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Honors Symposium: Home

Fall 2022 Honors Symposium:Home

The Honors College Symposium

The UMass Lowell Honors College Symposium is a non-credit, non-graded, optional way for Honors College students to satisfy H4, H5, or H6 honors course requirements. The symposium consists of three units throughout the semester, one per month. The Symposium requires approximately 8-10 hours of engagement. You can start today if you wish by reading ahead! The Honors College Symposium is classified as an Honors Experiential Learning opportunity (HEL). *Note if you waived H1 and H2, you CAN NOT use a HEL to cover an H. You must have 18 credits of honors coursework to graduate with Commonwealth Honors.

Principal Features:

  • Attend all three Friday discussion sessions. Time 3:00 pm-5:00 pm. Two hours in length. On Sept. 30th, Oct. 28th, and Nov 18. in the Allen House on south campus.
  • Read
  • Write
  • Speak

Speakers:

  • Sue Kim and Richard Howe (Sept. 30th): If you live in Lowell, the city councilors have a greater impact on your day-to-day life than the President of the United States. Following local politics not only helps hold elected officials accountable but also helps place national political conflicts in a broader context. For more than 50 years, politics in Lowell has been characterized by a struggle between progressives and conservatives. In that, it mirrors the rest of the country.  

 

  • Chandra Waring (Oct. 28th): Dr. Chandra D. L. Waring is an Assistant Professor of Sociology who studies the

    growing bi/multiracial population. Her work decenters the short-sighted yet convenient narrative that the increasing bi/multiracial population is evidence of a less racially contentious and more racially harmonious society. In a population that is often framed as the embodiment of a racial panacea, her work illuminates the complex and invisibilized racial realities of this community.

 

  • Ingrid Hess (Nov. 18th)- Ingrid Hess is an associate professor of graphic design in the Department of Art and Design at UMass, Lowell. She is also a children’s book writer and illustrator. Her scholarship focuses on Design for the Common Good. In her work Hess has addressed peace, economic justice, diversity, environmental issues, literacy, and education. Her work empowers children to understand that they can make a difference. Historically children’s books have not done a good job depicting diversity. This problem is slowly beginning to change. Ingrid is part of this change.

*see below for more details   

Questions or to sign up, contact: Erin_Maitland@uml.edu

Responsibilities of the Honors Students

Each student must:
(1) Sign up for the Symposium by completing and submitting the Honors Experiential Learning (HEL) Application.
(2) Read articles from all 3 speakers (See article links below). We want the speaker sessions to be a discussion, so having this background knowledge will help you be able to participate in the discussion and gain a better understanding of the topic.  
(3) Attend, be on time, be fully prepared, and be fully engaged in all three symposium discussion sessions.
(4) Write and record a  final Radio Commentary.  Please create an MP3 file, Title your commentary (a title that gets at what your main argument is), and send it to Erin_Maitland@uml.edu.  The Radio Commentary assignment is due no later than Dec 12th.  

The Radio Commentary is an opportunity for you to share what you thought and make an argument about one (or more) of the topics discussed during the Symposium. Take a look at these Radio Commentary Guidelines. Based on everything you have read and heard, what is your most important takeaway? You heard the speakers make their arguments, now it is your turn to make yours. Think about how you might persuade others--make your case. This is your time to reflect on the last three months and discuss them.

*The Radio Commentary is due by the last day of the semester.  Please submit it to Erin_Maitland@uml.edu. 

***PLEASE name the file: FIRSTname_LASTname_SymposiumSemesteryear (Example: Sally_Smith_SymposiumFall22).

 

*You will receive a Satisfactory(S) or Unsatisfactory (U) for the course, which will show up on your transcript.   

Note: Failure to fulfill all the above requirements on time will result in the student receiving an Unsatisfactory (U) grade for the Symposium and thereby not receiving credit for the H4, H5, or H6 honors requirement.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Erin_Maitland@uml.edu.