University Honors Committee 12/18/08

The University Honors Committee met on Thursday, December 18. Topics discussed include the Undergraduate Ethics Symposium, Honors at commencement, the Churchill Scholarship, and an upcoming Honors assessment project.

The Undergraduate Ethics Symposium, sponsored by the Prindle Institute of DePauw University in Indiana, is an opportunity for undergraduates to present works addressing ethical issues. Submissions must be sent in by February 1, and authors of selected works will be invited to a three-day symposium in April. For more information, see: http://prindleinstitute.depauw.edu/programs/ethics_symposium08.asp
Also, if anyone has suggestions about particular student groups that might be interested, let me know and I will make sure to send them information. Thanks!

In the past, honors students have been recognized at commencement by wearing white stoles with cardinal bars. Some colleges, including Letters & Science, offer an additional reception for honors students graduating from their respective programs. It was suggested that perhaps this is not enough, and that more should be done to recognize the achievements of honors students. The discussion resulted in an informal proposal to begin work on a joint reception for students graduating from every honors program on campus. This would hopefully give honors students and their parents more adequate recognition, and (more importantly in my opinion!) would cultivate goodwill among a group of prospective donors. Most agreed that this is an idea worth pursuing. What do you all think? Any suggestions or objections?

The Churchill Scholarship, sponsored by the Winston Churchill Foundation, funds one year of post-baccalaureate research at Cambridge University for science, mathematics, or engineering students. In past years, UW-Madison has failed to nominate any students for the scholarship, and the Foundation is therefore considering a revocation of our invitation to make nominations. Part of the problem is that potential nominees often already have plans to attend graduate school, and consider a one-year research project to be a "break" that they cannot afford to take. Although circumstances certainly vary, this is largely a misconception: graduate schools generally welcome students who have some formal post-undergraduate research experience. To increase awareness and encourage more students to consider applying, a Foundation representative will be visiting UW-Madison in early March. If anyone has suggestions about undergraduate research groups that would be interested in meeting with him, please contact me. I personally think this is a great opportunity for UW-Madison students, and it would be a shame if we cannot get it together to make some nominations. For more information about the Churchill Scholarship, see: http://www.winstonchurchillfoundation.org/Scholarships.html

The Honors Committee has received funding for an assessment project that will attempt to determine how the experiences of honors students measure up to their expectations. Both graduates and current students will be included in several web-based surveys, the first of which will be sent out soon.