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Running head: HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Focus of Research
Serving as a representative for California University of Pennsylvania’s Honors
Program as a work study student during the school year as well as in the summer, I
became curious as to the best marketing tools that our program has to offer. Attending
conferences for the Honors Program such as NCHC, the National Collegiate Honors
Council Conference, helped to provide resources and information about practices used at
other University Honors Programs and I wondered specifically how our program
measured up in terms of diversity, demographics, academics, and other relevant
information. My sample population would be University Honors Program students that
are comprised of 146 students including 46 Freshmen (completed 1-29 credits), 28
Sophomores (completed 30-59 credits), 35 Juniors (completed 60-89 credits), and 55
Seniors (completed 90 or more credits). After reading information from Roy Wilson, the
President of Wayne State University, “Maybe it is best to think about honors not in terms
of an end result but as an ongoing conversation about value added and all the ways that
this institution and our students, faculty, and staff work to achieve excellence to benefit
our whole community” (Wilson, 2015, p. 174), I decided that I wanted to survey all
students within our program to compare each classes’ views on the different aspects of
the program , in order to provide useful information that may grow the program even
further.
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Background Information
“CalU offers the University Honors Program for exceptional students who are ready
for a unique challenge. Your course offerings include independent research and
experiential learning opportunities in a community of like-minded students who value
academic excellence. As an honors student, you pursue intellectual and creative growth
that compliments your major field of study – both inside and outside of the classroom,”
as stated on the Honors Program For Outstanding Students pamphlet. This mission
statement focuses on our three pillars: Community, Opportunity, and Research, “Your
Opportunity to challenge yourself, to discover, and to excel.” Also, as stated by South
Dakota State University President, David Chicoine, “Today’s young people are
sophisticated consumers in the higher education marketplace. They are seeking ‘above
and beyond’ academic experiences such as study abroad and undergraduate research.
They are looking for a personalized academic experience, and they aspire to be in
community with others who share a similar sense of purpose and drive toward success
and personal fulfillment” (Chicoine, 2015, p. 125-126). Honors program students are
comprised of 3.10% of California University of Pennsylvania’s campus population and
must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.25. To become a member of the
University Honors Program, students must have graduated in the top twenty-five percent
of their class, earn a score of at least 1100 on the SAT or a 25 on the ACT, and submit an
application essay. As Trucker stated in an article in the NCHC journal, “This policy
opens the program to students who might have been mediocre high school students”
(Trucker, 2014, p.70). In order to develop the content for the survey questionnaire,
information from past honors research was studied from three different journals:
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Chronicle of Higher Education, Honors in Practice, and the JNCHC (Journal of the
National Collegiate Honors Council), along with information provided from fact sheets
and pamphlets from our Honors Program here at California University of Pennsylvania.
First, some basic information would be asked regarding the respondent’s major,
minor/concentration, rank, and overall GPA. In order to look at the demographics of the
students in our program, the survey would also ask for the city and state the respondent
has listed as their permanent address, if they are a commuter or not, if they are an in state
student or an out-of-state student, and if they live on campus. Since one of the advertised
benefits of our program includes the Honors Residence Hall, questions would also be
asked regarding if they have ever resided in the Honors Residence Hall and more
specifically if they currently reside on the first floor of the Honors Residence Hall
(designated for honors students only). Respondents would also be asked what semester
and year their joined the program and if they began the program as a Freshman, realizing
our program does allow for transfer students and late applicants, which are determined on
a case by case basis. The benefits that our program advertises include: challenging
coursework, community service, excursions and conferences, hands-on research
experience, Honors Residence Hall, honors scholarships and awards, priority registration,
professional communication, access to resources such as the honors computer lab and
library, and travel opportunities. In a similar study, “One series of survey questions asked
students to rate the relative strength of various factors influencing their initial decision to
enroll in the honors college. We listed nine factors (and asked respondents to rate the
influence of these factors, with ‘1’ as ‘not influential’ and ‘5’ as ‘extremely influential…
The highest-scoring responses were competitive advantage associated with honors
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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college enrollment (4.29) and smaller classes (4.26). Connecting with faculty (4.05),
prestige associated with honors college enrollment (4.07), and opportunities for deeper
learning (3.90) were also highly rated by other students. On the other hand, ‘supplemental
opportunities’ had a score of 3.44, indicating that our students were less motivated by the
desire to do research, travel, and assume leadership positions when they made their initial
decision…influence of parents (3.24), teachers (2.95), and peers (3.04) was relatively
neutral” (Nichols, 2013, p. 110-111). Combining our current program’s benefits and
similar research students would be asked to rank benefits from one to ten, where one is
considered the best. The benefits that would be listed on the survey include: challenging
coursework, conferences/excursions, faculty, honors residence hall, meeting similar
people committed to academics, opportunities for leadership, priority registration, resume
builder, small classroom size, and to complete a capstone project for one’s major. It was
found through another University Honors Program study , through analysis of their
survey data about student involvement that, “Approximately seven percent of
undergraduate students participate in honors courses, yet a disproportionately high
percentage of these students lead student government, discipline-specific student
organizations, academic competition teams, and university-wide community service
program.” (Chicoine, 2015, p. 126). So students would be asked for the amount of clubs
and organizations that they were currently involved in or have been involved with as well
as any leadership roles that they currently hold or have held. One question of particular
interest was finding out the reason why students joined the honors program, “Honors
faculty and administrators hoping to succeed in their recruitment, retention, and
graduation efforts need an accurate understanding of why students decide to enroll and
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persist as well as their satisfaction with honors experiences” (Nichols, 2013, p. 105).
Students would be asked to write why they each decided to join the program as a short
answer response question. As suggested by Lynne Goodstein from the University of
Connecticut, “In recent years the option of enrolling in honors programs and colleges at
major public universities has increasingly become an alternative to elite private and
public institutions for some of the brightest and most academically talented high school
graduates. In order to attract these high-achieving students, universities may offer
applicants incentives such as merit scholarships, smaller classes, honors residential
options, research experiences, and enrichment programs” (Goodstein, 2013, p. 85). In
order to attract students, our honors program here at California University of
Pennsylvania offers multiple scholarships to students all throughout their time in the
program from Freshmen to Seniors; students would also be asked to fill out a question as
to how many scholarships they have received from the program as well as what semester
and year that they received the scholarship, if applicable. Then, students would be asked
to rate on a scale from one to five, where one means strongly disagree, three is neutral,
and five means strongly agree with how important it was to them when they decided to
join the program. They would rate challenging coursework, conferences/excursions,
faculty, the Honors Residence Hall, meeting similar people committed to academics,
priority registration, helping to build your resume, and small classroom size. In addition,
students who have stayed in the honors residence hall were asked why they stayed there
and for how many semesters. Lastly, the students were asked if there are any additional
benefits that they have experienced throughout their time in the program thus far.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
Survey Template
Consent Form:
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HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
Survey
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HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Data Analysis
After distributing the survey link to students through SurveyMonkey, I was
able to collect a total of 100 surveys from the honors program students, so my sample
size is 100. All of the survey responses were then recorded into an excel document for
each question using all 100 respondents. Once all of the data was inputted into an excel
document, it was then uploaded in the SPSS software. SPSS stands for Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences and is primarily used to perform data entry and analysis
for a wide variety of disciplinarians. SPSS allows one to perform descriptive statistics,
Anova tests, T-tests, find correlations in the data, and various other statistical procedures
and analyses. First, descriptive statistics were run on the data which provide details used
to describe the data in the study. The descriptive statistics showed that of the 100
respondents, 33 were Freshmen, 17 were Sophomores, 27 were Juniors, 22 were Seniors,
and 1 respondent was unsure, so the total used to determine the response rate was 99 out
of a possible 164 from the Honors Program at California University of Pennsylvania. As
shown in Figure 1, the total response rate was 60. 37% and having at least a 40%
response rate for each rank.
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Figure 1:
Rank
This information can also be better visualized through a bar graph as shown in Figure 2:
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In order to see how diversified the University Honors Program is by major, descriptive
statistics were ran and the following information was outputted to determine the
frequency or number of each major as shown in Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Frequency
Percent
Business Administration
14
14.0%
Biology
9
9.0%
Graphic Design, Graphics and Multimedia
6
6.0%
Psychology
6
6.0%
Secondary Education
6
6.0%
English
5
5.0%
Communication Disorders
4
4.0%
Environmental Studies
4
4.0%
Anthropology
3
3.0%
Chemistry
3
3.0%
Criminal Justice
3
3.0%
Sport Management
3
3.0%
Geology
2
2.0%
International Studies
2
2.0%
Mechatronics Engineering Technology
2
2.0%
Parks and Recreation Management
2
2.0%
Prek-4 & Special Education
2
2.0%
Sociology
2
2.0%
Athletic Training
1
1.0%
CIS: Computer Information Systems
1
1.0%
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
1
1.0%
Commercial Music Technology
1
1.0%
Communication Studies
1
1.0%
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Creative Writing
1
1.0%
Dual: Business Administration and Psychology
1
1.0%
Dual: Business and CIS
1
1.0%
Dual: Communication and Political Science
1
1.0%
Dual: English and Criminal Justice
1
1.0%
Dual: Mathematics and Business Administration
1
1.0%
Dual: Political Science and Sociology
1
1.0%
Dual: Psychology and Sociology
1
1.0%
Dual: Spanish and International Studies
1
1.0%
Fine Arts
1
1.0%
Fisheries and Wildlife
1
1.0%
Geography
1
1.0%
Meteorology
1
1.0%
Political Science
1
1.0%
Technology Education
1
1.0%
Technology Management
1
1.0%
Theatre
1
1.0%
From the descriptive statistics of the 100 respondents it was determined that eight
students have a dual major with a variety of thirty-two additional majors. This major
information was taken and broken down by one of the three colleges: College of
Education and Human Services, College of Liberal Arts, and College of Science,
Technology, and Business as shown in Figure 4:
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Figure 4:
From Figure 4, not only was the information broken up into the three categories of
Colleges but also there was an Other category for Clinical Mental Health Counseling
since this is considered a graduate program and one of the respondents was entered into
the graduate program early. There was also a category for Dual: Business Administration
and Psychology since Business Administration falls under the College of Science,
Technology, and Business and Psychology falls under the College of Liberal Arts. It is
interesting to note that the majority of the students, (43%) fall under the College of
Science, Technology, and Business. As California University of Pennsylvania begins to
transition into a STEM university, this can only be considered a positive for the Honors
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Program, as the number of students in the STEM majors increases, then the number of
students in the Honors Program may also increase.
Another question of interest was where geographically the students in the
program were from. From the descriptive statistics of each respondent’s city and state,
this information was first broken down by state as show in Figure 5:
Figure 5:
The majority of students did come from Pennsylvania; however, from this analysis, the
Honors Program students came from six different states including: 93 students from
Pennsylvania, 2 from Ohio, 2 from Maryland, and 1 each from New Jersey, New York,
and West Virginia. Since there was a wide array of cities from where students originated,
all of the cities and states were inputted online at easymapmaker.com in order to see a
distribution of the demographics of the students as shown in Figure 6. The data for each
respondent’s City and State was inputted along with whether or not they were a
commuter student in order to see how far some students travel.
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Figure 6:
From the descriptive statistics it was determined that from this study there were 28
commuter students and 72 non-commuter students. This statistic was surprising
considering that California University of Pennsylvania is a majority commuter campus of
approximately 70% commuters. In order to compare the data of commuter versus noncommuter students, a nonparametric test was used to determine a p-value. A
nonparametric test is used in statistics when the data is not required to fit a normal
distribution and a p-value is the level of significance representing the probability of an
event; a p-value of 0.05 or lower is considered significant. The p-value in comparing
commuter students to non-commuter students in this study showed a highly significant
difference since the p-value was p=0.001. There were also 53 students who said that they
stayed on campus with 39% of the students currently residing in the Honors Residence
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Hall and 16% of those students currently residing on the 1st floor of Smith Hall. Just to
note, the first floor of Smith Hall is only for University Honors Program students.
Although there were a total of 72 non-commuter students, there were only 53 students
who said that they reside on campus; this difference of 19 students can be explained as
off campus students. The average semester count that students stayed in the Honors
Residence Hall was 3.39 which is approximately 3.5 semesters, and the answers ranged
from 0-8. Overall, 64% of respondents said that they have, at least for one semester,
stayed in the Honors Residence Hall. Students were also asked why they chose to stay in
the honors residence hall, noting a variety of answers were recorded and common themes
included: convenience, quiet, ease of access, sense of community, to be surrounded by
other honors students, easy access to computer lab and classroom, and easier to get to
know other honors students. In highlighting two of the responses, one student said, “I
thought that I would be able to make friendships with people I knew, I would have
classes with, and develop a sense of community. I chose to stay in the hall my second
year because I enjoyed how quiet it was when I needed to study,” while another student
commented, It's conveniently close to the honors classroom and the computer lab. Really,
who doesn’t like free printing? I'm planning on continuing to stay in the Honors Hall but
this is only my first semester.”
The next area of focus on the survey was about the student’s involvement in
clubs and organizations on campus along with any leadership roles that they currently
hold or have held throughout their time at Californian University of Pennsylvania. The
responses received from the descriptive statistics were recorded and demonstrated in bar
graphs as shown in Figures 7 and 8:
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Figure 7:
Figure 8:
As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the range of the data was from 0-17 and the average
number of clubs per student was 3.79 which is approximately 4. The standard deviation
was found to be 2.653 which is approximately 3, ultimately meaning that the average
number of clubs was about 4 give or take 3. Since 2 respondents answer 15 and 17 for the
number of clubs, these two data points were considered outliers and were removed from
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the calculation just to make sure that the data was not skewed. Upon removing the two
responses of 15 and 17 the new range became 0-8, the mean was 3.54 which is
approximately 4, and the standard deviation became 2.01 which is approximately 2. The
statement now becomes, the average number of clubs per students was about 4 give or
take 2. Since the only difference in removing the outliers was in the standard deviation
from 3 to 2, the data is not considered to be skewed. The data for the number of
leadership roles is shown in Figures 9 and 10:
Figure 9:
Figure 10:
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As shown in Figures 9 and 10, the range of the data was from 0-20 and the average
number of clubs per student was 1.73 which is approximately 2. The standard deviation
was found to be 2.912 which is approximately 3, ultimately meaning that the average
number of leadership roles was about 2 give or take 3. Since 2 respondents answered 16
and 20 for the number of leadership roles, these two data points were considered outliers
and were removed from the calculation just to make sure that the data was not skewed.
Upon removing the two responses of 16 and 20, the new range became 0-7, the mean was
1.40 which is approximately 1, and the standard deviation became 1.73 which is
approximately 2. The statement now becomes, the average number of leadership roles per
students was about 1 give or take 2. Since the only difference in removing the outliers
was in the standard deviation and mean from 3 to 2 and 2 to 1, respectively, and the data
is still considered to be skewed. Next, a test of correlation was used to see if there were
any significant correlations between the variable of GPA, the number of clubs a student is
involved in or has been involved in, and the number of leadership roles a student
currently holds or has held. Correlation is the statistical measure that indicates the extent
to which two variables fluctuate together. The results of the correlation test with the three
variables are shown in Figure 11:
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Figure 11:
From the results of the correlation test in Figure 11, it shows that GPA is highly
correlated with the amount of clubs the student is involved in and also the reverse is
demonstrated as the amount of clubs that the student is involved in, the higher their GPA
was reported as the values were found to be 0.004. It was also shown that the number of
clubs one is involved in, is highly correlated to the number of leadership roles one has
which makes sense because as the amount of clubs increase, the higher probability one
has of obtaining a leadership role. It was also determined through descriptive statistics
that as the data progressed through Freshmen up to Seniors, the number of both clubs and
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leadership roles increase as the rank increased. Through an Anova test, also known as an
analysis of variances, which is used to analyze the differences or variances among groups
and their means, it was determined that there was no significant difference of GPA across
the ranks since a p-value of p=0.448 was found. The averages for the student’s GPAs
were found through descriptive statistics and are shown in Figure 12:
Figure 12:
From Figure 12 it is shown that the four ranks have very similar GPA averages. Noting
that the Seniors had the highest average GPA and that all of the averages among the ranks
and the overall average exceeds the minimum overall GPA requirement of the honors
program which is only a 3.25 overall GPA.
The next set of data consists of the responses regarding the benefits of the
honors program where students were asked to rank them 1-10, with 1 being considered
the best benefit. The data is show below in Figure 13:
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Figure 13:
Due to the limitations on rank with the statistical software, frequencies were found for
each benefit including the benefit that received the most “1” responses which was priority
registration. The benefit of completing a capstone project for one’s major received the
highest amount of “10” responses. Next, descriptive statistics were ran on the importance
of eight different aspects of why one would have joined the program. The data is shown
in Figure 14:
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Figure 14:
Since the students got to choose their response on a scale from 1 to 5 for each of the eight
columns, calculations included the mean, standard deviation, and the means by each class
rank. As shown in figure 14, each highlighted response for each column shows where on
the scale the highest frequency was recorded. Challenging coursework, faculty, the
honors residence hall, meeting similar people committed to academics, and the small
classroom size all received the greatest frequency count for Agree-4.
Conferences/excursions received a Neutral-3 answer, whereas, both priority registration
and resume builder received the highest frequency for the Strongly Agree-5 part of the
scale. In looking at the means, they were all relatively high and all, but
conferences/excursions and honors resident hall, received an approximate mean of 4
when rounded which means that the results showed the students agreed that all of the
above eight factors were important in each of their own decisions to join the program.
Interesting enough, Seniors had the highest mean for the categories of
conferences/excursions, priority registration, and the honors residence hall. Juniors only
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ranked the highest for resume building. Sophomores ranked the highest means for the
categories of challenging coursework, faculty, meeting similar people committed to
academics, and the small classroom size. The Freshmen did not rank the highest mean in
any of the categories. T-tests are used to determine if there is a significant difference
between two population means or groups. Two t-tests were performed in comparing the
data from both Figures 13 & 14 for Freshmen to Seniors and also Sophomores to Seniors.
I chose these two comparisons because I wanted to see how the views differentiated
between students who had just recently joined the program compared to students who are
going to be completing the program. The comparison between Sophomores and Seniors
was completed in order to see the difference in views between these two groups since the
Sophomore class is the first class to begin the track of preparation classes for the HON
499-Honors Thesis class as they take HON 200 the spring of their Sophomore year and
HON 300 the spring of their Junior year. These classes were set up in order to better
prepare the students for the Honors Thesis class and to gain more knowledge about
research. The results of the two T-tests showed that in comparing Freshmen to Seniors:
the Freshmen significantly viewed meeting similar people committed to academics as a
greater benefit than the Seniors and the Freshmen significantly viewed the Honors
Residence Hall as more important than the Seniors. Also, the Seniors significantly
viewed completing a capstone project for their major as a greater benefit than the
Freshmen, and Seniors also significantly viewed conferences/excursions as more
important than the Freshmen. The second T-test compared Sophomores to Seniors and it
was found that the Sophomores significantly viewed meeting similar people committed to
academics as a greater benefit than the Seniors and the Seniors also significantly viewed
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conferences/excursions as a greater benefit than the Sophomores. The next two responses
were in short answer format to the two questions: Why did you join the University
Honors Program? Are there any other benefits to the University Honors Program that
were not mentioned above? I took all of the responses from the first question and inputted
the wording into a wordle word cloud generator; the results of this are shown in Figure
15:
Figure 15:9
From Figure 15, it is shown that some of the most commonly found words are challenge,
honors, resume, opportunity, experience, future, learning, knowledge, and other; the
bigger the word, the higher frequency the word was found in the survey responses. Nine
of the responses in their original format were as follows:
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1. “At first, it was because I was used to being considered an honors student, but I stay in
to challenge myself and experience things I wouldn't otherwise experience and to add
something to my resume.”
2. “Because of the opportunities it provided, both in terms of academics and
extracurricular activities. Additionally, I appreciated other opportunities such as the
summer study abroad program.”
3. “I appreciated the academic challenge being in the Honors Program presented to me
and I thought it would give me more opportunities to expand my knowledge and to
network.”
4. “I believed that it would provide me with the opportunity to meet other motivated
students, taking interesting courses, and learn to carry out research.”
5. “I chose to join the University Honors Program as a means to expand my knowledge
and help me develop into the best student I can possibly be.”
6. “I knew it would push me to continue working above the average requirements. I like
to be challenged, especially when it comes to something related to my field, and I figured
the Honors Program would do just that.”
7. “I thought there were plenty of benefits to joining the program, and thought I'd give it a
shot. The program has provided me with plenty more opportunities than I could've
expected.”
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8. “I was never in the honors program in my high school and that made me feel like I was
not good enough to be in one. When I got the opportunity to join UHP at Cal, I
immediately felt like I was finally worthy of calling myself an honors student.”
9. “More one on one with both professors and students, Honors status merit on a job
application, resume, etc.”
The next question, “Are there any other benefits to you in regards to the program?” was
an optional question and a lot of great answers were received including some common
themes: addendums, Honors Thesis, SHAB (Student Honors Advisory Board) events
specifically social events, free printing, honors credit on transcript, opportunities for
independent research. Twelve additional responses in their original format were as
follows:
1. “I believe that the courses in the Honors Program require more effort than other
general courses. Since they expect more out of you, you come to expect more out of
yourself. Therefore, it may encourage students to have more confidence in their abilities
with various obstacles.”
2. “Although the people you meet in classes are all similar in respects to their devotion to
academics, it's important to note that we are all from various majors. I wouldn't have met
most of my friends here if I was only in classes for my major.”
3. “Honors Computer Lab, SHAB events, and the welcoming atmosphere. Each time I
have needed something both the Directors and Secretary have been very helpful and
guided me in the right direction to help me succeed, I would not be where I am today
without the University Honors Program!”
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4. “I love being a part of the program. It's nice to be a part of something that puts such an
emphasis in our growth in education. The professors take a keen interest in our individual
needs and goals and I think that's really great.”
5. “I loved having the opportunity to travel without any expense and meet people from
Honors programs at other schools. The Honors Program also provided me with great
peers and faculty mentors that have been supportive and have helped me grow.”
6. “I would say that my presence in the program acts as a motivational tool. It's nice (and
at times terrifying) to have to live up to expectations (primarily your own).”
7. “It has forced me to develop relationships with faculty and seek out opportunities in
the community to complete my addendums.”
8. “One-on-one discussion with professors and mentors. For example, the Honors
Program introduced me to philosophy staff that helped me take courses to prepare for the
LSAT. English staff discussed my future as a Peace Corps volunteer given his own
experience. These benefits were invaluable. Also, the library is full of neat books, which I
have checked out on occasion.”
9. “The Honors Composition II class with Dr. Kearcher enabled me to further develop my
writing and research skills. That class has proven useful in all four years of my college
career, as well as various internships I have had.”
10. “The honor's computer lab is very nice, and has saved my grade on multiple
occasions. Thank you very much for giving students a quiet place to work.”
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
11. “It allows you to gain self-confidence. It helps encourage you and allows you to
realize that even if you're not the smartest one in your Honors grad class, you're still
someone special and capable of creating a positive environment for those around you.”
12. “Using my mind in different and creative ways.”
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Conclusions and Future Research
Overall, the data analysis provided a significant amount of feedback to be
passed along to the Student Honors Advisory Board, the Honors Advisory Board, and the
University Honors Program Directors to help provide useful information to both current
and upcoming students. It would be interesting for future research to compare student
responses of Honors Program students compared to non-honors students at California
University of Pennsylvania with similar questions to see how the data compares. It would
also be interesting to do an extension of the survey to compare additional conditions such
as surveying students at the beginning and end of each year and tracking those responses
as they complete the program to help gauge what areas to focus interest on for the
students.
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References
California University of Pennsylvania (n.d.). 5 tips for commuters. Retrieved
from http://www.calu.edu/things-to-know/5-things-commuters-need-to-know.htm
Chicoine, D. L. (2015). The above-and-beyond experience. National Collegiate Honors
Council, 16. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ nchcjournal/487/
Easy map maker. (2017, March 31). Retrieved from https://www.easymapmaker.com/
Free online word cloud generator. (2017, March 31). Retrieved from
http://www.wordclouds.com
Goodstein, L., & Szarek, P. (2013). They come but do they finish?. Journal of the
National Collegiate Honors Council-Online Archive, 14. Retrieved from
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/398/
Honors program. (2017, March 1). Retrieved from http://www.calu.edu/currentstudents/academic-resources/honors- program/
Honors program for outstanding students. [Pamphlet]. California University of
Pennsylvania.
Nichols, T., & Change, K. M. (2013). Factors influencing honors college recruitment,
persistence, and satisfaction at an upper-midwest land grant university. Journal of
the National Collegiate Honors Council-Online Archive, 14. Retrieved from
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/399/
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Trucker, J. (2014). Honors and the completion agenda: identifying and duplicating
student success. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council-Online
Archive, 15. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/442/
University Honors Program. (2016) Facts and figures fall 2016 [Pamphlet].
California University of Pennsylvania.
Weisberg, S. (2013). Applied Linear Regression: Fourth Edition. Wiley.
Wilson, M. R. (2015). Value added. National Collegiate Honors Council, 16. Retrieved
from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nchcjournal/48 7/
1
Focus of Research
Serving as a representative for California University of Pennsylvania’s Honors
Program as a work study student during the school year as well as in the summer, I
became curious as to the best marketing tools that our program has to offer. Attending
conferences for the Honors Program such as NCHC, the National Collegiate Honors
Council Conference, helped to provide resources and information about practices used at
other University Honors Programs and I wondered specifically how our program
measured up in terms of diversity, demographics, academics, and other relevant
information. My sample population would be University Honors Program students that
are comprised of 146 students including 46 Freshmen (completed 1-29 credits), 28
Sophomores (completed 30-59 credits), 35 Juniors (completed 60-89 credits), and 55
Seniors (completed 90 or more credits). After reading information from Roy Wilson, the
President of Wayne State University, “Maybe it is best to think about honors not in terms
of an end result but as an ongoing conversation about value added and all the ways that
this institution and our students, faculty, and staff work to achieve excellence to benefit
our whole community” (Wilson, 2015, p. 174), I decided that I wanted to survey all
students within our program to compare each classes’ views on the different aspects of
the program , in order to provide useful information that may grow the program even
further.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Background Information
“CalU offers the University Honors Program for exceptional students who are ready
for a unique challenge. Your course offerings include independent research and
experiential learning opportunities in a community of like-minded students who value
academic excellence. As an honors student, you pursue intellectual and creative growth
that compliments your major field of study – both inside and outside of the classroom,”
as stated on the Honors Program For Outstanding Students pamphlet. This mission
statement focuses on our three pillars: Community, Opportunity, and Research, “Your
Opportunity to challenge yourself, to discover, and to excel.” Also, as stated by South
Dakota State University President, David Chicoine, “Today’s young people are
sophisticated consumers in the higher education marketplace. They are seeking ‘above
and beyond’ academic experiences such as study abroad and undergraduate research.
They are looking for a personalized academic experience, and they aspire to be in
community with others who share a similar sense of purpose and drive toward success
and personal fulfillment” (Chicoine, 2015, p. 125-126). Honors program students are
comprised of 3.10% of California University of Pennsylvania’s campus population and
must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.25. To become a member of the
University Honors Program, students must have graduated in the top twenty-five percent
of their class, earn a score of at least 1100 on the SAT or a 25 on the ACT, and submit an
application essay. As Trucker stated in an article in the NCHC journal, “This policy
opens the program to students who might have been mediocre high school students”
(Trucker, 2014, p.70). In order to develop the content for the survey questionnaire,
information from past honors research was studied from three different journals:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Chronicle of Higher Education, Honors in Practice, and the JNCHC (Journal of the
National Collegiate Honors Council), along with information provided from fact sheets
and pamphlets from our Honors Program here at California University of Pennsylvania.
First, some basic information would be asked regarding the respondent’s major,
minor/concentration, rank, and overall GPA. In order to look at the demographics of the
students in our program, the survey would also ask for the city and state the respondent
has listed as their permanent address, if they are a commuter or not, if they are an in state
student or an out-of-state student, and if they live on campus. Since one of the advertised
benefits of our program includes the Honors Residence Hall, questions would also be
asked regarding if they have ever resided in the Honors Residence Hall and more
specifically if they currently reside on the first floor of the Honors Residence Hall
(designated for honors students only). Respondents would also be asked what semester
and year their joined the program and if they began the program as a Freshman, realizing
our program does allow for transfer students and late applicants, which are determined on
a case by case basis. The benefits that our program advertises include: challenging
coursework, community service, excursions and conferences, hands-on research
experience, Honors Residence Hall, honors scholarships and awards, priority registration,
professional communication, access to resources such as the honors computer lab and
library, and travel opportunities. In a similar study, “One series of survey questions asked
students to rate the relative strength of various factors influencing their initial decision to
enroll in the honors college. We listed nine factors (and asked respondents to rate the
influence of these factors, with ‘1’ as ‘not influential’ and ‘5’ as ‘extremely influential…
The highest-scoring responses were competitive advantage associated with honors
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
4
college enrollment (4.29) and smaller classes (4.26). Connecting with faculty (4.05),
prestige associated with honors college enrollment (4.07), and opportunities for deeper
learning (3.90) were also highly rated by other students. On the other hand, ‘supplemental
opportunities’ had a score of 3.44, indicating that our students were less motivated by the
desire to do research, travel, and assume leadership positions when they made their initial
decision…influence of parents (3.24), teachers (2.95), and peers (3.04) was relatively
neutral” (Nichols, 2013, p. 110-111). Combining our current program’s benefits and
similar research students would be asked to rank benefits from one to ten, where one is
considered the best. The benefits that would be listed on the survey include: challenging
coursework, conferences/excursions, faculty, honors residence hall, meeting similar
people committed to academics, opportunities for leadership, priority registration, resume
builder, small classroom size, and to complete a capstone project for one’s major. It was
found through another University Honors Program study , through analysis of their
survey data about student involvement that, “Approximately seven percent of
undergraduate students participate in honors courses, yet a disproportionately high
percentage of these students lead student government, discipline-specific student
organizations, academic competition teams, and university-wide community service
program.” (Chicoine, 2015, p. 126). So students would be asked for the amount of clubs
and organizations that they were currently involved in or have been involved with as well
as any leadership roles that they currently hold or have held. One question of particular
interest was finding out the reason why students joined the honors program, “Honors
faculty and administrators hoping to succeed in their recruitment, retention, and
graduation efforts need an accurate understanding of why students decide to enroll and
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
5
persist as well as their satisfaction with honors experiences” (Nichols, 2013, p. 105).
Students would be asked to write why they each decided to join the program as a short
answer response question. As suggested by Lynne Goodstein from the University of
Connecticut, “In recent years the option of enrolling in honors programs and colleges at
major public universities has increasingly become an alternative to elite private and
public institutions for some of the brightest and most academically talented high school
graduates. In order to attract these high-achieving students, universities may offer
applicants incentives such as merit scholarships, smaller classes, honors residential
options, research experiences, and enrichment programs” (Goodstein, 2013, p. 85). In
order to attract students, our honors program here at California University of
Pennsylvania offers multiple scholarships to students all throughout their time in the
program from Freshmen to Seniors; students would also be asked to fill out a question as
to how many scholarships they have received from the program as well as what semester
and year that they received the scholarship, if applicable. Then, students would be asked
to rate on a scale from one to five, where one means strongly disagree, three is neutral,
and five means strongly agree with how important it was to them when they decided to
join the program. They would rate challenging coursework, conferences/excursions,
faculty, the Honors Residence Hall, meeting similar people committed to academics,
priority registration, helping to build your resume, and small classroom size. In addition,
students who have stayed in the honors residence hall were asked why they stayed there
and for how many semesters. Lastly, the students were asked if there are any additional
benefits that they have experienced throughout their time in the program thus far.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
Survey Template
Consent Form:
6
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
Survey
7
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
8
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
9
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
10
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Data Analysis
After distributing the survey link to students through SurveyMonkey, I was
able to collect a total of 100 surveys from the honors program students, so my sample
size is 100. All of the survey responses were then recorded into an excel document for
each question using all 100 respondents. Once all of the data was inputted into an excel
document, it was then uploaded in the SPSS software. SPSS stands for Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences and is primarily used to perform data entry and analysis
for a wide variety of disciplinarians. SPSS allows one to perform descriptive statistics,
Anova tests, T-tests, find correlations in the data, and various other statistical procedures
and analyses. First, descriptive statistics were run on the data which provide details used
to describe the data in the study. The descriptive statistics showed that of the 100
respondents, 33 were Freshmen, 17 were Sophomores, 27 were Juniors, 22 were Seniors,
and 1 respondent was unsure, so the total used to determine the response rate was 99 out
of a possible 164 from the Honors Program at California University of Pennsylvania. As
shown in Figure 1, the total response rate was 60. 37% and having at least a 40%
response rate for each rank.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
12
Figure 1:
Rank
This information can also be better visualized through a bar graph as shown in Figure 2:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
13
In order to see how diversified the University Honors Program is by major, descriptive
statistics were ran and the following information was outputted to determine the
frequency or number of each major as shown in Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Frequency
Percent
Business Administration
14
14.0%
Biology
9
9.0%
Graphic Design, Graphics and Multimedia
6
6.0%
Psychology
6
6.0%
Secondary Education
6
6.0%
English
5
5.0%
Communication Disorders
4
4.0%
Environmental Studies
4
4.0%
Anthropology
3
3.0%
Chemistry
3
3.0%
Criminal Justice
3
3.0%
Sport Management
3
3.0%
Geology
2
2.0%
International Studies
2
2.0%
Mechatronics Engineering Technology
2
2.0%
Parks and Recreation Management
2
2.0%
Prek-4 & Special Education
2
2.0%
Sociology
2
2.0%
Athletic Training
1
1.0%
CIS: Computer Information Systems
1
1.0%
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
1
1.0%
Commercial Music Technology
1
1.0%
Communication Studies
1
1.0%
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Creative Writing
1
1.0%
Dual: Business Administration and Psychology
1
1.0%
Dual: Business and CIS
1
1.0%
Dual: Communication and Political Science
1
1.0%
Dual: English and Criminal Justice
1
1.0%
Dual: Mathematics and Business Administration
1
1.0%
Dual: Political Science and Sociology
1
1.0%
Dual: Psychology and Sociology
1
1.0%
Dual: Spanish and International Studies
1
1.0%
Fine Arts
1
1.0%
Fisheries and Wildlife
1
1.0%
Geography
1
1.0%
Meteorology
1
1.0%
Political Science
1
1.0%
Technology Education
1
1.0%
Technology Management
1
1.0%
Theatre
1
1.0%
From the descriptive statistics of the 100 respondents it was determined that eight
students have a dual major with a variety of thirty-two additional majors. This major
information was taken and broken down by one of the three colleges: College of
Education and Human Services, College of Liberal Arts, and College of Science,
Technology, and Business as shown in Figure 4:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Figure 4:
From Figure 4, not only was the information broken up into the three categories of
Colleges but also there was an Other category for Clinical Mental Health Counseling
since this is considered a graduate program and one of the respondents was entered into
the graduate program early. There was also a category for Dual: Business Administration
and Psychology since Business Administration falls under the College of Science,
Technology, and Business and Psychology falls under the College of Liberal Arts. It is
interesting to note that the majority of the students, (43%) fall under the College of
Science, Technology, and Business. As California University of Pennsylvania begins to
transition into a STEM university, this can only be considered a positive for the Honors
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
16
Program, as the number of students in the STEM majors increases, then the number of
students in the Honors Program may also increase.
Another question of interest was where geographically the students in the
program were from. From the descriptive statistics of each respondent’s city and state,
this information was first broken down by state as show in Figure 5:
Figure 5:
The majority of students did come from Pennsylvania; however, from this analysis, the
Honors Program students came from six different states including: 93 students from
Pennsylvania, 2 from Ohio, 2 from Maryland, and 1 each from New Jersey, New York,
and West Virginia. Since there was a wide array of cities from where students originated,
all of the cities and states were inputted online at easymapmaker.com in order to see a
distribution of the demographics of the students as shown in Figure 6. The data for each
respondent’s City and State was inputted along with whether or not they were a
commuter student in order to see how far some students travel.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
17
Figure 6:
From the descriptive statistics it was determined that from this study there were 28
commuter students and 72 non-commuter students. This statistic was surprising
considering that California University of Pennsylvania is a majority commuter campus of
approximately 70% commuters. In order to compare the data of commuter versus noncommuter students, a nonparametric test was used to determine a p-value. A
nonparametric test is used in statistics when the data is not required to fit a normal
distribution and a p-value is the level of significance representing the probability of an
event; a p-value of 0.05 or lower is considered significant. The p-value in comparing
commuter students to non-commuter students in this study showed a highly significant
difference since the p-value was p=0.001. There were also 53 students who said that they
stayed on campus with 39% of the students currently residing in the Honors Residence
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
18
Hall and 16% of those students currently residing on the 1st floor of Smith Hall. Just to
note, the first floor of Smith Hall is only for University Honors Program students.
Although there were a total of 72 non-commuter students, there were only 53 students
who said that they reside on campus; this difference of 19 students can be explained as
off campus students. The average semester count that students stayed in the Honors
Residence Hall was 3.39 which is approximately 3.5 semesters, and the answers ranged
from 0-8. Overall, 64% of respondents said that they have, at least for one semester,
stayed in the Honors Residence Hall. Students were also asked why they chose to stay in
the honors residence hall, noting a variety of answers were recorded and common themes
included: convenience, quiet, ease of access, sense of community, to be surrounded by
other honors students, easy access to computer lab and classroom, and easier to get to
know other honors students. In highlighting two of the responses, one student said, “I
thought that I would be able to make friendships with people I knew, I would have
classes with, and develop a sense of community. I chose to stay in the hall my second
year because I enjoyed how quiet it was when I needed to study,” while another student
commented, It's conveniently close to the honors classroom and the computer lab. Really,
who doesn’t like free printing? I'm planning on continuing to stay in the Honors Hall but
this is only my first semester.”
The next area of focus on the survey was about the student’s involvement in
clubs and organizations on campus along with any leadership roles that they currently
hold or have held throughout their time at Californian University of Pennsylvania. The
responses received from the descriptive statistics were recorded and demonstrated in bar
graphs as shown in Figures 7 and 8:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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Figure 7:
Figure 8:
As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the range of the data was from 0-17 and the average
number of clubs per student was 3.79 which is approximately 4. The standard deviation
was found to be 2.653 which is approximately 3, ultimately meaning that the average
number of clubs was about 4 give or take 3. Since 2 respondents answer 15 and 17 for the
number of clubs, these two data points were considered outliers and were removed from
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
20
the calculation just to make sure that the data was not skewed. Upon removing the two
responses of 15 and 17 the new range became 0-8, the mean was 3.54 which is
approximately 4, and the standard deviation became 2.01 which is approximately 2. The
statement now becomes, the average number of clubs per students was about 4 give or
take 2. Since the only difference in removing the outliers was in the standard deviation
from 3 to 2, the data is not considered to be skewed. The data for the number of
leadership roles is shown in Figures 9 and 10:
Figure 9:
Figure 10:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
21
As shown in Figures 9 and 10, the range of the data was from 0-20 and the average
number of clubs per student was 1.73 which is approximately 2. The standard deviation
was found to be 2.912 which is approximately 3, ultimately meaning that the average
number of leadership roles was about 2 give or take 3. Since 2 respondents answered 16
and 20 for the number of leadership roles, these two data points were considered outliers
and were removed from the calculation just to make sure that the data was not skewed.
Upon removing the two responses of 16 and 20, the new range became 0-7, the mean was
1.40 which is approximately 1, and the standard deviation became 1.73 which is
approximately 2. The statement now becomes, the average number of leadership roles per
students was about 1 give or take 2. Since the only difference in removing the outliers
was in the standard deviation and mean from 3 to 2 and 2 to 1, respectively, and the data
is still considered to be skewed. Next, a test of correlation was used to see if there were
any significant correlations between the variable of GPA, the number of clubs a student is
involved in or has been involved in, and the number of leadership roles a student
currently holds or has held. Correlation is the statistical measure that indicates the extent
to which two variables fluctuate together. The results of the correlation test with the three
variables are shown in Figure 11:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
22
Figure 11:
From the results of the correlation test in Figure 11, it shows that GPA is highly
correlated with the amount of clubs the student is involved in and also the reverse is
demonstrated as the amount of clubs that the student is involved in, the higher their GPA
was reported as the values were found to be 0.004. It was also shown that the number of
clubs one is involved in, is highly correlated to the number of leadership roles one has
which makes sense because as the amount of clubs increase, the higher probability one
has of obtaining a leadership role. It was also determined through descriptive statistics
that as the data progressed through Freshmen up to Seniors, the number of both clubs and
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
23
leadership roles increase as the rank increased. Through an Anova test, also known as an
analysis of variances, which is used to analyze the differences or variances among groups
and their means, it was determined that there was no significant difference of GPA across
the ranks since a p-value of p=0.448 was found. The averages for the student’s GPAs
were found through descriptive statistics and are shown in Figure 12:
Figure 12:
From Figure 12 it is shown that the four ranks have very similar GPA averages. Noting
that the Seniors had the highest average GPA and that all of the averages among the ranks
and the overall average exceeds the minimum overall GPA requirement of the honors
program which is only a 3.25 overall GPA.
The next set of data consists of the responses regarding the benefits of the
honors program where students were asked to rank them 1-10, with 1 being considered
the best benefit. The data is show below in Figure 13:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
24
Figure 13:
Due to the limitations on rank with the statistical software, frequencies were found for
each benefit including the benefit that received the most “1” responses which was priority
registration. The benefit of completing a capstone project for one’s major received the
highest amount of “10” responses. Next, descriptive statistics were ran on the importance
of eight different aspects of why one would have joined the program. The data is shown
in Figure 14:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
25
Figure 14:
Since the students got to choose their response on a scale from 1 to 5 for each of the eight
columns, calculations included the mean, standard deviation, and the means by each class
rank. As shown in figure 14, each highlighted response for each column shows where on
the scale the highest frequency was recorded. Challenging coursework, faculty, the
honors residence hall, meeting similar people committed to academics, and the small
classroom size all received the greatest frequency count for Agree-4.
Conferences/excursions received a Neutral-3 answer, whereas, both priority registration
and resume builder received the highest frequency for the Strongly Agree-5 part of the
scale. In looking at the means, they were all relatively high and all, but
conferences/excursions and honors resident hall, received an approximate mean of 4
when rounded which means that the results showed the students agreed that all of the
above eight factors were important in each of their own decisions to join the program.
Interesting enough, Seniors had the highest mean for the categories of
conferences/excursions, priority registration, and the honors residence hall. Juniors only
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
26
ranked the highest for resume building. Sophomores ranked the highest means for the
categories of challenging coursework, faculty, meeting similar people committed to
academics, and the small classroom size. The Freshmen did not rank the highest mean in
any of the categories. T-tests are used to determine if there is a significant difference
between two population means or groups. Two t-tests were performed in comparing the
data from both Figures 13 & 14 for Freshmen to Seniors and also Sophomores to Seniors.
I chose these two comparisons because I wanted to see how the views differentiated
between students who had just recently joined the program compared to students who are
going to be completing the program. The comparison between Sophomores and Seniors
was completed in order to see the difference in views between these two groups since the
Sophomore class is the first class to begin the track of preparation classes for the HON
499-Honors Thesis class as they take HON 200 the spring of their Sophomore year and
HON 300 the spring of their Junior year. These classes were set up in order to better
prepare the students for the Honors Thesis class and to gain more knowledge about
research. The results of the two T-tests showed that in comparing Freshmen to Seniors:
the Freshmen significantly viewed meeting similar people committed to academics as a
greater benefit than the Seniors and the Freshmen significantly viewed the Honors
Residence Hall as more important than the Seniors. Also, the Seniors significantly
viewed completing a capstone project for their major as a greater benefit than the
Freshmen, and Seniors also significantly viewed conferences/excursions as more
important than the Freshmen. The second T-test compared Sophomores to Seniors and it
was found that the Sophomores significantly viewed meeting similar people committed to
academics as a greater benefit than the Seniors and the Seniors also significantly viewed
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
27
conferences/excursions as a greater benefit than the Sophomores. The next two responses
were in short answer format to the two questions: Why did you join the University
Honors Program? Are there any other benefits to the University Honors Program that
were not mentioned above? I took all of the responses from the first question and inputted
the wording into a wordle word cloud generator; the results of this are shown in Figure
15:
Figure 15:9
From Figure 15, it is shown that some of the most commonly found words are challenge,
honors, resume, opportunity, experience, future, learning, knowledge, and other; the
bigger the word, the higher frequency the word was found in the survey responses. Nine
of the responses in their original format were as follows:
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
28
1. “At first, it was because I was used to being considered an honors student, but I stay in
to challenge myself and experience things I wouldn't otherwise experience and to add
something to my resume.”
2. “Because of the opportunities it provided, both in terms of academics and
extracurricular activities. Additionally, I appreciated other opportunities such as the
summer study abroad program.”
3. “I appreciated the academic challenge being in the Honors Program presented to me
and I thought it would give me more opportunities to expand my knowledge and to
network.”
4. “I believed that it would provide me with the opportunity to meet other motivated
students, taking interesting courses, and learn to carry out research.”
5. “I chose to join the University Honors Program as a means to expand my knowledge
and help me develop into the best student I can possibly be.”
6. “I knew it would push me to continue working above the average requirements. I like
to be challenged, especially when it comes to something related to my field, and I figured
the Honors Program would do just that.”
7. “I thought there were plenty of benefits to joining the program, and thought I'd give it a
shot. The program has provided me with plenty more opportunities than I could've
expected.”
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
29
8. “I was never in the honors program in my high school and that made me feel like I was
not good enough to be in one. When I got the opportunity to join UHP at Cal, I
immediately felt like I was finally worthy of calling myself an honors student.”
9. “More one on one with both professors and students, Honors status merit on a job
application, resume, etc.”
The next question, “Are there any other benefits to you in regards to the program?” was
an optional question and a lot of great answers were received including some common
themes: addendums, Honors Thesis, SHAB (Student Honors Advisory Board) events
specifically social events, free printing, honors credit on transcript, opportunities for
independent research. Twelve additional responses in their original format were as
follows:
1. “I believe that the courses in the Honors Program require more effort than other
general courses. Since they expect more out of you, you come to expect more out of
yourself. Therefore, it may encourage students to have more confidence in their abilities
with various obstacles.”
2. “Although the people you meet in classes are all similar in respects to their devotion to
academics, it's important to note that we are all from various majors. I wouldn't have met
most of my friends here if I was only in classes for my major.”
3. “Honors Computer Lab, SHAB events, and the welcoming atmosphere. Each time I
have needed something both the Directors and Secretary have been very helpful and
guided me in the right direction to help me succeed, I would not be where I am today
without the University Honors Program!”
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
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4. “I love being a part of the program. It's nice to be a part of something that puts such an
emphasis in our growth in education. The professors take a keen interest in our individual
needs and goals and I think that's really great.”
5. “I loved having the opportunity to travel without any expense and meet people from
Honors programs at other schools. The Honors Program also provided me with great
peers and faculty mentors that have been supportive and have helped me grow.”
6. “I would say that my presence in the program acts as a motivational tool. It's nice (and
at times terrifying) to have to live up to expectations (primarily your own).”
7. “It has forced me to develop relationships with faculty and seek out opportunities in
the community to complete my addendums.”
8. “One-on-one discussion with professors and mentors. For example, the Honors
Program introduced me to philosophy staff that helped me take courses to prepare for the
LSAT. English staff discussed my future as a Peace Corps volunteer given his own
experience. These benefits were invaluable. Also, the library is full of neat books, which I
have checked out on occasion.”
9. “The Honors Composition II class with Dr. Kearcher enabled me to further develop my
writing and research skills. That class has proven useful in all four years of my college
career, as well as various internships I have had.”
10. “The honor's computer lab is very nice, and has saved my grade on multiple
occasions. Thank you very much for giving students a quiet place to work.”
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
11. “It allows you to gain self-confidence. It helps encourage you and allows you to
realize that even if you're not the smartest one in your Honors grad class, you're still
someone special and capable of creating a positive environment for those around you.”
12. “Using my mind in different and creative ways.”
31
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
32
Conclusions and Future Research
Overall, the data analysis provided a significant amount of feedback to be
passed along to the Student Honors Advisory Board, the Honors Advisory Board, and the
University Honors Program Directors to help provide useful information to both current
and upcoming students. It would be interesting for future research to compare student
responses of Honors Program students compared to non-honors students at California
University of Pennsylvania with similar questions to see how the data compares. It would
also be interesting to do an extension of the survey to compare additional conditions such
as surveying students at the beginning and end of each year and tracking those responses
as they complete the program to help gauge what areas to focus interest on for the
students.
HOW DOES YOUR HONORS PROGRAM MEASURE UP?
33
References
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Trucker, J. (2014). Honors and the completion agenda: identifying and duplicating
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