1. Mission
The Honors Program, through its diverse curriculum, stresses the challenge of ideas, champions a breadth of perspective, and seeks depth of understanding. The program provides students with the opportunity to challenge themselves through the Honors curriculum, and the opportunity to perform and write about original research, creative activity, or experiential work through the Honors Capstone. The program is open to all qualified applicants and has a limited number of scholarships based on academic merit.
The following procedures and policies have been approved to clarify and/or establish practices for use in this Program. The policies and procedures mandated by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors and Board of Regents for Higher Education, hereinafter referred to as “the Contract”, remain in effect and the following serves only as a supplement. In case of any inadvertent conflict, the main contract provisions take precedence.
2. Director
A. Term of Director
The Director is appointed for a term of 3 years. The term officially begins at the start of the Academic year.
B. Selection of Director
1. Nomination: The Director shall be elected by electronic ballot. Elections shall normally occur in the Fall semester before the end of the current Director’s term to allow for one semester of training for the Director-elect. All voting members of the Program may submit nominations by secret ballot, and all nominees who are willing to serve shall be included on the election ballot. Only full-time, tenured members of the Program shall be eligible to serve as Director.
2. Voting Procedure: From the list of nominees, voters shall cast one vote for Director. Whoever receives the majority of the votes wins the election. In the event of a tie between the highest vote getters, a run-off election (or elections) shall be held until one of these candidates has achieved the majority vote.
3. Monitoring: The secretary or assistant of the program shall monitor the election. Should the case arise where the secretary or assistant of the program is a nominee for Director, the current Director shall appoint three Program members to oversee the election.
4. Recommendation for Appointment: The name of the person with the majority vote shall be forwarded to the President through the Provost or their designee for appointment as Director.
C. Duties/responsibilities
The Director shall administer and oversee the Program and its facilities with the advice of the members. In matters mandated by the contract and in all matters when feasible, the consent of the members shall be sought.
3. Program members
Any faculty member scheduled for 1 or more credits of load in HON courses or H-designated sections of other courses during the current academic year or the immediate past academic year is considered a Program member and may vote on actions affecting the Program. Additionally, all faculty members with fewer credits of load in HON or H-designated sections of courses during the current academic year shall elect a single representative to act as a Program member at the beginning of the Fall semester and may also vote. All other members are considered ancillary members of the Program and may attend meetings but may not vote on actionable items, including the election of Director and approval of committees.
4. Program Proceedings
A. Frequency of Program Meetings
A Program Meeting shall be called at least once a semester. The Director may call additional meetings during the academic year as appropriate. Upon request of at least 30% of the Program members, the Director shall convene a within two weeks to address the concerns of the members who have called for a meeting.
B. Quorum
A quorum shall be a simple majority of voting faculty members of the Program. Decisions made at the meeting shall be based on a majority vote of Program members present. If a quorum is not present, actionable items may be sent to voting Program members by email, with a minimum of 5 business days allowed for questions and discussion. Email votes must then be sent to the Director. An email vote is considered valid if 50% of voting members cast ballots. Voting deadlines may not be extended; therefore, and vote that does not reach the 50% threshold by the deadline is considered to have failed.
C. Program Meeting Agenda
The Director shall distribute the agenda for each Program meeting at least one week prior to the meeting. Any Program member may request an item to be placed on the agenda within four days of the scheduled meeting.
D. Program Meeting Minutes
Minutes of each Program meeting shall be made available to all members of the Program within two weeks of the meeting. Copies of the minutes shall be kept on file in the Program office. Meeting minutes shall only identify, by name, (i) members present and (ii) those who bring, or who second (when applicable), motions from the floor.
E. Program Meeting Secretary
The Program secretary shall serve as the secretary for each program meeting. If the Program secretary is unavailable the Director shall ask for a volunteer to serve as secretary for that meeting.
5. Program Committees-Appointive
A. General
1. Appointment: The Director appoints full-time faculty members to standing appointive committees. Committees may be staffed with current or past voting or non-voting members of the Program. A slate of appointed members must be presented to voting Program members no later than September 15, at which time the Program will vote on accepting the slate.
2. Duties: Each committee shall consider and make recommendations to the Program for action on all proposals initiated by the committee, or the Director of the Program, or any faculty member of the Program.
3. Minutes: Minutes or other appropriate records of all such committee meetings shall be distributed to the full-time faculty of the Program. Meeting minutes shall only identify, by name, (i) members present and (ii) those who bring, or who second (when applicable), motions from the floor.
4. The Evaluation of Committee Recommendations: All recommendations by such committees shall be approved by the voting members.
B. Curriculum Committee
1. Constituency: Shall consist of three faculty.
2. Duties:
a) To consider and make recommendations to the Director for action on approval of H-designation for course sections, cross-listed courses, and individualized H-designated contract learning, and program addition, deletion, or revision.
b) To assist and make recommendations to the Program Director on the cycling and/or scheduling of courses at all levels.
c) To review undergraduate catalog copy.
C. Assessment Committee
1. Constituency: Shall consist of two faculty and the Director (ex officio voting member).
2. Duties:
a) To develop assessment strategies to review the Program’s program and course offerings.
b) To report annually upon the Program’s progress in assessment activities.
D. Recruiting and Admissions Committee
1. Constituency: Shall consist of two faculty and the Director (ex officio voting member).
2. Duties:
a) To obtain records and make recommendations for candidates for admissions to the Honors Program and distribution of Honors scholarships.
b) To prepare recruitment materials (e.g., brochures, emails, etc…) when needed.
c) To obtain appropriate publicity for Program activities and individual faculty achievements.
E. Bylaws Committee
1. Constituency: Shall consist of one faculty Member.
2. Duty:
a) To annually circulate the bylaws for discussion and suggest updates and modifications for vote by the Program faculty as needed (to reflect current Program policy).
6. Revisions and Amendments
This document may be revised and/or amended by a vote of a majority of the Program members.
Adopted by a vote of the Honors faculty on April 27, 2023