods provided, and a true dialog did not develop 

because questions originated from too many different per- 

spectives. Most of the statements were general analyses 

of the current condition of teaching and teacher education 

or descriptions of programs for assisting teachers that 

already exist. General suggestions for improvement of 

teaching and teacher education were presented, but few 

actual concrete proposals were outlined for the Comnission 

to consider. It seemed as if the audience expected the 

Comnission to assimilate the analyses and general sugges- 

tions and to produce concrete solutions in their final re- 

port, which is to be completed within less than a year. 

Only one or two urged continued funding of educational 

enterprises by the federal goverrunent. Overall, the 

hearing was a polite, well-mannered, uncontroversial per- 

formance of well-intentioned people.” 

Charlotte has passed along a copy of the agenda for the 

Atlanta meeting, as well as a copy of the Ccmnission member- 

ship, responsibilities, activities, Charter, and guidelines 

for presenting general testimony at the hearings. News- 

letter will be happy to photocopy these for any member.

THE TENNESSEE HONORS COUNCIL'S 1982 CONFERENCE 

This was the sixth such conference and there were 60 

registered attendees, representing the following institu- 

tions: Austin Peay State, Belmont, Carson-Newman, East 

Tennessee State, Fisk, Freed-Hardeman, Memphis State, Ten- 

nessee State, Tennessee Tech, Union, and Vanderbilt. The 

host institution was Tennessee State in Nashville. Date: 

February 20, 1982. 

John W. Harris of Tennessee Tech and State Coordinator 

for Honors, presided. Dr. Wilson Q. Welch, former DH at 

Fisk, gave the keynote address on “The Present and Future 

Challenge for Honors Progrsms,“and the speaker for the 

General Session was Dr. Jean Leblon of Vanderbilt, who 

spoke on “The Role of the Advanced Placement Program in 

Collegiate Honors Programs.” Workshops on “Motivation” 

and “Techniques for Developing a Stimulating Classroom En- 

vironment” followed. The meeting was concluded with a slide 

presentation of “ENER-80” by John Harris and a panel of ex- 

perts dealing with the subject ‘?leeting of the Minds.” Lance 

Hickerson of Freed-Hardeman was the moderator. 

DID THE "&DE HANDES" IDEA WORK OUT SUCCESSFULLY AT &WA? 

Apparently it did, at least according to Robert Thomson, 

Emeritus Director of the Honors Program at Maine (Orono) who 

has been attending NCHC Annual Meetings for just about as long 

as they have been put on. As part of his extensive review 

of the Omaha convention for the Northeast Regional Newsletter, 

Bob wrote about the use of 25 experienced Directors as con- 

sultants: 

“In the past there have usually been a number of work- 

shops dealing with the administrative problems of Honors 

programs ; this time the number was greatly reduced, and 

instead a number of experienced Honors directors were desig- 

nated as ‘Consultants,’ available on a rota basis in one room 

to answer questions and to give advice to new Directors and 

to representatives of schools contemplating the introduction 

of new Honorsprogr-or basic changes in existing ones. In 

addition the Consultants wore distinctive red ribbons and 

did a good deal of informal advising at mealtimes and’in the 

corridors. I served as one of the consultants, and was 

rather surprised not only by the amount of work that came 

my way, but by the range and variety of the questions asked. 

It is interesting to note that, despite the general finan- 

cial bind under which most schools are working, a number are 

planning new Honors Frograms, and many more are willing to 

put new money into the expansion of established programs. 

For example, I spent one whole morning with a represen- 

tative of the University of Central Arkansas, where a new 

president is planning a rather elaborate new program. The 

Orono program is fairly widely regarded as an excellent 

model for a program at a medium--sized university. I also 

spent agooddeal of time with the University of Mississippi’s 

Director. He is facing the problem we faced in 1962, the 

expansion of an Arts & Sciences program to include the other 

colleges of the university. I talked more briefly to a 

dozen other Directors on specific problems that were 

bothering them, including such perennial Honors problems 

as fund-raising, campus visibility, student associations, 

recruitment, Honors Centers, etc. I noted a large number 

of new Directors in established programs, many of them 

without much previous experience in Honors. The ‘old guard’ 

of Directors is gradually retiring, or moving to adminis- 

trative positions outside the Honors field. The general 

feeling was that the Consultant innovation was very success- 

ful, and I expect that it will be continued in future con- 

ferences. I certainly enjoyed it very much.” 

THE 1982 1~1~01s REGION STATE CormxxE 

Cur information on the ‘82 conference of this, the 

oldest of the State Councils, canes to us fran Dean Phyllis 

Kittel, Associate Dean of Instruction at Illinois Benedic- 

tine and recently installed as President of the Illinois 

State Council. 

The convention was held at Illinois Benedictine and 

was attended by 110 representatives from 15 universities 

13 

and colleges. The keynote address by Robert Klaus, Executive 

Director of the Illinois Humanities Council? was entitled 

“The Triumph of the Bureaucratic and the Therapeutic: Civilization 

at the Cross Roads,” and provoked an animated discussion. 

Nuts and bolts were represented by a panel discussion by 4 experienced 

HDs. Workshops offered especially interesting subject 

matters: “Progress Toward Peer Advising for Honors Student; 

(George Brown, Southern Illinois), “The Stress of Excellence” 

(Bill Johnson, Northern Illinois), “The NCHC Evaluation Handbook” 

(Diane Callin, Harper)! “Honors Programs and Finance 

in Illinois” (Ira Cohen, Illinois State), and “Starting a 

Student Honors Publication in Illinois” (Jeanie Stiegel, Brad 

Criss, Northern Illinois). 

IBC’s infant Scholars Program, headed by Fr. Philip 

Timbo, hosted, but, alas, did not win the College Bowl compe- 

tition which was put on. That honor went to Illinois State. 

The Scholars Program at IBC is in its first year, with 

10 first-year students enrolled. Each of the students, along 

with a faculty advisor, chooses a course of study to meet his 

or her individual needs. There is strong emphasis on a liberal 

arts curriculum, supplemented by a concentration in reading 

and speaking a second language. 

THE TWO-YEAR CKLEGE HONORS CCMTTEE AT WORK 

At its final meeting at Nebraska at Omaha, NCHC’s 

Executive Committee ‘,pproved a project proposal written by 

what has since beccme the Standing Committee on Two-Year 

College Honors Programs, co-chaired by Kandell Hillstead and 

Sharon Thomas, both of the Emphasis on Excellence Program at 

Miami-Dade. The project itself concerns the preparation 

and publication of a Handbook on Honors in two-year colleges, 

The handbook would outline the basic Honors structures which 

are generally feasible or most likely to succeed within the two- 

year college and would deal with those problems which are special 

to these institutions. Since such a handbook is sorely needed, 

the Executive Committee welcomed the offer of Sharon and Kandell 

to center the effort at Miami-Dade, which is probably the 

largest two-year institution in the country. 

Since then, Miami-Dade has provided additional support 

in travel funds for the Co-chairs, and has also agreed to 

offer mailing, phone, and secretarial services for the project. 

In November, a lengthy meeting reviewed basic literature, pre- 

pared a tentative outline for the first Committee meeting, and 

tentatively identified five different Honors Program models 

for use in two-year institutions. Next meeting: June. 

Miami-Dade’s Emphasis on Excellence office has also 

conducted an informal inquiry survey of existing Honors Pro- 

grams. Inquiries were sent to 227 NCHC members and to 52 

State Directors of Comnunity and Junior Colleges. In the 

former category, 94 responded; in the latter 47, a near-perfect 

record. The returns must certainly have been very encouraging 

to Kandell and Sharon and must have given them much information 

to work with. 

The “Honors Handbook Working Papers,” a copy of which 

we have received, contains questions on faculty development, 

support systems both on and off campus, issues dealing with 

major problems and questions which people might experience 

as they begin to form and administer Honors Programs, and 

resources that might be helpful (including hardware and con- 

sultant resources). 

Altogether, a good start to a project long overdue on 

NCHC ’ s agenda. 

Lothar Tresp, NCHC Executive Secretary, tells us that 

an increasing number of two-year colleges have shown an interest 

in NCHC, probably because of the work of this Committee. 

Sharon and Kandell hope for completion of the manu- 

script by August, and for publication, under the aegis of 

NCHC, scnnetime during the Fall. If you feel that you can 

contribute to the work of the Canaittee, or simply want to 

stay in touch, the Co-Chairs would be most grateful if you 

would get in touch with Sharon Thomas, Emphasis on Excellence, 

Miami-Dade Comaunity College, 11011 S.W. 104 Street, Miami, 

Florida 33176.

BYANDABOUTSTUDENTS 

HONORS SEMESTERS CY PUERTO RICO, ESPECIAOIENTE) 

Did you know that to date 242 students have partici- 

pated in NCHC Honors Semesters, and that they have cane 

from 40 states? 

Did ou know that the least expensive, and very pos- 

&&&iiGGxotic, of the lot is coming up in Spring, 

Did you know that there is scholarship money available 

to support your application, if you are accepted, from two 

sources? 

Did you know that one source is the John and Edythe 

Portz Scholarships, five of them, in the amount of $500 

each? 

Did you know that another source, if you attend school 

in the Upper Mrdwest, is the Regional Honors Semester 

Scholarship, 3 of which will be available in the amount of 

$200 each? 

And did you know that you can apply right now, and be 

one of the 20-30 students from -- who knows -- the other 

fifty states to participate? 

For information and application forms, write to: 

Dr. Bemice Braid, Director 

University Honors Program 

long Island University 

Brooklyn, New York 11201 

or call (212) 834-6000, Ext. 2183 

Editorial comment: Did ou know that the second “Did 

you know” above refers to --I+---. t e Puerto Rican Honors Semester 

to be offered this next Spring Semester by the University 

-of Puerto Rico and NCHC? Information on this Semester 

2 should have reached you from Marshall Morris and Evelina 

+$ Crtiz, the Co-Directors of the Semester: Their address: 

Honors Program, Office of Academic Affairs, Rio Piedras 

& Campus, University 

Or you can obtain 

of Puerto Rico, 

material on the 

Rio Piedras, 

Semester from 

P.R. 00931 

Bemice 

Braid as above. Note that Bemice has a new phone number. 

None of the “Did you knows” above includesthe nfor\ 

mation thattheP.R. Semester will cost you a mer $1,700, 

exclusive of food and textbooks. That’s peanuts 

G the 

days to a continental USA student. The sum inclu es all 

field trips around the island, all University costs, and 

all housing costs. The University of Puerto Rico has been 

particularly generous in sharply reducing the roan& costs 

as its contribution (among many) to the success of the 

Semester and is housing you not at one of the dorms, but 

at the Casa de lILlespedes--the University Hostel where 

visiting scholars and dignitaries are housed during their 

sojourns at the University. And the University is making 

a serious effort to involve island students in the project 

as your rocm- and classmates. 

You may earn 16 or 19 credits of upper-level Honors 

work at the Semester. The faculty is hand-picked and of 

course will teach in English, which is thesecondlanguage 

of the island and universally known, if not always spoken. 

The subjects concentrate upon San Juan itself, in the heart 

of which the University lies, and S.J. is a metropolis of a 

million and a half people, a fascinating object just waiting 

to be studied by you. You’ll be taking in concerts, plays, 

art exhibits, ballet, museums, and whatever else the rich 

S.J. cultural scene has to ofIer next season, and you’ll 

be taking trips out over the loo-mile-long island in order 

to study the ecological problems posed by its unique en- 

vironment ? topography, and location in the Caribbean. Other 

courses will deal with the economics, politics, and history 

of Puerto Rico and especially with the position of the 

island within the total Caribbean community. And then, 

14 

of course, there is always the troubled USA “connection” 

to be examined. Independent study projects should give 

you an opportunity to scour the island for a subject which 

precisely fits your own ideas and your major to a T. A 

$250 prize will be offered for the best paper to emerge 

fran the Semester, 

Opening date will be January 24, which should allow 

students from many institutions which operate on the quarter 

system to attend. Participants will have a chance to visit 

with parents during Spring Break, when parents are en- 

couraged to visit Puerto Rico, the University, and the 

Semester . Side trips to the American and British Virgins 

can easily be planned. 

Honors Semesters are always rigorous and mind-bending 

experiences, and you should not expect that the lush tro- 

pical setting and exotic culture of the island will have 

a tendency to mitigate the workload. They won’t. But 

the Honors Semesters Committee has such faith in the re- 

markableness of the learning experience for which you are 

headed in Puerto Rico that it is already thinking in terms 

of making this one of its regularly offered Semesters, 

like those at the United Nations and Washington, D.C. 

Better get in on the first go-round. 

Finally, the Semester Comnittee’s hearty thanks go to 

the Upper Midwest Regional Honors Council for its farsighted 

and ground-breaking policy of assigning three $200 

scholarships to applicants from the Upper Midwest Region. 

It is a policy which other Regions might well emulate, 

[ndwewoildurgc themtodoso. 

’ ) 

A Postscript: In the course of a year’s quarter, 

Newsletter receives a number--not as many as we would like, 

but a number--of newsletters published by various Honors 

Programs for local consumption. It is particularly grafi- 

fying to see that many of these publications have contained 

notices concerning NCHC’s Puerto Rican Honors Semester. 

May we urge others that, as you get out the first issue of 

your newsletter next Fall, you devote a paragraph or two 

to the island Semester, so as to insure that your Honors 

students know that the opportunity does actually exist. 

In the Fall, too? Evalina Ortiz and Marshall Morris will 

be launching a final mailing on the Semester. We hope 

that you will post this material where all your students 

can see it. In doing so, you will have the gratitude of 

the Semesters Committee-and of those of your students who 

eventually become participants. 

A CALL FOR MATERIAL: EILEEN MONEY 

The Student Ccsmunications Comnittee is making a 

call for material about student governance structures and 

student publications (newsletters, journals, or literary 

magazines). We intend to create a file of materials 

and index it. This file can then be maintained by the 

Executive Secretary-Treasurer. Anyone in need of infor- 

mation will be able to request it after consulting the 

index which would be distributed to the membership. 

Specifically we need: 

governance 

:: 

3. 

4. 

publications i. 

:: 

4. 

copies of constitutions, 

descriptions of structures: offices 

and voting policies, 

articles which describe the process 

for instituting a governance 

s true ture , 

articles on the functions of gover- 

nance structure. 

copies of your publications, 

descriptions of your publication, 

advice for setting up and main- 

taining a publication, 

advice on writing skills. 

Anything else which you feel would be useful to such 

a file would also be appreciated. Send to: Eileen Mooney, 

Chair, Student Communications, Seven The Knolls, Locust 

Valley, NY 11560. There is one more way which we students

can pool our resources and share with each other. Thank 

you for your help. 

Eileen Mooney, Chair, 

Student Ccmnunications Ccmnittee 

INTERNSHIPS WITH CC AVAILABLE 

Ccmnon Cause offers internships for college students 

throughout the year at the national office in Washington, 

D . c . Intern positiorrjavailable include researchers, grass 

roots lobby organizers? magazine aids, congressional monitors 

and administrative assIstants. For more information, con- 

tact Jay Keller, Common Cause, 2030 M Street N.W., Washington, 

D.C. 20036. Or phone (202) 833-1200. 

NANCY NETHERY'S "UNIQUE EXPERIENCE" 

Nancy Nethery is a degree-seeking student under the aegis 

of the University of Georgia’s Center for Global Policy Stu- 

dies. A recent issue of the Center’s Newsletter contained 

a brief article by Nancy on her experience as a member of 

NCHC’s United Nations Semester II. We present it, with 

special thanks to Lee Albright, who thoughtfully sent it in. 

lee is Assistant to Lothar Tresp at Georgia. 

“It was early September, and at a tine when most stu- 

dents are returning to school and renewing old friendships, 

35 of us were seated on a bus llrmbering through Manhattan, 

desperately trying to rememberthenames of the people around 

us and marveling at,the guide, who was using words like 

‘schlepping’ and ‘glitzy. 

Our banes ranged from Alaska to Ohio to New Mexico and 

we were all enrolled in the United Nations Semester II, spon- 

sored jointly by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) 

and Long Island University’s Brooklyn Center. 

The United Nations Semester, or UNS, was not an intern- 

ship program, though internships with several international 

and U.S. organizations, including War Resisters League and 

Bread for the World, were sought out by individual students. 

It was an academic program which utilized the educational 

opportunities of its environment, New York City. 

Classes emphasized international themes: all students 

were required to study International Organizations? Conflict 

Mediation, Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspective and 

to complete an independent study project. Additionally, we 

were required to choose either Issues in International Poli- 

tics or Issues in International Economics and to take one 

of the ‘city’ courses: Urban Folklife (anthropology/soci- 

ology) and City 01 Lmnigrant Peoples (literature). This 

curriculum revealed the international flavor of the city 

on two separate levels. The politics and economics courses 

exploited New York’s eminence as a center for international 

trade and further acquainted us with the United Nations and 

its operations. The city courses introduced us to various 

ethnic groups and pockets of culture - constant reminders 

thaL New York has a rich international life which has 

nothing Lo do with the United Nations or multinational 

corporations. 

However, the independent study project was the unifying 

force of the semester. The topics and themganization of 

the papers reflected the diversity of the group. Our majors 

ranged from architecture to zoology, and our projects were 

just as divergent. 

The independent study projects required a great deal of 

research effort., and much time was spent simply sitting and 

thinking about them, though we were never free of the demands 

ot other classes. This resulted in papers which might be 

adapLed or expanded into senior theses once a student re- 

turned Lo his or her home university. 

Credit transfers may have required scxne creativity, but 

most of the participants I’ve been in contact with have had 

no trouble. I returned to the University with 25 quarter 

hours of major credit, so it is possible to attend a special 

program without falling behind, especially if the transfer 

of credit is worked out in advance. 

15 

Involvement with the U.N. tended to be determined by 

the individual. We all attended several elementary 

briefings; the opening session and obtained passes which 

authorized us to use the U.N. library. As well, one of our 

professors was an Undersecretary for African Affairs at 

the Secretariat. Scme students chose to utilize people 

they had met at the U.N. as resources, others did not. 

Another program of this type is to be offered in 

Spring, 1983. The Puerto Rican Semester will be sponsored 

by the National Collegiate Honors Council and the Univer- 

sity of Puerto Rico and Hispanic culture. Classes will 

be given in English, but there will be ample opportunity 

for students to learn Spanish or polish existing knowledge 

of the language. Scholarships will be available. Those 

interested in further information about either of the 

lionors semesters may contact Nancy Nethery through the 

Center for Global Policy Studies.” 

A NEW IDEA: A MWZINE FOR AND BY ILLINOIS REGION ECIN~RS 

GUDENTS 

Two honors students from Northern Illinois University 

in De&lb, Illinois are working to turn an idea into a 

reality. Jeanne Stiegel and Bradley Criss want to start 

an Illinois Honors Magazine. Its special significance to 

Regional and State Councils lies in the fact that it will 

be a publication which will include the work of students 

from Honors Programs all over the State. In this respect, 

it is apparently unique. 

At a workshop of the Honors Council of the Illinois 

Region held at Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, 

Illinois, Stiegel and Criss presented the idea to other 

Illinois honors students. The response was enthusiastic- 

the workshop evolved into a brainstorming session with 8 

universities and colleges represented. 

The magazine does not have a name yet but it is be- 

ginnix to have a management structure, Each participa- 

ting school will have an editorial staff, led by a managing 

editor, which will wcrk to gather materials from that school 

and select the items to be fon.iarded to the editor-in-chief. 

‘Iheeditorin-chief position will rotate to a different school 

each year. For the first year the position will be held 

by Jeanne Stiegel at Xorthern Illinois University. The 

editor-in-chief is responsible for the final selection 

of materitls to be included and for the production of the 

final product. 

A major obstacle to be overccma is, of course, lack of 

funds. At NIU, the magazine will be part of the permanent 

work of the Student Honors Organization (SIIO). Stiegel 

and Criss are planning on tappi% into SHO’s regular fund- 

raising projects to begin with but are also hoping for 

support from Deans and academic departments. Another 

avenue they are exploring is the possibility of receiving 

a grant from the Honors Council of the Illinois Region. 

To effectively distribute the cost? each school will be 

asked to pay for the number of copies it requests. In 

this way, each school’s editorial staff decides if it 

wants a copy to go to each member of its Honors Program or 

to a limited number of members. The structure, as planned, 

sounds workable, but Stiegel and Criss expect to find some 

areas which will require fine tuning in the Fall. 

The plan is to publish twice a year to begin with and 

eventually expand to three issues per year. At this time 

each interested school is composing a staff and gathering 

materials in preparation for the first issue in early 

Fall ‘82. 

If you have ideas, cmnts or would like more infor- 

mation, contact Jeanne Stiegel and Bradley Criss c/o: 

University Honors Program, Northern Illinois University, 

DeKalb, IL 60115. 

NCFTH AMERICAN ESSAY CONTEST 

The Humanist magazine, 7 Hatwood Drive, Amherst, NY 

14226, 1s offering 3 prizes ($1,000, $500, $100) for the 

best essays of not more than 2,500 words dealing with

“thinking which can help bridge the gap between the prac- 

tices of established institutions and the practical creative 

insights of the oncoming generation.” Suggested topics: 

Steps toward humanizing the world; using science for human 

goals; ways to surmount the divisiveness of world religions; 

bring inspirational aspects of evolution, biology, astronomy, 

or other sciences into class-roan courses; methods I have 

used in my teaching which encouraged consideration of others 

and thinking about ethical problems; developing a scientific 

and hmnane personal philosophy; Self-Fulfillment through 

Service to others; and other related topics. The Contest is 

open to those of age 29 or under. Manuscripts must be typed 

and double-spaced and must be postmarked before July 15, 

1982. Notification by November 15. Entries not returned. 

“If, with your essay, you mention a teacher, librarian, 

or adviser (with address) as instrumental to your having dean, 

entered your essay, and if you are one of the winners, we 

will recognize that individual with a special award in- 

cluding $100.” 

OUR REGULAR COLUMNISTS 

SELECTING AMI TRAINING HONCXS FACULTY (FIRST OF A FEW,,,,) 

BY FAIIH GABELNKK U%FMAND AT CCUGE PARK) 

At two recent Honors Conferences in which I partici- 

pated, the question of Honors faculty selection arose. The 

ferment and energy of the discussion indicated to me that 

this is a topic worthy of deeper consideration. As I think 

about the issue, I cane up with a trajectory which begins 

with faculty selection, moves to course development or in- 

corporating the faculty into the Honors Program, and then 

proceeds through training seminars for the selected 

faculty. In this article, I’d like to concentrate on fa- 

culty selection. 

Programs at all stages of development are always faced 

with finding faculty who will be appropriate for the Honors 

approach to education. Departmental Honors Programs may 

have an outwardly easier job since they can rotate the 

assignment, but they must deal with visible jealousies and 

visible differences in teaching and scholarly canpetence. 

General Honors Programs have more outwardly difficult ad- 

ministrative issues but ultimately, I think, an easier way 

of proceeding since the faculty member returns to his or 

her department and a new, possibly better, person canes on 

board. These same assets and difficulties hold true for 

college size, withthesmaller colleges being analogous to 

the departmental unit of a large universityandhaving the 

same problems. 

Still, regardless of how easy or difficult are the 

administrative tasks, the first question always is: who 

would make a good Honors instructor? Mostly I find that 

people have an idea of what Honors Programs are like in 

terms of academic excellence. They see it variously as a 

place to try out a new course, as a chance toieach really 

bright students, as a way of delivering their graduate 

material to an undergraduate audience. Thus, who would make 

a good Honors instructor is not easily answered initially 

because the faculty are bringing in their idealizations and 

perhaps past experiences to the Program. Not surprisingly, 

the most traumatic time for most of our Honors instructors 

occurs during the first few weeks of the semester when the 

idealized Honors Student changes into An Undergraduate! It 

is perhaps at this nexus that good Honors instructors bet- 

apparent. 

In our Program, we believe that most people who are 

flexible can be trained to be Honors instructors. This 

democratic posture, which may seem paradoxical in an Honors 

Program, works well for us. Being democratic doesn’t mean 

that we don’t make choices among faculty, for we do. It 

does mean, however, that once people are selected to join 

our faculty, we see them all as potentially capable of be- 

caning fine Honors instructors. 

16 

Instructors from the University either request the 

position.or respond to a general invitation which we issue 

each year. Instructors fran outside the University are 

personally recruited or hear about us through informal networks. 

Since we offer about 20 special seminars each 

semester, we need to have a pool of about 30 from which 

to choose Thus, we keep up a steady posture oh recruitment 

and Invitation. 

who shows an interest 

And I contact 

in teaching 

by phone every 

in our Program. 

one 

I 

explain who we are and what we’re about, and I tell each 

person what I would like as a first step in applying to 

teach in our Program. Sane people never submit their 

materials. 

All potential Honors instructors must submit a one- 

page course description, a one-page pedagogy statement and 

a copy of the Curriculum Vitae. I screen all of these 

applicants. I look first for breadth of scholarly accom- 

plishments. (An excellent background in 16th century Eng- 

lish drama may or may not be an effective kind of pre- 

paration for teaching in a General Honors Program.) I 

also look for evidence of a flexible, questioning posture 

towards education and a willingness to look at the teaching 

enterprise as a matter as serious as traditional scholarly 

research. I like to interview in person most applicants 

in order to verify my inferences and begin to comrmnicate 

in more detail what we, in the General Honors Program, want 

from our instructors. Course descriptions are often re- 

written; titles arereworked;emphases are redirected; 

readings are adjusted. As nrmch as I can, I try to provide 

a realistic picture of our Honors students, commenting on 

their strengths and weaknesses. Occasionally, people drop 

out of the process at this point, too. Others don’t 

really listen; sane use the information to contine to re- 

fine their seminar and their role as an Honors instructor. 

This process takes about 3 months. At the end of 

that period, Xerox copies of all materials are assembled 

into packets and given to our Courses and Curricultnn Ccm- 

mittee which consists of 4 Honors students, 4 faculty 

members at the University and myself as Chair. I provide 

information as is needed, but, by and large, take a facili- 

tative rather than a directive role. This step is a check 

against my impressions and allows other perspectives to 

be heard. Refinements are made, here, also, and I then 

carry back these suggestions to the faculty member. Even 

if someone is not selected, he or she has already had the 

advantage of several hours consultation on the course pro- 

posed. 

It is not unccamron to have strong disagreements on 

what courses will be successful and what teachers will 

perform well because there are a variety of views in the 

ccmnittee about what a “successful” Honors course really 

is and what criteria really are necessary in a good Honors 

instructor-all of which brings us back to our original 

question. NEXT NJZWSLETIER: Training Honors Faculty 

PORE BENT NOTES FRCCI THE BLUE PARPOON 

BY WALLACE KAY (SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI) 

Honors as a recruiting device. Recruiting for honors. 

Somehow such phrases stick in my throat when I say them, 

grate on my ear when I hear them, and fester in my soul 

when I assent to their practice. 

Perhaps the primary rationale for an Honors Program 

in any institution is to provide, for the extraordinary 

student enrolled there, a better education than that 

normally available in the institution. Maybe that ex- 

traordinary student has, for any one of a number of good 

reasons, not enrolled in a “prestige” institution which 

really needs no Honors Program because most of the stu- 

dents are extraordinary, as are the classes and profes- 

sors. The task of the Honors Program is to identify that 

student and provide for him. 

But if a student has a choice between Prestige Uni- 

versity and Podunk State College, somehow it bothers me 

that the lesser institution would use its Honors Program

. . * 

to get the student to enroll there. That student should 

go to Prestige University if he can, even if Prestige U. 

has no Honors Program. 

Somehow there is a conflict involved when we get to- 

gether to share information about our programs. Some 

people are becoming reluctant to reveal “successful re- 

cruiting devices” related to Honors because, obviously, 

other institutions can use the same methods and sign the 

same recruits. Certainly we need to advertise what we 

offer--as a service to the student we are looking to edu- 

cate. And, perhaps, there is much to be said for improving 

the quality of our offerings because of, in response to, 

competition from others. Some of this can be healthy. 

Something still nags at me, however, about high- 

pressure recruiting. Is it really a service to the bright, 

but often confused, student to lure him to Podunk State 

when he could go to Prestige U.? Is there, perhaps, a 

question of ethics here? 

HUMAN CAPITAL. HUMANE IABOR 

BY JIM HERBERT (CARNEGIE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION) 

Washington’s latest buzzword is “human capital.” Be- 

fore overuse robs it of all meaning, we should notice what 

the concept can contribute to our understanding of higher 

education. In one critical respect, it teaches a lesson 

anticipated by the evolution of Honors Programs. 

Over twenty years ago Theodore Schultz and Edward Deni- 

son observed that the growth in our national product could 

not be explained completely by the conventional measures 

of capital and labor. To account for the residual, they 

held that knowledge and skills were as much capital as 

physical equipment. Their studies indicated that over half 

of the growth of the American economy after WorZ War II could 

be traced to such “hmn capital.” 

The notion is again current precisely because American 

economic growth has been lagging. Because the American 

economy has been the engine of much of the world’s recent 

economic progress, this slowdown alarms not only Americans 

but leaders of other nations. Moreover, quarrels over a 

fairer division of our national economic pie become nastier 

when that pie stops growing or even begins to shrink. Be- 

cause our economy has become predcminandy a “service” rather 

than a “goods” economy, and because our comparative advan- 

tage lies in exploiting intellectual advances, social 

strategists are beginning to see reinvestment in h-n 

capital as the key to improving the economic future. 

Higher education is obviously central to reinvesting 

in human capital. Such a strategy looks at support for 

colleges and universities in a new way. Much of the sup- 

port for higher education comes from public sources. Well 

over two-thirds of the total income of our colleges and 

universities comes from federal and state government. In- 

deed the distinction between “public” and “independent” 

institutions of higher education has become lessmeaningful 

than it once was: Even the revenue of “independent” or 

private institutions comes largely through federal student 

aid and --for about 100 universities --federal support for 

research. 

This dependence on government funds has made colleges 

and universities uncomfortable. They are afraid of becoming 

just another example of debilitating institutional welfare. 

And indeed, the defense of government expenditures for 

higher education generally has been conducted in the sappy 

terms of the “politics of compassion,” of support for 

“people 

penditure. 

programs” rather than other forms of government ex- 

The human capital strategy provides more robust and 

self-confident reasons for goverment support of higher 

education. Government support for higher education is 

a long-term public investment in social ~11 being. The 

nation gets scmethill+ back for its investment in higher 

education, and drastic reductions in that investment are 

likely to do serious, long-range harm to American produc- 

17 

tivity. 

This.argument cuts another way. Too often participants 

in higher education act as if they have a r&& to public 

support. Faculty members retreat behind tenure and de- 

fend their departments and specialities heedless of cost 

or effectiveness. In practical fact, it is hard to defend 

tenure as a right protecting academic freedom. Nearly all 

really controversial professors have ended up losing their 

jobs. Tenure is an effective way of investing in sustained 

intellectual inquiry. However, the fact that the public 

is investing in faculty salaries and that it deserves a 

reasonable return on that investment ought to be taken into 

account. 

Much of the recent response to proposed cuts in the 

Guaranteed Student Loan Program has had a similar single- 

minded tone. But it is hard to see why all students - 

regardless of family income -- have a right to govemment 

support. Moreover, talking as if low-interest federal 

student loans were an absolute right makes it difficult to 

take into consideration that the Guaranteed Student Loan 

Program is an open-ended, and therefore financially ir- 

responsible, program, threatening to drive federal deficits 

to ever-higher levels. It would be more helpful to examine 

what sort of return the nation is getting for this par- 

ticular form of public investment. 

When such an examination is made, scme flaws in our 

current approach to student assistance become evident. 

The original human capital argument went wrong when it 

began to assume that the benefits of investment in human 

capital flow directly to those individuals who upgrade 

their education, training, and skills. Planners assumed 

that there was a natural incentive for individuals to 

improve their educational level. Consequently, they began 

to emphasize student loans rather than grants, assuming 

that graduates’ enhanced incomes would make it easy for 

them to repay the loans. 

Here is the real root of the vocationalism which has 

swept our campuses, and it is almost a classic case of 

descriptive economic theory becoming prescriptive. Cornnon 

sense knows full well that the benefits of human capital 

seldom flow to the individuals most responsible for 

generating those benefits. Physicists earn less than 

engineers, sociologists less than social workers, composi- 

tion teachers less than journalists. One National Science 

Foundation study showed that major scientific discoveries 

usually take more than thirty years to “pax off” and 

that these applications seldom benefit those who made the 

original scientific breakthroughs. 

But the faulty assumption that improvements in human 

capita% bring individual rewards became a self-fulfilling 

prophesy. Students did turn toward practical fields 

which offer a quick pay-off and thus the ability to retire 

student loans. If honors directors want to encourage 

honors students to pursue general education and theoretical 

fields of study, they should turn their energies away from 

inspirational pep talks and toward improving the quality 

in student aid packages i.e., the proportion of grants to 

loans. If the nation wants to maintain its long-range 

intellectual and scientific preeminence, it simply will 

have to recognize that many of the most intellectual 

fields do not pay well. At the very least, encouraging 

able studentsto enter such fields will require merit-based 

scholarships and fellowships. To this day, however, the 

federal Office of Management and Budget opposes all student 

aid that is not based on need, believing, apparently, that 

the market will provide an adequate number of both Farsi 

scholars and corporate accountants. 

The human capital argument finally points toward en- 

tirely non-monetary considerations. In a recent article 

in Scientific American, economists Eli Ginzberg and George 

J. Vojta argue that: 

“The big public, private and nonprofit organi- 

zations that loom large in the country’s life can 

do more to improve the work environment in order 

to motivate their employees to develop their po- 

tential and use their skills for both their own 

satisfaction and the good of the enterprise...

As the U.S. economy comes to depend even more 

on trained manpower this challenge becomes greater. 

It will be met only if large organizations learn 

to treat their human capital with the concern they 

have long devoted to their physical capital.” 

Others will go further to insist that human beings are 

utterly unlike capital equipment in that they have foresight, 

volition, and the ability, desire, and right to organize 

themselves. Here the hlrman capital perspective opens up 

on a far larger movement sweeping the globe from the ship- 

yards at Gdansk to the automotive assembly plant at Lords- 

town, Ohio to Japanese electronics firms: worker partici- 

pation in making decisions that pertain to their workplace. 

The Japanese experience in quality control shows that parti- 

cipation is also central to improving productivity. 

Honors Programs could hove instructed America on this 

aspect of investing in hmn capital. The Honors movement 

originally swept America as a response to the Soviet success 

in launching the first artificial earthsatellite. Fueled 

by a seven-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the 

movement began by simply trying to up-grade the educational 

attairrment of America’s most able students. After twenty- 

five years, Honors Programs have become intensely student- 

sensitive and student-centered enterprises. In pursuit of 

the most effective learning situations for undergraduate 

students, they learned a lesson which still lies before the 

present human capital movement: human strengths are built 

ultimately upon humane principles. 

BIG bNORS POWWOW AT SUNY 

On June 1 and 2 the State University of New York initiated 

its drive to support and develop Honors Programs in all branches 

of its system. More than 60 campuses, including two-year 

colleges, liberal arts and science centers, agriculture and 

technology colleges, and research centers with graduate pro- 

fessional programs in law, medicine, and dentistry were in- 

vited to send representatives to a conference on “Fostering 

Academic Excellence Through Honors Programs,” held at SUNY 

at New Paltz. A few of these schools already have fine 

Programs, for instance the long-established one at Rockland 

Ccnmunity College; others have only begun their Honors Pro- 

grams relatively recently, such as the Honors College at 

SUNY-Oswego, and the Honors Program at the College at Brock- 

port. 

Strong direction aimed at helping the separate units 

develop their own version of Honors, and eventually at 

creating a state-wide system of Honors Programs, is being 

given by Dr. Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., Chancellor of the 

SLW system, whose presentation.“An Honors Perspective for 

State University of New York:’ was a clear indication of his 

own corranitment to the finest kind of Honors work. Indeed, the 

conference was planned and coordinated by his own staff member, 

the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs and 

Planning, Dr. Kenneth M. MacKenzie who worked with Dr. Baca, 

Assistant to thepresident, University of Buffalo, Dr. Mark 

Anderson, Honors Director at the College at Brockport, and 

Dr. Diana Balmori, Honors Director at SUNY-Oswego, among 

others, to pull together the issues and people to address 

them which made the conference lively. 

The keynote address, delivered by Dr. Bemice Braid, 

Director of the Honors Program at Long Island University, 

member of the Executive Ccmnittee and a past president of 

NCHC, was entitled, “Undergraduate Honors Programs: A 

National Perspective.” It was meant to establish a framework 

within which the SUNY group could explore its own particular 

possibilities and still benefit from the larger context of 

honors education nationwide. Four panel discussions were 

held on the following subjects: “Academic Excellence in 

18 

Public Universities and Colleges: Administrative View- 

points” ;’ ” Establishing and Administering Honors Programs: 

Issues and Problems”; “Teaching Honors Courses”; and 

“An Honors Perspective for State University of New York.” 

Both participants and speakers proved to be dedicated 

and imaginative discussants. 

The resources available to SUNY, both in terms of student 

talents and faculty expertise, are extremely rich. All 

of us in NCHC will watch with great anticipation the 

emergence of a new Honors network, and hope that indivi- 

dual members of the group will join us in future NCHC 

conferences, both in the fall and in the spring, when the 

Northeast Region holds its meetings. 

UNITED NATIONS SEMESTER BEST PAPER AWARD WINNER: ~RTIN 

BERT~CCHI 

A number of essays produced by undergraduates involved 

in United Nations Semester II were reviewed by a panel of 

referees fran the Pittsbur h Undergraduate Re&ew; who 

selected, after a ---a2 great 2 ot dellberatlon, the-essay 

which they considered the most distinguished: Of the SIX 

essays that reached a semi-finalist ranking, three were 

finalists and are now being considered for publication 

in PUR. The winner of the competition was Martin Bertocch 

a szor at the University of Pittsburgh. His paper, 

“The Palestinian Resistance: Lebanon and the Lessons,” 

won the Best Paper Award. This cash award of $250 was 

made available by an anonymous patron of undergraduate 

scholarship. 

PITT’S PITCH: OR GUY’S GUIDE 

Undergraduate Guy Molinari has replaced Bob Pate 

as General Editor of t&e Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review. 

He has sent along to Newsletter a blurb on PUR 

FiF ii& willinfarmand should stimulate undergrad researchers 

to takz second lot skafpuR as a journal where their 

manuscripts can be definizelv read. earnestly critiqued, 

fairly aid professionally refeieed, and possibiy published. 

Should not HDs point their students who have 

produced outstanding research work in the direction of 

Steel City? 

At any rate, here is Guy’s (untitled) pitch to all 

Honors undergrads : 

“Q. What do Male Sexual Dysfunction and the Music of 

Pittsburgh have in cornnon? 

A. Happily, almost nothing. 

Nevertheless, for a group of students working this 

Sumner 

Review? 

on the 

the 

next issue 

two topics 

of 

are 

The Pit 

x ated: 

tsburgh 

the 

Undergraduate 

development of 

music ln Pittsburgh and a study of male sexual dysfunct -ion 

are two of the subjects of manuscripts submitted by undergraduates 

from more than 50 American universities. 

The Review, which is published by students in the 

Honors Program at the University of Pittsburgh, is cur- 

rently accepting essays on an intriguing variety of 

topics. If you are an undergraduate who has invested 

much time and effort to produce a substantial and well- 

supported argument involving any issue in the social 

sciences, natural sciences, or humanities you are invited 

to take advantage of a unique academic opportunity. Why 

not improve your manuscript and perhaps have it published 

in a journal that enjoys a growing national audience? 

The staff of The Review accepts manuscripts throughout 

the year and submits all promising pieces to an evaluation 

by at least two of more than 150 professors who act as 

referees. 

It was clear to those of us who started The Review 

that all too frequently a student will be satlsfled 

with producing an ‘A’ paper even if his or her interest 

Ii,

might dictate a more exhaustive treatment of the subject. The Review offers the additional incentives of a rigorous, pro- 

fessional critique and a national audience to those discouraged because their work will probably not leave their professor’s 

desk. Our aim is to encourage the full development of undergraduate scholarship and give it the wide exposure it deserves, 

thereby providing a format for intelligent debate. 

To judge from the response to date, it appears that the idea of developing and publishing undergraduate scholarship excites 

many students across the country. Undergraduates in Texas, Massachusetts, Kansas, California, Vermont, Maryland, Hawaii, and 

our own Pennsylvania (more than 20 states in all) have thus far submitted their papers for possible publication. Some promising 

titles recently received are, ‘Berdyaev and Christian Existentialism, ’ ‘The Politics of INF Modernization in West Germany,’ 

‘An Evaluation of Pontormo’s Halberdier,’ and ‘Origins of the Moon: A Post-Apollo View.’ 

A final item of interest: Undergraduates whose work is published are automatically in contention for a special distinc- 

tion. David Shipnan, a junior at the University of Illinois, was the first author to receive the Edythe Portz Prise, a $250 

cash award for the essay voted most distinguished by a panel of referees. His paper? ‘Eroding America, ’ concerned the impac: 

of the problem of erosion on American agricultural production and waterways (The Review, Vol. 2, No. 2). The Prize will 

be awarded again for the Fall 1982 issue. 

If you would like more information or a subscription, please contact us at the address below. 

Send all inquiries, requests for subscriptions, or manuscript& to: 

The Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review 

c/o The University Honors Program 

The Honors Center 

1209 Cathedral of Learning 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 

Guy Molinari, General Editor 

%anuscripts should be accanpanied by a brief autobiographical statement about the author, a 250-word abstract outlining the 

paper, and a $lO,OO referral and handling fee. 

WHAT NCHC NEWSLETTER NEEDS ~-RWI Ycu 

By this time, you surelv know the sorts of thinss that 

interest us. But; to reiterate: 

1. Iwo-year college Honors Programs--what do they 

look like? how do they work? 

2. Teaching Tips (and Tips for the Taught). 

3. Ihe pros and cons of instituting State Honors 

Councils. 

4. What does the increase in Business majors in 

Honors Programs signify? 

5. Planned parsimony; or an Honorable frugality. 

Saving and scrimping in the Honors Office. How to. 

6. Approaching foundations or government agencies 

money. 

7. Ihe use being nmde by Honors undergraduates of 

graduate courses. 

8. What are Honors students doing these days. 

9. The uses of “contract” of ‘H-option” courses. 

for 

19 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

The non-traditional Honors student. 

Interesting course titles and descriptions. 

Foreign students visiting USA Honors Programs. 

What goes in Honors Programs during the Sumner 

doldrums? 

Honors alumni. What to do with them. 

Unusual Honors Program structures. 

National issues with a bearing on Honors. 

Stats on Honors Programs. 

*tever .

National Honors Report, June 1982 - Tennessee Tech University

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