DR. STEVEN MICHELS NAMED DIRECTOR OF HONORS PROGRAM
Steven Michels, Ph.D., of New Haven, an Assistant Professor of Political Science, has been appointed Director of the Sacred Heart University Thomas More Honors Program.
As Director, Michels will be responsible for the program's management and development into an even more intellectually rigorous and exciting program for SHU’s honors students, who number about 200. He will also lead an honors committee comprising faculty members from across the University, Student Affairs personnel, and student representatives from the program.
Michels’ appointment comes at a pivotal time for the University as a whole and the Honors Program in particular with the introduction this fall of a new common core curriculum, The Human Journey, which places its essential focus on the Catholic intellectual tradition.
“With the implementation of The Human Journey at the University, this is an exciting time for the Honors Program,” Michels said.
Because the new core emphasizes content and rigor, and raises academic and personal expectations for all students, the Honors Program will increase expectations for its students as well to remain distinctive.
“Dr. Michels was selected to serve as Director of the Honors Program because of his great interest in the program and his recognition of its quality and richness, which he seeks to sustain and further develop. He understands that honors courses are more than reading additional books or preparing additional papers. Honors courses are a qualitatively different experience guided by a clear and coherent vision, which includes the dedication to the Catholic intellectual tradition,” said Claire Paolini, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
In order to have that qualitatively different experience the Honors Program will have to evolve as the common core has evolved, Michels said.
“Students entering the Honors Program in fall 2007 will take honors versions of the four common core courses, which will meet the learning objectives of the common core, as established by the faculty of Sacred Heart University, but which will also bring a qualitative honors distinction to the students in the program,” Paolini said.
The Honors Program will retain and develop its philosophy of active and engaged learning. Honors students will take more responsibility for their learning and they will have greater opportunity to become leaders, not just after graduation, but on campus, Michels said.
Michels will create Uncommon Mondays for honors students, a weekly three-hour session in the Schine Auditorium to discuss the direction of Honors program. Honors students should have some control in determining the outcome of their education, he said. “I really think the students have a sense for what their needs are and what their interests are,” Michels said.
He would also like to see honors students lead University-wide discussions on the cultural merits of certain books, movies and music. The graduating honors class would then vote on five items that would be added to an existing list of 30 on the SHU website that a literate and cultured person in the 21st century should be exposed to.
Michels received his Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago in 2002. He arrived at Sacred Heart in the Department of Government and Politics in the Fall of that year. In addition to his regular teaching schedule, Michels is the advisor for Pi Sigma Alpha, SHU’s National Honor Society, and has led the University’s Model United Nations delegation for the past two years to the national conference in New York City.
He replaces Walter Brooks, who was the director for nine years. “I've already met with many people on campus who are tied to the program, and they are all committed, as am I, to continuing the fine work done by Dr. Brooks,” Michels said.
Previous Page
Back to July 2007
Next Page