Thursday, Feb. 21, an email was sent by Dean for Curriculum and Honors Dr. Brian Newsome on modifications to the Elizabethtown College Honors Program.
Along with the Honors Program Committee, Academic Council and Faculty Assembly, Newsome worked to gain approval of modifications to the curriculum incorporated into the Honors Program.
While the modifications will mostly impact incoming students, some modifications will also impact current students in the Honors Program. Newsome noted that the discussion on how to modify the Honors Program started in the spring semester of 2018 and evolved into the following modifications.
For current students, three main changes were made to the Honors Program. For contract courses, the GPA minimum requirement was revoked.
Currently, students must maintain a 3.50 GPA minimum to contract courses; however, there will no longer be a minimum GPA requirement to contract a course.
“Contract courses are similar to stacked courses, except in stacked courses it’s more of a group contract course,” Newsome said. “Since there’s no minimum GPA requirement for stacked courses, it only made sense to remove the minimum GPA requirement for contract courses.”
Additionally, the requirement to take an interdisciplinary course was also removed. In the email sent out to the Honors Program students, Newsome explained that the requirement was invoked during a period of time when the College offered very few interdisciplinary courses.
While Newsome noted that the amount of interdisciplinary courses has increased, he also said, “faculty are now incorporating other disciplines into their classes,” to exemplify the expanded viewpoint current students now experience.
Newsome cited scheduling difficulties as the reason for removing the requirement of an interdisciplinary course from the Honors Program requirements.
The procedure to appeal for exceptions to the Honors Program will also be added to the Honors Program Student Handbook.
As for incoming students, the requirements will be sorted into three buckets. In addition to the Honors First Year Seminar and Senior Thesis, incoming students will be required to take Honors EN100 or EN150.
In the case of transfer credits, incoming students can fulfill the Honors requirement by taking Honors contract courses or Honors stacked courses, completing a study abroad reflection or completing an extra senior thesis credit. Beyond that, incoming students will also be required to take a “regular” Honors course.
Newsome noted that students struggled to complete the requirements for the Honors Program, and how most of them cited scheduling difficulties as the main issue.
Within the email announcement, Newsome emphasized that stacked courses and Honors course waivers were created to help students fulfill the requirements to prevent them from dropping out of the program in their junior or senior year.
Ultimately, incoming students will be offered more flexibility, as well as the opportunity to participate in curricular experiences with their cohort.
“If you look back years ago, students had difficulty completing the requirements due to scheduling difficulties,” Newsome said. “By making these modifications, students are now more likely to successfully complete the requirements of the Honors Program at the College.”
Students with any questions about the modifications to the Honors Program and its requirements should contact Newsome. His office hours are Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Additionally, Newsome is available during his Wednesday coffee hour from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Honors Lounge.
Following Spring Break, more information will be provided on when Newsome will host office hours in Schlosser Residence Hall to advise students in the Honors Program.
