The University Honors Program allows students the opportunity to earn academic distinctions, but according to the dean of the program, 90 percent of students who enroll in the program drop out of it.
Honors program Dean Rosalie Otero said that while the program offers students a unique opportunity to study interdisciplinary topics, few students complete the 24 credit hour program by graduation.
While classes taken in honors count for credit in a variety of disciplines, primarily in the humanities, they do not fulfill degree requirements for specific classes required in most majors.
For example, one class offered combines fine arts and biology, although the student receives only “interdisciplinary” credit upon completion.
Students who complete the program receive an honors designation, either cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude, based on their performance, but Otero said the addition of classes that don’t count toward a student’s major can often be too much of a burden. Otero said humanities courses offered through honors are the only ones that can be used for core credit.
“If students have to do all of core, plus the honors requirements, then the classes for their majors and minors, it can get to be too much,” she said.
Otero said she hopes this problem will be resolved if the honors program becomes a college.
“We will have more core classes that we can offer, so that students can complete honors and core requirements at the same time, and not have to try and do it all,” Otero said.
The provost’s $4.3 million five-year academic plan outlines a plan to turn the department into a full degree-granting college in an effort to increase retention. The plan even includes the possibility of adding dorms just for honors students.
UNM student Katie Lichtie, who is enrolled in the honors program, said she appreciates the academic rigor and interesting subject matter offered, but is frustrated the program does not compliment her major.
“Being a pre-pharmacy major, being in the honors program really does not do much for me besides give me priority registration and elective credits,” she said. “I think the current program benefits humanities major the most, which I am not.”
The University-wide honors program hosts more than 1,000 students from all types of majors each year, offering rigorous multidisciplinary courses with small class sizes to undergraduates. Honors students must maintain a 3.2 GPA throughout their college career, and some achieve GPAs above 4.0.
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Otero said the unique atmosphere of the department encourages student success.
“We only allow a maximum of 17 students in a class, which makes for very lively discussions,” she said. “The faculty really gets to know each of the students, and the students get to know each other.”
Otero also said the classes offered allow students to explore subjects from nontraditional perspectives.
“If you are talking about the environment, for instance, you might look at it from an economic point of view, perhaps political, perhaps historical and maybe even in terms of literature,” Otero said.
Otero said the ultimate goal of the honors college is to prepare students for the world after college.
“This world is really about globalization and being interdisciplinary — so that means if students have already had that kind of experience, you can move around easily (professionally),” Otero said.
