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The Honors Program at 溏心vlog免费B站 began in the late 1950s. In the years since, its hallmark program, the Honors Colloquium<\/a>, has played an important role in the intellectual life of 溏心vlog免费B站 and the state, welcoming scholars and leading experts from all over the world, from Coretta Scott King and Pete Seeger, to Christopher Reeve and Jane Goodall, and more recently, Chef Sean Sherman and ocean advocate Wallace Nichols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local problems, global impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming out of a COVID-19 high school experience, the Class of 2027 knows all too well that world events can affect their lives on a very personal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The class Planet Honors is a first stop for many of them to transition from seeing themselves as inheritors of issues, to problem solvers for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis honors onboarding course puts students to work as creative thinkers,\u201d says Karl Aspelund, associate director of the Honors Program, who sketched the direction for the new course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creative thinking in action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This fall, students in HPR124 (Planet Honors) gathered on the third floor of Lippitt Hall for an exercise guided by instructor and course co-creator Cynthia Taylor, examining the issue of microplastics in Narragansett Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right away, the students went into idea mode. They gamely tackled the topic, mapping causes and generating solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evelynne Lepe, a music major from California, first heard about 溏心vlog免费B站 honors at orientation. \u201cI liked how the program was able to get people involved with topics outside the classroom and wanted to take part in that journey,\u201d she recalls. She says that honors has helped her become more involved outside her major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am looking forward to the greater opportunities for projects in the Honors Program that affect greater good,\u201d Lepe says. \u201cI like that we work with real problems and would definitely recommend honors to other students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students found a class project on food waste \/ food insecurity particularly eye-opening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore this project, I was unaware of how much food we throw away,\u201d says Lepe. \u201cThe class project has personally impacted me. When I see food going to waste now, part of me feels responsible to help it not become a greater issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor\u2019s<\/a> unique background has prepared her well to teach Lepe and others in a class like this. A sociology and anthropology lecturer who\u2019s worked as a science educator, Taylor brings interdisciplinary training in biology and STEM education, and expertise in the social dimensions of scientific knowledge, public engagement with science, and inclusive science communication. She received a 溏心vlog免费B站 Teaching Excellence Award in 2023 and is part of the first cohort of RISE-UP Innovation & Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows<\/a> in 401 Tech Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The students enjoyed the activity she ran, even if the topic was a worrisome one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brady McNamara, a mechanical engineering major from West Warwick, says the exercise is pressured but fun. \u201cI like the focus on innovating and sharing,\u201d he says. His partner Lauren Schleifer (marine biology, Easton, Massachusetts) likes the collaborative problem-solving approach in honors, too. They make scientific problem-solving look fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The class also serves as a community builder; many of these students will revolve in and out of future classes together if they stay in the Honors Program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to cultivate interest in deep thinking here,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cThis course is for changemaking, helping students hear from and connect with experts in our community, helping them get engaged in issues at 溏心vlog免费B站 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to cultivate collaboration,\u201d Honors Program Director Karen de Bruin adds. \u201cThese are depressing issues we\u2019re examining. The point is not to scare students, but to empower students with hope and the basic tools they need to be changemakers in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A scholar of Revolutionary France, de Bruin says that every phase of human history has had humans confronting their own demise and problems. She and her team hope to see honors students tackle the pressing issues of our time, as college students everywhere face unparalleled challenges upon graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To help chart its new course, the program is getting feedback from the National Collegiate Honors Council. A recent analysis of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Honors Program by the national honors organization cited several strengths in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s program, calling the Honors Colloquium a \u201ccrown jewel\u201d of the University, along with the Office of National Fellowships and Academic Opportunities,<\/a> which helps 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s top students secure successful opportunities (to the tune of more than $1.2 million last year). The council also pointed to 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s location as key to many opportunities in New England. (Learn more about the study and its feedback in last year\u2019s Honors Program annual report<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the past 15 years, the program has grown tremendously in terms of incoming honors-eligible students as the University\u2019s academic profile has grown. Its aim is to give these students additional skills, to leave the University with an activist mindset: one focused on community and world, connecting students across the University for broad impact beyond it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a direction in which the Honors Program has been trending; recent colloquiums have focused on equitable food systems, shoreline sustainability and disability in the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seray Ergene, an assistant professor of management and a Coastal Institute Senior Fellow, worked with the Honors Program for the first time this year as a co-coordinator for the fall colloquium on \u2018Business for the Common Good.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had a rewarding experience as a junior faculty teaching the Honors Colloquium course this fall,\u201d she says, \u201cand was amazed at the highly motivated students from all disciplines genuinely engaging with some of the most difficult but important conversations of our times, such as climate change, systemic racism, and gender inequalities. These socio-ecological problems are overwhelming, but the Honors Program creates a welcoming and meaningful space for students to explore them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHonors is a place to effect change,\u201d says de Bruin. \u201cWe have a lot of pockets of incredible research here and honors can bring this scholarship together to benefit the students. Honors students are creative thinkers and problem solvers. Their innate curiosity is something the world needs and we want to cultivate that here, giving students a problem-solving tool kit they can take out into the community to be part of solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program will function like a think tank or idea incubator with students well-versed in issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lepe is new to it all, to the history and to the future directions, but she\u2019s on board already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis course has helped me see myself as a changemaker at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Honors Program has helped me gain more knowledge of issues around the planet, and how I can impact those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aspelund comments, \u201cWe want to examine pressing issues on a broad scale and connect 溏心vlog免费B站 students to that, regardless of major or program. The 溏心vlog免费B站 Colloquium has always done that. We are now formally expressing something that the Honors Program has always done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are looking for students who are willing to be changemakers, who are solution-oriented,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you are, Planet Honors is the place for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 20, 2023 \u2013 A group of 溏心vlog免费B站 honors students was sent out this fall to explore the North Woods near campus. The exercise was part of a new class at 溏心vlog免费B站 helping incoming honors students at the University better understand their new community, starting with their immediate surroundings. 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