Barrett, The Honors College

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Barrett, The Honors College


Established:	1988
Type:	Public
Dean:	Dr. Mark Jacobs
Faculty:	28
Undergraduates:	2766
Location:	Tempe, Arizona
Affiliations:	Arizona State University
Website:	http://honors.asu.edu

Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University is a program that provides over 2,700 students^[1] with an intellectual experience that is similar to that which one might find at a smaller college or university, while still giving access to the resources of a major research institution.^[2] The administration offices for the college are located in Center Complex, on ASU's Tempe campus, but classes are available at all of the ASU campuses in Arizona.

1 History
2 Campus
3 Organization
4 Academics and Demographics
5 Student Life
6 External links
7 References

[edit] History

Originally named the Honors College, the institution was created by the Arizona Board of Regents on July 16, 1988.^[3] After six years and being one of the few honors colleges in the country, the honors college was named by Money Magazine as one of the top eight honors programs in the United States ^[3]. In 2000, the then CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett and his wife Barbara, who herself is an ASU alumna, gave the college an endowment of $10 million.^[3] Because this was one of the largest gifts ASU had received at the time, the college was renamed Barrett, The Honors College.^[3]

[edit] Campus

Center Complex, containing the Honors College, is located on the southwest corner of ASU's Tempe campus and is adjacent to Apache Boulevard. It consists of the residence halls Hayden, Irish, and Best, all of which have small classrooms for the seminars that are held solely for honors students. All other honors classes are taken in conjunction with other students, awarding honors credit through contracts between the student and professor for extra work.

In partnership with American Campus Communities, Inc., ASU and Barrett, The Honors College are building a new campus on the eastern side of ASU's Tempe campus.^[4] The project is expected to produce facilities for more than 1700 beds with an estimated cost of over $120 million.^[4] It is forecasted to be completed and first operational in fall 2009.^[5]

[edit] Organization

Barrett, The Honors College is in affiliation with Arizona State University. It is headed by Dean Dr. Mark Jacobs and Associate Dean Dr. Margaret Nelson. Under the Dean and Vice Dean are the offices of the Associate Dean for National Scholarship Advisement and Internships, the Faculty Chair, Barrett Professor and President's Professor, which is currently held by founding Dean Dr. Ted Humphrey, the Honors Faculty Fellows, Visiting Honors Faculty Fellows, and Visiting Faculty. In general, all of the faculty members participate in giving seminars to students throughout the academic year.^[6]

In addition to these professors, students may engage in a "Footnote" contract with any professor on campus, awarding honors credit for extra coursework during the course of a semester.^[7]

[edit] Academics and Demographics

Since its founding in 1988, Barrett, The Honors College has accrued a number of prestigious awards and titles. In 2005, it was named in Reader's Digest as one of the nation's 3 best Honors Colleges, along with Penn State's Schreyer Honors College and Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi.^[8] Also, an article in late 2006 posted to the Wall Street Journal online website compliments Barrett on its ability to provide much the same opportunities for students at a lower cost than the widely prestigious universities such as UCLA and Johns Hopkins.^[9]

The average standardized test scores for incoming Freshmen in 2007 were 1340 on the SAT and 29 on the ACT.^[1] Additionally, fall 2006 saw 188 National Merit Finalists, making it the eighth of all universities in the country and the third ranked among public universities to attract the scholars.^[10]

[edit] Student Life

Student life for those in Barrett is much like any other student attending ASU; however, there are some resources available that require Honors status. For instance, the housing facilities located within Center Complex are for students enrolled in the Honors College only.^[11] The positives to living within these facilities are easy access to Honors-only seminars such as the required Human Event classes, as well as access to the Honors writing center and computing center.^[11] Unique from other residence halls at ASU, upperclassmen as well as freshmen may live in Center Complex.