Purpose/Benefits

Purpose/Benefits

PURPOSE

Overall, the Honors College takes the view that it should be a planned set of arrangements, opportunities, and exposures to serve the needs of talented, gifted, and committed students. Its purposes also include identifying and recruiting students of superior academic ability, potential, performance, interest and commitment to accept the designed academic challenges, so much so that the Honors College will ultimately serve as a standard of excellence and a paradigm of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff students.
 
Objectives
 
  • To stimulate creativity, intellectual curiosity, and critical evaluation of ideas and behavior in courses, seminars, and forums;
  • To enhance the skills of research, writing, and speaking;
  • To develop the capacity of independent learning;
  • To provide academic opportunities of such caliber that students are challenged to perform at the highest level at which they are capable and through which they may become independent learners;
  • To generally symbolize the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s commitment to excellence by augmenting the public image of the university as a place where superior scholarship is honored and encouraged;
  • To give faculty members the intellectual reward that derives from working with gifted students;
  • To attract to the campus scholars and speakers who possibly would not otherwise be here;
  • To provide opportunities for students to associate with students of similar motivations and interests, and to work closely with professors;
  • To assist in attracting students of outstanding academic ability; such students are an asset for their participation in the Honors College and for their contributions in leadership roles; and
  • To assist in attracting and retaining faculty members who are committed to quality education, those whom the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff would be least likely to lose.
BENEFITS TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
The Honors College expects a long-term duration and projects long range benefits to the University through (1) the recruitment of a higher caliber of students, (2) the interaction of these students with the general population resulting in raising the general level of academic excellence, and (3) the involvement of these students with others nationwide through the attendance at, and participation in, regional and national honors meetings and other professional meetings in their disciplines.
 
HONORS COLLEGE ADVANTAGES
 
Faculty
The most important advantage of enrollment in honors is the opportunity to participate in demanding, high-quality courses taught by some of the university’s best professors. In addition, the Honors College provides a stimulating learning environment outside formal course offerings.
 
Departmental Honors Sections
Departments within the university will offer courses taught by their strongest faculty and intended especially for honor students. Departmental honors sections of general education courses will be smaller than regular courses and will provide greater occasion for classroom discussion and additional reading and writing under the supervision of the professor. The department will also offer some courses in the major that may be structured specifically for the honors students.
 
Honors Housing, The Honors Study Lounge, Special Activities
Students in the Honors College will benefit most directly from their association with fellow honors students and with honors faculty. To encourage interaction among students outside of the classroom, special on-campus housing may be made available. Honors students also have a modern suite, including study lounge, complete with computers and other equipment and resources, which provide them with a quiet study hall and a room for informal meetings and discussions. The Honors Students Association will publish a regular newsletter, sponsor social and educational events, provide student advisement, and serve as an important advisory body to the honors Dean and Advisory Council and much, much more.
 
 
“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.”           ---Twain
 

 

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