UA Honors College Making Academic Excellence a Campus Enterprise

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When Dr. Robert Halli Jr. describes honors courses on The University of Alabama campus he speaks in terms of an “honors enterprise.”

Halli, who was named dean of the UA Honors College in November, is essentially the campus’s CEO for promoting and developing academic excellence for UA’s top students.

The UA Honors College was established by the Board of Trustees in September as the administrative home for three existing University-wide honors programs – University Honors, International Honors, and Computer-based Honors.

“These programs offer the best and brightest students on campus a remarkable array of enriched curricular opportunities through which to hone their academic skills and develop their knowledge as fully as possible,” Halli said.

As Honors College dean, Halli will oversee the three existing programs as well as remain director of University Honors. International Honors will continue to be directed by Dr. Fran Oneal and Computer-based Honors will continue to be directed by Dr. Cathy Randall.

The three components of the Honors College work in unison and individually according to set criteria. Details of each can be found at: University Honors http://uhp.ua.edu, Computer-based Honors www.cbhp.ua.edu and International Honors www.ihp.ua.edu.

The organizational and name change to the UA Honors College will enhance the University’s ability to attract the brightest students from the state and across the nation, and to nurture and challenge them when they enroll, Halli said. “One of the highest priorities of The University of Alabama is to empower honors students to achieve to the peak of their potential and be recognized for that achievement,” he noted.

Students need not limit their honors work to one program in the Honors College, Halli explained. Many students will be members of two or more of the university-wide honors programs, and many members of these programs are also members of college and department honors programs.

Honors classes are designed to be enriching and to encourage interaction between students and faculty. Students in the University Honors Program are required to take 18 hours of honors courses, including a minimum of 6 hours of University Honors classes and the others through their individual college and school departments.

Halli, who has taught a 3-hour honors course on “The Macabre,” is planning to teach an “Honors Fine Arts” course in Oxford, England, for UA students this summer. Faculty members from across campus and visiting experts have taught University Honors classes. UA President Robert Witt recently taught “Leaders and Leadership” as a one-hour honors class.

“I’ve had teachers tell me, ‘Wow! That’s the greatest experience I’ve ever had,’ after teaching a UA honors course. We’ve had good luck to get good faculty and these classes are very intellectually exciting,” Halli added.

The buzz about UA Honors must be spreading because enrollment in University Honors has increased 10 percent from last year to some 1,438 total honors students. Nine percent of undergraduates are members of honors programs, up slightly from last year’s figure of 8.5 percent.

By empowering students to perform to their potential, “honors education enriches them, their academic units and the University as a whole. This is a great place to be for undergraduate honors students,” Halli said.

Halli has been at UA since 1972 and holds the academic rank of associate professor of English. The Honors College is housed in Temple Tutwiler Hall.