Honors Dinner Remarks

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.

Save the Date!

Vol. 1 No. 18

It’s that time again!

Last semester, Honors Studies hosted a dinner for the curious, and we are excited to be doing it again!

So….what do you need to know?

Event:  Spring 2017 Honors Studies Dinner

Date:  April 12, 2017

Time:  5:00 – 7:00

Location:  Stage 14

Food:  Build your own tacos!  Including vegetarian options!

Highlights:

• Free Honors Studies T-Shirts for the first 50 who arrive
• Fidget cubes for those willing to share their questions, stories, experiences, excitement, or curiosities about Honors Studies
• Meet Honors Studies faculty and hear about fall courses
• Listen to administrators talk about why they value what we do
•  Share food and fellowship with other curious students

"I Was a Different Person Then"

Vol. 1 No. 17

I'm teaching an Honors Seminar in Alice and Wonderland this semester and it always amazes me how much the journey of that little girl echoes the experience of Honors, at least metaphorically.  I was also recently reminded about how the word Honors is received sometimes.

Last week I was in a meeting with a member of administration who is also a faculty member and she said something that I think rings true for a lot of people.  In short, she said that the word Honors scares her.  That’s one of the things that I’ve been trying to battle since I took on the mantle of Director.  In the high schools, Honors gets attached to things like the National Honors Society and even at the college level we talk about graduating ‘with Honors.’  All of that leads, of course, to confusion.  Carrying on the defining of things that I started last week, I thought I would do the same thing with the word 'Honors'.  According to the National Collegiate Honors Council, which is a national organization that is centered on Honors, it’s really not about the “smart kids”:

Honors education is characterized by in-class and extracurricular activities that are measurably broader, deeper, or more complex than comparable learning experiences typically found at institutions of higher education. Honors experiences include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy, provide opportunities that are appropriately tailored to fit the institution's culture and mission, and frequently occur within a close community of students and faculty.

As you can see, it’s all about HOW classes are taught and the impact of that methodology rather than the relative intelligence of the individual students.  It’s about making connections (there’s that word again) with the content and with the people who are with you on your learning journey.

Now, it goes without saying that more academically minded students tend to gravitate towards Honors, but it’s also appealing to students because of what is taught and how it is taught.  I’ve encountered so many Honors students who realized that it was something that they had within themselves rather than something they had to bring with them.  Sometimes, it's not about who the student is, but who the student CAN be.

Take the student who fell into ENG 101 Honors with me last semester and came up at the end of the first class to ask if I thought he should stay.  He had only signed up because the time fit his schedule and he didn’t realize it was Honors.  I told him absolutely – the support and camaraderie he would experience would help him succeed.  He ended semester by writing a note in his attendance folder that said, “Thank you – I went from summer school to a 34-page portfolio.”  That made me feel pretty special as an instructor, but it really says more about how powerful the Honors experience can be – and that has as much (or more!) to do with the students and what is built together as it does with what the instructor alone brings.

Or consider the student who signed up for ENG 230 because she wanted to read The Lord of the Rings and is now pursuing Honors recognition.  I recently asked her if she would have believed it had someone told her two years ago that she would be a student of Honors Studies in college and she replied with “No way.  I probably would’ve cried thinking they were mocking me.”

Some seek out Honors.  Some find it by mistake.  Some visit, but then head away again not to return.  Some are changed forever by the experiences they have in their Honors courses.  College really is about finding where you fit and then making the most of the time you have there.  Honors is no different in that regard.  I hope each of you find what you are looking for and for those who find it in Honors, we are glad to have you here.

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.” – Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

“This above all: to thine own self be true” – Polonius, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Mirror, Mirror....

Vol 1. No 16

One of the cornerstones of the Honors experiences is the reflection that happens along the way.  We talk about reflection all the time, but for those who are perhaps not familiar with the idea in connection with learning - what does reflection mean?    I mean, we know what a reflection is because we look in mirrors everyday and we comment on things like how beautiful it is when the sun reflects on the surface of a rippling lake.  But what does it really mean?

If we look back in time, we can learn that the word reflection comes from the Latin reflectere, which means "to bend backwards, turn away."  We can see this in our sun on the lake, for the light is bent back upwards from the water; however, that doesn't much help when we think about learning.  It becomes interesting to note that in the 1640's, reflection was understood to mean "remark made after turning back one's thought on some subject" (Read more at the Online Etymology Dictionary).  Now we are getting somewhere!

I've said in a number of Honors Studies talks that we seem to spend a lot of time in academia with disciplines firmly in place - you learn biology over here, and mathematics over there, and then you have English here, and sociology over there.  We are trying, at FLCC, to remove some of these barriers, by showing the interconnectedness of disciplines.  The college challenges students to make connections and Honors is part of that.

Reflection in Honors is about seeing connections in all sorts of ways.  It is the connection between different classes - from those in your program to the electives you chose.  It is the connection between yourself and your classmates and your instructor.  It's the connections between your college experiences and those in other arenas of your life.  It connections between your past, your present, and even your future.  It's thinking about how all of the facets of your life interact at any given moment.  It's turning back your glance to look at yourself and how you learn.  It's about appreciating the powers of your mind and what it can do.  It's about seeing where you fit into your world and where you want to fit.  It's about seeing what your limitations and obstacles are and how you can work on removing those.  In short, it's about better understanding yourself so that you can better understand the world around you.

If this seems like a daunting task, that is because it is.  Honors is not about throwing you into the deep end of the pool and hoping you learn to swim, however.  We want to help you start to make those connections and learn about who you are.  There are so many ways to do this and you'll find the approach to be a little bit different in every Honors class you take.  What you can always expect, however, is writing.  Sometimes at home, sometimes in class, sometimes in a combination activity that spans time spent in the classroom and some time spent elsewhere.  Sometimes you will be asked to go find another place to write and think.  Changing your environment can make a big difference in how you view the class and its content.

To show you what I mean, the following is an activity I use in my Perspectives on Tolkien class.  As you can see, it takes quotes from a shared reading and asks students to think about it - first in connection with the class content and then in relation to their journey as a learner in a larger context.  It makes the suggestion that how readers interact with a text is connected to events in the world around them and the frame of mind with which they approach the text.

What ways have YOU reflected on your learning and your place in the world?

***

First, read these four excerpts from Fuller’s essay:

·         “This is meaning…that the reader translates into appropriate analogies for his own life, if he is so minded:  as in the fact that courage and integrity, seen in any context, are enhancements and encouragements of those qualities wherever we have need of them” (19).

·         “[W]e are confronted basically by a raw struggle between good and evil.  This contest offers a challenge and demands decisions of several kinds.  The power of evil is formidable and ruthless.  The initial decision, in which many of the characters participate, is whether or not to attempt to resist it at all” (19).

·         “The intricacy of Tolkien’s web of cause and effect, of the interactions of motives and wills, natural and supernatural, is extraordinary and – notwithstanding the frame of fantasy – profoundly realistic” (24).

·         “It gives joy, excitement, a lift of spirits, and it contains the kind of wisdom and insight which, if applied to the world we inhabit, might help our sore-beset race to hang on through the present shadows of modern Mordor into yet another age” (30).

Now consider this:

Each of you came to this course with a love of Tolkien’s world, regardless of how you came to encounter it.  Though you have a shared love of the work, it is also true that you are each reading for something different and exploring with your own perspectives, interests, and experiences.  Whether this is your first reading or your hundredth, you are discovering new things and focusing on different aspects right along with celebrating old favorites.  In short, there is something new to be found for each of you.

Finally, write:

Choose a prompt that speaks to your place in the world right now and the frame of mind with which you are reading The Lord of the Rings.   Write a response in which you tie the quote you chose directly to a specific character or event in The Fellowship of the Ring or the first half of The Two Towers.  Then, push it one step further:  find where you fit in.  Why did you pick this quote?  What drew you to that character or scene in Fellowship / Towers?  How does this quote inform your reading of this first half of the trilogy?   How might this quote reflect you, your mindset, and the world in which you find yourself as you read the texts (this time)? 

Article:

Fuller, Edmund.  "The Lord of the Hobbits:  J.R.R. Tolkien."  Understanding the Lord of the Rings:  The Best of Tolkien Criticism.  Ed. Rose A, Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, 2004.  16-30.  Print.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Vol. 1 No. 16

Coming Soon in Honors!

New ways to earn an Honors certificate or diploma

Because we know that some programs are really tight and some students come to Honors late, we are trying to come up with new ways for students to make their way to Honors recognition.  We also want to give Honors an even stronger identity and make it an even more vibrant part of the FLCC Community.  To this end, we have some amazing things coming soon – we just have to go through the proper channels before we can fully explain and explore.

New language

Some of the language associated with Honors does a great job of capturing the academic feel of Honors Studies, but at the same time, it often causes some confusion.   Credits, certificate, and diploma are all words used elsewhere in different ways and we think that can make Honors seem like something it isn’t.  It also runs the risk of unnecessarily complicating what Honors means.  There’s already that stigma that Honors is ONLY for ‘the smart kids’ and we are working hard to break that down, too.

New mission statement

As you may or may not know, there are some exciting new things afoot at FLCC – including the powerful core values.  This list of things that FLCC values sounds very familiar to Honors Students in a lot of ways, so we thought it might be a good time to take a new look at our mission statement.  Mission statements are supposed to capture the essence or spirit of whomever wrote it and really convey what it is that group is trying to accomplish.  That said, we are updating the mission statement of Honors to really reflect the new changes happening in Honors across the board.  It’s not a change in our core meaning, just a change in the wording of that meaning.

New learning outcomes

Although on the surface this might not be interesting to students, it really is the backbone of any class at FLCC.  Each syllabus located on the college website contains the learning outcomes for that course; these are the things that the department (and the college as a whole) have decided are the things you should learn in the process of taking the course.  Honors has their own set of learning outcomes, too – which should really show everyone what Honors is all about.  Just like the mission statement, we are in the process of revamping the learning outcomes to fall more in line with what the college is valuing as a whole, while still staying true to what Honors is all about.  In the end, we are a subsection of the college, so we think it’s important to show how all of it is linked.

New documents

We are also revamping everything from the forms that faculty use to propose an Honors course to the contracts that students fill out to ‘Honorize’ a course.  We are even building a core assignment that will frame the self-reflective essay for all Honors Seminars, Honors in the Disciplines, and Honors Contracts.  This kind of paper trail, so to speak, will allow us to show the rest of the college – and the world! – what Honors is all about at FLCC.  It will also allow us to create something that is lasting and easily passed on to the next generation of Honors staff and faculty.

New relationships

We are also building stronger relationships with the Registrar and with the Educational Planning and Career Services offices so as to maximize the awareness of understanding of what Honors actually IS so we can spread the word and help find like-minded students.  While we never plan to have Honors ‘admissions’ – it doesn’t hurt to cast our net wide so that the people for whom Honors is a good fit will hear about us earlier and get involved earlier.

New student involvement

A student club?  Perhaps?  Interested?  Let me know at Trista.merrill@flcc.edu

This is just a small part of what we are working on in Honors and we cannot WAIT to unroll things once we’ve gone through all the proper channels.  So, be watching for news and for exciting things to come.  And we hope to see you at the Honors Dinner sometime in mid-March.

Stay curious!

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often” – Winston Churchill

Contracts Matter!

Vol. 1. No. 15

A guest blogger for this issue as we begin a new semester.  The following little blurb was written by FLCC student, Noel Scouten, (Human Services, '18).  I asked her to write a little bit about her experience with Honors, especially in regards to the Honors Contract option.  Here's what she has to say...

One of the most important things I have learned here at FLCC is that self-reflection is necessary for advancement and any form of success. I learned this from Dr. Trista Merrill’s honors program and I am sure it is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I am currently working on an honors diploma with the help of Trista and I genuinely believe it is a key ingredient in the confidence I have academically and for my future. She has tirelessly worked with my schedule and the many times I have changed my major. The preponderance and brobdingnagian help being the option of honors contracts. This allows you to transform an ordinary class into an honors class simply by keeping a journal and completing a self-reflection essay based on your betterment in that class. I have completed one of my two contracts I may utilize for my honors diploma and am looking forward to utilizing my second and final contract.

Noel did her contract for Introduction to Literature because she couldn't fit the Honors section into her schedule. Often, however, students convert courses for which we don't have HAVE Honors sections.  I've seen successful contracts completed for such wildly diverse courses as General Chemistry, Workshop in Creative Non Fiction, Western Civilization, Addiction Counseling, Contemporary Biology, and Foundation Drawing II.

Do you want to know more?  Email:  honorsstudies@flcc.edu

Gender, Curiosity, and Spring 2017

Vol 1. No. 15

A guest blog this time around.  It may be a short blog - but it really packs a punch.  I hope you'll consider joining this important conversation with Dr. Vera Whisman:

You've heard statements like these, haven't you?  

You just need to man up!

         Hey, I'm just being friendly!  What are you, some kind of feminist?

    She had it coming, dressed like that.

                                     God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.

              Grab 'em by the pussy.  

     Hey, sweetheart, you'd be so much prettier if you'd smile!

Do you find these offensive?  Funny?  Puzzling?  Interesting?

Join SSC 215-01, Gender and Women's Studies (Honors), where we'll talk about all this and more.  It meets Monday and Wednesday, 3:30-4:50, Honors House.  

Image borrowed from "Genderqueer and Non-binary Identities"