The Honors Program at Ferris State University

Annual Report, 2015-2016

Curriculum Development and Assessment
Since 2013, the Programs top
priority in long-range planning
has been to undergo a formal
review by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) alongside our quinquennial review by the
Academic Program Review Committee.
We are happy to open by reporting
that that goal has been achieved.

Honors class of 2016

In March 2016, the Program hosted two

NCHC-approved Reviewers, Art Spisak
(Iowa) and Rosalee Otero (emerita, New Mexico). Building upon our thorough self-study, which
was completed during 2014-2015, they found that the Honors program is functional, effective
for the role that it was expected to play on campus, and admirable in terms of its development
and current status, and that Honors is highly valued by the University and is seen as a major
component of FSU as this university moves toward its vision of even greater academic credibility than it has already achieved.
All of this is wonderful news.
So now, our attention turns to building the Honors curriculum. In 2013, the Academic Senate
approved an extension of the curriculum from 10 credits to 22, essentially extending the
Honors curriculum experiences into the third and fourth years. In 2014, the faculty passed a set
of educational outcomes expected of all Honors courses, and the Honors Curriculum Committee started approving Honors courses in academic year 2015-2016.
We are in the position to start developing the curriculum into a fully integrated learning experience. With the help of Victor Piercey (Mathematics), Neil Patton (Communication), Andrew
Peterson (Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning) and Donna Smith (Communication), we will
be introducing a creative new curricular option in the Spring titled Reacting to the Past.
Reacting to the Past is a series of in-depth academic roll playing games, which started at
Barnard College in New York about 20 years ago. Each game asks students to take on a character from the time period and articulate a position as they re-enact an important intellectual
collision in the history of ideas. These games typically take five weeks to play, as students
articulate views, seek support for their actions, and debate those who are assigned a differing
position on the same topic.
Each game is built around one of the great works or core texts featured in traditional
liberal arts curricula, like Barnards core, from which the system arose. In these traditional
classrooms, students will typically play three 5-week games over the course of a 15-week
semester. At Ferris, we have modified this approach by offering three 1-game and 1-credit
courses, each of which runs for only five weeks. This will allow students to pick up an additional
credit or two, rather than commit to a full 3-credit course. We will also offer more of these
courses in the first half of the semester, allowing students to earn Honors credit without impacting their midterm or final exam schedule.

The purpose of the Honors Program at Ferris State University is to provide

intellectual challenges, resources and support to highly able and motivated
students, while encouraging service and leadership for the public good.

Welcome from the Director

Once again, I can report that the past year has been difficult and exciting.
The Honors Program continues to enjoy strong enrollment and retention, the
curriculum is developing quickly, and the support staff are busy.
The successful completion of the Academic Program Review and the NCHC
external review is the end of a major project for the Program. While we are
certainly entitled to take a moment to celebrate our success, we must remember that peer review is ultimately in service of our students.
When students choose a university, or an Honors program, they are investDr. Peter Bradley, Director
ing a great deal of time and money in their education. Making that kind of
committment requires confidence that the program enjoys the respect of its
peers.
Peer review is the bedrock of the academy. It is the process by which we measure our research, our careers, and even our programs. As challenging as it may
be, the practice of holding our work up to the scrutiny of peerswarts and
allis what gives us in the academy the credibility to educate others.
The program is in good shape. We continue to recruit to our target. Retention
has solidified the gains made between 2013 and 2015. And our completing
students continue to pursue further education at remarkable rates. These basic
facts, and the structures that make them possible, have been recognized and
rewarded.
Now it is time to work on building out those structures with detail and flourish.
We will make continued investments in the Days of Service and Learning. We
are working to take our Peer Mentors on a Leadership Retreat in August, 2017.
The curriculum, as noted in the executive summary, will be fleshed out with a
series of courses that ladder the objective of independent learning from beginner in Public Speaking to mastery in the Senior Symposium project.
I would be remiss in this letter if I did not note two other significant changes:
Charlie Malone, our Honors Advisor, left Ferris for his alma mater, Kent State.
Charlie was an amazing advisor, and beloved by our students. He will be difficult
to replace.
Second, Assoc. Vice Provost Bill Potter is retiring in December. Bill has provided
wonderful leadership over the program for quite some time, and much of its
growth and current strengths are to his credit. He leaves us well situated with
solid institutional structures to support the future of Honors at Ferris. Yet, we will
miss his wisdom and guidance.
And so, as we complete one project and say goodby to two good friends, we
begin three or four more projects and look to new relationships and new challenges in the year forthcoming.

! "

Enrollment
Total enrollment in 2015-2016 jumped considerably,
from 870 to 1001, on the strength of increased
retention of 3rd year students. This is very gratifying,
as much of our efforts in shifting the rhetoric and
focus of the program has been in an attempt to
retain more students through the transition to the
upper classes.
Charts to the right and below show the actual
enrollment for 2015-2016 and the projected enrollment, as of the middle of August 2016, for
2016-2017.
When we studied the feasibility of moving to a
target of admitting 350 first year students and 20
transfers annually, we had projected thatbased on
retention of the previous five yearstotal enrollment
practice would plateau at about 1000 in 2018. While
Increases in retention have accelerated our anticipated arrival at 1000 by 2 years, we do appear to be
stabilizing at a plateau of 1000 students.

* estimated

DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographic trends in 2015-2016 continue those
noted in 2014: the program continues to diversify,
both with respect to academic discipline and ethnicity. The program remains about 65% women, but
retention of men, especially in the second to third
year transition, now equals that of women. As a
result, we no longer see a gap between the percentage of women in the entering class versus the whole
population.
By College
The long-term trend, displayed below, is decreasing
enrollment in Arts and Sciences with corresponding
increases in Health Professions and Engineering
Technology. 2015-2016 continued these trends, with

* estimated

* estimated
4

the CAS dipping under 50% for the first time. The
COB has remained about 15% since 2012, while
the CHP continues to increase during the same
time period. The CET shows real growth, from 5%
in 2010 to 10% in 2015, and an anticipated 13% in
2016. EHS has been steady at 6-7% since 2009, but
we anticipate great growth in their Digital Animation and Game Design major in 2016-2017.
* estimated

By Gender

* estimated

The gender balance of the programmeasured

both in terms of incoming FTIACs student and
current studentsremains at 65% female.
* estimated

By Ethnicity
The diversity of the program with respect to ethnicity
continues to improve. The percentage of students
from traditionally underrepresented groups continued at 10% of the incoming class, and we anticipate
a slight increase in this figure in 2016.

In the Spring of 2016, Dr. Bradley convened a group

of minority students in Honors to study our recruitment history, and present their findings at the first
annual conference of the National Society for
Minority Students in Honors, held at Oakland
University March 9-11, 2016. Their report is available for review upon request.

* estimated
5

Curriculum
2015-2016 was the last academic
2016
2015
year when all Honors students are
2014
required to complete only 10
2014
credits in Honors. All students who
2013
enter the program as First Year
2013
students in Fall 2016 or after will be
2012
required to complete 22 credits in
Honors for a Bachelors degree and
10 credits in Honors for an Associate degree.

Spring
Spring
Fall
Spring
Fall
Spring
Fall

Outstanding Professor
Jennifer Johnson
Geography
Anne Spain
Biology
Neil Patten
Communication
Paul Klatt
Biology
Charles Vannette
Foreign Languages (German)
Bradley Isler
Biology
Stephen Lee
Pharmaceutical Sciences

The courses themselves, however, have not

changedat least, not yet.

HONORS COURSES
The Program offered eight sections of 200-level
general education courses in Fall 2015, and seven in
Spring 2017. This is a decrease from our high point
of 2013-2015, as the Honors contracts continue to
attract students to Honors work in their major.
Enrollment in the general education courses recovered to almost normal in Fall 2015, but slipped
again in Spring 2016, and is anticipated to continue
the decline in Fall 2016.
This is no doubt due to the rise in Honors Contracts.
The entering class of Fall 2016 will be required to
complete both contracts and classes, so we expect
course enrollment to recover in the next few years.

HONORS CONTRACTS

* estimated

In Fall 2015, 41 students started an Honors contract.

In Spring 2016, 38 did so. These numbers account
for the reduction of 2 sections of Honors courses
each semester, and hence accounts entirely for the
decreases in Honors courses in those semesters.
Interestingly, the number of contracts peaked in
Spring of 2015, when many students used contracts
in Stats in Life Sciences. We have not seen this
pattern repeat, suggesting, perhaps, that word has
gotten out that a contract is not the easy way to
earn Honors credit.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Edwin Harris Memorial Scholarship: Janalyce
Fletcher (Allied Health Science), 2016
Maude Bigford: Alexandra Hatfield (Health Care
Systems Admin) and Jamie Seppanen (Sonography), 2016.

COMPLETION
* estimated

Patricia Whiting, Pre-Pharmacy BA 16, presenting her poster at Senior Symposium 2016 to Thomas Dowling, Dir. Undergraduate Research

89 students earned their medallion in 2015-2016, up from the 76

reported 2014-2015. 80 of those completed in
Spring semester.

Of those, 61% report going to some form of

graduate or professional school immediately and
13% report having some immediate future plans
for a job or internship. Both of these are increases in comparison to those graduating in 2015.
The largest change in recent years is the increase
in the number of students reporting a Gap Year
to prepare for graduate school. In 2015 and
2016, five students reported taking a gap year. A
number of those reporting they were looking for
a job also reported plans to go to graduate/professional school at some point.
Through our partners on campus, the Honors
Program offers special opportunities for its
students seeking placement in our graduate or
professional programs.

Special Opportunities
COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
Enrollment of Honors Students in the Pre-Pharmacy program continues to decrease, in real
numbers as well as percentage of the Program
(see chart below). Even though it is only estimated at this point, Fall 2016 almost certainly will be
the smallest pre-pharm cohort to date.

* estimated

remains constant in 2015 and our anticipated

2016. We have not recovered to the levels we
saw before 2014, however.
The big difference between 2016 and previous
years is the number of students starting the
College of Pharmacy while still enrolled in Honorswhich has dropped to 1.

MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF
OPTOMETRY
Enrollment in the Pre-Opt Program, and subsequently MCO, has been very strong in the past
few years. MCO admitted 10 Honors students in
2015, who make up a full 26% of their entering
class. This is a record year for early-admission, as
previous years high in 2011 entered after completing undergraduate degrees.

At the end of Spring 2015, the Advisory Board,

working in concert with the College of Pharmacy,
adopted the policy of strongly encouraging
students to complete their undergraduate studies before entering Pharmacy school. This policy
has already had a profound effect on our tracking
of students, as shown below.
The total number of students starting at the
College of Pharmacy that had at least some
contact with Honors as an Undergraduate

* estimated

COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

The Nursing Program, Molecular Diagnostics and
Diagnostic Medical Sonography continue their
practice of priority consideration for Honors
students. Nursing has instituted a competitive
admissions framework, which reserves a handful
of seats for the most qualified students. Honors
has historically averaged about 25% of the
starting Nursing population. The new policy has
not changed the percentage of Honors students
entering Nursing, as Honors has averaged 28%
since it was put into place.
8

Student Life
RETENTION
For the past few years, we have been following
the gender gap in retention, especially over the
second-to-third year transition. Isolating the
factors involved in a students decision not to
continue with Honors is complicated, especially
as the University moved to a 1-year residency
requirement in 2014.
We have long hypothesized, based on numerous anecdotes from students, that male
students tend to think of the program as an
exchange, while female students tend to think
of it as a community of support. If this was
correct, we would see gender gaps change as
residency benefits and requirements change.

2016 Outstanding Scholar Aaron Zebolsky at

the Spring Awards Banquet

As the chart below shows, there was a significant

gender gap between the percentage of males
starting and the percentage remaining after 4
semesters (gray line versus red line) in cohorts
2009 and 2010. The gap was smaller, but persisted in cohorts 2011 and 2012. It closed for cohorts
2013 and 2014the first to have the 1-year
residency requirement, a trend that runs counter to
conventional wisdom.
There was a gap in first year to second year retention (yellow line v. red line) for cohorts 2013 and
2014. It may simply be the case that those who
saw the program merely as a benefit to their
housing exited at the end of their first year, instead

* estimated
9

of their second, and

hence, the gender
gap moves from the
grey line to the
yellow for cohorts
2013 and 2014.
Interestingly, our
initial reports on Fall
2016 show no gap
at all in 1-year
retention.

Outstanding Scholar
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

Aaron Zebolsy
Michelle Dunn
Danielle Lefevre
Abigail Dutkiewicz
Leah Kelly
Cody Becksvoort
Hope Kwapiszewski
Caitlin Hutchison
Anthony Cox
Marshall Gladding
Rita Ellison
Bret Muter
Erin Frankowicz

It remains until next

year to be seen if
the gap appears at medallion (black line). While
cohort 2012 shows a significant drop in the
percentage
of males
graduating,
the effects
we have
been tracking are only
in evidence
for cohort
2013 and
later.

AWARDS
The Outstanding Scholar is recognized annually at the spring banquet. Outstanding Service
and Outstanding Peer Mentor are typically
recognized at the Fall Awards Banquet.

Service:
Danielle Berens
Katherine Hart
Zachary Kramer

Stoles 2016

Leadership:
Nicole Outman
Breann Baranski
Jenna Matelske

Nicole Outman Socialization of Gender and

Later Implications (Presentation)
Tiffany Schack Data Analytics in Operations
Management (Poster)
Aryn Cowley Establishment of 2nd Order
Class I Vertical Control Network and Comparative Study of Elevation Data (Poster)
Jordan Dawkins Study Patterns of Honors vs.
Non-Honors Students (Poster) Winner of 2nd
Place for Best Poster
Rebekah Betts Rethinking Alzheimers:
Advancing Pharmaceutical Prevention and
Treatment by Understanding Alzheimers as a
Metabolic Disorder (Poster)

The 2016 Outstanding Scholar was Aaron Zebolsky,

a Pre-Med student, who is now enrolled in University
of Michigan Chemical Biology Doctoral Program.

HONORS STUDENT ASSOCI-

ATION

The Honors Student Council approved 79 honors

contracts this year, 58 of which were completed
successfully.
Travel funds totaling $14,630 were distributed to
39 unique students who traveled to 9 different
countries and attended 6 academic conferences.

MEHA
Our participation with the regional Honors
Association (MEHA, or the Mid-East Honors
Assocation) continues to grow.
In 2014, four students attended MEHA at Grand
Valley State Univeristy, but none presented
papers. One faculty member attended. This
changed in 2015, with seven students attending
the annual conference at Kent State University.
In 2016, 2 students presented papers, and 4
presented posters. Jordan Dawkins (Accountancy & Finance) was honored with 2nd place for
best poster.
Kyle Denney The Future of Computing
(Presentation)

2016 MEHA group, with Honors Advisor Charlie Malone

10

Success Spotlight: Nicole Outman

Student Engagement on
Campus
Awards
Recognition of Honors students continues, not
just within the Program, but by the University.
4 of the 5 Rising Star awards for leaders in the
early part of their undergraduate career went
to Honors students.
7 of the 9 Torchbearer awards, which recognize
outstanding service and leadership among
graduating seniors, this year were given to
Honors students.

The honors program at Ferris State University was honestly

the highlight of my collegiate experience thus far. The
honors program was more than an additional challenge to
college, but a cultural and social enrichment to my collegiate life. I found my first leadership position in the honors
college as the Vice President of the Honors Peer Mentoring Program. From there I developed leadership skills that
would help me succeed in my academics, organizations,
and future career. I expanded my horizons by traveling
abroad in Italy with the help of the Honors Program, and I
also made friends through the mentoring program that will
last a lifetime. Im a proud graduate of Ferris State University, and I am a current Doctoral Student in the School
Psychology program at Central Michigan University. I
intend to be a school based psychologist within the next
five years.

12 of the 18 Michigan Campus Compact Heart and

Soul awards went to Honors students.
All 3 of the Michigan Campus Compact Committment to Service awards, the top award for service at
our university, went to Honors students.
And finally, Aaron Zebolsky, the Honors Outstanding
Scholar for 2016 was recognized by Michigan
Campus Compact with the Outstanding Community Impact Awardthe highest award given by
MiCC. This is at least the second Outstanding
Community Impact Award in the Programs history,
as Nicole Wheelock was recognized with the same

award in
2008.

Arts:
Theatre
Honors
students
continued
to participate in the
Theatre
productions, even
though the plays this year had smaller casts
than in previous years.
Athletes
We anticipate that the population of student
athletes will contract slightly in the next couple
of years, as we graduated a number of
outstanding female athletes in 2015-2016.

Nicole Outman and Justin Wolber, 2016 Rising

Start award winners.
11

Four Columns
In an effort to make an explict connection between the values of the program as enshrined
in our purpose statement and the requirements students satisfy, the Program worked with
the Honors Student Council to draft the Four Columnsa kind of vision and values
document that connects the regular activities of the program explicitly with the purpose
statement and outcomes measured.
It reads:

We, as Honors students at Ferris State University, aspire to achieve excellence

through our commitments to:

Torchbearer, 2016
Tiffany Newman
Tiffany Shack
Logan Bixman
Danielle Berens
Sara Kolc
Katherine Hart
Rising Star, 2016
Cassandra Kolka
Jordan Dawkins
Abbie-Jo Johnson
Ben Letherer

Strive for intellectual autonomy and academic excellence so that we may be

prepared to contribute to the advancement of our chosen professions by completing at least 20% of
our undergraduate coursework in Honors
Contribute our time and energy to advance the public good so that we develop as citizens by
completing 15 hours of community service per semester, joining a Registered Student Organization
and ultimately leading our peers
Explore cultural and ethical horizons to engage a global society through attending cultural events
and seeking out challenging opportunities for service and leadership
Participate in the honors community, abiding by the honor code, to foster curiosity, dialogue and
intellectual rigor in ourselves and others.
(approved by the Honors Student Council 10/7/2014)

Photo by Noah Blower, (19) while on study-abroad trup to Italy

12

Service and Leadership

SERVICE

LEADERSHIP

With the help of Vista Volunteer, Bianca Butler,

and Honors Advisor, Charlie Malone, the Fall
2015 2nd Annual Days of Service and Learning
was significantly expanded from Fall 2014.

In completing their leadership requirement, each

graduating student completes a short reflection
paper on their experience of leadership, and how
his or her leadership style affected the group, or
was changed as a result of the experience.

During the Days of Service and Learning,

students are given multiple service event opportunities at various locations throughout the
month of September. The Honors Program teams
up with community partners around Big Rapids
who create a service project for 5-60 students.
Student facilitators, who are upper class-men,
provide leadership for volunteers and have
students reflect on their experience and the
importance of volunteering.
The first Days of Service and Learning event
included 6 community partners and 93 student
volunteers (15 of whom were facilitators). The
total number of hours served was over 500. With
the help of assessment efforts and better advertisement of events by the new Community
Management Specialist, Allegra Damari, Fall
2015s Days of Service and Learning included 16
community partners and 239 student volunteers
(22 of whom were facilitators). The total number
of hours served for Fall 2015 was over 1200. An
enhanced budget due to receiving a Venture
Grant also helped expand the 2nd Annual Days
of Service and Learning.
With our VISTA volunteer, Bianca Butler, and
Honors Advisor, Charlie
Malone, moving on to new
jobs, the Fall 2016 Days of
Service and Learning will be
a bit smaller. Even though
there may be fewer community partners, the Community Management Specialist,
Allegra Damari, is working
hard to make the 3rd Annual
Days of Service and Learning as rewarding and
successful as the last two.

13

Since 2013, we have been coding the leadership positions reported in terms of the primary
activity of the organization. Prior editions of this
report presented the relevant data as a pie chart.
When we collected the data this year, we noticed
an interesting trend, which is obvious once the
data is displayed as a stacked column chart, so as
to make comparisons between previous years
and the current year (see below).
In academic year 2014-2015, we worked with the
peer mentor program to articulate precisely how
being a peer mentor fit the requirements of
being a leader.
As a result, students wishing to use their peer
mentoring as their leadership position had to
complete the leadership position report articulating why and how their experience fit the requirements in the handbook. Prior to 2013, the leadership position was granted automatically.
The results are clear. Far fewer students are
reporting Honors-related leadership, including
the peer mentor role, than in 2013-2014.

Assessment
2015-2016 was the second full year under our
current assessment plan. As a result, we have some
actual results to share!
We do not yet have meaningful year-to-year comparisons, nor do we have longitudinal data on a
given class or cohort, but we are expecting that in
the next year or two, as the class of Fall 2014
completes Honors.
The data shown below is from two surveys conducted at the end of each academic year. The first,
called Annual Accomplishments, is completed by
every student in Honors. It asks them to reflect on
their experiences in the past year, including how well
they believe themselves to be meeting our program
goals. The second is the Application for Medallion, which is completed by all completing
students, whether they be in their 3rd or 4th year.
These datasets are therefore indirect measurements
of the program outcomes, as they are based on
self-reports of the students. So long as

indirect data is compared only agaisnt other indirect

data, and is not read to be reporting the actual facts
of the matter, but rather, the self-perception of our
students, we should not have a problem.
The charts presented below show responses from
the 2015-2016 academic year by second year
students (2nd years) and completing students
(Seniors). In each case, the students were asked if
they felt themselves capable of the program goals.
In each case, the seniors believe themselves more
capable than the sophomores, with a greater
percentage of Very Capable compared to the
sophomores. The greatest difference is, perhaps, in
the area of cultural enrichment. This is consistent
with what we would hope to see, as the seniors have
twice as many cultural events completed as the
sophomores. We do not have equivalent data from
the 1st years, although we may collect that in the
future.
Findings
This data shows us,
roughly and
indirectly, what we
would expect to
see: students are
more confident as
Seniors than as
Sophomores.
While we will
certainly continue
to watch, this data
will serve for the
next few years as
the baselineas
we develop new
programs and
initiatives, we will
look for changes in
the students
response compared with this
dataset, to see if
there is any effect.

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15