Vol. 1 No. 19
The following is a transcript of the opening remarks I gave at the Spring 2017 Honors Dinner last night. Give it a read - there are some important things to be learned about changes coming to Honors!
Hello, everyone…I’m happy you’re here. Like last semester, it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to open this evening. I love everything about Honors, so it’s not that I have nothing to say, it’s just that I should probably try to focus on something specific. If you ask anyone who knows me, you will quickly learn that my brain can be a little scattered. Then again, this is true for a lot of Honors students (and perhaps other faculty – ‘Hi Linda!’) I know as well, so perhaps you can relate. In any event, welcome. The title of these opening remarks comes to us from a French critic, journalist, and novelist who once said plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose – which literally translates to ‘the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing’. I call it this because this is, as many of you know, the second Honors Studies dinner and, oddly enough, it is also the last one under Honors Studies as we know it. Honors has been an amazing and powerful experience for so many people that it feels strange to say that we are changing nearly everything about it. If it’s so wonderful, then why change it? The answer to that first requires reassurance.
The phrase ‘nearly everything’ implies that all the important things will change, but in this case, the opposite is true. Honors is remaining fundamentally the same. We will remain a place for ALL curious and passionate learners to find themselves….and each other. It will continue to celebrate self-reflection and lifelong learning. We will certainly still offer amazing courses taught by amazing faculty. We will absolutely keep fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and intellectual rigor while remaining true to seminar-style teaching and student-centered learning. In other words, the heart of Honors is remaining exactly what it is. These are the fundamental aspects that make Honors Studies what it is.
Before I go any further, I want to caution you that what I say tonight may change as we move forward. You are the first students to really hear about this and we don’t yet have all the pieces in place. Change can be a slow process, but we are close enough to having things ready that I’m sharing it with you. I’m too excited about it not to. This is the same reason why I’m terrible at giving gifts…I usually can’t wait until the appropriate time. Anyway, what I say tonight may change here and there or be tweaked to fit some larger purpose, but I assure you that we will keep all that makes Honors special and, in doing do, make it even more special.
So, back to changes. If the heart of Honors is staying the same, then what ARE we changing? Well, everything else. Our reasoning is that we want to more visibly showcase what makes Honors Studies special by solidify its goals, strengthening its identity, and making it easier for students to experience Honors and attain Honors status. So, again, what does THAT mean? What are we changing?
Well, I’m not sure if any of you have noticed, but a lot of the words we use to talk about Honors are confusing in the face of everything else in an academic setting. It gets called a program – which it is not. You can earn a certificate or a diploma – but technically, it’s neither one. We call them Honors credits, except it means something a little different than when we talk about your transcript. Even the word Honors gets confused with the word given to students who are recognized solely for high GPAs. All of this is going to change.
Students will now be earning points towards becoming an Honors Studies Scholar – gone will be the certificate and the diploma. There will still be Honors Studies Contracts and Honors Studies Seminars and Honors Studies in the Disciplines. But we are now going to add Honors Studies Events that will allow you to earn points towards Scholar status outside of the classroom where, honestly, some of the best learning sometimes occurs. The self-reflective essay prompts will start to look familiar to you as you move from Honors course to Honors course, or contract, or even event. There will be more opportunities, more visibility, more uniformity, and more celebration of the hard work that all of you do or may do in Honors Studies.
<<I went off script here and talked about how the Honors Studies Events will feature work already being done on campus such as the Women's Leadership Initiative and talks that are already hosted by various departments on campus. I also talked about how we would like to host our own talks about things like the heroin epidemic in upstate New York, or perhaps talks centered on courses we hope to offer in future semesters. I then spoke briefly about how we would like to have an event each semester that celebrated the work students were doing IN Honors by hosting an Honors Studies Convocation where students were invited to present posters or perhaps a short talk about their projects in Honors courses to whomever attended from the faculty, staff, and student body of FLCC.>>
I have said it many times before, but I adore Honors Studies. I think it’s a unique and amazing opportunity and the changes we are making will help us show off what Honors Studies is, while still respecting the core values of not only Honors as a whole, but also the values of the college. We are NOT the Honors Program anymore because we never really were. We are now Honors Studies, a name which reflects what we have always valued, what we still value, and what we will continue to value – a curiosity and passion for study, for learning, for personal growth. I hope these hints of what’s coming encourage you to explore or continue to explore Honors Studies and really find out who you are and what you are capable of.
The phrase ‘nearly everything’ implies that all the important things will change, but in this case, the opposite is true. Honors is remaining fundamentally the same. We will remain a place for ALL curious and passionate learners to find themselves….and each other. It will continue to celebrate self-reflection and lifelong learning. We will certainly still offer amazing courses taught by amazing faculty. We will absolutely keep fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and intellectual rigor while remaining true to seminar-style teaching and student-centered learning. In other words, the heart of Honors is remaining exactly what it is. These are the fundamental aspects that make Honors Studies what it is.
Before I go any further, I want to caution you that what I say tonight may change as we move forward. You are the first students to really hear about this and we don’t yet have all the pieces in place. Change can be a slow process, but we are close enough to having things ready that I’m sharing it with you. I’m too excited about it not to. This is the same reason why I’m terrible at giving gifts…I usually can’t wait until the appropriate time. Anyway, what I say tonight may change here and there or be tweaked to fit some larger purpose, but I assure you that we will keep all that makes Honors special and, in doing do, make it even more special.
So, back to changes. If the heart of Honors is staying the same, then what ARE we changing? Well, everything else. Our reasoning is that we want to more visibly showcase what makes Honors Studies special by solidify its goals, strengthening its identity, and making it easier for students to experience Honors and attain Honors status. So, again, what does THAT mean? What are we changing?
Well, I’m not sure if any of you have noticed, but a lot of the words we use to talk about Honors are confusing in the face of everything else in an academic setting. It gets called a program – which it is not. You can earn a certificate or a diploma – but technically, it’s neither one. We call them Honors credits, except it means something a little different than when we talk about your transcript. Even the word Honors gets confused with the word given to students who are recognized solely for high GPAs. All of this is going to change.
Students will now be earning points towards becoming an Honors Studies Scholar – gone will be the certificate and the diploma. There will still be Honors Studies Contracts and Honors Studies Seminars and Honors Studies in the Disciplines. But we are now going to add Honors Studies Events that will allow you to earn points towards Scholar status outside of the classroom where, honestly, some of the best learning sometimes occurs. The self-reflective essay prompts will start to look familiar to you as you move from Honors course to Honors course, or contract, or even event. There will be more opportunities, more visibility, more uniformity, and more celebration of the hard work that all of you do or may do in Honors Studies.
<<I went off script here and talked about how the Honors Studies Events will feature work already being done on campus such as the Women's Leadership Initiative and talks that are already hosted by various departments on campus. I also talked about how we would like to host our own talks about things like the heroin epidemic in upstate New York, or perhaps talks centered on courses we hope to offer in future semesters. I then spoke briefly about how we would like to have an event each semester that celebrated the work students were doing IN Honors by hosting an Honors Studies Convocation where students were invited to present posters or perhaps a short talk about their projects in Honors courses to whomever attended from the faculty, staff, and student body of FLCC.>>
I have said it many times before, but I adore Honors Studies. I think it’s a unique and amazing opportunity and the changes we are making will help us show off what Honors Studies is, while still respecting the core values of not only Honors as a whole, but also the values of the college. We are NOT the Honors Program anymore because we never really were. We are now Honors Studies, a name which reflects what we have always valued, what we still value, and what we will continue to value – a curiosity and passion for study, for learning, for personal growth. I hope these hints of what’s coming encourage you to explore or continue to explore Honors Studies and really find out who you are and what you are capable of.
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