KIRTLAND HONORS PROGRAM 

HONORS PROGRAM MISSION

Honors Program Rationale

The Kirtland Honors Program seeks to provide enhanced educational opportunities for academically talented students in both general education and occupational programs, in order to enable them to develop to their fullest potentials.

In founding this honors program, Kirtland Community College seeks to uphold the Philosophy Statement which precedes the Mission Statement of the college. In that declaration, the Kirtland Board of Trustees, the faculty, the staff, and the administrators affirm their belief that "all people should have the affordable opportunity to develop professionally and personally to their fullest potentials."

As a comprehensive community college, Kirtland recognizes in that statement of its philosophy a pledge that it must be prepared to meet the needs of all of its student populations. The college devotes extensive efforts to meeting the special needs of under-prepared students and other select populations. It is appropriate that the college extend its efforts to include the academically talented. An honors program will confer manifold benefits both to its students and to the institution itself. The program will enable Kirtland Community College to:

  1.  Meet the special needs of academically talented students.
  2.  Provide special recognition and rewards for outstanding students.
  3.  Attract and retain superior students.
  4.  Challenge and provide satisfaction to Kirtland faculty.
  5.  Create a focal point for developing innovative programs, services, and curricula.
  6.  Raise the intellectual and cultural caliber of the college.
  7.  Improve the overall image of the college.

Honors Program Mission

The mission of the Kirtland Honors Program is to provide enhanced educational opportunities for academically talented students in both general education and occupational programs. The Honors Program plans to succeed in this mission by providing honors students with an enhanced honors curriculum distinguished, on the whole, from the regular curriculum by an emphasis on the following features:

  • more highly qualified students.
  • more stimulating course design and course work.
  • more emphasis on participatory classroom styles.
  • more challenging work than in comparable classes within the regular curriculum.
  • team or group teaching.
  • more emphasis upon primary, as opposed to secondary, source materials.
  • an interdisciplinary focus.
  • an element of independent study.