The honors program is planning to make a major change in the fall of 2009.

Honors students will be required to take two classes called Values and Actions and Values in Scholarship during their sophomore year.

The honors program has already met and discussed the pros and cons of adding two classes to the students’ workload this past spring.

Several students, including honors students, the colleges and BGeXperience faculty have given their input on the potential change.

Paul Moore, director of the honors program, said change happens every year in the honors program because the program seeks feedback from graduates, students and faculty.

“There are different wants and needs and students need to vocalize these concerns,” Moore said. “If we don’t have this feedback, we can’t make this program effective.”

Agreeing with Moore is sophomore, Joshua Ebert, who said the students are completely involved in this transition.

“As these changes have been put into implementation, the honors faculty has strived to keep students involved and has desired to make the students’ opinions key in the process,” Ebert said. “The staff has held seminars, discussions, requested feedback in various forms’ … they truly care about the students’ best interests.”

Meeting with students brought attention to potential stumbling blocks the honors program may have to consider.

“We have to take into account all the obstacles students could face with trying to balance a service learning class along with being involved in organizations and jobs,” said Jodi Devine, associate director of Academic Affairs. “This fall is the time for us to come up with solutions to these concerns.”

Honors students are already required to take two classes, Great Ideas (A’S 250) and Introduction to Critical Thinking (Honors 201), and they have to complete an honors project by the end of senior year in order to graduate with honors.

The Values and Action course will consist of ideas learned in BGeXperience perspective classes.

The course will take issues such as poverty, politics and government and make them into some sort of service project.

The second course, Values in Scholarship, will be taken during the spring semester of their sophomore year.

The course will consist of students making a contribution to the field of their specified researched issue/topic.

“Having all four courses required for the honor students will be a great benefit for them because it will be an integration of the knowledge, experience and discipline they have gained,” Devine said.

The change to add two more classes started with the student advisory board in the honors program asking their program to have something for them to stay on track in their college years.

The board is a committee of students that serve as representatives of the honors students to the faculty, to gather feedback, discuss, plan and guide this transition.

“They wanted to stay engaged in the middle, during their sophomore year, because they have obligations during their freshmen and senior year,” Devine said. “The students said we provide an end of the year capstone for their senior year and an introduction during their first year, but nothing in the middle to help them stay motivated to graduate with honors.”

By adding these two classes, the honors program hopes to increase the number of students that graduate with honors.

Devine said she hopes these changes and students taking part in the program will increase the students’ ability to demonstrate better learning outcomes.

“All four years we want to keep the students involved,” she said. “Our program focuses on the three learning outcomes that the University sets out, which is for the students to be critical and constructive thinkers, have skillful communication and to have the ability to engage others in action.”

The honors program plans to have a smooth transition into these new changes by involving many people at the University.

Overall, people have had positive feelings on the proposal of new classes.

Ebert said he thinks the new changes will bring great opportunities for the students.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to be a part of such a big change,” Ebert said. “The classes will take the traditional styles of learning and expand them to a more contemporary style; education will be taken outside of the classroom walls, and students will be encouraged to implement studies and new skills in the community/world.”