Honors Program Director Role

For more information, visit Faculty Resources.

Contact: Elena T. Carbone, DrPH

1. Obtain FERPA certification and gain access to SPIRE for Advisors and SPIRE Query

• For FERPA certification, which allows access to confidential student academic information, click here.    
• To use SPIRE for Advisors and/or to use Query Tool for running lists of your majors as frequently as you wish (including email addresses and honors designations), the first step is SPIRE training.

2.  Become familiar with

• The Honors curriculum and various ways in which the depth of scholarship component can be undertaken.
• The resources & tools available through Student Success, especially the NAVIGATE system.

3. Recruit honors students in your departmental subject areas

• Be especially conscious of under-represented and first-generation students to be sure that they feel welcome, included, encouraged to apply, and empowered.
• Periodically, run a SPIRE Query and generate a list of eligible students (GPA 3.400 or higher).
• Invite those you wish to recruit to apply to CHC by directing them to the online application.
• Organize an informational meeting for interested students or make appointments available.
• Approach students directly to promote your Departmental Honors (DH) Program and its benefits.
• Encourage departmental faculty to identify top students and refer them to you.
• Increase the visibility of DH and promote the successes of honors students. 

4. Provide information and advice to honors students

in the following categories

a. To DH students provide information about

• DH requirements, including strategies for completion of honors-level DH coursework (be aware of the need for a 300-level honors course in the major), as well as opportunities for being mentored by scholarly active faculty.
• CHC PATHS (see 6a below), for scheduling honors independent studies ISHs and individual theses (499Y/499T or 499Y/499P).
• Sources of information about the 499 Thesis, including (a) setting up a committee and the final presentation (independently-arranged 499s only), and (b) formatting and manuscript documentation guidelines and submission deadlines. 
• Diploma credentials, including magna and summa cum laude.
• DH opportunities that you choose to arrange e.g., gatherings, field trips, info sessions, and 1-credit courses.
• Current opportunities at CHC as announced to you at HPD meetings or via email and newsletters (scholarships, fellowships, awards, Undergrad Research Conference, CHC Residential Community)  

b. To CHC students not yet in DH (discovered by means of SPIRE, see item 1 above) provide information about

• How and when to enter DH.
• Or, if their interests are incompatible with DH, refer them to the Bloom Honors Advising Center in CHC to learn about the other honors option, Multidisciplinary Honors (MH).

c. To outstanding students in or out of CHC who are potential national and international scholarship competitors (Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, Churchill, and so on) provide information about the Office of National Scholarship Advisement (ONSA), 413-577-2613.

d.  To deserving students in or out of CHC who are potential scholarship recipients provide information about the resources at Academic Works.

5. Stimulate increased faculty participation in Commonwealth Honors College

• Invite the CHC Dean and Associate Deans to a department meeting so they can discern how to better assist your department’s honors efforts.
• Inform your faculty about DH requirements. View DH tracks.
• Direct your faculty to the CHC HPD liaison if they need specific information about Multidisciplinary Honors and Thesis Seminars.
• Tell faculty about CHC resources, such as student research grants and fellowships (opportunities are described and applied to through PATHS), as well as scholarships, including the nationally competitive scholarships advised by ONSA (see item 4c above).
• Work with your faculty to create new honors courses and to set appropriately high standards for honors instruction.
• Assist faculty with advising and mentoring honors students, especially regarding theses (item 4a above).
• Support your students by attending the Undergraduate Research Conference and encourage other faculty to do the same.
• Ask faculty to assist you with identifying prospective honors students (see item 3 above) and national scholarship competitors (see ONSA contact information in item 4c above). 

6. Review and Approve

a. Honors Courses created via contracts and petitions Independent Study Honors (ISH) contracts (both add-on to a root course and stand-alone) as well as the individually-arranged 499Y and 499T (research) and 499P (portfolio) contracts are all scheduled via CHC PATHS.

b. Petitions for Exception for 500-level courses, challenging Five College seminars, and study abroad courses that may meet honors standards. Handled by PATHS.

c. Late Added Honors Colloquia are still handled via a paper process. Be sure faculty know this.

d. Honors Courses Fully enriched honors courses, e.g. PSYCH 100H, pre-approved Colloquia and Honors Thesis Seminars are submitted for approval via the UMass Course Mgt. System.

e. Applications from students to join your DH track.

f. The DH Track: CHC sets minimum standards (see below); the department sets the specific requirements

• With the chair and department faculty, periodically review the DH track to keep it current and viable (i.e., sufficient honors courses and types of honors courses are offered, and your DH students are able to fulfill the requirements).
• If your department has a DH web page, be sure that it is synchronous with the CHC DH web page (it is better to link to the CHC page for the overview using your page for departmental research specifics, events, and opportunities).
• Note: Campus-wide, the minimum DH criteria are (a) one any-level department honors course*, (b) one 300-level or higher department honors course*, (c) an Honors Thesis of 6 or more credits on a topic that is departmentally approved. *Appropriate courses from cognate fields may be used. Ideally, attention is paid to preparing students for undertaking the Honors Thesis.

7. Consider

• Attending a meeting with the College leadership group each semester (in the third or fourth week).
• Serving as a member of the Faculty Senate Commonwealth Honors College Council and/or one the subcommittees (Academic Standards, Policy, Course and Program).

Actions

Admitting Students to Departmental Honors

Honors Program Directors have several options for authorizing a student's admission to the Departmental Honors (DH) track.  The options are determined by a student's membership status in the Commonwealth Honors College (CHC).

Students who are not current CHC members

These students must apply to Commonwealth Honors College and your DH track. A description on the process is available on the Apply page on the CHC website. The CHC application is located on CHC PATHS.

You can then review their application materials and indicate your admission decision within the online application review process in CHC PATHS.

Students who are currently members of CHC

You may authorize admission of these students to your DH track in: CHC PATHS

For accessible assistance please contact the office by phone at 413-545-2483.

Actions

Late Added Honors Colloquium Contract

Honors Colloquium contracts provide a mechanism for faculty members and students to spontaneously and collaboratively generate and schedule Honors Colloquia. Students and faculty are encouraged to use their imaginations when designing a Colloquium. Colloquia should be challenging, rewarding, stimulating and fun. If approved this contract will become a listed Colloquium for the core course and may be scheduled for 4 more semesters without re-approval by requesting that your Department Scheduling Officer include it whenever the core course is scheduled.

For accessible assistance with the PDF form please contact the office by phone at 413-545-2483.

Actions