New director brings new opportunities

Cheryl Robinson steps up to be the new Honors College director

Chloe Lomelli
Campus Article
April 13th, 2015

The new Honors Program Director, Cheryl Robinson.
 After all the applications and interviewsRobinson is 
ready to do all she can to improve the Honors College at Valencia.

    program director at Valencia College. Robinson has been with Valencia since 1997 and was dean of students at the Winter Park campus for ten years. She is excited to be a part of the program and cannot wait to work with students and faculty to improve the Honors College.

After long application processes and intensive interviews, Cheryl Robinson was chosen to replace Valeria Burks as the new Honors

     On March 16, Robinson traveled to different campuses and invited faculty and students to come by and say hi. At the meet and greet, faculty and students came by to welcome the new director. Robinson was warm and receptive to all who came to congratulate her. “I’m excited about the new director. Everybody says she is great,” said honors student Lynette Rocha.

    “We’d really like to grow the program,” said Robinson. She wants to draw students who do not typically think of themselves as honors students. When people think of “honors”, they typically think classes are harder or have a heavier workload. People also think they have to be extremely intelligent to a part of an honors program.  The honors program at Valencia strives to break these stereotypes by encouraging students to think creatively and have students grow academically and personally through the different honors tracks offered and outside classroom activities.

      Students apart of the James M. and Dayle L. Seneff Honors College are required to have 15 co-curricular hours a semester and have required courses throughout their time in the program. These co-curricular hours are actives that take place outside the classroom that cover a range of topics. Students have the chance to learn about topics that have a real-world applications such as time and money management and also topics that open the eyes other cultures and are able to help in select local events to gain these hours. 

Faculty and students come to congratulate 

Robinson on her new position.  

     The classes students are able to take both honors and non-honors course. The honors courses offered correlate with the different tracks offered at the East, West and Winter Park campuses. At East campus students are a part of the Undergraduate Research Track, which is designed for students who plan on attending a graduate or professional program.

     The track offered at West campus is the Interdisciplinary Studies Track. It allows students to create an integrative, holistic education experience that empowers a global and diverse perspective. Lastly, the Jeffersonian Track  at Winter Park is designed to provide a well-rounded general education curriculum with an emphasis on creating global citizens.

    Robinson is currently investigating whether 15 co-curricular hours a semester is too much for students, and if it is, she plans to try to change that requirement. She also wants to fix scheduling with the required course within the Honors College. She wants the honors courses to fit and be more flexible with the student's other classes.

    

     The honors program gives students the opportunity to grow in a distinctive environment through its smaller classes and a staff whose primary goal is quality teaching. Scholarship opportunities are available and study abroad trips are incorporated in the program. Now, with an enthusiastic program director whose focus is bettering the program there’s not much stopping students from joining.  Interested students should visit http://valenciacollege.edu/honors and apply online.