Welcome to UConn Honors: An Academic Information Session

1
Welcome to UConn Honors An Academic Information
Session

• Mary Reilly (BUSN 12)
• Ashley Ruegg (NEAG 11)

2
Outline for the session

• Overview of Honors at UConn
• Expectations for the student
• Lower-division Honors
• Honors Courses
• Honors Conversions
• Brief introduction to Upper-division Honors
• What to expect from Honors classes

3
Honors at UConn

• Honors Courses
• Honors Advising
• Honors Program staff
• Honors faculty within the major departments
• Undergraduate Research
• Office of National Scholarships
• Etc, etc, etc
• In the end
• Honors Scholar
• University Scholar

4
The People

• Dr. Lynne Goodstein
• Honors Program Director
• Associate Vice-Provost for Enrichment Programs
• Dr. Margaret Lamb
• Senior Associate Director of Honors and
  Enrichment Programs
• Director of Individualized and Interdisciplinary
  Studies Program
• Dr. Jennifer Lease-Butts
• Associate Director of the Honors Program
• Director for the Office of Undergraduate Research
• Patricia Szarek
• Associate Director for Enrollment Management and
  Administration
• Jessamy Hoffman
• Assistant Director and Academic Advisor

5
The People (cont.)

• Rebecca Gates
• Program Coordinator
• Rebecca Flanagan
• Director of pre-law planning and programming
• Honors enrichment
• Lucy Sweetman
• Honors Intern
• Kate DuBois
• Marlene Coughlin
• Vickie Reiser
• Heidi Lavigne

6
What the Program and its Staff Expects from YOU
7
What should my GPA be?

• Freshman You will remain in the honors program
  so long as your TGPA is at least 3.0 grade pts at
  the end of your first year.
• Sophomore You will need a TGPA of at least 3.15
  grade pts.
• Junior You will need at least 3.30 grade points.

8
What if

• Warning letter
• Students with a cumulative GPA that falls between
  a 3.40 and the required minimum GPA will be
  placed on probation.
• Students on probation will be mailed letters to
  remind them that they currently risk being
  dismissed from the Honors Program, which means
  not achieving the designation Honors Scholar on
  their diplomas and/or not receiving Sophomore
  Honors.

9
What if (cont.)

• Grounds for Dismissal
• Each summer students become eligible for
  dismissal from the Honors Program based on the
  following formula
• First-year students who do not have a cumulative
  GPA of at least 3.00 by the end of their first
  year on campus will be eligible for dismissal.
• Sophomore students who do not have a cumulative
  GPA of at least 3.15 by the end of their second
  year on campus will be eligible for dismissal.
• Juniors who do not have a cumulative GPA of at
  least 3.30 by the end of their third year on
  campus will be eligible for dismissal.

10
Its not just about the grades

• As Honors Scholars, students must enroll in
  courses for which they will receive Honors
  credit
• Freshmen and Sophomores will take Honors sections
  of courses which fulfill their General Education
  requirements, including an Honors Core Curriculum
  course
• Juniors and Seniors will take courses in their
  major which will prepare them for the Honors
  Thesis

11
Lower-division HonorsSOPHOMORE HONORS
12
Sophomore Honors

• What is it?
• What is it for?
• How do I earn Sophomore Honors?

13
What is Sophomore Honors?

• Sophomore Honors is formal recognition of full
  participation in the Honors Program academically,
  culturally, and socially.
• Students who fulfill the requirements are
  recognized and given personalized certificates at
  the annual Fall Honors Ceremony.
• The achievement is also noted on recipients
  transcripts.

14
There are Two Ways of Earning Your Sophomore
Honors

• HONORS Credits 16 (including at least one INTD
  and one Honors Core Course)
• INTD 1784
• Honors Grades B-
• TGPA 3.4
• 5 Honors Events 1 Thesis/Research Workshop

• HONORS Credits 18 (including at least one Honors
  Core Course)
• Honors Grades B-
• TGPA 3.4
• 5 Honors Events 1 Thesis/Research Workshop

15
After completing the requirements

• Make sure you submit the proper documents to the
  Honors Office, and watch for the deadlines!

Note Honors Credits used for Sophomore Honors
may not be used for the upper-division program.
Also Note Sophomore Honors is awarded after
four full semesters at UConn, regardless of how
many credits you come in with.
16
Important Deadlines

• Components must be completed by the end of the
  spring semester of your second year.
• After an Honors Event, documentation is due to
  the Honors Program office within two weeks of
  participation in the selected activity.

17
Which Classes are Honors?

• Honors Core Curriculum Classes
• These courses are often interdisciplinary and
  fulfill general education requirements. They are
  typically small classes.
• Computational Molecular Biology (BME, CSE, MCB)
• Economics, Nature and the Environment (ECON)
• Music, Nature and the Environment (MUSI)
• American Landscape, A History (AMST)
• Interdisciplinary Approach to Obesity Prevention
  (AH, NUSC)

18
What Classes are Honors (cont.)

• Honors Core Curriculum Classes
• The Genetics Revolution in Contemporary Culture
  (MCB)
• Anthropology Through Film (ANTH)
• Migrant Workers in CT (HIST, PRLS, LAMS)
• War, Feminism, and International Relations (POLS,
  WS)
• Politics of Oil (POLS)
• Sociology of Law Global and Comparative
  Perspectives (SOCI)

19
What Classes are Honors (cont.)

• Honors Class
• Approximately 20-25 students in total
• Honors Discussion Section
• General lecture class (multiple sections)
• One discussion section specifically for Honors
  students
• Work within discussion section differs from that
  in a non-Honors discussion section

20
The Honors Conversion

• An agreement between the Honors student and the
  professor of a non-Honors class to formulate a
  plan which would expose the Honors student to the
  material discussed in class but on a more
  in-depth manner. This is NOT an independent
  study!
• The plan must be approved by the following
  parties the student, the professor, the
  students Honors Advisor, and the Honors Program.
  Paperwork needs to be completed by the 3rd week
  of classes.
• NOTE You can only convert a class that has no
  honors sections running during the given semester
  (even if you are not enrolled in the honors
  section)

21
Some Suggestions

• Approach the professor with your interest in
  converting the course to Honors within the first
  few classes.
• Do not be afraid to discuss with your professor
  how you would like to go about the Honors
  Conversion. What particularly interests you
  about the class subject? Discuss ways to
  incorporate YOUR interests into the conversion.
• Be open to ideas. Remember that professors have
  great experience in the field that they teach.
  They know what could work and what could not
  work.
• Lastly, express to your professor your interest
  in meeting with him or her during the semester to
  discuss your progress. Again, the Honors
  Conversion is a two-person agreement. It should
  not be an independent study for you.

22
Involvement in Honors Events

• Be sure to check your email frequently for the
  weekly Updates in Honors email this will tell
  you all you need to know about the upcoming
  events in the honors program.
• The yellow booklet distributed by the honors
  program with the Calendar of Events in it can
  also tell you about any honors events in the fall
  of 2009.

23
Honors Event Requirements

• Remember, you are required to attend 5 honors
  events by the end of your sophomore year.
• Not all events are actually counted as Honors
  Events. Be sure to check Updates in Honors or
  the Calendar of Events to find out which ones
  will count towards your honors event
  requirements.
• After each honors event you attend, be sure to
  submit an honors event form. These can be picked
  up in the honors office or downloaded off the
  honors website. You will be asked to provide a
  brief detailing of how the event enriched you as
  an honors student. Be sure to turn the form in to
  the honors office when you are done.

24
Honors in the Junior Senior Years

• Upper-division Honors

25
The Biggest Difference

• Upper-division honors is decentralized. You
  as a student are no longer completing Honors
  requirements for your Sophomore Honors instead,
  you follow the Honors Degree requirements within
  your Major department.

26
As an Example

• All departments will ask you to complete a total
  of 12 Honors credits in the upper-division level.
• A certain number of these credits may come from
  graduate classes which thus replace some
  undergraduate courses.
• Pre-thesis and thesis seminars may also be
  included in this credit requirement.

27
Graduating with Honors

• University Scholar
• Honors Scholar

28
Dr. Margaret LambSenior Associate Director of
Honors and Enrichment Programs Director of
Individualized and Interdisciplinary Studies
Program
29
Office of National Scholarships Dr. Jill Deans,
Director Marlene Coughlin, Secretary

• Undergrad Goldwater, Udall
• Post-grad Truman, Rhodes, Marshall, Gates,
  Mitchell, JKCooke, Javits, Madison
• Carnegie Jr. Fellows
• Others

• What it means to be a Scholar
• How YOU can be competitive

ONS is located in CUE, Rm 414, across the hall
from the Honors Program Email ons_at_uconn.edu
30
Undergraduate Research Experience
Lucy Sweetman
31
Questions???