THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 75 lines
Subject: University Lingo 101.
Question: Why does a university rename a ``program'' a ``college''?
Answer: Because it wants to attract more students.
Old Dominion University's Faculty Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an administration plan to rename ODU's honors program an honors college.
The head of the 12-year-old program - which offers specialized, smaller classes for 330 top-notch students - said the switch isn't part of a plan to dramatically increase its course offerings. But it is meant to increase its prestige - and maybe its enrollment.
``A college is a more prestigious name than a program,'' Louis H. Henry, director of the academic honors program, said in an interview Tuesday. ``That's just the way things are. Greater numbers of higher-quality students might be attracted to the name.''
And donors, too. At some universities, ``the minute these things were called honors colleges, the money started flowing, especially for scholarships,'' Henry told the senate.
ODU's honors program is offering about 18 courses this semester, mostly in ``general education'' subjects for freshmen and sophomores. The classes include English composition, principles of accounting, world religions and developmental psychology. The courses generally hold no more than 20 students apiece.
To get into the program, freshmen must have at least an 1180 SAT score out of a possible 1600 and a B-plus grade point average in high school. They also must rank in the upper 10 percent of their graduating class. University students may transfer into the program if they have at least a 3.5 average.
In academia - where public relations has been renamed ``institutional advancement'' and admissions and financial aid have been lumped into ``enrollment services'' - the definition of a college has grown murky, too.
Webster's New World Dictionary offers a few options, including: ``an institution of higher education that grants degrees,'' ``any of the schools of a university offering instruction and granting degrees in any of several specialized courses of study'' and ``a school offering specialized instruction in some profession or occupation.''
Old Dominion's six current colleges - such as Arts and Letters, Education and Health Sciences - fit the bill because they all grant degrees. The honors college, however, will not: It does not offer a degree program or provide instruction in a particular profession.
Yet in a pamphlet distributed to Faculty Senate members, ODU administrators said plenty of other institutions have recently converted honors programs into colleges: ``Generally speaking, honors colleges evolve from honors programs that have been successful, that have had several years' experience and that have grown to at least 200 to 300 students.''
Charles E. Ruhl, an English professor who is a member of the Faculty Senate, also spoke in support of the wording change. ``Certain words like college and dean are flexible,'' he said. ``That's one of my concerns as a linguist. All colleges don't have to be the same.''
Both Virginia Wesleyan College and Norfolk State University have honors programs and don't foresee any name changes. Both have smaller enrollments than ODU's - 46 at Virginia Wesleyan and 130 at Norfolk State.
Stephen S. Mansfield, dean of the college at Virginia Wesleyan, said a name change would create one too many ``colleges.'' ``In a small liberal arts college, to have a college within a college would be somewhat confusing in nomenclature,'' Mansfield said.
Page R. Laws, Norfolk State's program director, said, ``To me, a college has the connotation of a full program of special courses, and Norfolk State's program is not of that model.''
At ODU, the only major change accompanying the new name would be to require honors students to take two upper-division honors courses, Henry said. Now they must complete six lower-level courses, a junior volunteering program and a senior honors colloquium - while maintaining a B average.
Henry said the honors program helped attract Samantha Salvia, the recent Old Dominion graduate who won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. An honors ``college'' could draw even more super scholars, who in turn could benefit the whole university, he said.
``The more higher-achieving students you have, the better all your classes are.'' by CNB