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Association
Table of Contents
- Requirements/Recognition
- Honors Faculty Council
- Honors Student Council
- Honors Student Assembly
- 2011 Schedule of Events
- Types of Honors Classes
- Sample Contract
- Other Opportunities
- Honors Housing
- Research
- Scholarship Opportunities
- Honors Senior Synthesis
- Constitution
- By Laws
- Standing Committees
- Course Completion Checklist
To graduate as a University Honors Scholar
- Complete undergraduate work with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher
- Complete 21 minimum hours of Honors credit with an A or B grade
- Three of the 21 hours must come from completing HONS 101 or HONS 102 with an A or B grade
- Three of the 21 hours must come from completing an Honors component to the senior synthesis course or an approved substitute with an A or B grade
Recognition given to University Honors Scholars
- University Honors Scholar designation on diploma
- Notation on official transcript of Honors credit earned for each course and University Honors Scholar
- Special Honors cords presentation ceremony
- Distinctive Honors cords worn at Commencement
The University Honors Scholar designation is highly regarded by potential employers and graduate or professional schools where students may want to continue their education.
The Honors Faculty is made up of at least five faculty members, one representative from each of the five Schools, three student representatives from the Honors Student Council, and the Honors Director. The Honors Faculty Council assists the Honors Director in designing and implementing the Honors Program’s curriculum, student programs, and recruitment and retention practices. The Council has three subcommittees to focus on each of these areas. The Honors Director is the chair of the Council and its subcommittees. The members of the Honors Faculty Council are listed below, including their departments and schools and the subcommittees on which they serve.
Antonina Bambina, Ph. D., Director of the Honors Program, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, All subcommittees
Leisa Belleau, M.A.,
Instructor in English,
College of Liberal Arts,
Student Programs Subcommittee
Jeri Burger, Ph.D. MS RN,
Assistant Professor of Nursing,
College of Nursing and Health Professions, Curriculum Subcommittee
Janet R. Kilbane, MEd. OTR,
Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy,
College of Nursing and Health Professions,
Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee
Tim Mahoney, M.S.,
Instructor of Economics,
College of Business, Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee
Eric McCloud, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of Biology,
Pott College of Science and Engineering, Curriculum Subcommittee
Doris Mohr, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of Mathematics,
Pott College of Science and Engineering, Student Programs Subcommittee
Brian Posler, Ph.D., Assistant Provost for Undergraduate
Studies, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts,
Curriculum Subcommittee
Katie Griffin, Biology, Pott College of Science and Engineering, Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee
Austin Uebelhor, Biology/Spanish, Pott College of Science and Engineering, Spanish Studies, Modern & Classical Languages, Student Programs Subcommittee
Yena Choi,
Biology, Pott College of Science and Engineering, Curriculum Subcommittee
| Council Member | Position | |
| Katie Griffin | President | ksgriffin@mail.usi.edu |
| Austin Uebelhor | Vice President | akuebelhor@mail.usi.edu |
| Yena Choi | Secretary | ychoi1@mail.usi.edu |
| Rebecca Reynolds | Historian | rpreynolds@mail.usi.edu |
| Bredna Ramirez | Member-at-Large | bmramirez@mail.usi.edu |
| Maggie Cosker | Member-at-Large | mkcosker@mail.usi.edu |
| Autumn Menkedick | Member-at-Large | ammenkedic@mail.usi.edu |
| Freshman Member-at-Large |
Information
The Honors Student Council consists of elected officers who serve to lead the Honors Student Assembly. The purpose of the Student Council is to coordinate Honors student participation within the student organization and throughout the University. They serve as a student advisory body for the Honors Director, the Honors Faculty Council and the Honors student body. The Council ensures the smooth operation of meetings and establishes yearly goals for the Honors Student Assembly.
Thursday, September 22nd – BE 0035, 5:00p.m.-6:00p.m. The Assembly serves to bring Honors students together to build community and plan events. At this first meeting, we will discuss and plan events and activities for the coming academic year.
Honors Mentor Mind Melt – Ice Cream Social
Sunday, September 18th - The lower level lobby of the Education Center (ED 0114) at 3:00p.m.-5:00p.m. The Honors Mentor Mind Melt gives new Honors students a chance to get to know well-established Honors students. Incoming students can learn from the experiences of their mentors and contact them with questions about the Honors Program. There’s no better way to meet your mentor than with ice cream.
Stand-Alone Honors Courses
These courses are open only to Honors students. These classes are designed specifically for Honors students so class sizes are smaller than regular courses, there is more interaction with professors, and course work is both more challenging and stimulating.
Cross-Listed Honors Courses
These courses are cross-listed in the class schedule, meaning that they are listed twice, once as a regular section and once as an Honors section. Therefore, these classes will be made up of Honors students and non-Honors students. Honors students are responsible for all the material on the course syllabus and an additional Honors component, for which they must fill out an Honors contract. In most cases, the professor has already designed the project for the Honors component.
Ad Hoc Contract Courses
Any course not offered as a stand-alone or cross-listed Honors course may be taken for Honors credits by adding an Honors component to the course. The student will need to fill out an Honors contract with the professor that includes a description of a project that will satisfy the Honors component. A student taking an ad hoc contract course is responsible for all material on the course syllabus and an additional Honors component.
Additional Information
For additional information about Honors courses, refer to the Honors website, talk to your primary academic advisor or contact Dr. Bambina, the Honors Program Director with questions. Lists of both stand-alone and cross-listed Honors courses offered each semester can be found on the Honors website.
Honors Program Contract
Courses
Any course may be a contract Honors course given the approval of the instructor.
Honors Component
All students who take a course for Honors credit will complete an Honors component in addition to all other requirements on the course syllabus. The Honors component should be designed to promote enhanced study for the course. The content of the Honors component will vary by course topic. Generally, students are encouraged to work with their professors to develop projects that will be interesting and stimulating for both the students and the professors. The Honors Faculty Council encourages directed but student-initiated learning. The project can take a variety of forms depending on the class content, and the preference of the professor and the student. Some examples are: an extension or added dimension to a class paper, an additional paper, a class presentation, field work, a series of interviews culminating in a report, researching case studies, a review of current literature, a speech, a conference paper, leading a class discussion after researching a class topic, reading plays and books in a foreign language, etc. Depending on the course content, a project might be of interest to the entire class and the student could present his/her work to the class as part of the project. The workload for the Honors component should be roughly 15 hours a semester and no more than 30. A description of the Honors component should be attached to the contract form. The contract form must be signed by the student and the instructor and returned to the Honors Program Office (OC 1070) by the due date specified on the contract form. Final approval of all Honors contracts rests with the Honors Director.
Grading
Students will receive two separate grades for contract Honors courses. One grade is based only on the work assigned on the course syllabus to all students. An additional grade will be given solely for the Honors component. This grade for the Honors component will not be factored into the students overall course grade or GPA. Honors credit for the course is earned and will be entered on a student’s transcript if: the student 1) earns an A or B grade for the course and 2) satisfactorily completes the Honors contract component with an A or B grade.
Withdrawal
Students may drop the Honors component without withdrawing from the course itself. The only consequence is that no Honors credit is earned for the course. This action may be taken any time prior to, and including, the last day of regularly scheduled classes in a semester or summer term.
Other Opportunities
Through the University’s Excellence through Engagement program, scholarships are available to assist Honors students with the costs of studying abroad. Awards are available for summer, semester, and full-year programs. USI offers study-abroad opportunities in more than 50 countries. For more information on study-abroad programs go to: http://www.usi.edu/ips/intlstud.asp
Honors Student Grant Amounts:
Academic year program participants - $2,000
Semester program participants - $1,200
Short-term program participants Summer programs - $600
Faculty-led study trips - $300
Freshmen in the Honors Program may choose to live in a special living-learning community (LLC) in the residence hall. Students live on the same floor with other Honors students and take a cluster of three classes together. The LLC helps students get to know others with similar interests and interact more closely with faculty. Special activities such as trips and volunteer experiences are planned to help students learn and grow. Students living on the same floor find it easy to get together to study or enjoy campus and community activities. Students living on this floor will grow to be active in the USI community.
Research opportunities are available year-round with USI faculty members. USI Honors students are involved in a wide array of research and creative projects. Students benefit in many ways from research. They interact directly with a faculty mentor. They have special opportunities to improve research skills that will prepare them for graduate study or careers. They improve their organizational, communication, and presentation skills.
Scholarship Opportunities
Undergraduate research receives strong support at USI. The Endeavor Awards for Research and Creativity offer funding for faculty-supervised research. Students may present the results of their research at an Endeavor Awards conference each spring. For more information visit: www.usi.edu/endeavor
Endeavor Awards Travel Grants
Students also may travel to regional or national meetings of professional societies to present their Endeavor Award projects. These experiences provide opportunities to network with students from other universities and professionals who share similar interests. Students may apply for travel grants to assist with the expenses of attending such meetings.
Outside Funding
Students also may apply for outside funding to assist with research. USI students have received funding from such sources as the Research Experiences for Undergraduates, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Nationally Competitive Scholarships
USI has a commitment to helping students learn about and apply for nationally competitive scholarships that will enrich their educational experience. These include such programs as the Goldwater, Truman, and Fulbright awards. Prestigious scholarships are available for students in almost any major. Some, such as the Goldwater Scholarship, may offer a significant financial award to assist with the cost of USI tuition or other study in the United States. Many of the awards fund opportunities to study at locations around the world. Special faculty mentors guide interested students through the application process. www.usi.edu/acaffrs/scholarships/
Honors Senior Synthesis
In order to graduate as a University Honors Scholar, three credit hours should be attained from an Honors component to the senior synthesis course or an approved substitute with an A or B grade. Below are examples of some Honors components.
College of Education and Social Services
The student will work in their student teaching classroom at Cedar Hall Elementary to level the set of classroom books used for self-selected reading so that they correspond to the students’ reading levels as determined by the DIBBLES testing they have gone through. This will ensure that students are choosing books that are appropriate for their reading ability (not too hard and not too easy). The student will be using three methods to level the books: the Flesh-Kincaid method, the Fry Readability graph, and the Rigby method. In addition to leveling books in the second grade classroom, the student will also create a handout containing information about both DIBBLES and Acuity testing which will be presented to the Monday night synthesis class. This will give the other students a basic knowledge of the two testing systems which are becoming very popular in Indiana schools.
College of Business
The student is enrolled in a capstone course designed to integrate the major fields of business: accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, and computer information systems. The student will conduct a business plan utilizing the concepts learned from multiple business courses. The business plan will serve as a project culminating what was learned throughout my three years in the college of Business. The student will be evaluated based on the following criteria: thoroughness, integration of concepts, and overall impression of the paper.
College of Science and Engineering
To obtain Honors credit for a “senior synthesis” course, the student enrolled in Biology 492, Special Problems in Biology. There are two components to the research. First, the student will learn the various orders of Arthropods, focusing mainly on the orders of the class Insecta. In order to learn the vast number of insects, the student plans to attend numerous lectures of Entomology as well as self-learn with the book Field Guide to Insects. Also, the professor and the student will take soil/nature samples for the student to practice collecting and identifying arthropods. The main goal will be for the student to identify insects as specifically as possible using advanced dichotomous keys.
The second part of the project involves setting up a relational database containing information about the insect stock which was pre-collected from the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. The student will take photos of the insects, including microscopic photos, and insert the photos as well as the nomenclature and collecting information into the FileMaker Pro Database. This will require the student to identify the organisms not already identified, as well as learn how to use the software.
Hopefully, the database will be able to be put online so that the information can be accessed by future students. One should be able to use the database to relate organisms based on how they are grouped taxonomically. Also, the database will contain information about the distribution and habitats of the organisms so that an analysis can be done in the future based on their distribution in the Lincoln Boyhood National Park.
College of Liberal Arts
The student is enrolled in the course LIBA 497: The Book. In addition to the other assigned exams and writing assignments for this class, the student will select one monograph and one scholarly
The Honors component will involve a health care issue that the student has observed as important to nursing. Due to the student’s interest in pediatric nursing, the student will be researching a minimum of five scholarly journal articles on caring for the children with disabilities. The student will submit a minimum of 4 page paper that discusses the issues that nurses caring for children with disabilities need to be aware of to provide high quality care to these children and their families. The student will also educate the staff nurses on the Pediatric unit at St. Mary’s during her nursing internship. The paper poster presentation must be completed and submitted for evaluation by May 1.
Constitution
CONSTITUTION
HONORS STUDENT ASSEMBLY
at the
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA
Updated August 1, 2009
Title of Document:
Constitution of the Honors Student Assembly, University of Southern Indiana
Preamble:
The Honors Student Assembly was created to provide an organizational framework for the Honors student body for the purpose of facilitating student meetings, social and community activities, and activities supportive of the Honors Program purposes and operations.
The name of this organization shall be the University of Southern Indiana Honors Student Assembly.
The purposes of the Honors Student Assembly shall include, but will not be limited to, the following:
(1) To build a sense of community and cohesiveness among the Honors student body.
(2) To enhance Honors student participation in University affairs.
(3) To provide a communication link between the Honors student body and the Honors Program Director and Honors Faculty Council.
(4) To provide opportunities for student leadership and involvement in the implementation of the USI Honors Program.
Article III: MEMBERSHIP
All students formally accepted into the University of Southern Indiana Honors Program are voting members of the Honors Student Assembly, and are eligible for membership in the Honors Student Council.
Section I: Structure
The Honors Student Assembly shall consist of all students who have been formally accepted into the University of Southern Indiana Honors Program and are currently attending the University of Southern Indiana. The Honors Student Council shall consist of 8 persons elected by the Honors Student Assembly. The purposes of the Honors Student Council shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following:
(7) to ensure the smooth operation of Honors Student Assembly meetings.
Section II: Officers
Section III: Elections and Appointments
Section V: Powers of Officers
Section VI: Governing Rules
Article V: MEETINGS
(1) There shall be 2 general membership meetings of the Honors Student Assembly held during each Fall and each Spring semester, for a total of 4 meetings per academic year. The Honors Student Council may call additional meetings as needed.
Article VI: CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
Section I: Adoption and Ratification of the Constitution
Article VIII: GENERAL PROVISIONS
The establishment of the University of Southern Indiana Honors Student Assembly is subject to approval by the University of Southern Indiana Office of Student Development. The Honors Program Director is to assist students with the smooth operation of the Honors Student Assembly and approve student plans as needed.
By Laws
BYLAWS
of the
Chapter 1: STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION
Honors Student Council Members of the Honors Student Assembly shall be the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Historian, three members-at-large, and one freshman member-at-large. These members shall constitute the Honors Student Council (hereafter referenced as the Council). These members are responsible for providing leadership and direction for the Honors Student Assembly (hereafter referenced as the Assembly), and for making sure the operational aspects of the organization are accomplished smoothly. The Council shall serve as a student advisory body to the Honors Program Director.
Meetings
The Council members shall have a minimum of two required meetings a semester.
Training
Duties and Responsibilities of the Honors Student Council
Assist the President with the duties listed above.
Maintaining a scrapbook of the activities of the Assembly.
Standing Committees
Composition
Each standing committee shall be composed of a chair, plus 2 to 10 additional members. The responsibilities of the chairs shall be the following:
Soliciting additional committee members from the Assembly.
Reporting committee activities and recommendations to the Council and Assembly.
Meetings
Each committee will meet a minimum of 2 times each academic semester.
Recruitment Committee
The Recruitment Committee shall be responsible for assisting the Honors Program Director and the Council with the following:
Student Involvement Fair.
Other recruitment activities as needed.
Publications Committee
Community Service Committee
The Community Service Committee shall be responsible for assisting the Honors Director and the Council with the following:
Other community-based activities or events as needed.
The Social Committee shall be responsible for assisting the Honors Director and the Council with the following:
The Mentor Committee shall be responsible for assisting the Honors Director and the Council with the following:
Organizing the meet your mentor meeting
General Assembly Meetings
There shall be 2 general assembly meetings of the Honors Student Assembly held during each Fall and Spring Semester. The purposes of the general meetings are to conduct the business of the Assembly and to exchange information among the members. Qualifications for Honors Student Assembly membership include acceptance into the University of Southern Indiana’s Honors Program and remaining in good standing at the University. Assembly meetings are listed in a tentative schedule for each semester. Assembly members shall be notified at least one week in advance of meeting dates, times, and locations.
Meetings shall be conducted in an orderly fashion and be directed by the President. The Agenda shall include reports from each Council member as needed and also from each committee chair. Council members and committee chairs shall notify the President and the Secretary of their reports to be put into the agenda for the meeting.
Voting
Any qualified member may vote. A simple majority of voting members present is required to pass a motion. The President may vote in case of a tie.
The Honors Student Council may call additional meetings of the Assembly as needed.
There shall be a minimum of 2 meeting per semester of the Honors Student Council held during each Fall and Spring semester. The purposes of the Council meetings are to plan for the business of the Assembly and to exchange information among the members. Assembly meetings are listed in a tentative schedule for each semester. Assembly members shall be notified at least one week in advance of meeting dates, times, and locations.
Order of Business
Meetings shall be conducted in an orderly fashion and be directed by the President. The Agenda shall include reports from each Council member as needed and also from each committee chair. Council members and committee chairs shall notify the President and the Secretary of their reports to be put into the agenda for the meeting.
Quorum
The quorum for the Council meetings shall be 5 members out of the 8, one of whom shall be the President or the Vice-President.
Voting
Each member of the Honors Student Council has one vote, with the exception of the President, who may vote only in the case of a tie.
Special Meetings
The President may call additional meetings of the Council as needed.
Chapter 4: ELECTIONS
General Rules
Nominations shall be opened by the Council at the first Assembly meeting of the Spring semester, and nominations shall be closed April 1st. The consent of the nominee is required prior to being placed on the ballot. Nominees will be provided with the opportunity to briefly address the Assembly prior to the vote. Election is by a simple majority of voting members. Voting shall take place by ballots at the last Assembly meeting of the Spring. If members cannot attend the Elections meeting, they shall have the opportunity to fill an absentee ballot in the Honors Office on the day of the meeting. In case of a tie, the President shall decide how to proceed.
Inauguration
Newly elected Council members shall be installed at a meeting after Elections in which the old Council members will also be present.
Vacancies
Should an Honors Council Member voluntarily or involuntarily vacate an office prior to the end of his or her term of one school year, the Council will solicit nominations from the Honors Student Assembly and a special
In the event that a member of the Honors Council fails to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the position, any Council member may express concerns to the Honors Program Director. The offending member will be counseled and given the opportunity to make changes. If this does not occur, the Honors Student Council will vote whether to retain the person in the position.
The Honors Student Assembly shall work closely with the Honors Director. The Honors Director shall be responsible for the following:
Attending meetings of the Honors Student Council and Assembly.
Advising students regarding issues and concerns brought forth by the Honors Student Assembly and Council.
Chapter 7: AMENDING THE BYLAWS
Amendments to the Bylaws may be proposed by the Honors Student Council. After approval by the Honors Program Director, the Bylaws may then be amended at any general assembly meeting by a 2/3 vote of the members present.
Course Completion Checklist
Letter from the Director
This is placement text for the letter from the Director
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