CFP edited volume: With Honors?: Challenges and Promises in the Future of Honors Education
Call for Papers Date: 2014-03-31
Editors: Robert W. Glover, Ph.D. (CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Political Science, University of Maine) Katherine M. O’Flaherty, Ph.D., C.A.S. (Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College, Arizona State University).
The landscape of American higher education has changed in notable ways in recent decades. One essential and defining feature of contemporary higher education is the growth of honors education. Many colleges and universities now feature an honors program or a fully institutionalized honors college. The honors experience boasts small classes, individualized interaction with faculty, and a range of enriched educational opportunities not available to the student population at large. There are at least 600 such programs in the United States according to one recent report with 60% of those established since 1994. Yet amidst all this growth and change, what honors education ought to be in terms of content and structure remains a hotly debated topic. It is in this spirit, that this edited volume asks a provocative question: What should the Honors College of the future look like? This question forces us to engage with difficult issues in a variety of ways. Furthermore, it allows those involved in shaping honors education (faculty, administrators and students) a venue in which to think beyond the day-to-day dictates of their existing institutions and to consider ways in which institutions may grow or evolve in the future.
Such a forward-looking perspective invites consideration of a number of important questions which structure and inform the volume: How can Honors evolve in a way that it provides meaningful intellectual growth for students from a wide range of academic majors and specializations? What choices should drive the construction of curriculum in Honors? How do institutions structure Honors curricula in a coherent and meaningful way? What concrete and tangible skills should Honors education provide for students and how do we ensure that we are imparting them to our students? In an institutional environment increasingly characterized by assessment and demonstrable outcomes, how does Honors demonstrate its value to those making decisions about funding priorities? What models for funding outside of the existing structure can support Honors education in the future? What is the role of technology in the Honors classroom experience of the future? How does institutional type impact the Honors experience? What can different institutions learn from one another? What does/should the faculty of an Honors College look like? What should be the model for recruitment, advancement, promotion, and retention of faculty? What challenges and opportunities exist for Honors administrators? What future priorities should drive decision-making and how can those involved in the administration of Honors ensure the authenticity and value of the Honors experience for all involved? Any other directly or indirectly related questions that thoughtfully take up questions related to the future of honors education.
With these gaps and opportunities for scholarship in mind the editors of this volume invite proposals/abstracts. We are particularly interested in contributions (final chapters will be 5,000-7,000 words) that examine curricular innovation, provide examples of innovative pedagogical approaches to teaching, address the use of technology in enhancing learning, highlight innovative projects and other related ideas. We welcome submissions from faculty, administrators, staff, students and other stakeholders at public and private institutions in the U.S. and internationally. We support a methodologically pluralistic approach to scholarship and welcome innovative cross-disciplinary pieces.
Prospective contributors are invited to submit: 1) Initial proposal/abstract (500-750 words) 2) Brief curriculum vitae/resume (1 page)
Send to: katherine.oflaherty@asu.edu Due: March 31, 2014 Please also direct inquiries to: Katherine M. O’Flaherty (katherine.oflaherty@asu.edu) Notifications will follow and the invited essays (5,000-7,000 words) are to be tentatively submitted in early Fall 2014. The language of the proposed publication is English.
