Curriculum Vitae Thomas Morris Spencer

Phone: E-mail address: Education 2013-Present M.S., College Student Affairs, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL Enrolled part-time studying the role of housing in the personal development of Honors students. 1992-1996 PhD, History, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Major Fields: U.S. History Since 1865, U.S. Urban and Social History Minor Fields: Latin America (particularly Mexico), American Studies

1990-1992 M.A., History, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 1986-1990 B.A., History, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX Academic Appointments and Professional Experience 2012-Present Director of Honors Student Affairs, Sandra and Jack Pine Honors College, Eastern Illinois University

In charge of routine administrative matters for approximately 500 Honors students

Extensive experience working with Banner, Argos, Reportal, and Astra Campus Information Systems

Coordinator of Departmental Honors Program (24 different departmental programs)

Supervise Honors Admissions, Recruitment, and Orientation

Pine Honors College’s share of the incoming freshman class increased to more than 11.5% (a record) in Fall 2014

Scholarship Officer managing 190 Scholarships worth approximately $984,000 annually

Graduation Certification Officer

Coordinator, National Student Exchange, 21 outgoing students, 11 incoming students from 2012-Present

Liaison with The Washington Center internship program

Supervise a student staff of ten students

Helped create an Pine Honors College Housing Community, Fall 2014

In charge of Pine Honors College Social Media Program (Twitter and Facebook), 2013-2014

Taught an Adult Education class about Lincoln in American History, Spring 2013

Taught the University Foundations course, Fall 2013

Taught Honors Forum, Honors 1190, in the Fall of 2014

Thomas M. Spencer – page two Academic Appointments and Professional Experience (continued) 2010-2012 Professor of History (with tenure), Northwest Missouri State University

Taught a 3/3 load, Honors Freshman Seminar, and mentored two new faculty

Table Leader, U.S. History Advanced Placement Reading

Supervised 3 Master’s theses, averaged 44 undergraduate History student advisees

Averaged 240 students in all courses per academic year 2008-2012 Director of the Honors Program, Northwest Missouri State University

Grew Northwest’s Honors Program from 82 students to 207 students, 2008-2012

Made numerous curricular and administrative improvements for Honors students

Taught the Honors section of the American Historical Survey course

Helped to create an Honors Program Living-Learning Community

Taught an Honors section of the Freshman Seminar course, 2009-2011

Worked with 10-member Honors Program Advisory Committee

Created the Honors Program Study Abroad Program to Italy and Greece, Summer 2012

Honors Advising for all Northwest Honors students (150+ in 2011 and 2012) 2004-2010 Associate Professor of History (with tenure), Northwest Missouri State University

Taught a 4/4 load and the Freshman Seminar course all six years

Advisor, Society of Presidential Scholars (service organization), 2003-2012

A.P. U.S. History Reader, 2004-2007, Table leader, 2008-2010

Supervised 3 Master’s Theses, Averaged 33 undergraduate student advisees

Averaged 381 students in all courses per academic year 1997-2004 Assistant Professor of History, Northwest Missouri State University

Taught 4/4 load and Freshman Seminar Course, 1998-2004

Advisor, Phi Alpha Theta (History Honors Society), 1998-2003

A.P. U.S. History Reader, 1998-2004

Supervised 2 Master’s Theses, Averaged 19 undergraduate student advisees

Averaged 393 students in all courses per academic year 1996-1997 Adjunct Instructor, History Department, Butler University

Visiting Lecturer, History Department, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Visiting Lecturer, History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington Visiting Lecturer, History Department, Indiana University-East

1995-1997 Instructor, Division of Extended Studies, Indiana University

Thomas M. Spencer – page three Academic Appointments and Professional Experience (continued) 1991-1992 Graduate Teaching Assistant, History Department, University of Missouri-

Columbia 1993-1996 Associate Instructor and Course Assistant, History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington Publications

“’Everything Seems to be Going Backwards These Days’: The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha,” Nebraska History (forthcoming in 2015).

Editor and Contributor, The Mormon Experience in Missouri (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010).

“’Persecution in the most odious sense of the word’: A Brief History of Mormon-Missourian Conflict.” This introduction, a stand-alone article itself, is in the Mormon Experience in Missouri volume. “’Was this really Missouri civilization?’: The Haun’s Mill Massacre in Missouri and Mormon History,” also in the Mormon Experience in Missouri.

“’Demand nothing but what is strictly right and submit to nothing that is

wrong’: Governor Lilburn Boggs and the Honey War of 1839,” Missouri Historical Review 103 (1), October 2008, 22-40.

Editor and Contributor, The Other Missouri History: Populists, Prostitutes, and Regular Folk (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005).

“The Bald Knobbers, Anti-Bald Knobbers, Politics and the Culture of Violence in the Ozarks, 1860-1890.” This essay appears in The Other Missouri History.

“The Parade Time Forgot: While the Royal procession marches on, KC’s once-mighty Priests of Pallas celebration has faded away,” Kansas City Star Magazine, October 6, 2002, 20-21.

The Veiled Prophet Celebration in St. Louis: Power on Parade, 1877-1995 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000). “A Panorama of Progress: Genteel Cultural Hegemony and the Veiled Prophet in St. Louis, 1878-1899, in Janice Brandon-Falcone and Richard Frucht, American Dreams, American Realities: An Introduction to the Uses of History, 2nd Edition, (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1999).

Thomas M. Spencer – page four Publications (continued)

"Power on Parade: The Origins of the Veiled Prophet Celebration in St. Louis," Gateway Heritage: The Quarterly Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis 14 (2), Fall 1993, 38-53.

Published Book Reviews Review of Greg Olson, Voodoo Priests, Noble Savages, and Ozark Gypsies: The Life of Folklorist Mary Alicia Owen, Missouri Historical Review 109 (1), October 2014, 67-68. Review of Jon E. Taylor, A President, a Church, and Trails West: Competing Histories in Independence, Missouri, Fall 2008 issue of Annals of Iowa. Review of Carl E. Kramer and Mary Kagin Kramer, This Place We Call Home: A History of Clark County, Indiana, December 2008 issue of Indiana Magazine of History.

Review of Craig S. Campbell, Images of the New Jerusalem: Latter Day Saint Faction Interpretations of Independence Missouri, in the 2006 issue

of John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, 261-262. Review of Authorene Wilson Phillips, Arrow Rock: The Story of a Missouri Village, Annals of Iowa, 64 (4) Fall 2005, 384. Review of Eric Sandweiss, editor, St. Louis in the Century of Henry Shaw: A View beyond the Garden Wall, Journal of American History, 90 (4) March 2004, 1471-1472. Review of Judith Berg Sobre, San Antonio on Parade: Six Historic Festivals, American Historical Review, 109 (1) February 2004, 214. Review of Janet M. Davis, The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the

American Big Top, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 3 (1) January 2004, 99-101. Review of Zane Miller, Visions of Place: the City, Neighborhoods, Suburbs, and Cincinnati’s Clifton, 1850-2000, Journal of American History, 89 (3) December 2002, 1062-1063. Review of Ellen Litwicki, America’s Public Holidays, 1865-1920 for the Journal of American History, 88 (3), December 2001, 1112-1113. Review of Insane Sisters: Or, the Price Paid for Challenging a Company Town for the Missouri Historical Review, Spring 2001

Thomas M. Spencer – page five Published Book Reviews (continued)

Review of From the Palaces to the Pike: Visions of the 1904 World’s Fair for the Indiana Magazine of History, September 1998, 273-274.

Honors Presentations

Panelist, “Honors Recruitment, Retention, and Social Media,” General Session, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, Denver, Colorado, November 5-9, 2014. Panelist, “Developing a Unique Identity for your Honors Program or College,” Developing in Honors, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, Denver, Colorado, November 5-9, 2014.

Panelist, “Honors College Recruiting in the 21st Century,” General Session, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 8, 2013.

Panelist, “National Student Exchange and Honors,” Developing in Honors, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 7, 2013. Panelist, “Faculty Development for Honors Pedagogy,” Developing in Honors, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 7, 2013. Panelist, “Celebration of Teaching and Learning Forum,” National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 6, 2013.

Panelist, “Maximizing the Honors Budget in Difficult Economic Times,” Developing in Honors, National Collegiate Council Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, November 15, 2012. Panelist, “Seeing It Through: Retention Strategies,” Developing in Honors, National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, Kansas City, Missouri, October 21, 2010.

Scholarly Presentations

“Mormonising the Abolitionists: David Atchison, the Mormon War and Bleeding Kansas,” Missouri Conference on History, Kansas City, Missouri, April 2011.

“Governor Lilburn Boggs and the Honey War of 1839,” Mid-America

Conference on History, Springfield, Missouri, September 25-27, 2008.

Thomas M. Spencer – page six Scholarly Presentations (continued)

“‘Persecution in the most odious sense of the word’: Understanding the Anti-Mormon Mob’s actions in Jackson County, Missouri, 1831-1834,” John Whitmer Historical Association Conference, September 27-30, 2007, Kirtland, Ohio.

“The Mormon War, Land Hunger, and the Haun’s Mill Massacre, ” Missouri Mormon Experience Conference, Jefferson City, Missouri, September 8-9, 2006.

“Law and Order or a Coup d-etat?: The Baldknobbers, Anti-Baldknobbers, Politics, and Violence in the Ozarks, 1860-1890," Friends of the Missouri State Archives Lecture Series, January 12, 2006. “’Was this really Missouri civilization?’: The Haun’s Mill Massacre in

Missouri History,” John Whitmer Historical Association Conference, Springfield, Illinois, October 29-31, 2005. “’Things Are Not on the Up and Up’: The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha,

1919-2004,” Missouri Valley Conference on History, Omaha, Nebraska, March 4-5, 2005.

“The Challenge of Missouri History and Politics: The Divided Mind of Missouri,” invited lecture, Missouri Western State College, St. Joseph, Missouri, October 7, 2004.

“Kansas City’s Forgotten Festival, The Priests of Pallas,” Jackson

County Historical Society’s Roger T. Sermon History Hour Series, September 8, 2004. “’Everything Seems to Be Going Backwards These Days’: The Knights of

Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha,” Popular Culture Association / American Culture

Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas, April 7-10, 2004.

“A Loss of Control and Ambivalence: Social and Cultural Landscapes as

Portrayed in Annual Celebrations in Kansas City and St. Louis, 1878-1924.”

Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association Conference,

New Orleans, Louisiana, April 16-18, 2003.

“’A Bit of Mardi Gras in Kansas City’: The Priests of Pallas Celebration in Kansas City, 1887-1922.” Conference on Holidays, Ritual, and Public Celebration, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, May 27-29, 2002.

“The Bald Knobbers, Anti-Bald Knobbers, Politics and Violence in the Ozarks, 1860-1890.” Mid-America Conference on History, September 20-22, 2001, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Thomas M. Spencer – page seven Scholarly Presentations (continued) “A War Between Civilization and Barbarism: The Bald Knobbers Vigilante Band and Cultural Conflict in the Missouri Ozarks, 1860-1890.”

Mid-America American Studies Association Conference, April 20-21, 2001, Madison, Wisconsin.

“Whacking the Elephant Where It Hurts: ACTION, the Veiled Prophet Organization and Economic Justice in St. Louis, 1965-1984, Missouri Conference on History / Organization of American Historians Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, March 30-April 1, 2000. “Digital Dreams and Multiple Personalities: Technology in the History Classroom at Northwest Missouri State University, National Social Studies Association Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, November 10-12, 1999.

“St. Louis as the Pinnacle of Civilization: Depictions of American Identity in the Veiled Prophet Parade, 1878-1899,” Mid-America Conference on History, Springfield, Missouri, September 18-20, 1999.

“A Panorama of Progress: Genteel Cultural Hegemony and the Veiled Prophet in St. Louis, 1878-1899,” Popular Culture Association of the Pacific, Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Laie, Hawaii, January 28-30, 1999. “Power on Parade: The Origins of the Veiled Prophet Celebration in St. Louis,” Conference on Holidays, Ritual, and Public Celebration, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, May 29-31, 1998. “ACTION and the Veiled Prophet Organization,” Indiana University History Graduate Student Association Symposium, Bloomington, Indiana, March 23, 1996.

“The Peculiar Origins of the Veiled Prophet Organization," Missouri

Conference on History, Columbia, Missouri, April 1992. Faculty Research Grants Awarded Summer Research Assistance Award, Honey War Project, College of Arts and Sciences, Northwest Missouri State University, Summer 2008.

“’Arise! To Arms!’: Governor Lilburn Boggs and the Honey War of 1839,"

Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2006-2007.

“The Mormon Experience in Jackson County, Missouri, 1830-33,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2005-2006.

Thomas M. Spencer – page eight Faculty Research Grants Awarded (continued)

“The Haun’s Mill Massacre in Missouri, Mormon, and Western History,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2004-2005.

“The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2003-2004.

“The Priests of Pallas in Kansas City: An Unusual Civic Celebration,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2001-2002.

“From River Town to Industrial Metropolis: St. Louis 1865-1900,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 2000-2001.

“The Bald Knobbers: A Reassessment,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 1999-2000. “A short visit to the archives of the Missouri Historical Society,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 1998-1999.

“The Working Class Press, ‘The Big Cinch’ and the Veiled Prophet Celebration in St. Louis, 1877-1900,” Northwest Missouri State University Faculty Research Grant, 1997-1998. National Endowment for the Humanities Institute Participant, “Space and Society in the Past: Landscape, Power, and Identity

in the Early Modern Atlantic World,” National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, Pennsylvania State University, July 1-August 2, 2002.

Courses Taught

American History to 1865 American History Since 1865 American Historical Survey, 1600-Present Introduction to Philosophy Rise of Modern America, 1865-1940 United States Since 1945 History of the South Survey of Indiana History American Foreign Relations Colony to Nation, 1607-1848 History of Missouri Constitutional History of the United States

Freshman Seminar Special Topics in Humanities: Faculty-Led European Tour Senior Seminar

The Historian’s Craft

Thomas M. Spencer – page nine Courses Taught (continued) Graduate Readings Course in the Rise of Modern America, 1865-1940

Graduate Readings Course in U.S. Public Space and Public Culture University Foundations (Eastern Illinois University) Honors Forum (Eastern Illinois University)

Service

Member, Admissions Review Committee, Illinois Math and Science Academy, 2015-Present

Member, Teaching & Learning Committee, National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), 2010-Present Manuscript Reviewer, University of Missouri Press, 2010-Present Candidate, Board of Directors, NCHC, 2012-2014 North Central Association Self-Study Committee Member, Eastern Illinois

University, 2013-2014 Hearing Committee Member, Student Standards, Eastern Illinois University, 2012-2014 Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Maryville, 2010-2012

Coordinator, Region I Missouri History Day, 2008-2012 Table Leader, A.P. U.S. History Reading, 2008-2012 Chair, Missouri Conference on History Book Award, 2009 Co-Chair, Steering Committee, Maryville Chautauqua, Summer 2006 Chair, Missouri Conference on History, 2005 Faculty Sponsor, Sigma Pi Sigma (Service Organization), 2004-2007 Board of Directors, Nodaway County Historical Society, 2004-2008 Daytime Program Committee Chair, Maryville Chautauqua, Summer 2004 Board of Directors, Missouri Humanities Council, 2003-2008 Chair, Board of Deacons, First Presbyterian Church, Maryville, 2002-2008 Consultant, Foreign Service Written Exam, 2000-2007 Referee and Coach, AYSO Soccer, 1999-2011 Faculty Sponsor, Phi Alpha Theta, 1998-2003 Reader, A.P. U.S. History Reading, 1998-2007 Judge, Region I Missouri History Day, 1997-2012

University Committee Work, Northwest Missouri State University Member, Faculty Advisory Committee on Rank, 2011-2012 Member, Academic Appeals Committee, 2010-2012

Senator, Faculty Senate, 2009-2011 Member, University Budget Committee, 2009-2010 Member, Faculty Research Committee, 2008-2009 Member, Admissions and Advanced Standing Committee, 1998-2007 Member, College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum Committee, 2001-2002 Chair, Sub-Committee on Academic Dishonesty Policy, Admissions and Advanced Standing Committee, 1999-2001 Member, Student-Faculty Discipline Committee, 1998-2001

Dr. Thomas M. Spencer

March 25, 2015 Dr. Jeffrey Ray, Dean of the Kimmel School of Construction Management and Technology Honors College Dean Search Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC 28723 Dear Dean Ray and members of the Honors Dean search committee, I am writing in response to your announcement for a position as Dean of the Honors College at Western Carolina University. I am seeking advancement in my career and your position sounds like an excellent fit for my skills and experience. I have been involved in Honors administration for nearly seven years now. From 2008 to 2012, I served as Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Northwest Missouri State University. Under my direction, the program grew rapidly and, more importantly, my students were very successful. My experience at Northwest was helpful in teaching me the very basics of running a small to medium-sized university Honors Program. As my ultimate career goal is to become an Honors dean, I needed more direct administrative experience in a larger program. Therefore, a position change was necessary. I moved to Eastern Illinois University in 2012. My current position, Director of Honors Student Affairs in the Sandra and Jack Pine Honors College, is an Associate-Dean type position that has given me more direct experience with budgeting, supervising employees, and in-person recruitment. My recruitment plan has been very successful as a record percentage of entering freshmen (more than 11.5%) at Eastern this fall are students in the Honors College and we have reversed a three year downward trend in freshman enrollment. I have learned much more about collaborative work with many different units. I frequently work cooperatively with my counterparts in Admissions, Financial Aid, New Student Programs, the Registrar’s Office, and Housing. My experience has allowed me to understand the academic structure and day-to-day administration of an Honors College at a medium-sized institution. I have a firm grasp of the principles of Honors education. Over the last six years at both Eastern and Northwest, I have worn all of the hats, being intimately involved in recruitment, curricular development, student advising, budget management, scholarship selection, and retention. I enjoy working with Honors students and, as my colleagues and students at Eastern and Northwest would tell you, I am an enthusiastic advocate for my program. I offer myself as a true believer in the value of Honors programs for high-achieving students in a university environment. Professionally, I am active in the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) and have made several presentations at the NCHC Annual Meeting over the last several years. I served on the External Relations Committee and I am currently on the Teaching & Learning Committee. In New Orleans last year I made four different presentations, including a joint presentation with Bette Worley, the Executive Director of the National Student Exchange. I gave two presentations at this year’s conference in Denver. My philosophy is that an administrator should be an enthusiastic advocate for his or her program, as well as a mentor for the unit’s students and staff. I aspire to be a servant leader which necessitates an inclusive, collaborative, and democratic leadership style. My goal is to create a supportive environment in which the

professional staff and students work closely with me to create a vision for the program and pursue concrete steps to achieve that vision. An administrator should lead by example. He or she should model leadership, scholarship, teaching and service for fellow faculty and administrators. He or she should approach staff members as fellow team members and be empathetic to their concerns. Despite teaching eight to ten courses (and 250 to 430 students) per year for fifteen years as a faculty member and now working as an administrator, I remain an active scholar. My monograph, The St. Louis Veiled Prophet Celebration: Power on Parade, 1877-1995, was published in April of 2000 by the University of Missouri Press. I have since served as the editor and a contributor to two different Missouri history anthologies published by the University of Missouri Press; The Other Missouri History: Populists, Prostitutes, and Regular Folk in 2005, and The Missouri Mormon Experience in 2010. I have had numerous articles and book reviews published as well. I have a book review and an article scheduled for publication in the next year. Even though I am not currently serving in an academic position, I continue to write, publish book reviews and review manuscripts for the University of Missouri Press. My CV details my teaching experience. I have taught twenty different courses. I am seeking a position that draws more on my teaching expertise or at least would allow me to teach on occasion. I left a tenured full professorship (which included an appointment to Northwest’s faculty promotion committee) to take my current administrative position. My teaching evaluations were quite good during my time at Northwest. (Faculty evaluation materials are available upon request.) During my time at Northwest, in addition to my courses in Gilded Age and Progressive Era history and Missouri history, I routinely taught upper-level and graduate courses in Early U.S. History, Constitutional History, and even a course in the history of U.S. Foreign Policy. In order to keep in contact with teaching, I taught a course, “Abraham Lincoln and the Nineteenth Century,” for Eastern’s Lifelong Learning Academy in the spring of 2013. I taught a section of EIU’s freshman transition course, University Foundations, in the fall of 2014. I will be teaching a section or two of the Pine Honors College’s transition course, Honors Forum, in the fall of 2014 as well. My teaching experience has given me great insight into helping Honors students to successfully make the transition to college. In closing let me contend that an Honors Program expands the learning environment beyond disciplinary boundaries and gives students a profound opportunity for personal growth. In addition to providing a strong interdisciplinary foundation, Honors offers a community in which students can find friends and role models, and learn that scholarship is compatible with fun and social engagement. Honors education has the power to improve student learning and open new horizons. This is true both for Honors students and those lucky enough to teach them. It has transformed me as a scholar, teacher, and leader. I enjoy working with and for Honors students, whether it is in the classroom, in the meeting room, or on the road. There are few things more fulfilling than watching one of your students graduate and go on to do incredible things. Celebrating the achievements of Honors students is a great way of communicating what higher education does well to diverse audiences. After all, telling your students’ success stories is an important part of an Honors administrator’s job and can actually help gain public support for the university as a whole. I have attached a CV and three professional references to this application. If you have any questions or need any supplementary materials, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your kind consideration. Sincerely,

Thomas M. Spencer

Professional References for Thomas M. Spencer

Dr. Bonnie Irwin, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs California State University-Monterey Bay Dr. Richard England, Dean Honors College Eastern Illinois University Dr. Michael J. Steiner, Dean College of Arts and Sciences Northwest Missouri State University

Vision Statement for the Honors College at Western Carolina University – Tom Spencer

An Honors College at an institution like Western Carolina University provides students with the

close personal attention they would receive at a smaller liberal arts college but students still have the more

comprehensive academic opportunities available at a larger university. Done well, Honors expands the

learning environment beyond disciplinary boundaries and gives students a profound opportunity for

academic and personal growth. In addition to providing a strong interdisciplinary foundation, Honors

offers an inclusive community in which students from different cultural backgrounds and from academic

units all across the university can find friends and role models, and learn that scholarship is compatible

with fun and social engagement. This is true both for Honors students and those lucky enough to teach

them.

At a middle-sized regional institution like Western Carolina, the Honors College should have

multiple tracks to provide opportunities for many different types of students. A well-constructed Honors

College has multiple tracks and provides an abundance of academic and social opportunities. An Honors

College should have a General Education-based track that provides students opportunities to think outside

of the disciplinary box and to develop critical thinking skills. An Honors College should also have a

research track that helps students to do in-depth research in their field of study. The research track helps

students learn more about their field and provides them with experiences that will make them excellent

candidates for graduate and/or professional school. Additional options within an Honors curriculum

should allow students to receive Honors credit for high-impact learning experiences as well as carefully

constructed Honors internships. These flexible options, either as separate tracks or intermingled into a

larger Honors degree program, will provide Honors students with optimal learning experience.

On the social end of the spectrum, an Honors College at a regional comprehensive institution can

help high-ability students create meaningful relationships with other Honors students and with faculty.

This is important to Honors students’ development into responsible adults and their socialization into the

university and society as a whole. An Honors College should offer Honors housing, have an active

student organization that helps with program governance, and provide frequent opportunities for Honors

students, faculty, and staff to meet each other outside of the classroom. Additional elements to consider

are guest speakers and special access for Honors students to distinguished lecturers who come to campus.

In summary, an Honors College at an institution like Western Carolina can provide many

structured and unstructured opportunities for high ability students to develop both as scholars and as

maturing adults. Honors Colleges are unique in that they can further the development of students both

inside and outside the classroom. Students will benefit in their social and personal development and

become the successful alumni who make Western Carolina University proud.