The Honors College, a program that HCU President Robert Sloan launched in 2006, has been designated a Hidden Gem by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). The Hidden Gem initiative shines a light on honors programs, major and minor degree programs, and certificate programs that guide students through a high-quality and coherent interdisciplinary education across the liberal arts.
“The Honors College offers qualified students the chance to study the great texts and discuss them in seminar settings led by award-winning faculty. Our students will also have the opportunity to engage in independent research and writing, present their findings at national conferences, and enhance their learning by studying abroad,” said Dr. Sloan when the Honors College was launched.
For Dr. Sloan the aim was to not only equip students with the skills to pursue a specific profession, but to form character and enable students to develop the wisdom, perspective, and true learning that comes from being informed by “the best that has been said, thought, written, and otherwise expressed about the human experience.”
Students in HCU’s Honors College receive a rich, rigorous education in the liberal arts with robust core requirements that span philosophy, literature, politics, theology, history, art, science, and the Bible. Students are challenged to read and engage in thought-provoking discussions on the Great Works of Western civilization from Homer, Plato, and Julian to the more modern works of Leo Tolstoy, Flannery O’Connor, Martin Luther King, Jr., and C. S. Lewis.
The program’s rigorous curriculum also explores connections between the liberal arts and subjects such as engineering, business, and medicine, a feature ACTA values in programs designated as Hidden Gems.
Dr. Gary Hartenburg, Director of HCU’s Honors College, shares ACTA’s sentiment that “if colleges and universities emphasize the importance of having robust core requirements, students will graduate prepared to be good people, friends, and citizens.”
He became aware of the Hidden Gems program after attending a conference in Austin where he met several ACTA members. Inspired by the program’s mission, Dr. Hartenburg set out on a diligent quest to bring awareness to the quality liberal arts curriculum offered through HCU’s Honors College.
After meeting with ACTA executives and compiling background information on the Honors College, including descriptions of the program, course syllabuses, and student and alumni testimonials, he learned of the college’s selection in February of this year.
“One of my first thank-yous was to HCU’s president, Dr. Sloan, who started the Honors College in 2006,” said Dr. Hartenburg. He also commended Dr. James Steen, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing, Sandra Mooney, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Stanley Napper, Provost, and Dr. Jodey Hinze, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities for their support of the Honors College. “We are grateful to ACTA for recognizing the Honors College at HCU as a Hidden Gem. Our Honors Scholars come from all over the world and reflect the makeup of Houston as a global leader of diversity and growth.”
“I am also grateful to all the faculty and students I’ve worked with to make the Honors College what it is today. I am hopeful that being an ACTA Hidden Gem will be a good way to reach prospective students who are looking for a liberal arts, interdisciplinary, general education.”