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Miami to fuse honors, scholars programs

Catherine Couretas

After undergoing its first formal academic review last year, the Miami University Honors & Scholars Program will condense its three programs into one.

The program will be officially re-named the University Honors Program, according to administrators at Monday's university senate meeting.

As part of the change, acceptance to the program does not guarantee a specific scholarship as it did before.

"We propose to uncouple scholarships from the program," said Carolyn Haynes, director of the Honors & Scholars Program. "We propose that merit aid be offered outside of the program."

With scholarships offered separately from the Honors Program, students may be offered varying amounts of merit when applying to the university, regardless of their interest in the honors program. Under the new setup, the honors program will not necessarily be looking solely at student's greatest academic achievements.

"We still want to attract strong students, but we also want inquisitive and reflective students that may not have achieved the top test scores," Haynes said.

In making this change, Haynes said application to the program will now be more essay-based, rather than just asking students to list what they have achieved.

"Before we've asked for lists of accomplishments," Haynes said. "Now, we're asking for less of that and more essays, such as what goals students have for college and their greatest learning experiences in high school."

The change in the program's structure will have great impact on what types of honors classes are offered.

"We will actually be offering fewer (honors) courses but will be having students take courses at various tier levels," Haynes said.

Haynes added that in addition to honors-exclusive courses, the office has also discussed the option of introducing "hybrid courses" to the curriculum.

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"In regular courses, we would set seats aside for honors students to enroll and take on additional responsibilities," Haynes said.

She added that fewer honors courses will be offered at the introductory level, more will be offered in upper-levels and all course-based honors experiences will now be sequenced so that students can make the most of the courses.

In picking out the necessary courses, honors students will be invited to annual advising sessions where they can plan out how they will complete the necessary experiences within the new, three-tiered structure of the program.

Students will progress through the three tiers as they complete their education at Miami, according to Haynes.

The first tier will be the foundation, involving introductory level courses and opportunities for non-course based learning, such as faculty-led book clubs.

The second tier will involve intermediate courses and is usually when students participate in semester-long study abroad programs. The third tier will involve the completion of a major project or thesis.

"Tier three puts students in the driver's seat," Haynes said.

She added that the new program gives students the freedom to structure their honors experience.

"It allows students to chart their own course," Haynes said. "It pushes them in a personalized way. We're placing much greater responsibility on students for the advancement of their own learning and development."

University Provost Jeffrey Herbst credited Haynes for the effort put forth by Haynes for her work on the structure of the new program.

"It has been a monumental amount of work by Carolyn Haynes and her colleagues," Herbst said.