Secrets to Success in Honors

Below is a list of attitudes, qualities, and approaches which should always be modeled by University Honors students. Many of these will be acquired throughout a student's development in the Program, but we find it is helpful to make students aware of the kind of excellence we cultivate in the UHP. Honors students should:

  • Approach the UHP as a complete learning experience, where you build friendships as you grow to love ideas and beauty
  • Be eager, self-disciplined, serious, highly motivated students
  • Be respectful of other students’ opinions during class discussion
  • Help create a safe environment for open discussions
  • Challenge yourselves–not settle for the easiest way out
  • Be creative and imaginative in your assignments, at the same time that you focus on the goals of the class
  • Come to your seminars prepared having read and studied the assignment, being prepared with questions and insights to contribute, your texts personally indexed to passages you might want to refer to in discussion
  • Take advantage of all the opportunities that Honors education is offering to you, extending yourselves to meet faculty, to ask for help when you need it, and explore UNM’s museums, libraries, and vast array of lectures and other performance activities
  • Be adaptable and open-minded
  • Be a social person, ready to share time and exchange ideas in a positive way with other students and teachers
  • Be open to cultural diversity and values and defend minorities’ rights without being ethnocentric
  • Judge and interpret information with an open mind, to understand what experts have to say
  • Think critically
  • Understand that in the UHP you succeed or fail on the strength of your own efforts
  • Embrace the importance of experiential education in your lives and academic careers
  • Serve the community and be a particapatory citizen
  • Be interdisciplinary
  • Contribute to the community of the UHP; become a part of the family and work for the betterment of the Program and the growth of your peers.

 

Methods for Success

Here are some resources and methods students can employ in order to be successful and informed while in the Program:

  • Sign up for the UHP listserv, blog and/or Facebook group early in your first semester
  • Proofread carefully all the work you turn in
  • Communicate frequently with teachers especially during office hours
  • Always keep track of what’s outlined and described in your course syllabus
  • Be on time to your class, hand in assignments on time
  • Act in a professional manner–not interrupt or hold private chats during class
  • Do not monopolize the discussion or waste time "bs-ing" –remember that listening with an open-mind is as
    important as talking
  • Check in your UHP advisor at least once a year