使命宣言

火博体育大学 is a small, highly selective liberal arts college that fosters academic inquiry and creative thought and expression. 荣誉论坛 promotes these goals.  火博体育 founded the 荣誉论坛 in 1997 as an inclusive community of highly motivated students who have promise to become student leaders and globally informed citizens. 我们的目标 is to encourage students to take ownership of their academic and co-curricular education and to reflect meaningfully on their personal and professional goals. 荣誉论坛 invites all first- and second-year students with a 3.5 GPA才能申请参加论坛.
 
荣誉论坛 introduces extraordinary rigor into academic programs as students consider complex questions and examine sophisticated materials.  荣誉论坛学生发展 what we refer to as "'the life of the mind"' by working alongside their 教师 on research projects in labs, at field sites, in libraries, and in studios, often helping to shape the curriculum with which they engage.   的 论坛 promotes and supports student-organized co-curricular activities (e.g. lectures and panel discussions) and leadership and civic engagement opportunities where students guide fellow peers, 教师, and staff within the 火博体育社区 and beyond.  我们也鼓励所有的学生 at 火博体育大学 to take an Honors course, add-on, or independent study to become invested in a community of scholars and leaders.

荣誉论坛 & 它的历史

乔恩·R. 拉姆齐,     迈克尔Arnush,     菲利普Boshoff,     大卫维拉拉,     凯瑟琳J. 金

院长乔恩·R. 拉姆齐

In 1997, 火博体育大学 created the 荣誉论坛. 荣誉项目的想法 at 火博体育大学 was not new; the College considered it in the 1920s, 1970s, and 1980年代.  In the 1990s, Jon 拉姆齐, Dean of Studies, encouraged the 火博体育 教师 and administration to create a welcoming space for students with high academic aspirations, some of whom transferred from the College in their first year because they lacked a community of like-minded peers. In 1995, Dean 拉姆齐 presented an outline for an honors program to support 火博体育’s highest achieving students in their academic careers and co-curricular endeavors. 的 教师 and administration endorsed the plan 热情地. 荣誉论坛 inducted its first twenty-eight members in the spring of 1997 and offered its first courses in September 1998. 火博体育班 of 2001 included the first graduating class of fourteen 荣誉论坛 members.  的 乔恩·R. 拉姆齐 lecture has been delivered annually since 1999 to honor Dean 拉姆齐’s 愿景.  This lecture was renamed the 乔恩·R. 拉姆齐 Memorial Lecture in 2019 after 他的传球.

荣誉论坛 has 教师 and student leadership positions. 导演与 the Honors Council, the 教师/administration/student governing body of the Honors 论坛. 的 Student 执行utive Committee, referred to as 执行 Co, has a president, vice presidents, and class representatives.  Members of the 执行 Co sit on Honors Council.  的 Council also has an administrative assistant. Innumerable 教师 and administrators have served on the Council and made a difference in the program. 很多人的名字 appear in this history while the names of others who did much to create and sustain this program appear in materials housed in our website 档案; click here for more information. Linda Santagato, Carol Goody, and now 丽莎·布拉德肖 have served ably as administrative 历年助理. 的 论坛 is currently under the leadership of its fifth director. Below, each of the 论坛’s directors explains how the 荣誉论坛 grew under his or her leadership, mentioning highlights of the program during his or her tenure.

1996/7 - 2000:迈克尔·阿努什

学院院长 Phyllis Roth appointed me as the inaugural director of the newly-named 荣誉论坛 to create an academic and co-curricular program. 拉姆齐院长和我建立的 an Honors Council of 教师, students, and key administrators, which advised us on the construction of an Honors program unlike any other. 此外，我经常见面 with four representatives of the 荣誉论坛 student body (which would later evolve into the Student 执行utive Committee) to plan co-curricular programs and consider 课程补充. 此外，我经常见面 with four representatives of the 荣誉论坛 student body (which would later evolve into the Student 执行utive Committee) to plan co-curricular programs and consider 课程补充. In essence, the 荣誉论坛 we crafted consisted of a curriculum of both freestanding and add-on courses that raised the bar of 教师 expectations and student engagement. Critical to the program’s success was the offering of those courses to all 火博体育 students with the anticipation that a “rising tide lifts all boats” – that is, by providing courses with higher standards for all enrolled students, the 荣誉论坛 would encourage academic engagement and achievement across the board.

In the program’s first full year, Dean 拉姆齐, Associate 学院院长 Susan Bender, and I developed and implemented HF101, an introductory course for the approximately 30 incoming 荣誉论坛 students in order to build an honors community. 这个跨学科的 1-credit course, team-taught by the three of us, was the only HF course open exclusively 给高频学生. 的 size of the HF was meant to be modest with 30 first-year students inducted each fall with openings for an additional 30 applicants in the second semester.  Our aim was to have a membership of approximately 240 students or 10% of the student body when the program reached full strength after four years.

Associate Dean of Students Anita Steigerwald and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Tina Levith led the co-curricular program in its initial years.  一个亮点 program were the residential clusters in the student dormitories (Adams House and Hathorn House) where HF students could engage with each other beyond the four walls 在教室里. Co- and extra-curricular events (lectures, discussions, field trips, 等.) enhanced the lives of the HF students and built a community of like-minded students – precisely the goal of the 荣誉论坛. First-year retention increased nearly from the inception of the program, a testament to the 愿景 of the 火博体育 教师.

As a coda to the program, Associate Dean Levith and I devised the Academic Festival, an annual end-of-year celebration of academic achievement sponsored by the Honors 论坛, where students from the entire student body could present their work – again, in the spirit of openness and accessibility that the 荣誉论坛 fostered. 这个节日的 first year saw a modest level of participation – some 35 students, mostly seniors, gave presentations of theses, independent study projects, and collaborative work – and more than a decade later participation has grown to nearly 350 students from first-years 老年人. “涨潮”成功了.

2001 - 2007: 菲利普Boshoff

迈克尔Arnush’s leadership established a solid infrastructure of honors courses and committed 教师 members teaching them. Under his guidance, the 论坛 was already making a difference in boosting 火博体育’s first-year retention.  论坛成立了 Academic Festival and had sponsored or cosponsored a number of scholarly discussions, guest speakers, and field trips.

When I became the 论坛’s second Director in January 2001, one concern surfaced: the need to clarify our mission and distinctiveness for 荣誉论坛 members and the larger 火博体育社区. In one way or another, most of my tenure as Director until June 1, 2007 involved issues related to who we were and what we wanted to become.  我遇到了 with the Honors Council and the newly formed Student 执行utive Committee, which was comprised of able student leaders (most notably Erin Cassidy [`07], Matthew Cronin [`06], Leah Elliott [‘06], Adam Epstein [`08], Sebastian Fica [`07], Allison Feigen [`07], Lauren Masterson [`05], Justin Rogers-Cooper [`03]), to set up a short and long-term agenda to strengthen our mission as a 论坛. 执行委员会从 students’ desire to have a student-only parallel to the Honors Council to which it 报告.

We turned first to our namesake:  a 论坛. We were constituted as a group dedicated to discussion, exchange of ideas, and the life of the mind. 因此，有四个程序 we developed between 2002-2006 had dialogue and debate as centerpiece: Shades of Gray, which became a yearly examination of controversial topics (e.g. 《火博体育》; Cultural and Student 火博体育的多样性; 火博体育 Grading and Grade Inflation; American Military Involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan); “Fridays at 4:00”, informal discussions in the Honors Lounge with Faculty on a provocative topic (e.g. “选举 College, Preparing the 火博体育 Orchestra for Performance, Whither the Electric Car,  Misunderstandings of Islam); the  火博体育大学 Debate Society, established in 2006, which competed in Parliamentary Debate tournaments with teams from schools such as Bates, Colby, Cornell,  Tufts, and Wesleyan.  乔恩·R. 拉姆齐荣誉论坛讲座 (aka the “拉姆齐 Lecture”, named for the retired Dean of Studies, who was instrumental in the 荣誉论坛’s development) replaced the 荣誉论坛 lecture and elevated our annual event to inclusion within the College’s cycle of annual named lectures.

Faculty developed four new course experiences that emphasized the activities of a “论坛”参与对话. HF 203: Citizen Studentship, developed and mentored by 教授. Roy Rotheim, Department of Economics, became 火博体育’s first student-developed 管理班级. Jane Austen in Bath, first offered January 2005 by 教授. 凯瑟琳 金, was the first College travel seminar to receive honors credit. 大三大 Books Seminar and Practicum, also taught and administered by 教授. 凯瑟琳•金 was a two-course sequence providing 荣誉论坛 members with the opportunity to become certified as 大三大 Books instructors (Fall term) and to teach in local middle 学校(春季学期).

After considerable deliberation and debate—in keeping with the spirit of our members being responsible citizens of the 论坛, 火博体育大学, and the 萨拉托加温泉市 community—we instituted a Citizenship Requirement for all 荣誉论坛 members.  画 upon the traditions of co-sponsorship of on-campus as well as off-campus speakers and events, 荣誉论坛 hosted an annual middle and high school literary and art awards ceremony, sponsored trips to the NYC opera, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, Cooperstown, NY Museums, and a Hudson River boat tour. 我们投入了相当多的 time and energy each spring to planning and conducting the annual Academic Festival.

2007 - 2011:大卫·维拉

I was 荣誉论坛 Director from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2011.  一些课程 changes that I oversaw during that period included the further evolution of HF101 to give a greater emphasis to introducing incoming 荣誉论坛 students to 火博体育 教师. HF was not as successful in forming community as it had been under Michael Arnush’s tenure in part because the new FYE program and its Scribner Seminar courses (which led to the dissolution of Honors housing) took over that role.  而且，到2007年， entering classes of the 荣誉论坛 had become quite large (over sixty students entering 在秋天). Beginning Fall 2009, the Honors Council changed the format of the course to weekly readings and discussions led by a different 教师 member each week to 改进它.

Beginning in 2009, the Council made changes to the honors credit for study abroad program that my predecessor, Phil Boshoff, initiated.  经过长期谈判后 with the OCSE and the 注册商’s Office, we streamlined the procedure for obtaining honors credit for study abroad and made all experiences a uniform 3 credits.  我们也 extended the list of study abroad programs pre-approved for honors credit. 最后, I presided over the creation of new Honors courses from the departments of Mathematics, Physics, Studio Art, and Music, all areas that had been previously underrepresented in the 荣誉论坛 curriculum, as well as a number of add-ons to courses in a range 的部门.

Under my directorship, the 荣誉论坛 merged with the Periclean Society. In 2008, the Periclean Honor Society was de-chartered as an SGA organization.  前面的 year, the Office of Academic Advising had ceased to provide support to the society, so the 荣誉论坛 provided Periclean with a new home. 理事会还批准 an increase in the minimum GPA required for membership in the 荣誉论坛 from 3.4 to 3.5. During the spring of 2011, we made changes in the membership of the Periclean Scholar Award Committee as well as in the Honors Council itself.

When I assumed the directorship, one of the ways that I thought the 荣誉论坛 might grow and evolve would be to sponsor and co-sponsor academic events with students and 教师 from institutions other than 火博体育.  For example, during the spring of 2011, the 荣誉论坛 helped co-sponsor the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, which involved over 300 students and 教师 from dozens of schools in 东北.  Also in 2008, the 荣誉论坛, together with the FYE program, sponsored an interdisciplinary conference on “Science and Society,” which involved 火博体育 和工会. I would love to see further developments along these lines in the future, including perhaps events that are less formal than conferences.

In spring of 2010, the 荣誉论坛 conducted our first self-study and in the fall we underwent an external review.   Some of the impending changes that my successor, 凯瑟琳•金 is implementing came out of those studies and the Council’s discussions of the report from the review team.

2011 - 2016: 凯瑟琳J. 金

I I had the privilege to serve on the Honors Council twice, under the able leadership of Phil Boshoff and 大卫维拉拉, before becoming the director on June 1, 2011. 我是 grateful to the previous three directors who served before me—迈克尔Arnush, Phil Boshoff, and 大卫维拉拉—and proud to be the first woman director of the 荣誉论坛.

荣誉论坛 has made significant strides since we had an external review in 2010 我参与了. 的 2015-16 academic year is the first that all students in 荣誉论坛 have chosen to be members and were accepted based on their grades at 火博体育 and potential for College leadership. 的 separation from 招生, which I oversaw, has also led to a dramatic drop in our disqualification rate, which I documented for our 2015 assessment.  Other changes I enacted include creating a mission statement, streamlining Academic Festival to become a celebration of excellence, establishing guidelines for Honors worthy writing, increasing diversity among our program members, making the 荣誉论坛 lounge a space to promote community engagement, renaming the 论坛 to honor the now defunct Periclean Society, incorporating the Periclean Scholar Awards into the umbrella of Periclean 荣誉论坛, initiating the Career Services’ “Living the Liberal Arts” for 荣誉论坛 (we held two programs during my tenure as director), bringing back a popular housing option for HF students in Wiecking Hall (beginning in 2012), revamping the application process, and increasing participation among HF members.

To describe a few of these accomplishments in more detail, beginning in 2013, Honors 论坛 now invites programs and departments to submit vetted panels for our consideration, making AF more in line with an academic conference. Academic Festival now has fewer presenters and fewer concurrent sessions, but more attendees at each session and a consistently high academic caliber.  We have expanded our social media and both created and revamped our Facebook page. 的 redesigned website is up to date, user friendly, and, we hope, inviting to prospective and current students. 新增的网站 include a rotating flash of pictures of HF events (featuring students and 教师), a calendar of events, and redesigned pages with easy links to the Service Requirement, Curriculum, Housing, and the 伯里克利学者奖, 等. 我和教职工一起工作过 to encourage them to make their courses Honors classes, and we have many new courses in place, some from previously under represented departments and programs.  我们的课程 meet the Cultural Diversity requirement or provide opportunities for leadership, an 这是论坛的重要目标.

Our redesigned password-protected 荣誉论坛 lounge in 321 Ladd Hall now offers students a comfortable place for individual study and group meetings.  休息室 has couches and plush chairs, a library, tables, lamps, and a whiteboard. 富兰克林 论坛, a discussion group that HF co-sponsors, and the Honors Council regularly meet in the HF Lounge, and we also hold many events there. 社区建设与学生 leadership remain important priorities. 的 Council instituted a participation requirement in 2015; simply by taking an HF class, completing a Service Requirement, or attending an HF event each semester, students meet that requirement for the semester. 我们的目标 is to have active HF members, and this policy, to which students have responded positively, seems to be a good way for students to take advantage of what the 论坛 has to offer. 的 kick-off picnic, holiday study break, and field trips to New York and Proctors 我们取得了巨大的成功.  的 formal dinner at the Tang, which the students requested in 2016，是一个伟大的新传统.  Moving the HF student-selected 拉姆齐 Lecture and Induction to the upper-floor dining hall increased our attendance and made for intellectually exciting discussions in a relaxing venue.

的 application process is another area that we improved under my tenure as director. 的 student executive committee  (called 执行. Co) asked that we include a personal interview as part of the admissions process, which was well received.  执行. 公司指定的 interviewers called 荣誉论坛 Ambassadors, a title that recognizes the leadership of these HF students and the important contribution each is making to the 论坛.  的 interview allowed each applicant to be connected with an HF mentor from the beginning 他或她的HF旅行.

As I step down from my leadership position, I aim to remain connected to the Honors 论坛.  我是 excited to see the directions that our incoming HF director, 兴泰勒, will take to help the 荣誉论坛 continue to prosper and grow. 

2016年至今:兴泰勒