We are completing plans for two new Honors and Scholars programs that will debut in fall 2017, allowing us to enroll more than four hundred additional honors students and bringing us more in line with the honors enrollment at our peer institutions.
“We have 1,600 students in honors programs this year and we’ve seen our applicants’ academic credentials rise every year. As a result, there is a whole segment of academically accomplished students we are currently missing,” said Associate Provost Timothy Hulsey, who directs Honors and Scholars Programs. “Adding these two new programs will help us offer honors programming to more high-performing students, pushing our honors enrollment over two thousand, which is more in line with that of our peers.”
Here’s a look at the two new programs, which are expected to get Undergraduate Council approval this fall.
Honors Leadership Program
We’re emphasizing unique leadership training opportunities through this new honors program. Students in the Honors Leadership Program will complete an honors version of the new leadership minor, as well as a community service requirement. They also will have their own living and learning community.
Honors and Scholars Programs is working closely with the Center for Leadership and Service and the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies on program details.
The program will have the same academic requirements as the Chancellor’s Honors Program—an ACT score of 31 or higher and a high school grade point average of 4.0 or better—and will cater to students with a record of leadership experience and a vision for being future leaders.
Honors Leadership Program students will be eligible for the same institutional scholarships as Chancellor’s Honors students.
The goal is to enroll 125 students per class into this new program.
1794 Scholars Program
Named after the year UT was founded, the 1794 Scholars Program is a two-year program that allows us to extend honors programming to students whose ACT scores range from 28 to 31 with a high school GPA of 3.8 or higher.
The program will give participants the full Volunteer experience through academic engagement and activities that focus on global and cultural awareness, campus involvement, and the Volunteer spirit.
Students in the 1794 Scholars Program will qualify for the HOPE Scholarship and may be eligible for other institutional scholarships. After the two years, these students can transition into the Chancellor’s Honors Program or the honors program within their discipline.
We hope to admit about three hundred students per class to the 1794 Scholars Program.
These two new programs will complement our Haslam Scholars Program and Chancellor’s Honors Program, neither of which will change.
Honors and Scholars Programs is located in the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and has a staff that handles admissions, recruiting, living and learning communities, and alumni relations. Each program has its own director. Associate Director Sylvia Turner is over the Haslam Scholars Program, and Associate Director Rebekah Page is over the Chancellor’s Honors Program. Assistant Director Virginia Stormer has been hired to oversee the 1794 Scholars Program and another assistant director is being recruited to head the Honors Leadership Program.