Dr. Lynne Belcher visits Honors Seminar

On Friday, November 19, 2009, Dr. Lynne Belcher, founding director of the SAU Honors College visited the 8 a.m. meeting of the Honors Seminar class. Dr. Belcher told of the earliest days of the Honors College including how she had to scramble quickly to recruit the first class. She also related stories about some of the trips taken, the accumulation of honors courses, and success of honors graduates.

After her visit, she agreed to co-host a meeting of all current honors students. That meeting will be held on Thursday, December 3 at 3:40 p.m. in the Foundation Hall of the Reynolds Campus and Community Center. All students are urged to attend.



Above, Dr. Belcher addressing the class.

Vergo, Cecelia. (2009). Let's Get Out of the Dorms!

A very important characteristic of one who wishes to be considered intelligent and cultured is the love of travel. According to the National Collegiate honors Council, a fully developed Honors Program, and subsequently Honors Colleges, should "emphasize the participatory nature of the Honors educational process by adopting such measures as offering opportunities for students to participate in regional and national conferences, Honors semesters, international programs, community service, and other types of experiential education." To my knowledge, the Honors College at Southern Arkansas University does little of this.

It is true that the Honors College does enough to barely meet the criteria by planning scattered trips to places such as the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas and NASA in Houston, Texas, but I believe that only scrapes the surface of what is meant by this criterion. Generally, these trips would fall under the "other types of experiential education" category, the "miscellaneous" category, the "if you don't do anything else make sure you do this" category. And this simply is not fair. Not once have I heard of an opportunity to participate in any sort of Honors related conference. Quite frankly, I was not aware of their existence. I am not sure of what exactly an Honors semester is, and I can assure you I have never been offered the chance to travel to of the country with the Honors College for any purpose whatsoever. In fact, none of these points are even mentioned on the Southern Arkansas University Honor's College report card. It's no wonder they are not put into practice.

The easiest place to start would be with community service. Southern Arkansas University just so happens to be situated in the heart of the community often known as Magnolia, Arkansas. I am positive that Magnolia, Arkansas would not mind being "serviced" in any way, from cleaning up the neighborhood to talking to local school-aged children about college, specifically Honors College. As funds increase, trips to different countries for international study could easily be worked into the curriculum. The Honors College could charge the students a portion of the price to make the trip optional yet affordable. With further research, Honors semesters and conferences could work their way into the Honors College at Southern Arkansas University.

Miles, Majesta. (2009). Is SAU's Honors College Co-equal?

There were many required characteristics that must be met to be considered an “honors college”. Many of them I was aware of, while others I was not. The most obvious characteristic, in my opinion, would be that: A fully developed Honors college should exist as an equal collegiate unit within a multi-collegiate university structure. At Southern Arkansas University, there are four main colleges: Business, Science and Technology, Liberal and Performing Arts, and Education. So, naturally, being located on campus and existing as an equal collegiate unit, the Honors College at Southern Arkansas University meets this required characteristic. If one were to consider the Southern Arkansas University Honors College as a “college” there would, of course, in fact be five colleges within the university’s structure.

However, there are several other characteristics that are not met by the Honors College and that hinder its technically being considered an actual “honors college”. The head of a fully developed Honors college should be a dean . . . is a primary example of one of the important characteristics not met by the Southern Arkansas University Honors College. As well loved as Dr. Edward Kardas is, he is, most unfortunately, not a dean and thus does not fit into the appropriate category necessary to make the Southern Arkansas University Honors College a nationally recognized honors college.

The Honors College does have various other characteristics mentioned in the “Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors College” list given us by Dr. Kardas. ‘The curriculum of a fully developed Honors college should offer significant course opportunities across all four years of study’ and ‘the distinction awarded by a fully developed Honors college should be announced at commencement, noted on the diploma, and featured on the student’s final transcript’ are two characteristics on the list, both of which the Southern Arkansas University Honors College meets.

All in all, I believe that the Honors College at Southern Arkansas University may not meet all required characteristics of a national honors college, but should in fact be considered as a true “honors college.”

Wright, Kiley. (2009). Honors College Facilities

While our honors college may still be in the growing process there is no doubt that this specific piece of the project has been completed. At Southern Arkansas University today there is an entire building dedicated strictly for the use of the honors students. This building, known as Honors Hall, includes housing, classrooms, and many other facilities just for the honors students at the University. Not only does it offer multiple services to the honors students, but the building also gives the students a chance to interact and work with students who share similar interests, all of whom are dedicated to their studies. Honors Hall provides the perfect environment for students to study, work on group projects together, or just hang out and relax. There is also an entire computer lab specifically for the honors students complete with wireless Internet and printers.

Although this seems to be the perfect area, there are a few particulars in which the Honors College could improve. Of course, these areas are very miniscule and there aren’t really any complaints to be heard of them but they still exist. You may ask how these improvements could be made or what areas should be improved upon, but a simple solution has already been put into place. Honors students have the chance to fix or install anything they feel needed using a three hundred grant given to the by the university. During class topics are discussed and by the end of the year a project will be put into motion.

Facilities for the Honors students are amazing and continue to get better everyday. The growth of the Honors College may be attributed to students and staff all over campus and this process couldn’t be done in any better way. The collaboration of all these intelligent and sincere people who only want the best for this concept is leading to a better Honors program each and every day.

Chafin, Tyler. (2009). Honors Scheduling Flexibility

The Honors Program at SAU shares many characteristics with the model of an appropriate Honors Program outlined by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). One of these elements that I find particularly to be an advantage is the priority enrollment allotted to active members of the program, which fits exactly with one of the attributes summarized in the basic characteristics of a fully developed honors college published by the NCHC that reads: “A fully developed program will provide priority enrollment for honors students who are active in the program in recognition of their unique class scheduling needs.”

As honors students, we often have unique scheduling needs due to the honors coursework that is required of us, and because the program is in its fledgling years there are a very limited number of classes offered, and often the class that we may need can only be offered once a year, meaning we have to base our schedule around such classes. This sometimes makes it difficult to fit in classes that are necessary for the completion of our majors. Honors makes up a substantial amount of our coursework, usually around 20 percent. This ability to create our schedules before the majority of the students is also a major advantage because many students in Honors have been taking advanced courses throughout high school, thus they enter college having already completed many of their lower level general education courses, either through Advanced Placement, or Concurrent Enrollment programs. I myself came into my freshman year with 19 credit-hours, and there are others with more. This makes it very difficult for some students to find enough honors courses to meet the required hours, but early registration helps with preventing the opportunities to receive honors credit from conflicting with our major-specific work.

The Honors College at Southern Arkansas University definitely meets the basic model of an honors program as described by the NCHC, and although it might not be considered “fully developed”, it is still in its early years, and with opportunities such as priority enrollment that it provides, it will continue to attract the best students available and flourish.

Report: November 13, 2009

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Honors College Director’s Report/November 13, 2009

Training: I attended the national meeting of the National Council of Honors Colleges (NCHC) held in Washington, DC from October 28 to November 1, 2009. I met honors directors from UALR and UCA and re-united with fellow first-year directors from the NCHC Summer Camp that I attended in July.

Sessions Attended:

· Developing in Honors

· Protecting our Programs from External Demands

· Fundraising for Honors

· Small College Honors Programs

· Best Honors Administrative Practices

· Care and Maintenance of Honors Faculty

· The First Year Introduction to Honors Course

· First Year Experience Courses for Honors Students

· Reimagining the Honors Address on the WWW

· Building Support for Honors with Central Administration

· New Director/Deans Summer Camp Reunion

Contacts Made:

· Rick Scott-UCA

· Marcia Smith-UALR

· Christina McIntyre-VA TECH

Trips: Honors College visited the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center and toured Heifer International on Friday, November 6, 2009.

Recruiting: Several students and I participated in Preview Day on November 5, 2009. I spoke briefly to students and parents during the introductory session. Later, the students and I worked a table handing out brochures and other information about Honors College. We identified some potential students and later received our first applications for the class of 2014.

I will travel to Texarkana on November 19, 2009 to recruit high school students from Texas High School. Later that evening, I will speak to a graduate class at TAMUT; they are in the process of creating a University College. The new $600 stipend should be a boon to recruiting.

Fund Raising: Honors students have formed an Honors College Association (see below). That group will be in charge of fund raising. Currently, they are selling chocolate bars in order to raise money for a spring trip to Houston. A representative will explain the work of this group. In the future, the Honors College Association should have a representative on the Honors Committee.

Honors College continues to look for donors to the SAU Foundation and is grateful for the tickets the Foundation donated to honors students so that they could attend the Olmert lecture.

Organizational Issues

Registration: The early registration system is working well. I met with all freshmen at midterm and reviewed their academic progress and advised them. David or I have been registering all honors students as well. All students must still confer with their regular academic advisor. We simply facilitate the process. The regular advisor is the advisor of record.

Housing: Honors College is looking for permanent quarters in a central campus location, preferably near a student lounge/study area.

Honors students asked if seniors might reside in an honors wing of the Village.

Web Page: One of the sessions at NCHC covered honors Web pages and SAU Honors College is in the process of redesigning its Web page according to some of the suggestions made at that session.

Community Council: The NCHC meeting emphasized the need and utility of a community council to support the Honors College. Setting one up is a high priority.

Honors College Association: Honors College students have formed an association. Faculty Recruiting: The most difficult aspect of my job is recruiting faculty. In the near future the Honors Committee will be addressing strategies to make such recruiting easier and more effective.

Arkansas Honors Directors Group: Interest exists to establish an Arkansas Honors Directors group. I will begin work on that soon.

National Awards: SAU Honors College is behind when it comes to identifying and applying for national competitive fellowships for honors graduates.

SAU Faculty: Honors College is planning a breakfast for honors faculty before the end of the Fall 2009 semester. We will invite experienced honors faculty to share accounts of successful strategies for teaching honors courses.

Honors Faculty List:

Fall 2009: Cary (1), Chace (13)*, Clanton (11)*, Christensen (14)*, Kardas (36)*, S. Kist (1), Krosnick (7), Paulson (15)*, Parnell (1), Tucker (1), Young (8) [Total Registered: 108]

Spring 2010: Belcher (16)*, Brandon (4)*, Cheng (2), Cho, Christensen (15)*, Kardas (2)*, Krosnick (17), May (9), Paulson (3), Rasmussen (3), Sanson (1), Stout (2) [Total Preregistered as of 11/13/09 at 12:20 p.m.: 74] Two of the full courses are new (Cognitive Science and Anthropology of Pop Culture).

*Full Honors course

New Courses: Honor Thesis I (HC 4911-3) and Honors Thesis II (HC 4921-3) were approved by the Academic Affairs Committee and Honors Seminar I is on the Spring 2010 schedule as electives. We plan to change Honors Seminar from a 3 credit one-semester course into two courses. The Fall Semester course will become 2 credits and a new 1 credit course will be added in the Spring Semester. This change is to provide a better first year experience for honors freshmen.

Pharaohs and Heifer

Honors Trip to Little Rock includes visit to Arts Center and to Heifer International



Today a large group from the SAU Honors College visited Little Rock and took in the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center. That thematic exhibit examined the art and lifestyles of ancient Egypt. Here are some representative pieces. The fragment on the right depicts a husband and wife, presumably. There were several exhibits which featured this theme of family life.


Near the start of the exhibition was a large head of Ramesses II carved from granite. It featured the typical head dress worn by pharaohs. Another interesting object was a shabti, or funerary assistant. Shabtis were left in tombs and were supposed to take care of the day to day activities of life (e.g., cleaning, cooking, and other tasks).







Here is a shabti:




After viewing the exhibit and wandering through the other galleries, we decided to visit the headquarters of Heifer International. According to their Web page:

• "Heifer's mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. Heifer does this by providing appropriate livestock, training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide."

Further information about their mission can be found HERE. After spending some time at the Heifer Village, we took a guided tour of their new building. It was planned and built as a green building and features many energy saving and resource conserving features.

Here are a couple of shots of their building. Note that its shape (an arc) maximizes its tracking of the sun and that the face of the building either shades the interior or collects additional light depending on the time of year. The building also collects rainwater and stores it for future use.



Here is a view from the parking lot showing the building's shape.



In the Heifer Village, Majesta Miles, John Lee, Lauren Russell, and Monica Stubbs interact with an exhibit designed to educate visitors about food:


At the Heifer Village's Snack Bar, Kristin Sams and Sarah Irvin enjoy a brief moment of rest:








At another table, Singha Dhungana, Kahle Harned, Darrell Gray, and Samson King also spend some time off of their feet.


Meanwhile, Joshua Manual, Sidney Kilgore, and David Wingfield examine the model of a self-sustaining village in Africa.






Samantha Lamb poses for the photographer as she examines some of the food products Heifer recipients grow.








The Honors College will be selling The World's Finest Chocolate bars starting next week in order to fund its Spring trip to Houston. Be on the lookout for them as you perambulate through Reynolds next week. That trip will take place during Spring Break and will last several days.

Iyorkar, Yohane. (2009). A Scorecard for the SAU Honors College

The Honors College of Southern Arkansas University has done a lot to improve the quality of the service it provides to its honors students. Over the years it has taken giant steps towards the direction excellence and scholarship. Irrespective of all these developments, innovations and improvements, the Honors College of Southern Arkansas University falls short from being an Honors College or rather a fully developed Honors College if it doesn’t meet certain criteria and possess certain characteristics. So the question now is, does the Honors College of southern Arkansas University meet the standards as set by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC)?

The Honors College of SAU definitely meets some of the criteria set by NCHC, its national governing board. The standards set by the board require that an Honors College exist as an equal collegiate unit and the SAU Honors college certainly does so. Also the NCHC requires that an Honors College exercise considerable control over admission policies, class size, curriculum and selection of faculty. SAU’s Honors College staff have the power to assign and appoint teachers who teach Honors courses. They also determine which teachers are no longer eligible to teach honors courses. The Honors College staff also has jurisdiction over class size and admission policies. Its enforcement of the 3.25 cgpa requirement is an example of its exercise of this power. Furthermore, Honors Colleges are expected to offer substantial residential opportunities and offer recognition of their graduates on their commencement. Southern Arkansas University houses its honors students in Honors North residential hall. This hall is exclusively for honors students. Also, upon graduation, graduates of the Honors College are recognized and their diplomas indicate that they are graduates of the Honors College.

Irrespective of the fact that SAU”s Honors College meets the above standards as set by the honors college national body. It fails to meet some. The NCHC requires that a dean head the Honors College. But this is not the case at SAU. Instead, we have a director as a head. Furthermore our Honors College does not participate in alumni affairs and development. I guess this is so because the program is a pretty young one and doesn’t have many graduates yet.

In conclusion, despite the few loopholes that the Honors College seems to have, there is no doubt that one day, these would be overcome and the Honors College would run at full gear.