Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 5 of The Illinois Commitment
Honors College
Chicago State University
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice?
The Honors College at Chicago State University began in August, 2004, with the goals of recruiting, retaining and
graduating highly talented and motivated students.
Description of the effective practice:
The Honors College addresses the above issue in two closely related ways:
• The creation and maintenance of a strong and supportive peer group—a community—within which students can
realize their full potential, and
• A specially-designed general education curriculum that employs interdisciplinary and team-taught courses, which
is designed both to challenge students and to insure that they leave the university with a first-class liberal
education.
Each group of incoming freshman forms a cohort and participates together in Honors classes and social events.
Socialization includes the value placed on community and university service in addition to strong academic
achievement. Ceremonies and social events are used to strengthen the social bonds within and between cohorts and
serve as vehicles for frequent interactions between students and faculty. These include:
• Honors Orientation Luncheon where older students meet and orient younger students.
• The Honors Induction Ceremony, an evening event recognizing incoming students and their families attended by
university administrators, faculty and staff, and established Honors students. Older students lead incoming
students in reciting of the Honors College Pledge, and the new students receive Honors College pins and
certificates of induction.
• The Dean’s Winter Reception, a social gathering of students and faculty held at the dean’s residence at the
beginning of the spring semester.
• The End-of-Year Party, a light-hearted social gathering for students and faculty.
The Honors College teaches a 39 hour general education sequence, the Honors Core Curriculum, which stimulates
and challenges students but does not add extra courses to their majors. The Core Curriculum was designed by a
group of 12 faculty members and the dean, all of whom teach the courses. The curriculum features interdisciplinary
and team-taught courses. For example, Social Inquiry, brings into the classroom professors of anthropology,
psychology and sociology. Honors College recruiting efforts are targeted at AP programs, International Baccalaureate
programs and high school honor societies. The admission requirements are a high school GPA of 3.5, or a composite
ACT score of 23 or above, or graduation in the top 10% of the high school class. Students are expected to maintain a
cumulative GPA of 3.25 to remain in good standing.
How does this practice achieve sustainability?
The College met its goal of retaining 75% of the first cohort from their freshman to sophomore years. Two of the
three students who left the Honors College are still at Chicago State; thus, the College retained 92% of its freshman
students at the university. For the second cohort, 72% of students were retained in the Honors College from freshman
to sophomore year, and 93% were retained at CSU. The applicant pool has increased by approximately 33% each
year since the College first opened. The College is presently investigating the degree to which membership in the
Honors College is a principal or contributing factor to students’ decisions to matriculate at Chicago State University.
What are the results/measurable outcomes?
Both formal and informal surveys indicate that Honors students are very satisfied with the community they are
building. At the end of the 2004/2005 academic year, Honors students had an average GPA of 3.36, with a median
GPA of 3.65. Based on the performance of the second cohort, it is likely that those figures will rise somewhat by the
end of the 2005/2006 academic year.
Contact Information
Name: Dr. Richard G. Milo
Email: rmilo@csu.edu
Phone: (773) 995-3801
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