Honors Program
Two thirds of my 3-course teaching load is reserved for courses in the Honors Core Curriculum. These are ERTH 1055 – Geoscience and the American Landscape (3 credits), which I teach each fall semester and ERTH 1000E – The Human Epoch: Living in the Anthropocene (3 credits), which I teach each spring semester. Additionally, I teach a seminar each fall UNIV 1784 – First Year Seminar (1 credit) to help new students adjust to the fascination and rigor of academic life.
Additionally, I serve two roles in the Department of Earth Sciences on behalf of the university-wide Honors Program. First, I’m the Honors Liaison, which means that I’m the administrative point of contact. Second, I’m the Honors Advisor for all honors students who are majors. In this capacity, I meet them at least three times per academic year, one in the fall to check in, and once each semester to keep the relationship going and to advise on course selection.
In my teaching, I do not assume that Honors students –currently about 10% of the UConn undergrads– are any smarter than other students. Given my poor academic performance in High School during the rebellious late 1960s, I would never have been admitted to the program I now devote most of my teaching to. For me, Honors students are an identity group where the individuals have chosen to join a learning culture that I can adopt for pedagogy.
Photo: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, explorer and “discoverer” of the source of the Mississippi. Source unknown.