Clinical Laboratory Science: A Profession with Honors

Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) supports a sturdy undergraduate honors program. Students are required to pierce the Honors College as freshmen and list in at least 24 hours of honors- designated classes. more [i]or[/i] less of the clinical core courses in the clinical laboratory science (CLS) program are designated as honors courses in like manner students can continue their contract agreement with the Honors body to enroll in at least six hours of honors credit at the junior and senior horizontal By providing further educational experiences on the outside of class, these honors pupils are able to meet the requirements emergencyed to graduate with highest honors. A CL honors program not single benefits the student but also the faculty involved and the program curriculum.

ABBREVIATIONS: CL = clinical laboratory science; SOM = institute of medicine; TTUHSC = Texas Tech University Health Science Center

INDEX TERMS: CL program; curriculum; honors corporation

Clin Lab Sci 2006;19(3):139

Academic transcendence and relevance are based upon established expectations that all learners develop the capacity to master satisfied that is complex and challenging.1 Today, greatest in quantity junior colleges and major universities have a certain number of sort of honors program of inquiry to challenge above-average students to achieve a higher horizontal of learning. TTUHSC supports a muscular undergraduate honors program of inquiry in the liberal arts or the arts and sciences. learners enter the Honors College program as freshmen and register in classes specified by the Honors guild

The Honors College experience is unique, offering outstanding academic and extracurricular opportunities and benefits. The CL constituent of this honors program is dedicated to the ideals of an education with profundity and breadth to prepare pupils for a lifetime of learning. The program is designed for those scholars who are intellectually curious, capable, and who want to challenge themselves to exhibit critical thinking skills. It was in this spirit that the TTUHSC CL program sought to form a partnership with the university's Honors community to serve each student transferring into our program from a typical honors-based education in their freshman and sophomore years.

Historically, when undergraduates in the Honors community declared a CLS major and penetrateed the TTUHSC CLS program at the beginning their junior year, they had to abandon their designation as honors learners and graduating with distinction as an honors scholar Our CLS curriculum was not linked to a basic education [i]or[/i] part of to the other an honors program, and none of our courses were designed to contain an extra constituting of study that was acceptable to the administration of the Honors guild as deserving of honors credit. Four years ago the TTUHSC CL program applied for affiliation with our institution's Honors association Some of the CLS clinical core courses were then designated as honors courses in which honors scholars could continue their agreement contract with the university's Honors guild to enroll in a locate number of honors credit hours at the junior and senior horizontal These courses include participation in a special throw that honors students are required to full over a period of several semester Since the initiation of the CL honors curriculum, 8% to 10% of enlisted CLS junior students each year have opt to take more [i]or[/i] less of the CLS courses as honors courses and have complet research throws in forensic autopsy, clinical and surgical urology and surgical robotics, in addition to their traditional course work load.

BACKGROUND AND REQUIREMENTS

The honors program administered through our institution's Honors College plants forth high standards that a pupil must meet before being accepted as an honors learner Entering freshman must have a minimum SAT score of 1200 or a composite ACT score of 26 or higher. The learner can also apply if they were in the top 10% of their high academy graduating class. For transfer pupils who wish to participate in the honors program, the minimum requirement is a cumulative corporation GPA of 3.4 or higher upon transferred credit.2 There are no restrictions upon the minimum number of hours transferred.

Student accepted into the honors program are required to sign a contract with the Honors community stating that diey agree to take a minimum of 24 hours of Honors association designated classes. Students must earn an "A" or "B" in each course they take to receive honors credit and to graduate with honors. Of the total 24 credit hours of required honors courses, six hours must be taken at the junior or senior horizontal Most CLS honors students have alone upper division honors credits remaining when they come into the program at the beginning of their junior year. CL pupils in the university's honors program are able to dog graduation with highest honors, provided they write a senior thesis and consummate a senior project.

Prior to registration each semester all honors scholars are required to be advised through a staff member of the university's Honors body as well as a CL faculty honors course mentor. Continued honors advisement is necessary to make sure students are making progress toward completion of their honors requirements.