Denise 'Cory' Pols oral history interview with Daniel Gordon
Description:
Interview with leader in UMass Amherst honors education. (00:01:09) Arrival at UMass in 1977 as graduate student working as assistant to Assistant Director honors program. (00:02:45) Mission of honors education at a public university: to help students reach full potential without need for resources to attend private college; impact of honors college on UMass; challenges students to think about what they are studying, not to be complacent, to help in student retention. (00:05:35) Early years in program, meeting John Sitter (Director of Honors program); Sitter's efforts to expand reach of college beyond the humanities to professional schools and sciences; Sitter's departure and replacement by Jeff Tabor; student unrest and changes in curriculum in 1970s to incorporate student input and consequent adjustments in honors college. (00:11:30) Honors College growth from a few hundred in 1970s to nearly 4,000 at peak during the John Lombardi administration, ca.2007 before slowing under Patricia Clarkson due to changing resource environment. (00:13:50) Evolution of Honors: transition from Program to College; improvement in reputation under Tabor, reach of program under Linda Lockwood; budget crisis of late 1980s resulted in lost momentum; Linda Nolan as new director focuses on retention of students. (00:17:30) Proposal from Board of Higher Education to create administratively separate Commonwealth College, separate from UMass; Nolan and Ron Aiken successfully champion UMass emphasizing the value of the research done at the campus for students. (00:19:50) Iterations of honors before official opening as College in 1999 and impact of becoming a college. (00:23:30) Development of Pols' work from grad student to director of many operations. (00:28:00) Additional graduate work in Organization Development to study group dynamics. (00:29:30) Advent of peer advising. (00:30:30) Relations with faculty; growth in connections from shy beginnings. (00:37:10) Insights of professional vs. faculty; faculty have sights more on vision than implementation, professional staff need to operationalize. (00:41:15) Significance of new residential complex for Honors College; facilitates goal of creating a community of scholars with clear and visible academic home.
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