Regional Honors Institutes Shine Spotlight on Local Scholars and Honors Study Topic

Participation in all aspects of Phi Theta Kappa's Honors Programs continues to grow rapidly. However, there is a relatively new aspect which has "taken off" with a sonic boom. This is the Regional Honors Institute.

The Regional Honors Institutes give advisors and administrators an opportunity to invite representatives from their colleges to learn about the Society's annual Honors Study Topic. Additionally, some students and advisors who attend have an opportunity to prepare and present on the program, which is a valuable growth experience.

Though it is true that the Regional Institutes do not delve into as many issues or provide the breadth of educational experiences which are provided at the International Honors Institute, the Regional Institutes often offer similar quality in presentations and seminars.

Regional Honors Institutes are held throughout the year and they vary in length from one to four days. A few of the many outstanding Regional Honors Institutes held this summer include those for Illinois, Texas, Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana, and Florida. Each has featured outstanding speakers on various aspects of the Honors Study Topic, and each has followed the speaker presentations with seminars led by chapter advisors. Yet all have been individually different.

The 1999 Illinois Honors Institute was the region's ninth. This annual event has grown from 10 members representing two chapters at the first Institute to 130 members representing 40 chapters at the latest one. This impressive group included one student from each chapter in the brand new Iowa Region. The Illinois Region paid the registration fee for each of their Iowa guests.

This Institute provided an exceptional progam, which included Clifton Davis, grandson of President Harry Truman. Davis addressed the state of civil life in the United States today. Other participants included an advisor and a student from Bosnia, who led a panel on war and violence; a prominent art professor who discussed how the history of art will influence its future; a nationally famous reverend, who discussed the movement toward personalized spirituality; and a futurist who explained why today's students should face the future with optimism.

The Illinois Institute is so well respected that the region is seeking a permanent endowment for it. The endowment is gaining great support, even from college presidents, several of whom have made personal contributions. "If all goes well, the endowment will be in place in time for the 2000 Institute," said Professor Ed Homewood, whose hard work and creative ideas have in large measure been responsible for the success of both the conference and the endowment.

The 1999 Texas Honors Institute, which was coordinated by a committee of advisors with experience in honors programs, was the most academic and best attended in the region's history. The expanded program featured a faculty development conference for all seminar leaders and an interactive session to help chapters implement what was learned during the Institute. The region distributed to each participant an impressive packet of materials related to the program, which included the 1999 Honors Study Topic Program Guide.

Among the excellent group of speakers was a university geography professor who explained why some nations have advanced far beyond others and what factors would influence changes in the development of nations in the new millennium. Another speaker chronicled the conditions which had led to the rise of various religious groups, fraternal organizations and utopias in the United States during the 20th century. A third presenter gave statistical evidence of the degradation of the world's environment and detailed suggestions for students to take action in preserving or reclaiming clean water and air.

The Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana Honors Institute, in its fifth year of joint programming, was once again a huge success. During the weekend, a native of Appalachia addressed what urbanization and technology are doing to the culture of rural America, as he recited poems and sang songs which produced a longing for a simpler time; a nurse practitioner addressed the tough decisions which must be made in the national health care system; a representative from the National Geographic Society addressed issues concerning population and ecology; and a sociologist addressed socio-economic trends of the 20th century and probable trends in the new millennium. Educational field trips included a trip to the home of Helen Keller, where an outdoor presentation of "The Miracle Worker" was performed on the grounds of the family farm.

The Florida Honors Institute, which annually attracts more than 200 members and advisors, provided a wonderful mixture of speakers, seminars and corollary educational experiences. The program featured highly-qualified speakers like futurist Ernest Jernigan, author of America and the World: 1995-2015, who spoke on geo-political issues of the next 20 years. Other presentations dealt with "The Media in the New Millennium" and "Legal Issues in the Twenty-First Century." Among the other educational activities was a tour of a Smithsonian exhibit on Florida's manatees, one of America's most endangered species.

In many regions, the Regional Honors Institute now ranks among the best attended and most popular regional programs. Its success can be attributed to the leadership of the Regional Coordinators, the hard work of the Institute Planning Committees, cooperation and coordination by universities which host them, and the enthusiastic promotion of the program by the advisors and students who attend.