Proposal for an Undergraduate Urban Studies Honor Society Report to the UAA Governing Board Date: March 14, 2013 Prepared by: Edith Barrett and Greg Andranovich Recommendations There is interest for an Honor among directors of Urban Studies programs. The majority of the chapters would likely be small, but the majority of the directors see an Honor Society as a plus for students. The most factors to consider should UAA decide to move forward is the cost to students and institutions and the assistance that UAA can provide in keeping chapters active. The Association of College Honor Societies recommends that interested groups should experiment with a local honor society for 3-5 years to develop and test the structure and functions of the organization. We propose that UAA offer to help 5-10 of the most interested institutions develop local chapters. This assistance might include: hosting an undergraduate Honor Society link on the UAA website, offering a poster session at the annual conference specifically for undergraduate Honor Society members, connecting Honor Society faculty advisors with other local UAA members to give campus presentations or events, technical support to any chapter that wants to produce its own student journal, such as putting helping the students editorial board and putting a call out to UAA members who would be willing to review manuscripts. In the future, UAA could consider sponsoring an Honor Society-wide student journal. Individual institutions can determine the initial cost of membership, using that money to cover incidental organizational costs (e.g., food at meetings, printing, etc.). The dues should be easily kept low (e.g., $5 or $10 per student) since there would be no national dues. UAA could consider giving Honor Society chapter members an honorary membership in the organization without the provision of a paper copy of the journal (which students are not likely to want anyway). 1
Survey of Urban Studies Programs An initial search through collegeboard.org yielded 128 colleges and universities that claimed to have a major in urban studies (the key word used by the site search engine). We then explored each of those institution s websites to find the appropriate contact person. Some of the listed institutions appeared to no longer have a program, and thus, when no contact information was available, the institution was omitted from the population. In January and February 2013, we emailed a request to participate in our survey to 94 individuals identified as the contact for the institutions. We received responses from 48 (a 51% response rate), two of which informed us that they no longer had an undergraduate program. Thus, we have a working sample of 45 colleges and universities with an Urban Studies-like major and one with a minor. Below are the responses from individuals of those 46 institutions. Institutional Interest The UAA does not expect to charge chapter institutions any annual fees, although students would pay a one-time membership fee (likely in the $40 range). Given this, how interested would your institution be in starting an urban studies/urban affairs honor s society chapter? N (%) Very Interested 22 (48%) Somewhat Interested 19 (41%) Neutral 2 (4%) Not Very 2 Interested (4%) Not at All Interested 1 (2%) Comments 1) We offer membership in ASA Honor Society in lieu of our own! 2) I have been exploring the possibility for a few years now. 3) Not sure if the students will be interested in paying membership fee. 4) Our majors have already begun to discuss forming their own organization. It would be great if they could affiliate with a broader organization/network. 1) Getting these sorts of activities going is one issue, but if can often be hard to keep them going. Times change, folks leave. 2) It would depend on the benefits and activities associated with the society. 3) What will the $40 fee be used for? We are very interested except for the seemingly steep fee. NO COMMENTS 1) Minor only. Most of our students are in Architecture and pursue the minor as a complementary element. Their identification and professional aspirations thus focus on the professional per se. Hence, I would expect very limited interest. 2) Would this make this program like Golden Key Honor Society? Would students be paying for the honor? If so I don't like the idea. 1) Students here generally have no money. I'd prefer to see an increase in dues or a chapter institution charge. Take-Away: There is strong institutional interest in an Honor Society but concern about the financial and time costs. 2
Anticipated Membership in the Honor Society Number of majors Number completed 3 courses in major with 3.0 GPA Number completed 3 courses in major with 3.3 GPA Number eligible at 3.0 likely interested in joining Percent eligible at 3.0 likely interested in joining Mean 55 31 20 17 62% Median 41 20 15 10 60% Range 2-170 2-120 2-70 2-100 3-100% Distribution < 20 20-49 50-99 100 6 (13%) 20 (43%) 12 (26%) 8 (18%) 18 (40%) 17 (38%) 8 (18%) 2 ( 5%) 26 (59%) 14 (32%) 4 ( 9%) 0 30 (71%) 9 (23%) 2 ( 4%) 1 ( 2%) 1 ( 2%) 10 (24%) 22 (52%) 9 (22%) Take-Away: The directors expect that the majority of eligible students would be interested in joining an Honor Society. However, given the relatively small size of the major across institutions, chapters would be small. Nearly three quarters would likely have fewer than 20 members. Benefits of an Honor Society Please rate how the following benefits would be in influencing your institution s decision to start an urban studies/urban affairs honor society chapter. Provides an honor that students can put on their resumes. Creates a vehicle for building a community on campus of students with shared interests Offers students opportunities to connect with other urban studies/urban affairs students across the country Connects undergraduate students to the Urban Affairs Association, including increased opportunity to attend the annual conferences Provides a structure for extracurricular service learning. Very Somewhat Neutral Not very Not at all 32 (70%) 13 (28%) 1 (2%) 0 0 21 (46%) 19 (41%) 4 (9%) 2 (4%) 0 21 (46%) 20 (43%) 4 (9%) 1 (2%) 0 16 (35%) 25 (54%) 5 (11%) 0 0 14 (30%) 15 (33%) 11 (24%) 4 (9%) 2 (4%) 3
Comments: Creates a deeper credibility for the Under Graduate major. Helps parents and prospective students see the value. Also speaks internally to the value of the discipline. Helps to raise the visibility of the major and field of studies on campus, recruitment and retention. Job opportunities and networking. My students have been asking for this! We already have student groups. I assume the UAA will be offering something different, such as job networking or links, or perhaps conference opportunities. We have an honors group here so there is some duplication. Take-Away: The most reason to support an Honor Society is the benefit it provides students for their future career plans. Directors also see a value in an Honor Society as a vehicle for connecting students on campus and across the country. The linkage to UAA is less, although not insignificant. Names of the majors Urban Studies (30) Metropolitan Studies (2) Urban Studies and Planning (2) Geography and Urban Studies (1) Growth and Structure of Cities (1) Planning and Community Development (1) Public and Urban Affairs (1) Urban Affairs (1) Urban and Community Studies (1) Urban Planning (2) Urban and Regional Planning (1) Urban Systems (1) Take-Away: The majority of majors are called Urban Studies so that would be a logical name for the Honor Society. However, we could consider a more inclusive name, such as Urban and Global Studies or Urban and Regional Studies. 4
Appendix A List of interested institutions Name State 1 Arizona State University AZ 2 Augsburg College MN 3 Barnard College, Columbia University NY 4 Bryn Mawr College PA 5 California State University, Northridge CA 6 CUNY, Hunter College NY 7 CUNY, Queens College NY 8 Dillard University LA 9 Elmhurst College IL 10 Fordham University NY 11 Jackson State University MS 12 Loyola Marymount University CA 13 Loyola University, Chicago IL 14 Manhattan College NY 15 McGill University Canada 16 New York University NY 17 North Central University MN 18 Ohio University OH 19 Ohio Wesleyan University OH 20 Rutgers University, Camden NJ 21 San Francisco State University CA 22 Temple University PA 23 St. Cloud State University MN 24 St. Peter s University NJ 25 Stanford University CA 26 The New School NY 27 Towson University MD 28 Trinity College CT 29 Trinity University TX 5
30 Tulane University LA 31 University of California, Berkeley CA 32 University of California, San Diego CA 33 University of Connecticut CT 34 University of Illinois, Chicago IL 35 University of Missouri, Kansas City MO 36 University of New Orleans LA 37 University of Pittsburgh PA 38 University of Texas, Austin TX 39 University of Washington, Tacoma WA 40 University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI 41 University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh WI 42 Virginia Tech University VA 43 Warner Pacific College OR 44 Washington University in St. Louis MO 45 Worcester State University MA 46 Wright State University OH 6