Words from the Honors Coordinator

by Regina Fletcher

In the spirit of collaboration and with the desire to understand honors practices at all UC campuses, University representatives will gather in Monterey on April 30 for the first annual UC Systemwide Honors Consortium. With a theme of Individual Innovations—Shared Successes, attendees will benefit from sharing best practices, strengthening connections, reviewing national trends in honors education, and returning to our campuses with fresh ideas.

Deans, directors, coordinators, and advisors will hear from Dr. Lester Monts, a former dean of undergraduate studies and director of the honors program at UCSB and currently the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan. His keynote address, Honors, Democracy, and the iGeneration, will focus on the challenges new technologies bring to honors programs. In a preview of his speech, Dr. Monts asks how (or whether) honors programs will incorporate icons of the iGeneration (MySpace, Facebook, imageboards, text messaging, and YouTube) into their goal of nurturing and promoting leaders for a global society.

Our reflections on honors programs happens at the same time that students at all stages of education are in the midst of assessment and planning. High school seniors are making decisions about what university to attend. College seniors are facing the inevitable and often-dreaded question, "So, what are you going to do after graduation?" And students in between these two groups are preparing for summer study and research programs, travel abroad, internships, jobs, graduate and professional school prep courses, and, of course, relaxing vacations. If you are down to the wire choosing options for the summer or for next year and want to talk over your plans with an advisor, know that the advising staff in Letters and Science, as well as staff and faculty across campus, are here to work with you to evaluate your options (and challenges). Feel free to contact me at rfletcher@LTSC.ucsb.edu, or the student honors coordinators, Jaimie Thomas (shcgold@LTSC.ucsb.edu) and Dustin May (shcblue@LTSC.ucsb.edu) to make appointments.

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