Author: Josh

UHPers, 

I wanted to welcome you into the spring semester. I miss seeing you all in person! I miss chatting over hot chocolate in the Townhouse or sharing lunch while listening to an interesting talk. I know that I am personally looking forward to engaging again with students and being immersed in learning both for the pure joy of it and because I truly believe in GW and the UHP’s mission of preparing today’s students to become tomorrow’s thinkers, problem solvers, altruists and leaders.

Given GW’s location just blocks from the White House, every four years Inauguration Day brings both energy and strong emotions to our campus. Regardless of your political leanings, the inauguration serves as a reminder of the democratic principles which define the United States of America. Unfortunately, this week saw an attack on Congress that was in direct conflict with these principles and fueled by misinformation and hatred. So now we head into what was already a charged semester framed by an epidemic with emotions such as fear, doubt, anger and sadness more heightened than ever. There are many equally valid responses to such emotions, including a desire to contribute in some ways to change. Just remember that you can only be a part of history if you also take care of yourself. I encourage each of you to seek out all the support that you need this semester, both academically and emotionally – resource links are provided at the end of this message. 

Though at times it can be hard to focus on classwork, remember that among the many ideals of an education in the liberal arts – what you are working so hard for – is the chance to become an informed citizen and critical thinker: someone who is practiced at interrogating information, taking nothing for granted, and recognizing biases and uncertainties in data. With these skills, your life and your actions may be guided by evidence, so that you can have a positive influence on the world around you.

Finally, a note to all our graduating students this year. When commencement had to be cancelled in 2020, none of us envisioned that the bicentennial would also have to be held at a distance. We are disappointed that we won’t get to give you an in-person send off this coming May, but we will still celebrate you in all possible ways. Graduation is an important symbol, of course, but the true achievement was years of late nights, study sessions, drafts and revisions, failures and successes, new friends and new experiences, all of which you will carry with you forever.  

As always, your UHP faculty, staff and advisors are available to support you this semester, and we urge you to reach out at any time. 

Bethany Cobb Kung
Director, University Honors Program
Associate Professor of Honors and Physics

Resources:

Counseling and Psychological Services: https://healthcenter.gwu.edu/counseling-and-psychological-services

Office for Student Success: https://studentsuccess.gwu.edu/

Academic Commons: https://academiccommons.gwu.edu/

Office of Advocacy & Support: https://safety.gwu.edu/oas

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement: https://diversity.gwu.edu/

Make an appointment with a UHP Program Manager: https://honorsprogram.gwu.edu/make-appointment

The UHP acknowledges that there have historically been, and still are, blindspots in making our program more inclusive for all of our students. We know there is work to be done and we are committed to ensuring that we cultivate a community in which everyone feels a true sense of belonging. More than ever now, we are actively listening to students about their experiences and what we hear motivates us to move urgently with intention to make the necessary changes to ensure that each and every student is well supported and able to thrive in the UHP and at GW more broadly. 

Below is an update on D&I-related goals and outcomes for the program in Fall 2020. This work is ongoing , and we still have other areas which need to be considered in more detail in addition to continued work on the topics described below. We will provide additional updates at the end of Spring 2021. 

• Learning/Training: Faculty and staff took part in a diversity and inclusion workshop in November 2020 hosted specifically for the UHP by Dr. Jordan West, Director of University Diversity & Inclusion Programs. The main focus of this workshop was on anti-bias. UHP Peer Advisors also took part in a similar workshop in August 2020. Dr. West will also be leading a workshop for UHP students in early January. The workshop is mandatory for first-year students and all UHP students are strongly encouraged to attend. Focuses of the workshop include community building, inclusive spaces, privilege, and bias awareness. This inaugural workshop  will be integrated into annual first-year orientation activities. Make-up opportunities will be determined for first year students that were unable to attend. Additionally, the UHP has been more intentional about communicating to students via the NewsFlash, blog, and course syllabi the various campus offices and resources that all students can access as needed (such as GW’s online bias incident report system, Counseling and Psychological Services, DSS, Academic Commons and the Office of Advocacy & Support). 
• First-Year Admissions: The UHP met with staff from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to continue our regular discussions with Admissions about what applicants we would like to be forwarded for our review. We reemphasized our desire to have applications from a diverse set of students looking at many factors (socioeconomic, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, academic interests, etc.) forwarded to us. We wrote a short memo to help guide Admissions representatives in their reading of applications and provided talking points for their school visits. These communications highlight qualities that we value in applicants such as a commitment to an inclusive community and intellectual curiosity, and de-emphasize GPA as the primary indicator of potential for the program. We will also be updating our admissions essay prompts for the 2021-2022 admissions cycle to help elicit from applicants a discussion of their views on diversity, community, and intellectual curiosity.
• Sophomore Admissions: The sophomore admissions process was reviewed by a group of student leaders from the UHP BIPOC Collective. The process was also examined by a task force of faculty and staff alongside the substantial feedback from these students. In addition to other considerations, it was determined that a more intentional strategy for advertising the sophomore admissions opportunity was needed. To that end, we have significantly increased our advertising of the program to GW faculty and academic advisors across the university – particularly providing more explanation of the program and explaining in depth the type of applicant we are looking for. We have also been more intentional about engaging in focused outreach to programs on campus that serve diverse groups of students who would be excellent candidates for the UHP due to their demonstrated commitment to an inclusive community and their intellectual rigor, including the Posse, Cisneros, and Trachtenberg Scholars programs. We have also implemented a student nomination form that can be submitted by any faculty, academic advisor, or UHP student. A nomination is not required to apply for UHP sophomore admission, but we will conduct focused outreach to all nominated students. Instead of requiring a letter of recommendation with each application, we will now use an evaluation form that can come from a GW faculty member or any individual at GW that can speak to the student’s academic and personal qualities. This will decrease the investment of time required by each recommender and also hopefully decrease the known issue of bias in recommendation letters. Additionally, we updated our admissions essay prompts to help elicit from applicants a discussion of their views on diversity, community, and intellectual curiosity. Finally, to better connect applicants to the Honors community and to help applicants understand the program’s goals, we have created a prospective sophomore student webpage and are offering info sessions hosted by current UHP student leaders. These resources will also be shared with other offices on campus, such as the MSSC.
• Curriculum: Program faculty continue to update syllabi with new material in individual courses and to discuss across sections the issue of representation in our syllabi. Faculty are taking a focused look at the “Origins and Evolution of Modern Thought” curriculum to reflect on the goals of the course, how the course has changed and evolved over the years, and what new ideas and authors/thinkers would be appropriate to incorporate moving forward. This ongoing work will be documented and made available to the community.
• Upper-level UHP Courses/Faculty: The program continues to consider how to improve the diversity of upper-level course topic offerings and faculty. The UHP Advisory Committee (which is made up of faculty from the various colleges at GW) has been tasked with considering this issue in detail and providing recommendations to the program. Additionally, we have solicited faculty and course recommendations from UHP students and are taking student responses into consideration when working to add additional courses and faculty to the program.
• Course Substitution Policy: The program has developed a formal “course substitution” policy, which will receive a trial run in the 2021-2022 academic year. The policy will allow students to petition for one non-UHP course to count toward one UHP upper-level requirement (HONR 2047/2053). The idea is to provide some flexibility in the curriculum requirements, so that a student might be able to take a course of interest outside their major that we are not able to offer through the program, but which emulates a UHP course in terms of learning environment and objectives. Full details of the policy and petition requirements will be provided during the Fall 2021 registration period. After the trial run, this policy and its associated procedures will be reevaluated and modified as needed before potentially becoming a standard component of the UHP program.
• D&I Webpage: The UHP website is undergoing a full redesign and part of this redesign will be a UHP page focused on diversity and inclusion within the program. Once the redesigned website goes live, this page will be updated regularly and will be the main avenue by which the program communicates our short, medium, and long-term D&I goals and progress toward those goals.
• First-Year Survey: In Fall 2020, first-year students were asked to complete a short survey related to their experiences within the program, with a focus on support and inclusion within the program and faculty, staff and peer respect for personal identity. The results are being carefully considered by the Diversity & Inclusion committee to evaluate initiatives that have been successful as well as those that could be created or improved upon. The survey responses were generally positive but all responses have been helpful for us to identify specific areas for improvement. The full results of the survey will be summarized and shared with the community.

As stated in our Diversity & Inclusion initiatives statement, the University Honors Program has work to do in confronting issues of diversity in our program.In the last UHP Diversity & Inclusion committee meeting, the group created a taskforce to focus on Honors Admissions for the rest of the semester. The D&I committee created an “Honors Admissions Task Force” to discuss past admissions practices and understand ways in which the program has been lacking as well as ways in which it has succeeded. We will use these discussions to inform future admissions practices and create goals to implement and lead us towards a better program for all of our students. This task force will pay special attention to sophomore admission processes and goals. 

This admissions task force will consist of  1 faculty member (Professor Maria Restrepo), 3 staff members (Brianna Crayton, Ben Faulkner, Joshua Mays), and is looking for 2 students (will that be you?). This multi-stakeholder group will meet on Thursday, December 3rd from 3-4:30PM ET. If you are a student interested in joining this taskforce, please fill out the form below by next Tuesday, November 24th.  Student task force members will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis but students not selected will have the opportunity to provide feedback. If you have any questions, please contact the uhp@gwu.edu for more information.