Two honors students interact with Joanne Passet, assistant professor of history at IU East, in the class titled 19th Century Women Writers: A Statistical, Historical, and Literary Exploration, the first course offered in the Richmond campus’ newly established Honors Program.

The Honors Program was conceived in 2003 under the supervision of a 12-person committee comprised of faculty and of students majoring in each of the arts and sciences divisions at IU East: Behavioral and Social Sciences; Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and Humanities and Fine Arts. The program was implemented in the fall of 2004.

The mission of the Honors Program is to provide an intellectually enriched curriculum for highly motivated students through coursework, independent research, creative work and extra-curricular activities. Four R’s guide the program: rigor, responsibility, research and recognition.

Alisa Clapp-Itnyre, assistant professor of English, organized the committee after she applied for and received a Summer Faculty Fellowship. The committee researched other programs at institutions in Indiana and met throughout the summer to develop a program fitting IU East student needs. Clapp-Itnyre said it was through those summer meetings that the committee realized having specific honors classes geared for a certain student population would not be beneficial. Nearly half of IU East’s student population is non-traditional; many attend classes around work and family schedules. Therefore, the committee chose instead to use the “H-Option.”

Under the H-Option, honors students attend existing courses but at the initiation of the instructor or request of the student, an “extra-learning” project is incorporated to meet the program requirements. The committee approves it, and the option is available to every student in the class. No student is penalized if a learning project is not completed.

All qualified freshmen as well as current students are encouraged to apply for the Honors Program. Requirements include having an overall GPA of 3.5 in high school or the same score for college students.

Fifteen students are currently in the program.

One is sophomore secondary education major Tommy Renfro. He said being involved in the Honors Program gives him a sense of accomplishment and the hard work he is doing is going to pay off. The women’s literature course, taught by three instructors, is also opening his mind to learning one topic in various formats.

“The three-teacher format has been helpful by incorporating three views into the one topic,” Renfro said. “The Honors Program is helping me grasp a concept in a different way than most classes,” Renfro said.

Olivia Miller, a junior English major, said she wanted to be involved in the Honors Program to push herself and her education further.

“The Honors Program opens up more opportunities for students who are more ambitious and want to succeed,” Miller said. “I want to go as far as I can as a student. I think this program will enrich my life.”

In completing the Honors Program, students will complete a three-credit introductory honors course that is team-taught and includes an introduction to research, service learning and portfolio development; 15 credit hours of H-option courses; a senior project which includes an honors thesis, research project and/or a presentation, creative project and/or presentation, great-books project or a service learning project relevant to the senior’s major; two interviews with representatives of the honors committee; submission of a final portfolio; and admitted students must maintain a 3.3 GPA in all coursework.

The Honors Program offers additional opportunities; students may join the Honors Club, a mentoring program, attend the senior banquet, which recognizes graduating honors students, and scholarships and perks such as longer library check-outs and a student lounge.

In recognition of a student’s completion of the Honors Program, the university will recognize his/her success during graduation ceremonies and note it on final transcripts.