Honors Arkansas

Modified: 2021-11-07

Honors Arkansas is something new on the honors scene. It is a statewide group of Honors Colleges and Honors Programs from a wide variety of colleges and universities. The goals are many: stop brain drain from Arkansas, link to and communicate with each other, raise the profile of honors education in the state, offer honors courses to all interested honors students in Arkansas, and make state and local governments aware of the benefits that honors education provides to all students.

Creation: NCHC Boston NCHC 2018

• The first planning meeting took place on Friday, November 9, 2018 at NCHC in Boston
• First meeting

First Business Meeting Havana, AR 2019

• Directors and dean at that NCHC meeting decided to create "Honors Arkansas" and to meet in Havana, AR on August 1 to 2, 2019 at Mt. Magazine State Park. Lynda Coon, Dean of UA-Fayetteville's Honors College spearheaded the effort to bring all Arkansas Honors Colleges together.
• At that meeting we met each other informally at a reception the night before. Many had never met face-to-face previously
• The next day we met more formally and spoke about diversity, inclusion, the reason to found Honors Arkansas, and to get action plans rolling
• We met for breakfast the following day before heading back to our respective schools. Honors Arkansas was now a real thing
• The attendees were:
  • Shannon Clowney-Johnson, Philander Smith College 
  • Lynda Coon, University of Arkansas Fayetteville 
  • Louise Hancox, University of Arkansas Fayetteville  
  • Simon Hawkins, University of Arkansas Little Rock 
  • Leah Horton, University of Central Arkansas 
  • Michael James, Harding University 
  • Ed Kardas, Southern Arkansas University 
  • Cindy Lea, University of Central Arkansas  
  • Barbara Pemberton, Ouachita Baptist 
  • Noah Pittman, University of Arkansas Fayetteville  
  • Chris Polachic, Williams Baptist College 
  • Jennie Popp, University of Arkansas Fayetteville 
  • Trisha Posey, John Brown University 
  • Dennis Siler, University of Arkansas Fort Smith 
  • Drew Smith, Henderson State University 
  • Patricia Smith, University of Central Arkansas 
  • Xochitl Delgado Solorzano, University of Arkansas Fayetteville 
  • Christopher Thrasher, National Park College 
  • Chad Whatley, Arkansas State University 
• Out Action Plan was to:
  • Develop common honors database
  • Submit sessions for NCHC Dallas
  • Develop social media sites
  • Consider an Honors Day at the Arkansas Capitol

 

At Lodge	Meeting	Breakfast

New Orleans NCHC 2019

• On Friday, November 8 17 honors staffers met to plan the next steps for Honors Arkansas, they represented eight different colleges and universities: John Brown, Ouachita Baptist, Harding, UCA, ASU, SAU, UA-Fayetteville, and UA-Little Rock.
• The main business was an upcoming meeting in Little Rock with the governor's education specialists to discuss "brain drain," how honors envigorates the state's economy, and showcase honors graduates from Arkansas Honors Colleges.
• Another item was to explain how Honors Arkansas works as a national model for honors education, one that emphasizes collegiality, vision, and a corporate (e.g., statewide) nature.
• Before the Little Rock meeting we worked together to create a brochure: Honors Arkansas Home Town Heroes. Daveante Jones was SAU's hero

Little Rock 2019

• On Friday, November 9 nine honors staffers representing UCA, Harding, ATU, SAU, ASU, UALR, and UAF met in the Arkansas State Capitol with Dr. Roberts and Dr. Markham of the Governor's Office. The purpose of the meeting was to elevate the profile of honors education in Arkansas.
• Later that day six of those staffers met with Dr. Don Bobbitt, head of the entire UA System. He provided political advice, mostly, and suggested that Honors Arkansas bring some of its students before the Legislature.

Little Rock 2020

• On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 honors staff from ASU, HSU, UCA, UAF, and UALR met with governor Asa Hutchinson and ASU System president Chuck Welch.
• Honors Arkansas presented it purposes:
  • Stop the brain drain by promoting honors opportunities across the state and enabling students to find the best university for them.
  • Find ways to keep/bring back our alumni who make significant contributions to the economy, industry, and health of the population. 
  • Develop a model that can be deployed nationally.
  • Assist students (particularly those from first-gen, rural, other minority groups) to recognize when an honors program is for them.
  • Build upon statewide service learning and other networks to help students interact in the community and find a calling/career in the state.
  • Help honors students meet and create networks between each other which will help their career prospects and strengthen their ability and desire to remain in the state.
  • Build awareness that an honors college or program elevates the educational system for all students (honors and non-honors) in the classroom.
• Later Dr. Welch gave some suggestions:
  • Craft the message to government in the way they will respond. Focus on STEM and workforce programs.
  • Focus on four-year graduation rates, honors vs general population.
  • Talk about ROI, honor's ROI is high.
  • Focus on soft skills gained through honors: problem solving, analytical thinking, being able to think on their feet, good written/oral communications skills
  • Get students into internships at the Capitol – even for a week.
  • What makes Honors Arkansas unique is its focus on collaboration.
  • Create very short (1-2 min) videos from each institution to put on ADHE/ADE website. K-12 teachers will watch.

NCHC Dallas 2020

• Three separate submissions from Honors Arkansas members were accepted for the meeting to be held in Dallas in the fall of 2020
• But, Covid cancelled the face-to-face meeting. Chris Thrasher and I decided not to participate with out session titled:
  • A new pipeline for honors students at two year colleges builds bigger hearts and minds in Arkansas
  • • Ed Kardas (Southern Arkansas University)
    • Christopher Thrasher (National Park College)
    Abstract

    A new statewide consortium, Honors Arkansas, recently emerged from more isolated and local efforts where honors colleges signed honors credit transfer MOUs with two-year honors programs.

    The mission of Honors Arkansas is much broader and deeper. The group sees itself as a new model of statewide honors education with priorities that include stopping brain drain, attracting new out-of-state honors-qualified students, and making honors education more important to statewide leaders by collecting data on honors in the state.

    It is the culmination of a process that began at NCHC in Boston in 2018 and presently includes 15 honors colleges and programs, including four two-year colleges.

    Another explicit goal is creating a common pipeline from the two-year schools to the honors colleges; a mechanism to build big hearts and big minds. Now all honors students in the state can participate in opportunities outside their local community or college.

    Honors Arkansas’ research has shown that the two-year college students have greater economic and ethnic diversity, another benefit of the pipeline.

    One example of cooperation is extramural foreign travel. Every member institution encourages such travel but not all have the resources to offer trips to their students. Those that do travel now offer open spaces to other members and work to provide honors credit when coursework is involved via transfer agreements.

    Honors Arkansas also exposes students to service opportunities outside their local communities.

    But the essential goal for Honors Arkansas was for all honors educators in the state to cooperate with each other rather than compete, to become a big heart and big mind for all honors students in the state. Remarkably, all members have bought into this new model regardless of their size, scope, or mission. A big honors heart is beating in Arkansas and a big honors mind is developing.

ZOOM Meeting July 31, 2020

• Like many others, Honors Arkansas was forced to meet remotely
• Naturally, Honors College's responses to Covid were a topic

Second Business Meeting Havana, AR 2021

• This meeting was held on July 29 and July 30, 2021 at Mt. Magazine State Park
• Minutes
• FYI, I was unable to attend because of a personal issue

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