The University Honors Committee met on Thursday, February 19th. Several issues were discussed:
Applications for the undergraduate research symposium are due TODAY. Participants will present their research at the Memorial Union on Thursday, April 16th. An additional poster session will be held at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 22nd, where several students will be selected to represent the University at a system-wide event.
The Churchill Scholarship funds one year of post-baccalaureate research in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics at the University of Cambridge. A UW-Madison student has not received the award since the 1980s, due in part to the fact that most eligible students already have plans to attend graduate school and regard a year-long research hiatus as a break they cannot afford to take. These recruitment problems have caused the Churchill Foundation to consider revoking UW-Madison's invitation to nominate students for the award. A representative from the foundation is visiting campus on Thursday, March 5th to gauge the situation and will hopefully jump-start some interest in the program. An information session will be held for students, and the foundation representative will visit various campus laboratories that host undergraduate researchers. The ultimate goal is to find new ways to enhance our recruitment efforts and ensure that this awesome opportunity is not lost to students.
About 500 students have responded to the first of three online surveys addressing the Honors experience at UW-Madison (about a 25% response rate, which is fairly high considering that no incentive was offered for completing the survey). This is part of an Honors Program assessment that seeks to determine how the Honors experience aligns with student expectations. Subsequent surveys will be targeted towards incoming students and alumni.
A proposal for a campus-wide Honors commencement reception was drafted. Such a reception would offer greater recognition for the achievements of Honors graduates and would provide an opportunity to create good will among a population of prospective donors to the University. The next steps will be to find funding sources and to coordinate a workable time for all of the programs involved. We hope to organize the first Honors reception for fall commencement in December.
The Pathways Scholars Program is an 8-week intensive summer research program for upper-level undergraduates. Applications are due by Friday, March 13th. For more information, contact Amy Sloane at alsloane@wisc.edu or visit the program website: http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/psp/
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