Diversity Opportunities for Higher Education and Honors Programs: A View from Nebraska

Authors

Peter Longo, University of Nebraska at KearneyFollow
John Falconer, University of Nebraska at KearneyFollow

Date of this Version

Spring 2003

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council 4:1, Spring/Summer 2003. Copyright © 2003 by the National Collegiate Honors Council.

Abstract

While honors programs were developed in part to actively engage top students in undergraduate education, they also have demonstrated a capacity for leading innovation in post-secondary institutions. Innovations come in the form of curricular development, service learning programs, and independent scholarship. As institutions strive to find effective approaches to improving access to and diversity in higher education, honors programs, in a most general sense, offer a link between diversity and improved access. This paper explores the role of honors programs in expanding access and diversity—an area traditionally focused on broader student populations. Demographic changes in Nebraska, marked by increased ethnic diversity, offer an intriguing example of how honors programs might better embrace diversity.