National Collegiate Honors Council
Date of this Version
2009
Abstract
What makes an honors program a community? And how does one build a vibrant honors community at a commuter community college? In the City University of New York’s LaGuardia Community College Honors Program, we have been grappling with such questions especially because ours is an urban, non-residential campus that serves a diverse, non-traditional student population. Our student population is roughly 38% Hispanic, 21% Asian, and 20% Black; in 2007, 58% of our students were foreign born, 19% took evening classes, and 46% were part-time students. How can we provide the program with a sense of cohesion without the infrastructure of a residential college, and with most of our students holding jobs (part-time or full-time) and/or taking care of family? Furthermore, having no dedicated space, budget, or administrative support for managing the day-to-day affairs of the honors program makes it difficult to sustain an active program, let alone grow it and build an engaged honors community.
Comments
Published in Honors in Practice, volume 5. Copyright 2009 National Collegiate Honors Council.