Centering Equity in Our Redefinition of the Honors Experience
Shaping Our Foundational Concepts and Commitment Areas
The following compilation synthesizes various materials that have emerged from campus discussions of the college vision to "cultivate a distinctive, equity-centered, public honors college experience that propels learners to positively impact society." These included moderated discussions of the equity-centered honors college concept held beginning in spring 2023 and feedback on conceptual materials circulated to the campus community in fall 2023. This ongoing work also acknowledges the careful feedback and advice provided by the Equity-Centered Honors College Think Tank throughout this process.
As announced to campus in February 2024, the College has been elevating the visibility of our identity as New York’s public honors college to prospective students. This follows references to Geneseo’s honors experience made in recent years in Governor Hochul’s 2022 State of the State Book and Chancellor King’s acknowledgement of Geneseo’s honors college identity. The concept of a public honors college is driven by equity-centered principles including the core beliefs that the engaging and transformational honors experience offered at Geneseo should be accessible to the diverse population of New York State and must provide comprehensive support services to increase the success of all enrolled learners.
At the core of Geneseo’s vision is a desire to inspire and equip all members of the college community to use their individual and collective strengths to empower every learner to thrive intellectually, emotionally, socially, and physically.
Foundational Concepts
Attention to inequity requires acknowledgement of the fact that all of us have different backgrounds, experiences, needs, and access to resources. Thus, our paths through life can be influenced—both negatively and positively—by where we come from, who we are connected to, and what resources surround us.
Equity is achieved when social identity-related structural barriers that limit one’s access and/or success have been systematically identified and removed. The goal of equity is to redress the exclusion of historically minoritized groups and level opportunities and resources for all.
Equity-centered practice stems from a recognition that not everyone starts from the same place or needs the same supports. Centering equity requires deliberate attention to disparities between social identity groups and the root causes across many institutional domains, including policies, practices, procedures, processes, and distribution of resources. In equity-centered practice, choices are made and acted on that intentionally disrupt disparities and ensure parallelism of access and opportunity. Although transforming structural inequities can be a short-term strategy, true equity-centered practices seek to design around equity principles from the beginning. For a fuller conceptualization, please refer to our Equity Framework for Geneseo.
Honors experiences typically contain two components. The first component is an approach to engagement that creates separate experiences for students who are designated as exceptional, often based on criteria that reflect access to resources rather than commitment or potential. This component often reflects and magnifies inequity. The second component is an approach to education that connects students with multiple transformational learning opportunities in and out of the classroom. We believe that it is possible—and necessary—to apply equity-centered practices to broaden access to these transformational experiences. An equity-centered learning environment benefits employees, as well, who experience heightened personal growth and intellectual stimulation, which in turn benefits the whole community.
An equity-centered, public honors college ensures that honors experiences and equity-centered practices are woven into the fabric of all students’ experiences, in and out of the classroom. These experiences need to be broadly accessible and are embedded in an ecology that supports all students in multiple ways. As a public institution, this entails creating learning experiences that meet the needs and aspirations of New York’s diverse population. The intentional focus on understanding the obstacles differentially facing individual members of our community and the commitment to align resources and support to promote success reflects the principles of equity-centered practice; the intentional focus on improving universal access to impactful learning experiences through both curricular and co-curricular avenues reflects the principles of honors experiences. This approach stretches past the national norm of providing these opportunities to a select few by striving to ensure they are enjoyed by all students at Geneseo.
Action Areas
Geneseo’s strategic plan (Refining the Honors Experience: Centering Equity, Advancing Access, Embracing Innovation) outlines core focus areas in access, student experience, and outcomes, with an overarching commitment to developing infrastructure and securing financial sustainability. The commitment areas below serve as the key principles for operationalizing the college’s vision and provide a lens through which to view the strategic planning areas. All members of Geneseo’s campus participate in this shared work; we are all collaborative learners striving to foreground equity in advancing our identity as New York’s public honors college. To fulfill this vision, we will build on existing initiatives that:
- Maximize our strengths by leaning into and enhancing them. We believe that our personnel, holistic orientation, and college-wide high-impact learning practices are key strengths that, when coupled with our public liberal arts mission, distinguish a Geneseo education from and elevate it among others. All members of the campus community contribute to this work in ways that include:
- Leveraging Our Community Resources: Our community has countless resources and strengths, including knowledge, abilities, talents, skills, intelligence, judgment, creativity, and wisdom. At the core of Geneseo learning experiences are inquisitive and motivated students working alongside loyal, passionate, and committed employees who are doing critical work to support our campus in countless ways. Investing in and caring for all employees is necessary for the realization of our vision. Examples of practices that propel our resources include shared governance, educational opportunities, social and institutional support, equitable practices, creative freedom, transparent communication, goodwill, welcoming and accessible spaces, and a confirming and safe climate in which to work.
- Individualized Support: A Geneseo education nurtures the whole person by supporting intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development. Examples of practices that support a holistic orientation including mentorship, food security, mental and physical health resources, self-efficacy development, personal sustainability support, and a confirming and safe climate in which to learn.
- Transformative and Reflective Learning Practices: As a public institution, Geneseo extends the reach of high-impact learning beyond selected members of an honors program by infusing practices throughout the curriculum and co-curriculum. Geneseo engages all students with multiple transformational learning experiences in and out of the classroom, and strives to ensure that these experiences engage with issues of equity and are equitably accessible. Geneseo's learning experiences are collaborative practices that enhance skills, encourage learners to apply these skills in different types of contexts, and reflect on the significance of these experiences as they shape their personal lives and interactions with different types of communities.
- Broaden access to holistic and high-impact learning by engaging in ongoing and iterative practices that identify, eliminate, and/or transform policies, practices, procedures, processes, structures, norms, physical spaces, and everyday verbal and nonverbal communication to create a welcoming climate that stresses belonging and wellbeing.
- Align supports and practices with the needs of members of the campus community by understanding the unique histories, needs, experiences, and goals of the people that make up our community and taking action to uplift the individual success of each learner.