More honors students. More honors classes.

Those are hopes for an Honors College scheduled to start at Texas A&M University Kingsville by fall 2010.

The Honors College is being created to attract higher ability students to Texas A&M-Kingsville and to give higher ability students a more rewarding experience.

Some of the specific tasks the Honor College plans to take on include:

· assisting admissions in the recruitment of high ability students

•assisting the deans in the development of more honors courses

• establishing and managing an Honors Forum lecture series

•providing administrative support for the honors senior research project

•assisting honors students and other high ability students in preparing and submitting applications for national level scholarships

•working with development personnel to raise financial gifts for the Honors College

“Right now, we have about 100 students in our honors program. With this Honors College, our goal is to double that enrollment number,” said Dr. Rex Gandy, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

An internal campus search is currently underway to find a dean for the Honors College by the spring 2010 semester. The selected dean will need to be approved by The Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System. Following that approval, the dean will hire the Honors College staff, which includes a national scholarship officer and an administrative assistant.

“The founding dean will have a lot of opportunity to shape what the Honors College is and will become,” said Gandy.

The Honors College would join the seven other colleges of A&M-Kingsville—the Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences; the College of Arts and Sciences; the College of Business Administration; the College of Education; the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering; the College of Graduate Studies; and University College.