Honors Program implements new curriculum, increases accessibility for students
The Portland State Honors Program was founded in 1969. Now, 42 years later, it’s getting a facelift.
The Honors Program was created for students who are high achievers and are interested in pursuing graduate or professional school for research in their field of study.
In the old program, students weren’t held to university graduation requirements and were instead able to develop their own plan for a major. Working closely with faculty advisors all the while, this culminated in a thesis in the final year.
The intimate atmosphere of small classrooms and one-on-one time with a professor is a big draw for students interested in any honors program, and this is no exception at PSU. But after 42 years of confusion from credits not aligning with the university’s graduation requirements and courses rooted in historical periods, many believed it was time to update program.
The updates included in a report for the Faculty Senate University Curriculum Committee have yet to be approved, but courses have already begun to shift in thier goals.
“The courses themselves retain their focus on undergraduate research, which has always been the emphasis in the classes,” said Ann Marie Fallon, the new director of the Honors Program and associate professor of University Honors. “But now their focus is really on the urban experience and embracing Portland State’s mission to let knowledge represent the city.”
For the first year, students will continue to build writing and critical reasoning skills in the humanities and social sciences, but through the lens of urbanization and globalization.
In the second year, students will engage in urban discourse, studying different applications of research in a city setting.
Third year students will participate in local internships and seminars. Students in their final year, while still partnering with faculty to devise a thesis, will also add a presentation component to instill a public dimension to their work.
Honors students will also need to fulfill university graduation requirements, which will enable them to track their progress more easily. “The basic structure of the program isn’t changing; it is just being formalized and clarified so that all students can easily and clearly chart a path towards graduation,” said Melody Rose, vice provost for academic programs and instruction. “For current students, the transition should feel seamless.”
For many students this transition has been hardly noticeable. Current students who are not yet working on their theses are developing the skills necessary for their final project, simply with a fresher perspective.
A student advisory board has been instituted to inform the department of any student needs or problems. However, interest in the program seems to be growing. Whereas only freshmen could join last year, the decision was made recently to allow students in regardless of their year in school. Any student wanting to pursue research in graduate school may enter the program now, making it extremely accessible.
All in all, the transition has been executed in especial detail and has received positive feedback from students and faculty alike.
While appreciative of the program, one student thinks that adding more members threatens the intimate nature of the honors experience. “On the one hand, Dr. Fallon has handled the changes in the senior thesis project beautifully,” said Joey van der Naald, a senior psychology major with a minor in applied linguistics. “On the other hand, I fear that certain changes in the requirements for entry into the Honors Program may prove detrimental for the level of rigor that defines the program.”
Van der Naald says he’s worried about what will happen to the curriculum if students are to enter into the program midway through without the training honors students usually receive. He wonders if some of the rigor, which he says makes the program valuable for Portland State, might be affected by the changes.
But with 255 students already in the program, Fallon isn’t going to go wild with this new entry option. Like every other department, the Honors Program has to moderate its intake of students depending on the amount of resources available. But its step into the 21st century is cause for excitement.
“I think that one of the critiques of honors programs is that they can be seen as elitist or privileged,” Fallon said, “and I think it’s really important, particularly at an institution like Portland State, to understand that an honors program is providing open access to excellent education and opportunities to all of our students who are interested in them or engaged in undergraduate research.”
The changes, when fully approved, will be gradual. The program will not be inundated with a flood of poorly trained sophomores and juniors with delusions of grandeur. For the most part, these changes are going to be for the best. The Honors Program is going to benefit from this.
The change is very overdue. And this is certainly a step forward for the university itself.
