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The Honors Program at the University of Maine will be experiencing an organizational change that will take effect in the fall. At that time, the Honors Program will become the Honors College.
The Honors Program at the University of Maine, the oldest continuously operating program of its type in the country, is trying to make this transition easy for current and incoming students.
Current honors students will belong to the college their major is in and in the fall, they will also become members of the Honors College.
Doug Gelinas, associate vice president for Academic Affairs, compares the organization to a double major. He said it is not new for students to graduate with two majors from two different colleges.
Incoming honors students will have different course requirements. Two honors courses will be added to the curriculum. A four-semester course sequence referred to as “Civilizations” and a 300-level tutorial are proposed. Charlie Slavin, director for the Honors Program said the slightly modified honors curriculum will satisfy most of the General Education Requirements.
“The only additional [GERs] they’ll have to work on are math and science,” Slavin said. “This will be a part of an education, not an entire education. It’s an option, an opportunity,” he said.
Current honors students will have the choice to either continue with the old requirements or switch to the new requirements, Gelinas said. Students’ decisions will most likely depend on how far along they are in their curriculum.
Faculty teaching honors will become part of the Honors College as well. The program utilizes many adjunct faculty members, Gelinas said. No new faculty will be hired to accommodate this change.
Changes have also been made within the Honors Program’s home, Colvin Hall. A new seminar table, studio classroom, chairs and tables have been added to spruce up Colvin.
Honors Program members are also working to raise money to do work on the upper floors and the basement of the building.
Slavin said the Honors Program change is bringing about a heightened level of enthusiasm amongst incoming students.
“The university is making a push to bring in good students. We’ve had a lot more expression of interest than we ever have,” Slavin said.
Gelinas agrees that the change will increase the visibility of the program. “[It] may tend to attract more of the students who are academically prepared,” Gelinas said.
Additionally, a new Honors Code is in the works. A commission comprised of 10 students is working with the Director of Student Judicial Affairs to develop a new code that will govern the academic behavior of honors students.
The commission will develop the code in consideration of how it will relate with the Student Conduct Code. Slavin hopes for the new code to be in effect starting in September 2002.
