Still the first and only
Honors Tutorial College marks 50 years of nurturing a create-your-own-destiny experience
Mary Reed, BSJ 鈥90, MA 鈥93 | October 7, 2022
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鈥淓xtremely brilliant.鈥
That鈥檚 how Dr. Jairo Sinova, BS 鈥94, describes the fellow Honors Tutorial College students and professors who surrounded him as an 91探花 undergraduate. It鈥檚 high praise coming from an OHIO graduate and theoretical physicist who is one of the world鈥檚 leading experts in spintronics, an emerging field that is driving the next generation of electronics memory and processing.
Sinova is the founding director of the Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center at Johannes Gutenberg University, where he also serves as an Alexander von Humboldt Professor, the most highly endowed research award in Germany. Among his accolades, Sinova has earned a National Science Foundation Career Award, and his work has been cited in peer-reviewed literature more than 20,000 times. But, he will tell you, it all traces back to OHIO鈥檚 Honors Tutorial College (HTC).
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what defined my career. The undergraduate experience is just beyond belief,鈥 says Sinova, who, as an HTC student, tackled increasingly complex physics problems, engaged in one-on-one tutorials with many professors, taught an astronomy course and conducted summer research at other universities.
Now that he is a professor, Sinova has a renewed appreciation for HTC鈥檚 signature tutorials. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just beneficial for the students; it really energizes the professors,鈥 he says. 鈥淗ow [91探花] pulled it off, I have no idea.鈥
Fifty years ago, 91探花 did pull it off, establishing HTC, which remains the first and only degree-granting, tutorial-based, public honors college of its kind in the U.S. Based largely on the tutorial model at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England, HTC鈥檚 hallmark feature is the faculty-student tutorial, conducted one on one or in small groups. Students often take the lead in creating the tutorial curriculum, which allows for independent study in areas in which no current 鈥榦n the books鈥 course is offered. In addition to participating in tutorials, HTC students have fewer prerequisites, opening the doors for them to direct their own education on a larger scale.
After HTC鈥檚 inception in 1972, the first class of 32 students arrived in fall 1973. Since then, more than 2,000 alumni have each gone on to make their mark on the world. They include Laura Brege, AB, BBA 鈥78, whose career spans C-suite positions and advisory roles to several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies; NBA sideline reporter Allie LaForce, BSJ 鈥11; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joe Mahr, BSJ 鈥94; Golden Globe-nominated actress Piper Perabo, BFA 鈥98; and former NASA lead scientist and current Dean of the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology Lori Ploutz-Snyder, BS, MS 鈥89, PHD 鈥94. Dr. Keith Hawkins, BS 鈥13, went directly from HTC to Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar and then became an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin while still in his twenties.
In this photo from the 1980 Spectrum Green Yearbook, student Joe Forsthoffer, BA/BSJ 鈥83 (HTC), speaks with Dr. Margaret Cohn, then-director of the Honors Tutorial College. Cohn was named HTC dean in 1991. Photo courtesy of the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections
鈥淭hey want to be the difference,鈥 Dean Dr. Donal Skinner, who himself taught tutorials at Cambridge while completing his doctorate in biology, says of HTC鈥檚 students and graduates. That character trait, Skinner says, hasn鈥檛 changed over the past 50 years, and neither has the college鈥檚 tried-and-true tutorial method.
鈥淭his notion of a student or small group of students learning alongside a committed faculty member who is doing this work because they want to鈥攖hat learning journey and that process has been very timeless,鈥 says Cary Roberts Frith, BSJ 鈥92, MS 鈥98. An HTC graduate, Frith has also served the college as a tutor, thesis advisor, chief administrative and financial officer, associate dean and interim dean and says the rigor and self-directness of the tutorial system is not for everyone. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a particular learner who wants to work in collaboration with the faculty and to do original research and creative activity.鈥
A few things have changed over the years. While HTC initially offered 10 programs of study, today students have access to more than 30 programs. And, along the line, HTC introduced a thesis requirement in which students complete a thesis or comparable professional project. Theses have covered everything from antibiotic resistance to LGBTQ and environmental movements. Another change is that today students take a first-year seminar together, preparing and empowering them for the rigors of a tutorial education.
Yet the heart of HTC is the same. 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen another program that gives students as much agency over their own education,鈥 Skinner says. 鈥淚 think that model of education is so powerful that this is the major draw for those individuals to come here.鈥
As an undergraduate, Bruce Burtch, BGS 鈥72, was a student in OHIO鈥檚 Honors College, which debuted in fall 1964, contributing to honors programming at the University that dates back as far as the 1940s. In 1970, he participated in an English literature summer session at Oxford鈥檚 Trinity College and returned to Athens, acclaiming the institution鈥檚 tutorial system, particularly to one of his professors, the late Ellery Golos.
Golos helped secure a scholarship for Burtch to return to England in fall 1971 to study the Oxford and Cambridge tutorial system. In 1972, Golos submitted a proposal to President Claude Sowle for a 鈥渢utorial system鈥 at OHIO, crediting Burtch for investigating the system of Oxford and Cambridge and suggesting adaptations for implementation at 91探花. In his proposal, Golos postulated that a tutorial system at OHIO could 鈥減rovide the best education for the highly gifted, highly motivated undergraduate student, and, strangely enough, can do so at less cost than the best alternatives.鈥
鈥淓llery shared my enthusiasm,鈥 Burtch says, giving Golos credit for 鈥渁ll the heavy lifting鈥 required to launch HTC, which built on previous honors programming to add the tutorial component. Golos became HTC鈥檚 first director, serving from 1972-77.
After a long career in marketing, Burtch today is executive director of Social Impact Productions, a nonprofit he founded, but one of his proudest accomplishments is the hand he played in inspiring HTC. 鈥淭o see it 50 years later, I feel so deeply honored to know that I played a role in that.鈥
Honors Tutorial College alumni return to Athens the weekend of Aug. 26 to celebrate HTC鈥檚 50th anniversary. The weekend included social gatherings; a memorial for HTC Dean Emeritus Joe Berman, MA 鈥66, PHD 鈥68, who passed away Dec. 12; and a dinner and gala with HTC faculty and students at Athens鈥 historic Zenner House. Photo by Dylan Benedict
As for the next 50 years, administrators hope to see more diversity, and Skinner is committed to growing the Honors Tutorial College Study Abroad Endowment, established in 2021 by K. Ann Shafer Cousins, BSED 鈥71, and Jack Cousins, so that every HTC student can access funding to study, research or volunteer abroad.
As an HTC student, Taylor Mirfendereski, BSJ 鈥14, received University funding to pursue her capstone professional project, Glass Half Empty: An American Water War, a documentary that aired on WOUB Public Media. To report the documentary, she spent more than a year following six Northeast Pennsylvania families dealing with the fallout from fracking and its impact on drinking water. Prior to this project, Mirfendereski pitched a tutorial in which she analyzed two network documentaries about Southeast Ohio.
鈥淭hat helped me think about what makes a journalism documentary work, (to) think about the material in a different way,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t was something I was interested in that wasn鈥檛 in a normal journalism curriculum.鈥
Today, Mirfendereski is an investigative multimedia journalist for KING 5 News in Seattle, where she has won two Peabody Awards and nine Emmy Awards.
鈥淭he untraditional side of HTC helped me land untraditional roles in my professional career, which is how I found success,鈥 she says. 鈥淵ou create your own destiny. Honestly, that鈥檚 the thing HTC is all about.鈥
Illustrations by Andrea Ucini
A growing OHIO honors and scholars community
Alongside 91探花鈥檚 highly selective Honors Tutorial College鈥攚hich boasted record enrollment last fall鈥攊s a growing OHIO Honors Program, providing high-promise students four years of academic enrichment inside and outside of the classroom.
Fully launched in fall 2019, today nearly 8 percent of undergraduates on the Athens Campus are enrolled in the OHIO Honors Program, which is open to all majors and being extended to the University鈥檚 regional campuses.
Working with dedicated honors advisors, students in the program participate in honors courses and small group seminars or honors projects in traditional courses while supplementing their studies through community engagement, research and creative activity, and leadership experiences. The four-year program culminates with a capstone portfolio, in which students showcase and share the skills and knowledge they acquired. Students who complete the program earn honors designations on their OHIO transcripts and diplomas.
For senior nutrition science major Eunice Prasojo, it was the program鈥檚 required first-year Engagement Lab that allowed her to expand her horizons and establish a legacy on campus.
鈥淢y peers and I were able to create the Global Buddies Program that focuses on creating a welcoming environment for international students,鈥 says Prasojo, an international student from Indonesia. 鈥淭he creation of this program has opened many doors to various opportunities for me.鈥
This fall, the University is launching the 1804 Scholars Program, a new residential scholars program focused on university engagement and personal well-being.