Honors Program Committee Meeting Minutes Wednesday September 30, 2015

9 a.m. Conference Room – Honors Center

Present: William Campbell, Rhyannon Bemis, James Buss, Leanne Wood, Stephen Ford, Darby Dicks, Frances Sherlock.

I. The Honors Director gave the committee an update on the meeting with Board of Regents Educational Programs and Student Life Committee which took place on September 22, 2015 (Dr. Diane Allen and Dr. Jason McCartney also attended this meeting).

A. The Honors Director reminded the committee that was the Board of Regents Educational Programs and Student Life Committee was voting was to allow Salisbury University to create an Honors College, a transition from the existing Thomas E. Bellavance Honors Program.

B. After 15-20 minutes of targeted questions, the Board of Regents Educational Programs and Student Life Committee voted unanimously in support of allowing Salisbury University to create an Honors College.

C. The Chancellor, Robert Caret, was present at the meeting and also endorsed the creation of an Honors College at Salisbury University expressing that this transition from Honors Program to Honors College was fundamental to Salisbury University and put Salisbury University in alignment with other schools in the University System of Maryland.

I. Stephen Ford expressed concern that about duplication of curriculum with the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, which is also in the process of creating an Honors College. The Honors Director mentioned that the Chancellor was not concerned with duplication so much as a common language for Honors Colleges across the system.

II. The Honors Director reminded the committee that the document detailing the proposed administrative structure for the transition to an Honors College is not what the Board of Regents Educational Programs and Student Life Committee was voting on, they were voting on the transition to an Honors College at Salisbury University.

III. The Honors Director handed out copies of the Salisbury University Honors Task Force Report (dated December, 2010). This document was reviewed by the Faculty Senate and the Honors Program Committee of the Faculty Senate provided a response to the task force report that endorsed the proposed changed and provided additional recommendations. A. The honors director handed out the Response by the Honors Program Committee to the task report. The copy of this response included annotations by the Honors Director as to when the recommendations had been completed. Most recommendations had already been completed and which were in progress.

B. The committee then discussed each bulleted recommendation in the response.

a. The Honors Director asked the committee members to note that the response listed the name of Honors College to be the Bellavance Honors College, however, this is no longer the case.

b. Stephen Ford recommended sending the Salisbury University Honors Task Force Report and the Response by the Honors Program Committee to the Faculty Senate where the documents can be posted to the Faculty Senate website, where they will be password protected and can only be accessed by faculty.

c. Stephen Ford also suggested that, if possible, trying to post past minutes of the Honors Program Committee and any pertinent documents to the Honors Program website.

IV. The Honors Director noted that we are in the middle of the process of transitioning to an Honors College.

A. The Honors Director noted that the bylaws of the Faculty Senate state that the Honors Program Committee oversees the Honors Program and curriculum and can make curricular level decisions

a. The Honors Directors notes that as the Honors Program transitions to an Honors College, the Honors Program Committee with act as the Honors College’s curricular committee and will go through the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

V. The Honors Director stated that is there is not an issue at the committee level, then the Board of Regents will likely accept the proposal and Salisbury University will be given permission to create an Honors College, but the structure of that Honors College is not decided.

A. The Honors Director noted that more faculty input will be sought to inform the structure. B. The Honors Director noted that in his first year he was charged to evaluate the existing Honors Program using the National Collegiate Honors Council’s review process. The program at Salisbury University does fulfill the criteria for an Honors College, but is not as of yet an Honors College.

VI. Leanne Wood asked about the date of the document entitled “Response by the Honors Program Committee.” The Honors Directors stated that based on the minutes of the Faculty Senate’s meeting, the documented existed by September, 2011.

VII. The Honors Director stated that at the Faculty Senate meeting on October 6, 2015, he would ask for input and endorsement of the administrative structure of an Honors College so that steps can be taken to move forward with discussions with faculty, etc.

VIII. Rhyannon Bemis brought up a suggestion by Stephen Ford that on the committee section of the Faculty Senate website, an additional link should be added to link to the Honors Program Committee section of the honors website (there is already a link to the Honors Program homepage). The committee decided to add this link.

IX. Rhyannon Bemis also brought up a point mentioned earlier in the meeting about adding pertinent documents to the Honors Program Website. The committee decided to add the following documents to the website: 1) The Task Force Report, 2) the Response (to the Task Force Report) by the Honors Program Committee, 3) the proposed administrative structure of the Honors College, 4) the NCHC guidelines for an Honors College, and 5) the two-page letter sent to the Chancellor requesting approval for an Honors College at Salisbury University.

A. Leanne Wood suggested that each document contain a brief description with the link.

X. The Honors Director stated at the next meeting the committee will discuss drafts of 1) instructions for departments about teaching honors course, 2) instructions for instructors wanting to teach an honors course, and 3) a rubric for assessing proposed honors courses.

A. A student representative on the committee suggested that a student’s input be sought for evaluating courses. The Honors Director said that would be the case.

B. The Honors Director also discussed the goal of reducing curricular obstacles to students graduating from the Honors Program. Respectfully submitted,

Rhyannon Bemis