MCC’s Honors Program Celebrates 10 Years

Ten years ago, Middlesex Community College history Professor Dr. David Kalivas noted a missing element to the MCC experience – an honors program.

After hearing about our sister schools participating in the Commonwealth Honors Program, Dr. Kalivas initiated a self-study and applied to the Board of Higher Education for admission into the growing program. In 2010, Middlesex was approved and became a Commonwealth Honors College and Dr. Kalivas became its first director.

“It’s one thing to have our own homegrown honors program,” Dr. Kalivas said. “But it’s quite another to become part of the Commonwealth Honors Program system that is certified by all of our peers at the universities and other community colleges across the state, which is then further certified and made legal by the Board of Higher Education.”

Since its inception in 2010, the program has grown rapidly in graduates, participating students and financial aid awarded.

“We’ve gone from six or seven graduates to more than 35, and 40-50 students taking contracts to 350 plus,” Dr. Kalivas said. “The college gives out about $27,000 in local scholarships and our students earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships every year when they transfer to different schools. We have a 100 percent success in transfer rate so far – all of our students transfer to four-year colleges.”

The Commonwealth Honors Program provides MCC students with an opportunity to learn at an advanced level, participate in seminar-style classes, and guarantees transfer to any of the Commonwealth Honors Programs or Honors Colleges in the Massachusetts university system.

“Students must take a minimum of three honors courses – two of them must be seminars and one of those seminars must be a team taught interdisciplinary class – to graduate. They also need a 3.2 GPA and to participate in two Undergraduate Research Conferences,” Dr. Kalivas said.

Each year, the Commonwealth Honors Experience culminates in the Undergraduate Research Conference. This conference is designed to give honors students an outlet to display the research skills they have learned over the year.

“The Undergraduate Research Conference is where students really demonstrate their research abilities,” Dr. Kalivas said. “It’s the capstone experience because they are presenting their research in a concise way to the public.”

Dr. Kalivas says it’s this research that really separates the program from others.

“The hallmark of the program – and what we’ve really been growing it around if you will – has been research,” Dr. Kalivas said. “When students transfer to four-year colleges and universities, one of the things they must be able to do is write a coherent, well-sourced and thoughtful research

paper that is focused around a central thesis of a research question. If they can’t write that kind of research paper, they are going to be at a disadvantage at a four-year institution. So the trademark of all our courses – particularly our seminars – is to prepare them to become critical thinkers and to write a bona fide research paper that is a minimum of 12 pages.”

In addition to the research, the honors program seminar-style classes provide students with the opportunity to study more in-depth material and engage more with their professors.

“Students are able to have a give and take in class so that when they get to the four-year institution they are ready to not only think critically, but think quickly in class. We really focus on developing students’ reading, writing, research and verbal skills so that they can engage fully in their courses.”

After 10 years as MCC’s Director of the Commonwealth Honors Program and on the verge of his own retirement, Dr. Kalivas still sees the opportunity for growth in the program.

“This is a great thing we have. We have a dedicated honors seminar room and we have a dedicated space for our honors office,” Dr. Kalivas said. “But I’m just looking to build. Imagine this whole floor,” he motions around him. “Honors – that would be the first step. Then you have a space for students to congregate and hang out, you have a space for honors faculty to have their offices and interact, and then have space for honors classrooms. That would further build the esteem of the program.”

For more information about MCC’s Commonwealth Honors Program, visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/honors/ or call 781-280-3553. Register for spring-semester courses by visiting www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration or calling 1-800-818-3434.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, we educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners. MCC offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses – on our campuses in Bedford and Lowell, and online. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!