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By fall 2002, the University of Maine Honors Program will expand to become its own Honors College.
The Provost’s Commission, a panel consisting of 11 people, formulated a proposal for implementing the concept of an Honors College.
“The idea was to explore the advantages and disadvantages of moving from an Honors Program to an Honors College,” Rebecca Eilers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said.
Participating students would maintain a major in one of the five current colleges and be a member of the Honors College at the same time. UMaine President Peter S. Hoff explained this concept in his 2001 State of the University address.
“[Students] would hold ‘dual citizenship’ in the college of their discipline and in the Honors College,” he said.
“It is important to understand that all students, current or incoming, will still have majors in one of the five current colleges and continue to take the vast majority of their courses there,” Charlie Slavin, director of the Honors Program, said.
Slavin says that there will not be any conflict between the five existing colleges and the Honors College.
“We hope that students who graduate after September 2002 will indeed graduate from the Honors College, however, of course, their curriculum requirements will be those of the current Honors curriculum,” he said.
Requirements will overlap. Classes taken in the Honors College will meet General Education requirements as well as Honors requirements. “The Honors Program already works in that model,” Eilers said.
The Provost’s Commission recommended in their May 2001 report that students who complete the entire Honors College curriculum will be exempt from the university’s general education requirements.
The Honors College requirements will consist of five parts: civilization, science, third-year tutorial, work in the major and thesis.
“The entrance requirements will remain the same as we explore the demand and the interest in the Honors College,” Slavin said.
The Honors College will be housed in the Robert Thomson Honors Center in Colvin Hall. The hall is in the process of renovation. Eilers said she hopes a number of Honors College students will reside in this living-learning community. Eilers said she does not foresee an increase in faculty, but that current faculty would work in the Honors College.
An Honors College would further benefit the university as a whole, providing yet another attraction to incoming students.
“[Our program] will integrate academic and research programs outside the liberal arts.No other program like this exists in Maine; and in New England, only UMass-Amherst has anything that resembles it, and even their honors college presents a higher degree of isolation from the mainstream,” Hoff said in his address.
The Honors Program already receives a lot of applications from very good students, Eilers said, so hopefully the creation of an Honors College would continue to attract top students in Maine as well as students from other states and even other countries.
An Honors College would encourage and challenge students to a higher level of academic excellence Slavin said.
“The Honors College will provide the students with more opportunities, both academic and co-curricular,” he said. “It will also provide a high degree of visibility for some of these very impressive students. We think the enhanced curriculum will provide our students with a very strong foundation as well as the opportunity to explore topics in great depth and engage in exciting research and creative endeavors.”
Bangor Daily News