Heaton, Caitlyn. (2009). Honors College Characteristics

The NCHC provides a list of characteristics that define a fully developed Honors College. One characteristic of a fully developed Honors college is that it should incorporate all the relevant characteristics of an Honors College. The Honors college at SAU actually has quite a few of the characteristics. The Honors College should exercise considerable control over its policies, curriculum, and faculty. The policies are enforced consistently and the curriculum is controlled and placed where a student might need it. For example, regular classes can be changed into honors classes as needed. The curriculum should offer significant course opportunities over all fields of study and SAU does. Every semester, more honors courses are added to give the honors students more opportunities to enroll in the classes they want or need to graduate. The honors curriculum should constitute at least 20% of a student’s degree program, so in the case of 128 hours needed to graduate, 25 hours should be coming from honors college classes. At SAU the minimum number of honors credits to graduate in honors is 24 hours. Another requirement of a fully developed honors college is that there must be substantial residential opportunities for the students and there is at SAU. There is a whole building where honors students may stay. The building is brand new and is very appropriate for honors students. There is a computer lab, classrooms, conference rooms, and a kitchen-like area. The rooms are large and have sinks and most are suite style. All of these features create a better environment for the honors students. The Honors College must show considerable control over the recruitment and admissions of incoming Honors students. This control is necessary so that all students who apply to the Honors College are actually able to have a room in honors housing and a space in honors classes. Control over the admissions also prevents going over the yearly budget. The distinction of being in honors should be everywhere including at commencement, on the diploma, and on final transcript so that everyone knows they are an honors graduate. The Honors College should stand as an equal collegiate entity within a multi-collegiate structure and with the way the Honors college at SAU exists, it does. It even has its own admissions form, separate from the rest, another requirement of being a Fully Developed Honors College. There are 12 characteristics of a fully developed Honors College and while SAU’s Honors College only hits 8 out of 12, that is still really good and it is doing considerably well.