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.
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