A vital part of the Title III program review component is Honors programming to encourage a rigorous and academically challenging learning environment at MHC.  The Director of Program Review will work with faculty to develop and implement honors programs for each degree program and discipline. 

• Inform faculty of Honors options appropriate for each discipline
• Help faculty design specific courses/tracks for Honors programs
• Market Honors options to current and prospective students
• Improve the retention & recruitment of academically talented students

• 2011—honors program enrollment will have increased to a minimum of 100 students
• 2011—10% of incoming freshmen qualify for and select honors courses
• Fall 2011—the average SAT scores of entering freshmen will be at or above the national mean of 1028
• Fall 2011—all honors program students complete a minimum of one research project

A group of MHC faculty traveled to San Antonio, Texas in October 2008 to attend the National Collegiate Honors Council's (NCHC) annual meeting. When the group returned they developed a proposal for an honors program at MHC. To read their proposal click here.

The group also developed mini-course proposals and honors contract forms. Click here to see these supporting documents.

• 2006. The MHC Strategic Plan identifies the development of honors programming as point of emphasis

• 2006. The Title III grant is secured with the development of honors programming as a project objective

• Fall 2007. Jason Pierce and Marshall Angle attend the ACA Summit, honors sessions

• Spring 2008. A cross-divisional team of MHC faculty (Virginia Bower, Lucia Carter, Jason Pierce, Larry Stern, Jim Utterback, and Marshall Angle) attends the Tusculum Honors Conference

• August 2008. Title III hosts a Faculty Luncheon to inform faculty that the exploration of honors programming will be a major emphasis for the 2008-2009 academic year.

• September 2008. The Tusculum group facilitates a faculty forum to solicit faculty input and to gauge faculty support for proceeding with the development of honors programming.

• Fall 2008. Jason Pierce and Kathryn Eason attend the ACA Summit, honors sessions

• October 2008. A cross-divisional team of MHC faculty (Virginia Bower, Lucia Carter, Rick Cary. Kathryn Eason, Jason Pierce, Barry Sharpe, Alan Smith, and Kim Stewart) attends the annual conference of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) in San Antonio, Texas. At this conference and in subsequent meetings, the San Antonio group develops a proposal for honors programming at MHC.

• January 2009. The San Antonio group presents the proposal to Nina Pollard, VPASA

• February 2009. The San Antonio group distributes the proposal at the February faculty meeting.

• Spring ’09. Divisions review the San Antonio proposal in small groups.

• Spring ’09. Plans and Policies, AASFA, and Curriculum approve the San Antonio proposal

Next Steps…

• Fall 2009. Confirm the faculty will for proceeding with the development of honors programming. Assuming that the faculty votes in the positive for honors, then the following steps will be taken:

• Fall 2009. Recruit a cohort from MHC Freshmen

• Fall 2009. Develop Freshman/ Senior Research Seminar for Spring ‘10

• Fall/Spring. Recruit Fall 2010 cohort. Develop curricula for 2010-2011