During a First Thursday breakfast meeting with all the professional staff and administrators from multiple units now clustered together under the Senior Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Kentucky, Interim Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education gave a status update of the Division - 4 October 2012.

1. Dr. Ben Withers
Interim Associate Provost for
Undergraduate Education &
Director of the Honors Program
FirstThursdays
BreakfastMeeting
4October2012

2. Undergraduate Education
Mission Statement
The mission of the Division of Undergraduate
Education is to promote academic excellence
through collaboration with colleges and support
units across the University. The mission is
realized through both administrative
supervision and support of premier
undergraduate programs and academic support
units for students and faculty, as well as
administrative leadership for curricular reform.
Central to this mission is campus leadership on
issues pertinent to student retention, curriculum
reform, and innovation in teaching and learning.

5. My Priorities
Get to Know Division
Respond to External Review
Pick-up Loose Threads
– Dual-Credit Degree Programs
– Central Support for Transfer Students
– Foster Continued Success of UK Core
Initiatives for Retention and Success
– “The Study North” at the King Library
– Strengthen Voice for central programming and
college collaboration

6. Honors Program

7. Majors in 11 UK Colleges Agriculture
Arts & Sciences
Business & Econ
Communications
Design
Education
Engineering
Fine Arts
Health Sciences
Nursing
Social Work
UG Studies

8. College 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total %
Agriculture
16 22 9 17 20 18 102 6.67%
Arts & Sciences
131 115 102 96 82 122 648 42.38%
Business & Econ
21 17 13 17 13 14 95 6.21%
Communications 7 4 8 8 7 8 42 2.75%
Design 6 7 2 4 1 6 26 1.70%
Education
2 4 4 3 4 6 23 1.50%
Engineering
43 37 35 48 43 80 286 18.71%
Fine Arts
11 5 3 3 4 4 30 1.96%
Health Sciences 4 8 2 1 0 6 21 1.37%
Nursing 3 6 2 5 2 6 24 1.57%
Social Work
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.07%
UG Studies
63 41 29 36 21 41 231 15.11%
Totals 307 266 209 238 197 312 1529 100.00%

9. Key Dates in Recent Changes
to University Honors
2004: “Honors Program – Reform and
Expansion Call for Proposals”
Spring 2010: Proposal for Interdisciplinary
Honors Program (rejected)
Fall 2010: “Report of the ad hoc Honors
Evaluation Committee,” Honors Program
Evaluation Committee, November 9, 2010
March 8, 2012; Senate approves new
curriculum

10. Why Neoteric?
UK has redoubled
its emphasis on
undergraduate
education
100 more Students
in Freshman
Honors Cohort
Target of 10% of
UG Population

11. Our Neoteric Curriculum
21 Credit Hours of Requirements
Spread Over Four years
– 15 Credit Hours of Traditional Coursework
Classes can be in Honors (HON) or in an
academic department (H-sections, H-options)
– 6 Credit Hours of Honors Experiences
Education Abroad
Service Learning
Undergraduate Research

12. UK Honors Curriculum
Sample Four Year Plan
First Year
6-9 Credit
Hours
3-6 Hours
UK Core
3 Hours
Comp&Com.
Second Year
3-6 Credit
Hours
One Honors
Course
One Honors
Experience
Third Year
3-6 Credit
Hours
One Honors
Course
One Honors
Experience
Fourth Year
3 Credit
Hours
HON 398
Senior
Capstone
Honors Support and Mentoring

13. Honors Courses
HON courses
– Seminars, limited to 20 students
– Interdisciplinary, geared toward UK Core
– 300 level Proseminar
H-Sections
– Carry the prefix of the department or school
– Small class format preferred: seminars or breakout
sections
– Taught by full-time faculty
– Open to all honors students; instructor may choose to
allow other students to enroll
H-Options

14. Freshmen 2012:
By the Numbers
310 Students
142 4.0 GPA in HS
82 Valedictorians
1171 AP Classes
144 GSP, GSA
32 ACT Median
50 National Merit
Finalists

15. Students from 21 States
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
AL AR FL GA ID IL IN MD MI MO MS NY OH OR PA TN TX VA WI WV

16. Student Success through
Engagement and Support
Access to personalized Honors advising
and staff support
Enrollment in Honors Courses
Priority registration in other courses
Access to UK’s most dedicated faculty
Membership in Honors Community
– Honors Program Student Council
– Living-learning community
– New Honors Dorm

17. What Honors Does For
Students….
Complements: “Thread” Honors classes with
major requirements and UK Core
Deepens: Through upper-level courses or
research in a major
Broadens: Multi-disciplinary HON
Seminars, Classes with the best students
from across campus
Enriches: Through specially-designed
assignments, education abroad, service
learning

18. What Honors can do for
Departments/Colleges
Offers faculty a way to teach Honors
students in departmental courses (H-
Sections; H-Options)
Opportunity to recruit Honors students to
your majors and minors
Encourages advanced undergraduate
research
We should examine the potential to link
distinction in majors to Honors

19. Neoteric Policies and
Procedures
Curriculum is new; policies still being formed
and written
Honors staff will work to ascertain demand for
different types of courses
Honors staff will work with colleges and
departments to identify H-Section courses
Students should be able to graduate with
multiple honors: Honors Program and in
major
Impact of new VBB process still to be
determined

20. What can we do with the
Honors Curriculum
Leave the choice of courses entirely
flexible (Michigan State)
Provide coherence and community
through
– certificates (Texas A&M)
– “commendations” (U. Iowa)
– clustered courses tied to living-learning
programs (Maryland College Park)

21. Constellations:
Fixed & Flexible
Ursa Major
The Plough
The Wain
Septarshi (7 Sages)
Otava (Salmon Wier)
3 Hunters Pursuing the Great
Bear

22. Coherence and Community
through “Constellations”
A “constellation” is a groups of 3-5 courses
based on a multi-disciplinary theme
Themes emerge from student interests
and faculty research/teaching
Themes linked to campus dorms, living-
learning communities

23. Some Suggestions for Course
Constellations
Honors Humanities/Great Books
Sustainability
Entrepreneurship (iNET)
Copy Culture: Replication
Society, Economics, and Disease

24. Chellgren SLC Coordinators
Identify a general theme around which to
organize a cluster;
Recruit a small team of faculty colleagues to
serve as members of the SLC;
Schedule and lead planning sessions of the
SLC;
Submit a brief outline by Dec 10 that
summarizes the proposed cluster.
Each coordinator will receive a $ 1000
research/travel stipend for their leadership
during the fall 2012 semester.

25. Honors Program