<p>Thinking back to the days when I was applying to college, I don’t remember anything about “Honors Colleges”. With my S, now a HS Senior, we found that almost all colleges (or at least the ones he was interested in) have Honors Colleges. I’m interested in finding out when, why and how this all got started. Anyone?</p>
<p>I think that Michigan State University might have had one of the first Honors Colleges in the country, at least among large state universities. It started operation in Fall 1957. Many universities followed suit, knowingly or not. Anyone have an earlier Honors College? </p>
<p>John Hannah, MSU President (of “the concrete never sets on Hannah’s empire”) backed a proposal by Thomas Hamilton to establish the Honors College at MSU.</p>
<p>Thanks QuantMech. “I’ll take ‘Obscure College History’ for $1000, Alex” :)</p>
<p>UW started their Honors program in that general era in response to students wanting more out of classes. Got my honors degree in '75.</p>
<p>Just checked- UW-Madison started their Honors Program for L&S due to a 1958 petition from students. Got my honors degree in '75.</p>
<p>I don’t know the origins, but I can tell you that my son is in Hutton Honor’s program at IU and it’s been an incredible experience. If you want to know more about it, just pm me.</p>
<p>Michigan State did start its Honors College in the Fall of 1957.</p>
<p>[Honors</a> College History](<a href=“http://honorscollege.msu.edu/about/college_history.html]Honors”>http://honorscollege.msu.edu/about/college_history.html)</p>
<p>But the University of Michigan also started its Honors Program in 1957. They’ve never called it an Honors “College” even though its residential character makes it more like a “college” than some non-residential programs that use that name.</p>
<p>[Honors</a> - University of Michigan](<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/honors/alumni&friends/anniversary]Honors”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/honors/alumni&friends/anniversary)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/honors/Home/Alumni%20&%20Friends/50th%20Anniversary/Angell%20to%20Vacate%20Honors%20Post%20(Mich%20Daily%20Dec-9-1960).pdf[/url]”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/honors/Home/Alumni%20&%20Friends/50th%20Anniversary/Angell%20to%20Vacate%20Honors%20Post%20(Mich%20Daily%20Dec-9-1960).pdf</a></p>
<p>Michigan would never admit to “following” Michigan State in anything. And I guess on this one, they don’t need to do so.</p>
<p>Yes, to bclintonk. There is an interesting piece by Robert C. Angell on the Honors Program at the University of Michigan, from The Journal of Higher Education, in 1960. It refers to the influence of the Carnegie-funded “Inter-university Committee on the Superior Student.” This was headed by Joseph Cohen of the University of Colorado. </p>
<p>Angell’s piece refers to the impetus of the Sputniks–but (“I’ll take ‘Artificial Satellites’ for $400, Alex”) wasn’t Sputnik launched in October 1957? So some of the Honors Colleges/Programs pre-date it. Angell also refers to pre-existing honors courses at Swarthmore and honors degrees at the University of Virginia, with decades-long track records by 1960.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/honors/Home/Alumni%20&%20Friends/50th%20Anniversary/The%20Honors%20Program%20at%20the%20University%20of%20Michigan,%20Robert%20C.%20Angell-1960.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/honors/Home/Alumni%20&%20Friends/50th%20Anniversary/The%20Honors%20Program%20at%20the%20University%20of%20Michigan,%20Robert%20C.%20Angell-1960.pdf</a></p>
<p>Smiling to myself at yet another example of the old Wolverine-Spartan rivalry. Of course Michigan would start an honors program at the exact same time. Never let it be said that the ol’ cow college down the road might get ahead of those superior intellectuals in Ann Arbor. (In my case, undergrad at MSU; grad school at Michigan; divided loyalties thereafter. I kept narrowly missing admittance to the Honors College at MSU…)</p>
<p>Swarthmore’s Honors Program was founded in 1922, but it’s not really like most other Honors programs in its structure or operations. Ultimately, calling it Honors is somewhat misleading. It doesn’t really begin until junior year, and it’s not a program “for the top students” (though many strong students choose to do it). It’s based around more intensive “preparations” in the major and minor, culminating in oral and written exams by outside examiners.</p>
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<p>Yes, Sputnik 1 was launched in October, 1957, but in some ways the U.S.-Soviet “space race” was already well underway by that time. Both countries rushed to grab as many top German rocket scientists and engineers as they could at the end of WWII. In 1955, President Eisenhower announced that the U.S. would launch an artificial earth-orbiting satellite during the International Geophysical Year (July, 1957-December, 1958), and U.S. intelligence surely knew the Soviet Union had undertaken its own space program. The shock of Sputnik was not that it happened, but that the Soviets were ahead of us. That opened up a flood of new money and effort into higher ed, especially in the sciences, and no doubt helped propel the rapid growth of public university Honors Colleges as a way of ramping up educational expectations and resources for “the best and brightest.” But it may well be that forward-thinking educational leaders at Michigan AND Michigan State saw the space race coming even before Sputnik shocked the rest of the nation into acting. So I’m not sure Angell is wrong, exactly; it’s just that he and John Hannah at MSU were half a step ahead of the game.</p>
<p>Right–in the interests of scrupulous pedantry, I should say that Angell emphasized the role of the committee headed by Cohen, over the role of the Sputniks (and he certainly knew the time frame, as well).</p>
<p>Do Ivy League schools have honors colleges? It’d seem a bit weird to get into arguably the top institution in the world, Harvard, and yet have there be a tier above that with the Harvard Honors College.</p>
<p>Though, I have heard there are some nice perks with honors-systems.</p>