The Honors Program shares new plan to become a college by 2030 

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Honors Program hopes to become the University’s next academic college by 2030. Emily Sandoz, the director of the Honors Program, outlined the program’s strategic plan created by head staff to further define the mission and goals of the program. 

Sandoz, who uses she/they pronouns, said the previous directors made great strides on the path of turning the program into a college, something Sandoz hopes to complete. Currently, the program is a part of the University College, which Sandoz emphasized has been a very good experience, but becoming its own college would give the program “support from the university to compensate faculty directly through honors” and allow them to report directly to the academic head. 

According to Sandoz, those are the last two pieces of becoming a college, which has “a visibility and formality associated with it that we think all students would benefit from.” 

At the center of their mission, outlined in their plan, is community building, socially and academically, to enhance student support within the program. Continuing to support students through social events, comfortable workspaces, one-on-one meetings with students and checking in are key parts of the program’s plan. 

On the academic side of support, one big priority of the program is making an honors minor so students can continue to receive financial aid for honors courses deemed outside of their major. Sandoz also aims to create an advisor network for honors students so student needs can be met across different departments through a more consistent flow of communication. 

Sandoz was selected as the program director nearly one year ago. They described that when they initially started the position they wanted to clarify exactly what the function of the Honors Program was. Though they felt like there were many people who understood what the program was about, if someone did not understand, there wasn’t a clear way to explain it to them. 

To repair this, the lead staff of the program met with various students, stakeholders and administrators to ask what they thought the program was about. In the end, they came up with a plan that they hope will not only lead the program to the prestigious title of a college, but also strengthen the community of the program itself and bridge the gap between honors and the rest of the University. 

This past summer marked the unofficial enactment of their plan by starting with a concerted effort to recruit incoming freshmen before school started rather than at orientation. 

According to Ethan Gautreau, the coordinator for the Honors Program, the recruitment effort used data to target students that met the requirements to be in the program. “Really, it’s that what we’re trying to work against is students self-selecting before they even get here, that they’re not honors material. We’re trying to dissuade that,” Gautreau said. 

To be admitted into the honors program, previously, students had to have a 3.2 unweighted GPA, but the program has upped its GPA requirement to 3.5 for first-time freshmen, continuing students and transfer students. 

First-time freshmen also have to have a 23 or higher composite ACT score or 1130 SAT score. 

To graduate from the program, students have to maintain a 3.5 or higher and are also required to take six semesters of Honors seminar, at least 12 semester hours of honors courses with an average grade of “B” or better and complete a senior project to present at the Honors Poster Symposium. 

As of now, out of the 761 students enrolled in the honors program, 377 of them are a combination of first-time freshmen and transfer students, a number Gautreau and Sandoz both said could change in the future. 

For Sandoz though, retention in the honors program is important, but fostering personal and academic growth for students is more important and something their plan aims to fine tune within the program. 

“Because yes, it matters who graduates from honors, but it also matters, are you helping with their retention more broadly in their communities,” Sandoz said. 

Overall, both Sandoz and Gautreau said that the most important aspect of a potential honors student is a genuine curiosity and want to learn, and if a student is willing to commit themselves to “academic excellence” then they should consider joining the program. 

“What honors offers you a chance to do is to make that education your own, to have projects that specify particular interests, to learn to teach and speak and… have discourse on things that really matter to you,” Sandoz explained.