Resolution on Honors College
Date
Background
As many faculty know, the quality of honors programs for first year undergraduate students can be an important component in determining the overall quality of a university. Since we all share the goal of working to make Rutgers as good as it can be and since a new dean of the Honors College has recently joined us, now is an opportune time for the Faculty Council to do some of this work.
Faculty participation is a sine qua non for high quality honors programs. Therefore, it seems appropriate for the Faculty Council to make some recommendations about first year honors programs in general and about the Honors College, specifically. Here are our recommendations:
- The application for admission to Rutgers NB should contain clear information about the various first year honors programs that are available. It should make clear the differences between the Honors College and the honors programs offered by four schools. The applicant should then be asked to check a box indicating interest in being considered for the Honors College and/or another box indicating interest in school honors programs. This information provided by the applicant will make it possible for Enrollment Management to identify more manageable pools of students to be considered for selection for either of these options. It will also avoid admitting an applicant to a program that they do not want.
- To facilitate the acceptance process, Enrollment Management can separate the students in each pool into one of three groups: Very likely to be admitted; Somewhat likely to be admitted; and Not likely to be admitted. This information should then be transmitted to the Honors College or the relevant school for decisions on which students should be admitted. Decisions on admissions to the Honors College should be made first, as is the current practice.
- All admissions decisions should be based on criteria that include concern for diversity and equity. In addition, the composition of the entering class of the Honors College should reflect the relative student populations of the schools that they are representing.
- Final decisions about admissions must be made by the Honors College or the relevant schools. They should be based on a holistic evaluation process, and they should be made by a group that includes faculty and honors staff.
- Faculty can contribute to honors programs in various ways. In addition to participating in the selection process, they can teach special courses for honors students. They can also be part of the “living-learning community” of the Honors College. In order to make it possible for faculty to carry out such work, the faculty member’s department should be given the funds necessary to provide course release for the faculty member. These funds should be equal to the minimum salary earned by an NTT faculty member for teaching one course.
Resolved
The New Brunswick Faculty Council urges Chancellor/Provost Francine Conway to implement these recommendations.