In this article Chancellor Susan Koch considers the value of the honors program at her institute, the University of Illinois at Springfield. She begins by reflecting on her own under graduate experience at her alma mater, Dakota State University and explains how her experience there helped her to create the honors program at the University of…

Orienting and welcoming first-year students to campus and to honors programs are often key components of program development. At an institutional level, successful orientation programs can positively affect retention rates from the first to second year. The greater a student's involvement and integration into the life of the university, the less…