Best Honors Administrative Practices Saturday, November 9, 2013: 1:30 PM-3:20 PM
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel (Nottoway)
256 Honors fundraising and development
Barry Falk, James Madison University
Honors deans and directors are increasingly involved in fundraising, either as an expectation from their institutions or as their own initiative in seeking much-needed financial support for their programs. Our workshop will address several key aspects of fundraising: alumni cultivation, cases for support, relations with development offices, advisory boards, stewardship, and talking to prospective donors. We will offer suggestions but also draw on the experiences of participants in small-group and general discussion. An exercise in role-playing will engage participants in the often unfamiliar and possibly daunting process of talking to prospective donors about major gifts. Come with questions, and we will collectively seek answers.
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel (Oak Alley)
257 Help, I’m Drowning Here! Securing External Help and Resources for Honors
Robert Spurrier, Oklahoma State University;
Jennifer Lane, Glendale Community College
A major variation among honors programs (and honors colleges) is the respective levels of funding and other support they enjoy (or endure). While some directors and deans are blessed with excellent support, others are forced to operate on the proverbial “shoestring budget” with a shoestring that is so frayed that it seems likely to snap at any moment. Perhaps the latter situation is one of the reasons for the high turnover rate among honors directors that is so evident at our conferences every year. This BHAP session will be facilitated by two NCHC Recommended Site Visitors who also are Fellows of NCHC—one from a large doctoral university and the other from a community college—who will lead an interactive session with participants to consider when calling in an external consultant or engaging in a more formal external honors review may be useful for securing resources for your honors program. We will be considering strategies for securing such external assistance, how a site visit plays out “on the ground,” what to do with a consultant or program review team's written report, a number of examples of the success of honors programs and honors colleges in using these site visits and reports to generate additional administrative support (the good news), and a few examples that did not work out so well (the bad news). Please come to this session with your own “wish list” of things that are needed for your honors program or honors college and then be prepared to engage in wide-ranging discussions with your honors colleagues throughout the session.
