Dr. Linda Frost has been named dean of UTC’s new Honors College. Previously Frost worked in the Honors Program at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She answers a few questions about the new program.
Dr. Linda Frost
UTC already has the Brock Scholars. Why do we need an Honors College?
The Brock Scholars Program is officially the first program in the new Honors College and it is terrific. Unfortunately Brock only enrolls between 20 and 30 students a year with a total population this year of approximately 140 students. UTC enrolled 10,000 undergraduates last year; we clearly need more honors opportunities.
The campus will undoubtedly benefit more as Honors grows; students in the Honors College will be encouraged to apply for national scholarships like the Truman, the Rhodes, and Fulbright Scholarships, and carefully supported when they enter that often daunting process.
What will distinguish UTC’s Honors College from others?
What we want is to create an Honors College that is unlike any other, one that could only happen here in Chattanooga. We want an Honors College that will house not only a curriculum, but a constellation of think-tanks that are community embedded, ones that will hone our students’ ability to solve the complicated problems of today.
Our connection with the city and our problem-based curriculum will be the things that set our program apart. Rather than talk about what students are learning in the UTC Honors College, I hope we talk about what problems they are solving and what solutions they are devising to help spur the next renaissance.
