Were there any questions that you feel I should have asked you?

A: “Not that I can think of, any responses I wanted to give were covered in the

questions.”

Q: Who else should we talk to? (i.e. Faculty, Profs, other students, etc.) A: “Honors advisors and general curriculum advisors that don’t know about

Honors. As a student, it is extremely frustrating that Honors advisors will only discuss Honors, and major advisors will only discuss general curriculum. It would

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solve a lot of issues if both types of advisors could help students with both aspects of their education.”

Stakeholder response to “what is the one thing I didn’t ask you that you think I should have?”

She stated that the prompts provided allowed her to provide the responses she was hoping to get across. She did want to make it clear that she, like several peers, are confused about the senior projects and would like increased clarity in reference to them. She also stated that having a senior project and major capstones seemed repetitive.

Will this stakeholder agree to reconnect for further inquiry? How do they want to be contacted?

Yes – via text or email

Three more connections this stakeholder provided:  Current Honors Junior, accounting major  Current Honors Junior, pre-nursing major

 Non-Honors Senior residing in Niemeyer LLC, hospitality and tourism management major

Possible next-steps:

 Reach out to her contacts in Niemeyer LLC, especially non-Honors students to expand on the socialization within the LLC.

 Update questions to match suggestions – follow up with senior project leads  Research other Honors curriculums in Michigan

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INTERVIEW #11

Stakeholder Group/Location: Current Honors Student/Niemeyer Living Center Estimated Age: X 20-30 ____ 30-40 _____40-50 ____ 50+

Gender: Male

Primary Goal of this Opportunity:

The primary of goal of this interview was to gain the insight of what current FMHC students, who are currently experiencing the curriculum, and see what they like as well as suggestions they have to improve the curriculum.

How does conducting this work reflect on your team problem statement?

Our team problem statement is focusing on current and future FMHC students. We hope to create a curriculum that only current students can be proud of now and post-graduation, but also one that will benefit future students.

Summary of Research:

He is a second year Junior within the Honors College majoring in Accounting and minoring in Criminal Justice. He hopes to one day work with federal law

enforcement possibly investigating financial crimes. Throughout the interview, he pointed out that he felt that current Honors curriculum did not help him in his field of study. He felt that it was clear that the curriculum was focused around general education as opposed to career preparation. He suggested, in order to combat this problem, FMHC could have various different curriculum paths relating to various fields of study (i.e. a Medical path, Business path, and a Criminal Justice path). He stated that by doing so, FMHC would have clear benefits, to both students and employers, as opposed to just more difficult general education classes.

Important insights:

 Field related curriculum paths prepare students for real-world work.

 Personalized communication from Director makes freshman feel welcome.  Real-world network opportunities are extremely important.

Dialogue Questions and Response:

Q: How could the Honors College change their curriculum to best prepare you for

a future career?

A: “While it is difficult to tailor curriculum to each individual student, they could

specify curriculums to broad programs like Medical Field/Sciences,

Business/Accounting, Criminal Justice, Teaching, and others. This would allow students to take more relevant Honors courses. They could also coordinate with other departments to advertise recruiting events, or host recruiting events tailored to Honors students.”

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Q: Can you tell me how you have experienced both strengths and weaknesses in

your Honors College experiences?

A: “Strengths have been very clear from the beginning. The sequences are an

effective way to enroll and fulfill general education requirements. However, beyond that, some requirements actually slow progression, for example, the art requirement for me. I would have rather taken a non-Honors art class that would have been more enjoyable. A possible solution, in this case, would be offering more art classes or offering students the option to take a non-Honors course for the fulfillment.”

Q: What are a few things that you would like to get out of being an Honors

Student, and how do you see these benefitting you after graduation?

A: “The network connections along with the prestige of “Honors” on my resume,

transcript, and degree will help further my career and make me stand out.

Additionally, the curriculum does diversify students “platforms of understanding and discussion.”

Q: Can you tell me about how your Honors courses have differed from your non-

Honors courses?

A: “The biggest difference between my Honors and non-Honors courses has been

the amount of writing. For all of my Honors courses, I have done substantially more writing. While the intellectual challenge posed may or may not be greater, the writing requirements are astronomically greater.”

Q: What are some ways that we can get more people to know about the Honors

College and make incoming freshman feel more welcome?

A: “I think the incoming freshman feel very welcomed, as did I. I think Dr. Gillis

should uphold Dr. J’s habit of personally inviting students to apply to Honors and then giving personalized feedback on their Honors applications.”

Q: Were there any questions that you feel I should have asked you?

A: “I felt the questions asked were very thorough. Maybe specifically ask about

writing and SWS classes.”