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Embry-Riddle Adds Honors Program


Daytona Beach, Fla., July 30, 2003 -- The Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will launch an Honors Program this fall with 45 incoming freshmen.

All the students are Presidential Scholars or Chancellor's Award recipients who have high academic achievement combined with a record of strong leadership and service.

"The program's mission is to enrich the students' educational experience and give them opportunities to exercise social and ethical responsibility through active, organized involvement on the campus and in the community," said Dr. Geoff Kain, professor of Humanities and director of the Honors Program at Embry-Riddle. "The program will, I hope, also serve as a seedbed of curricular innovation: some new courses, new approaches, and, ideally, cross-disciplinary opportunities for the students. There are some exciting possibilities here."

Highlights of the program include a guest speaker series that is open to the public, Honors housing for the students, an Honors student association, and various informal activities.

The students will complete three consecutive seminars to fulfill the general education component of the Honors Program and then nine credit hours of Honors in their specific major. Each degree program determines the nature of the Honors experience in the major, which typically culminates in a senior project or thesis.

The Honors Program is monitored by a faculty advisory committee consisting of faculty representatives from numerous departments representing all four colleges at Embry-Riddle: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Aviation, College of Business, and College of Engineering.

As a new member of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the principal agency representing Honors education at American colleges and universities, Embry-Riddle used NCHC guidelines in establishing its Honors Program.

For more information, contact Geoff Kain at (386) 226-6650 or geoffrey.kain@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates more than 25,000 students annually through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 130 teaching centers in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.