After 61 years, the LSOE Honors Program will be coming to an end, with students in the Class of 2021 being the last cohort offered admittance, according to an email sent Wednesday to students in the program. This decision follows suit with those to end the honors programs in the MCAS, announced in October, and in CSOM, announced earlier this week.
The announcement came from Jacqueline Lerner, program coordinator of the Honors Program; Penny Hauser-Cram, program coordinator of applied psychology and human development; and Julia DeVoy, dean of undergraduate students in Lynch.
“After those currently enrolled in our Honors Program graduate, our program will end,” the email said. “All current Lynch Honors Program students will have the opportunity to complete the existing program, and nothing will change in your experience.”
The Alpha and Omega Society, Lynch’s official honors program since 1956, was initially established as part of an effort to recruit talented students and to promote the academic development of future leaders in education and psychology. The program was created to provide Lynch students with an advanced approach to meeting the school’s mission, which is to improve the human condition and create a more just world through education and applied psychology, the email explained.
“However, like our fellow schools at Boston College, today’s 2017 Lynch School is a highly selective, nationally ranked school of education providing challenging undergraduate academic programming to all students through our Applied Psychology and Teacher Education programs,” the email said. “The needs that led to the original creation of the Lynch Honors Program, as with the other Honors programs at Boston College, no longer exist.”
The email stated that next semester, a task force made up of Lynch faculty and students will begin exploring alternative models for providing students with advanced study opportunities and recognizing their outstanding scholarship. Members of the Lynch community, including the Honors Program coordinators and undergraduate dean, will consider new opportunities such as undergraduate research fellowships and student-scholar programming.
“The decision announced here reflects our conviction that, in many ways, the Lynch School of 2017 is closer to our vision of academic excellence coupled with practical engagements to increase justice and the common good,” the email said. “We look forward to moving ahead with new opportunities for all here to engage in meaningful research and scholarship that enhances the human condition and makes the world more socially just.”
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