AU students questioned the proposed elimination of the Honors self-nomination process and the proposed requirement for Honors students to study abroad at a town hall April 5.
Courtney Forbes, a senior in the School of Public Affair and the College of Arts and Sciences, said at the town hall that she did not approve of these proposals.
“For some students, you don’t need to study abroad, if you are majoring in biology or American history, it’s not really going to enhance your academic experience,” Forbes said. “I think students who want to be in the Honors Program should have the opportunity to apply.”
Interim-Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Virginia Stallings addressed one student’s concern over the possible difficulties a student might have financing a required study abroad semester.
Stallings acknowledged that students often need help financing their study abroad trips.
“As much as AU values study abroad, they try to make it as cost neutral as possible,” she said. “If we make [study abroad] a requirement, that’s a consideration. We’d have to build that into the funding, but it will be a smaller program and it might be easier for us to do that.”
Stallings also mentioned that, while the office originally wanted to eradicate the Honors self-nomination process, it is now looking into accepting transfers into the new program.
“That’s why we are having the town halls, to get the input.” Stallings said.
Stallings and Honors Program Director Michael Manson made a presentation with the recommendations of the Honors Curriculum Task Force for the new Honors College.
They proposed that AU reduce the total number of Honors students, institute a core curriculum and reduce Honors class sizes.
The new Honors College would be more “product-based” rather than be focused on test scores and grades, they said.
Stallings discussed having students complete an e-portfolio that “allows them [students] to capture their different course experiences and make connections across those course experiences.”
“We want them to more dynamically measure learning,” Stalling said.
When given the chance to comment on the proposed changes, students also questioned the effectiveness of having an “umbrella” theme and whether the new core curriculum would still provide a thorough liberal arts foundation.
One student mentioned the difficulties science and math students face in finding Honors courses.
“We know in advance which courses we’re going to offer so that we know we can hit all of the needs that you’ll have for your majors,” Manson said in response. “Because we have that planned out in advance, there won’t be this issue of having to hunt around.”
A graduating senior in the Kogod School of Business asked about having equal representation from every school.
“Sometimes people in Kogod, Honors students in Kogod, are a bit disconnected typically from the Honors experience,” she said. “There’s not really great representation.”
Eric Fleddermann, a senior in the School of International Service and Kogod, asked whether AP credits would still count toward the core courses.
“That was a major factor in me deciding to come here and I think that it’s a major factor in a lot of talented high school seniors deciding to come here,” Fleddermann said. “They should, particularly Honors students, be rewarded for that.”
Stallings also said the task force’s proposals are still flexible. The task force members are still deciding whether or not the themes, course topics and course content would change from year to year or be fixed.
“These are recommendations,” Stallings said. “These are not what it is going to be.”
