Mission Statement

The Butte College Honors Program offers curious and self-motivated students an active, challenging education experience. The Program focuses on primary texts, and emphasizes discussion and independent critical thinking.

Program Description

The Honors Program offers an enriched academic experience for those students who demonstrate intellectual potential and personal commitment. As a result, successful Honors students are better prepared to continue their studies and bring their academic talents and abilities to the attention of prospective employers.

Although Honors courses meet General Education requirements for transfer to the California State University and University of California systems, this program is not designed expressly for purposes of transfer, but rather to aid and inspire students in their other coursework at Butte College. Classes require analyzing primary original works in the area discipline, writing a minimum of 5,000 words in analytical papers and reading responses, and participating in seminar-type discussions.  Additionally, classes emphasize critical and independent thinking, and original responses to the course material.

The Honors Program Certificate officially recognizes students who successfully complete 19 interdisciplinary units from among the specially designated Honors courses within Butte College curriculum. Recognition, acknowledged on the successful student’s official record and transcripts, indicates a seriousness, dedication, and greater potential for success.

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

In response to a top-to-bottom assessment, the Honors Program was completely redesigned in a transition that launched in 2013-2014. As detailed below, the focus of the Program was broadened from western to global, outdated classes were eliminated from the Program, new ones were created from scratch, courses were distributed from a centralized Honors Department into the departments whose faculty developed them (and in which they now satisfy IGETSE transfer standards), and a Program Capstone class was created to synthesize students' learning and experience within Honors.
Data from the outcomes assessment report:
HON 11 - The main planned improvement is to add more Honors classes into the schedule. Currently there are eight classes; as of fall 2016, there will be 11. The ultimate plan is to create enough Honors sections of existing GE classes that students can finish their entire IGETC GE in Honors classes, thus better preparing them for their experience in 4-year schools when they transfer.
 
 

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (OSLED Departments)

			College			Program
Indicator	Source	2013-2014 Performance	Standard	Five Year Goal	Fall 2014 Performance	Standard	Five Year Goal
Course Success
-          Overall	PDR	71.1%	70%	73%
-          Transfer/GE	PDR	71.5%		73%	80%	70%	80%
-          CTE	PDR	75%		77%
-          Basic Skills	PDR	51.7%		55%
-          Distance Ed (all)	PDR	62.5%		64%
Persistence (Focused).  Note:  The Persistence (Focused) that is included in the PDR is a different indicator than the three-primary term persistence indicator, from the state Student Success Scorecard, that is used to measure institutional persistence.  The Focused Persistence indicator measures the percentage of students that took a second course in a discipline within one year. There is no relationship between the college and program standards in this area.	PDR	72.6%    (Three-Term) Scorecard	67% (Three-Term) Scorecard	75% (Three-Term) Scorecard	36.1%	35%	60%
Degrees	PDR	1,455		1,600
Certificates	PDR	366		475	CC: 0	CC: 2	CC: 7
Developmental Strand Completion
-          English	State	42%		45%
-          Math	State	30.7%		33%
-          ESL	State	25%		28%
Licensure Pass Rates
-          Registered Nursing	SC
-          Licensed Vocational Nursing	SC
-          Respiratory Therapy	SC
-          Paramedic	SC
-          Cosmetology	SC
-          Welding	SC
Job Placement Rates	PIV

                                          The Honors Program is in compliance with the standards. Success rates for Honors is at the high end of the range over the past four years (59%-80%). There are relatively few students in this program; these numbers have varied from 22 to 71 over the past four years. And Focused Persistence is at the low end of the four-year range (36.1% - 47.4%).  When it was started, about two decades ago, the Honors Program was conceived and set up as a tiny, elitist offering of very traditional, western "great books" courses for a very small subgroup of hand-picked students. When the founding chair resigned, there were six courses on the roster. In the last 10 years, the Program has evolved dramatically: we have doubled the number of courses the program offers (with two more going through Curriculum this year, and two more in development), reorganized the program to distribute the courses throughout the institution so they are taught within the applicable and appropriate departments (rather than, as originally, the exclusive purview of hand-picked English and Philosophy colleagues of the chair), and added a Certificate of Achievement. That said, however, part of the intention of the reorganization has been to make the program of interest, appeal, and use to a broader segment of our student population than simply those interested from the start of their college careers in completing an Honors Program. The new design affords students the opportunity to sample the program by taking, for example, an Honors class in a field in which they are particularly interested. Obviously, it is hoped that students will respond well to and succeed in that class, and that it becomes a springboard into a broader participation in the program. To this end, persistence in the program is, while desirable, not a primary focus of its design. However, obviously, we also want to best serve those of our students who do wish to persist in or complete the program. To that end, HON 11 must continue to be offered every semester since it is the program capstone class, which is required for the Certificate of Achievement in Honors. One of the challenges these students may face at present has been inconsistency in courses offered from fall term to fall term. This is primarily a function of the fact that the program is still in transition. In fall 2016, we will be adding three new classes to the Honors schedule: ENGL 52H, ECON 20H, and PSC 30H. Other faculty are also working on PSY 1H, SPAN 1H & 2H, POS 2H, MATH 18H. (The plan is that, by 2020, the Program will offer a motivated Butte student the opportunity to take all of his or her GE classes within Honors.) When all these classes are completed, the Honors Chair will create a two-year cycle encompassing all classes offered within the program, ensuring that each Honors class is offered at least once every two years. There will be 3-4 Certificates of Achievement in Honors completed by the end of 2015-2016 year. New classes starting in fall 2016 are expected to increase enrollment.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

The Honors Program is a mainstay of support in Enhancing the College's Culture of Completion and Academic Achievement (Strategic Initiative 1). The Program's primary purpose is to offer students an academic opportunity to reach further, try harder, challenge themselves more deeply than may be possible in their non-Honors classes--and to succeed in that environment. Honors classes are structured more like seminar-style upper-division courses at four-year institutions (our students have transferred to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Brigham Young, Columbia, and many more), and stress independent, critical thinking that will serve them in any professional pursuit.
Our restructuring of the Program has also reinforced Butte's strategic goal of Enhancing a Culture of Inclusiveness by making the Program more accessible and enhancing student equity (Strategic Initiative 6). We long ago eliminated a minimum GPA, and we recently eliminated the prerequisite of English 2. Far from reducing or eliminating standards for the Program, we believe these changes give more students an opportunity to demonstrate that, whatever they may have achieved (or not achieved) in the past, they can accept the challenge of the Honors curriculum and prove themselves now.

Program Review

1. Outreach to increase awareness of and enrollment in the Honors Program has been increased by having Honors students give presentations dymystifying the program every semester in as many English 2 classes as possible (since until this year English 2 was the prereq for Honors, and it continues to be a good single course to reach out to for Honors, since writing is a mainstay of the program). One visit to Chico High English students to promote the program was made by Honors students; this outreach needs to be continued and increased to other area high schools.
2. Since the 2013 Program Review, several new Honors classes have been added to the schedule, and more are either in Curriculum or under construction.
3. The program remains in transition; however, assessment has been ongoing in the program's Unit Plans.
4. The Honors Program's budget remains at $500. 
5. Collegiality between students and instructors has always been, and continues to be a major strength of the Honors Program.
6. Honors students continue to transfer to prestigious colleges and universities. Perhaps, now that Butte College has hired a full-time researcher, these transfers can begin to be tracked.

Department Goals

1. Restructure Honors yearly course schedule as new Honors courses are added in fall 2016.
2. Continue working on improving enrollment; hopefully the new classes will help with this, and we will also continue to have one of more Honors student give presentations to English 2, College Connection, and other classes. Once all new Honors classes are complete and 2-year cycle is established, the program will step up work with Butte's marketinG departmen.
3. Meet with all Honors instructors to discuss common goals and pedagogy.
4. Continue working with instructors in various departments to complete Honors courses in progress.

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources

Augmentation Requests

Original Priority	Program, Unit, Area	Resource Type	Account Number	Object Code	One Time Augment	Ongoing Augment
Description	Supporting Rationale		Potential Alternative Funding Sources		Prioritization Criteria
1	Honors, LAMS	Operating Expenses	110006161490100	54000	$0.00	$3,000.00
Increase Program Budget	To have money for Program operating expenses (which for years has had to depend on money from the Vice President of Instruction's budget, or from other departments/deans with budget money to spare). With an actual Program budget, we could create an inviting website, pay for department printing costs of brochures, bookmarks, and other recruitment documents, and pay for a student assistant to help promote the program in other Butte classes.				Directly supporting meeting department standards/goals for student achievement and/or supporting the college in meeting its student achievement standards and/or goals Supports Previous Program Review Recommendations Reaching the Sustainable Continuous Quality Improvement level on the implementation of Student Learning Outcomes Providing effective electronically mediated communication (e.g. website, social media, marketing materials, wifi access)