by Jennifer Phillips
Staff Writer
For the first time in its eight year history, the University of La Verne’s Honors Program will attend the National Intercollegiate Honor Society Conference.
This year the honors adviser, Dr. Andrea Labinger, professor of Spanish, as well as junior Monica Schwarze will attend the annual conference, held in Pittsburgh, Pa., from Nov. 1-5.
“We have had students in the past attend regional conferences in Idaho and a national [conference] in Los Angeles. Some of those students weren’t members of the program, but the annual event is really big,” said Dr. Labinger, who has attended all eight national conferences.
Over 1,000 students representing colleges from around the world will be attending the conference this year. Among the institutions attending will be Arizona State, Mississippi State, Iowa State, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. A mixture of private and state university and community college students and advisers will sit on panels discussing a variety of topics faced by today’s students.
“Why do you go to college?” is one of the questions the panels will discuss. The participants will also exchange ideas that have worked for their individual honors programs and how to recruit more students.
The University of Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Miami Dade Community College and La Verne will participate in a discussion entitled “Nuts and Bolts of Academic Advising.” All the schools will be given a chance to give their school’s philosophy of academic advising. Schwarze will talk about the benefits of having two academic advisers and the common goal shared by both advisers.
“I’m proud of her, I know she will represent the University well. We are both very excited,” said Dr. Labinger
The trip will be funded partly by the honors budget, but Dr. Labinger is not sure how the rest of the money will be raised.
