Weekly (sort of) Newsletter

Spring '25 Honors Courses and Registration--we've added Statistics!

Late-breaking development: MATH 1342 ("Exploring Social Justice Issues through Data") will be offered on MW at HLC from 1:30-2:50 by Daniel "Fitz" Fitzpatrick

You can see all of the Spring '25 Honors courses on the college's course schedule page. Now is the time to start planning, as we opened the registration request form on Monday. Some courses fill up very quickly, so submitting the request early assures your seat in the class, as we register in the order of requests received. (Remember, only Honors Program staff can register you due to the restricted nature of these courses.) If you need some guidance about what courses to take, our Honors advisor Jana McCarthy has more appointments November, but if you need help now, she is recommending that you email her: jana.mccarthy@austincc.edu.   

For general questions about registration, please contact honors@austincc.edu. Our support staff members Professor Melissa Foote and Professor Marcel Pons Ventura are eager to help

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Ivy League Info Sessions: U Penn & Columbia U General School

Interested in attending an Ivy League school without having to relocate? The University of Pennsylvania is offering a fully online Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science degree. Register for a virtual transfer session here. Dates for the sessions are 11/12, noon, EST or 12/3 6:00 pm EST

 Students interested in exploring further can:

Review the Penn LPS online website

Request a preliminary transfer credit evaluation

Attend a live detailed virtual info session where they can ask questions or just listen

Watch a recorded general virtual session

Request more information

Schedule an appointment to talk with our admissions team (lpsonline@sas.upenn.edu)

Columbia University General School 

A number of ACC Honors students have transferred to the General School, including Marc Stoyer, Matthew Wilds, and Maggie Charbonnet. If you're interested in the possibilities, plan to attend one of their upcoming online information sessions:

Friday Forum: Transfer Students at GS

Friday, October 25, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

GS Undergraduate Online Information Session

Wednesday, October 30, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Friday Forum: Veterans at GS

Friday, November 01, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

GS Undergraduate Online Information Session

Wednesday, November 13, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

GS Undergraduate Online Information Session

Wednesday, December 11, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Friday Forum: Academic Interest - Humanities and the Arts

Friday, December 13, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

As always, if you apply and are accepted, let me know! We will co-host a transfer panel event with Trasfer Resources in February featuring Honors students who have transferred to highly competitive universities: UT's Journalism Program, Columbia University, and Brown University. 

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Building 5000 Town Hall (10/10) and Survey

Would you like to have a say in how Building 5000 is developed? (Would you like to advocate for, ahem, an Honors Lounge for students?) Then fill out this survey and attend the Building 5000 Town Hall on October 10th. 

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Upcoming Programs with Texas Law Pipeline Program

Interested in Law School? Check out UT Law School's upcoming programs:

Pipeline Program Infor Session & Law Student Panel (Virtual)

October 16

5:30 PM

Demystifying the Law School Admission Process:  A Conversation with UCLA, Cornell, GW and Texas Law

November 8

6:00 PM

Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston, TX

Law School Planning Day

November 22

11:00 AM

Texas Law

All details and registration for each event can be found at: https://law.utexas.edu/pipeline-program/pre-law-events/

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Community Seminar on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: 10/23

From Honors Professor Ted Hadzi-Antich: 

This October, ACC will host the Teagle Foundation’s 2024 convening of over 130 faculty leaders in liberal education from 70 two- and four-year institutions participating in the Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative. We are honored to be the first community college to host this event. (last year, this event was at Stanford!) The convening will kick-off on Wednesday, October 23 with a special Community Seminar keynote event focused on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. The event will begin at 4 p.m. with a discussion on the continued relevance of this text, featuring Joshua Bennett, Distinguished Chair of the Humanities and Professor of Literature at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Roosevelt Montás, Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia University. Then, participants will join Community Seminar discussion groups over dinner with faculty guests, who are directors of Cornerstone initiatives at colleges and universities across the country.

We are organizing a seating strategy that places our students in small groups with visiting Cornerstone project directors. It's an unprecedented opportunity for our students to engage with faculty members at universities where they may be more ready to picture themselves as transfer students after engaging with one of their faculty members in this discussion. 

RVSP here.

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NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) is now accepting applications

We've had many Honors students join NCAS, and we'd like to see you take advantage of this one-of-a-kind opportunity, too. (You don't even have to be a STEM major to participate, as NASA needs folks from a variety of disciplines.) Check out the details here and attend one of the info sessions listed below. If you complete any of the missions, let me know. 

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NASA L'SPACE Program Applications Open for Spring 2025

Folks, these opportunities come to us courtesy of Honors Program alum Theo Courtois and Program Coordinator at the NASA L'SPACE Program at ASU. Let us know if you apply and are accepted!

I wanted to reach out to let you know that the applications for the NASA L'SPACE Program academies have opened for the Spring 2025 semester! Applications for the programs are reviewed on a rolling basis, so interested students should apply as soon as possible. Both of these 15-week academies are fantastic opportunities for Honors Program students interested in a future in the space industry. The academies are open to students from all majors as they are placed in interdisciplinary teams for the duration of the program. Students should expect to spend 6-10 hours per week participating in program activities and completing related work.

Mission Concept Academy (MCA):

Participants in the Mission Concept Academy will learn space mission development skills by developing a preliminary mission concept that follows the NASA mission life cycle. Students will have the opportunity to learn from NASA and industry professionals while developing a foundation in mission design, technical writing, and NASA review procedures.

NASA Proposal Writing & Evaluation Academy (NPWEE):

Participants in the NASA Proposal Writing & Evaluation Academy will work in a team to develop innovative solutions to NASA pain points. Students will learn how to formulate a new technology proposal while competing for $10,000 in funding to develop their team's proposed idea.

I hope that Honors Program students at Austin Community College will continue to take advantage of these free NASA workforce development programs. My participation in these programs has been instrumental in my understanding of the complex challenges of the space industry. The knowledge and skills that I gained from these academies and my continued involvement with the NASA L'SPACE Program have been an incredible catalyst to my space industry career. If students have questions related to these academies, please let them know that they are welcome to reach out to me directly via email: tcourtoi@asu.edu.

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The Mellon Humanities Collaboratory: Fully Funded Summer Research Opportunity

Interested in escaping Texas during the summer and doing research in the Humanities? See details below! In 2023, we sent two ACC Honors students to Baltimore: Adelaide Rouech-Beard (Art History & Sociology) and Zek McCormick (Philosophy & Computer Science). We'd love to send more students this year. If you apply and are accepted, definitely let me know! Also, I have a couple of sample proposals, so touch base with me if you're interested: athomas2@austincc.edu. 

I’m writing to invite Austin Community College students to apply to a fully funded summer research program hosted by Johns Hopkins University. The Mellon Humanities Collaboratory provides emerging humanities scholars currently enrolled in community college with a generous summer stipend of $6,000 for ten weeks of full-time mentored research. On top of the stipend, travel to and from Baltimore and housing at our beautiful campus are included in the award at no cost to the student. The program will be held on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore, Maryland, from May 27 through August 2, 2025.

With support and mentorship from Johns Hopkins faculty and research staff, Humanities Collaboratory participants design their own research projects in any area of the humanities. Using a student-centered, peer-modeling approach, the Collaboratory invites students to work together constructively while pursuing their individual projects. This highly successful model develops undergraduates as subject matter experts and prepares them for further study in the humanities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Our website has more information, including videos produced by previous years’ participants detailing the impact of the program.

Applications for the 2024 program are open now through December 2, 2024. Due to restrictions on the Mellon funding, the program is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only. The only other eligibility requirements are current enrollment in a community college and an interest in humanities research. The online application can be found here.

We are hosting a series of virtual info sessions over the coming weeks. Please share the following links with your students and encourage them to register for a session:

·       Wednesday, October 9, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EST: register here.

·       Wednesday, October 16, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm EST: register here.

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Honors Program Scholarship Is Open: Deadline 11/1

The ACC Honors Program Scholarship is open, and applications are due by November 1st. This scholarship is awarded in the spring only, and we will award at least 5 scholarships of $1000 each. 

In order to be eligible for the scholarship, you must 1) have taken or be currently taking at least one Honors course, 2) declared your intention to become an Honors Scholar with honors@austincc.edu (just email us and say you'd like to become one), and 3) have at least a 3.5 GPA. That does not mean that you must have fulfilled all of the Honors Scholar requirements at the time of application; you just need to be heading in that direction. (The idea is that the scholarship money can help you to complete your remaining requirements by paying for additional courses.) Students who have already received a $2500 ACC Foundation Open Scholarship for the 2024-2025 are not eligible to apply, unfortunately.

What is the purpose of the Honors Scholar tier? We wanted to provide students with an "Honors portfolio," of sorts, which will make them even more competitive transfer/job applicants. Right now, everyone who takes an Honors course has that course designated as Honors on their transcript, but if you become an Honors Scholar, you'll receive what is known as an endorsement on your transcript (basically a fancy stamp that signifies completion of a special initiative/program of study). You will also receive a microcredential that you can use for LinkedIn, transfer applications, etc. The endorsement demonstrates a level of rigor and involvement that university admissions committees tend to find very attractive--especially when paired with an application essay that highlights your leadership and service activities as an Honors Scholar. Also, admissions offices are familiar with this kind of tier; Honors Scholars are common at many community colleges and universities.

Here is where you'll go to fill out the general application--make sure you check the box that asks if you are in the Honors Program--and here is the scholarship itself. You will not be competing with the entire ACC population; you'll be competing with Honors students who have registered their intention to become Honors Scholars only. (That's a relatively small pool!) The applications will be reviewed by a committee composed of Honors faculty and an Honors advisor. To register your intention to become an Honors Scholar, please contact honors@austincc.edu. You'll receive instructions about how to proceed.

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Calling Fall 2024 Graduates: The College Wants to Spotlight You

ACC Communications plans to highlight a series of students who will be graduating in December, and they would specifically like to write stories about students who have taken/are taking Honors courses and are also involved in Honors Program or other college activities (Think YCS Fellows, peer tutoring, HSO, SGA, PTK, etc.). Or, hey, maybe you're an Honors Scholar. If you're graduating and any of these descriptions fit, please reach out to me: athomas2@austincc.edu

From Communications: We would love the share their stories and help promote programs throughout the semester, especially leading up to the ceremony. Students will have multiple opportunities throughout the semester, including video, photography, writing, social media, and more. We will work directly with students to determine what is best for them.

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