To: Faculty Senate

University of Oklahoma

From: Honors College

University of Oklahoma

Rich Hamerla, Ph.D.

Associate Dean

Date: March 2011

Action Proposed:

The Honors College proposes that the Honors Council be dissolved. All responding members of the Honors Council concur.

Background and Rationale:

Historically, the “Honors Council” served an organizational function for what was, until 1998, the Honors Program.  It was an annually appointed collection of faculty that made decisions that are normally made by the faculty and administration of a traditional department and/or college. The Honors College now has twelve faculty members of its own (four of them tenured), numerous staff, an administration, and its own Board of Visitors, each of which plays some role in the day-to-day operations of the Honors College, making the Honors Council obsolete. Indeed, over the course of the last ten years the only function the Honors Council has served at all has been determining the winners of each semester’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, which is now judged by the Honors College and the Vice President of Research Office.   While the Honors Council played an important role for the Honors Program, it no longer serves any purpose to the Honors College and is, in practice, a poor use of faculty and administration resources and time.