Building a New Holmes Scholars Program at Oral Roberts University
For Oral Roberts University (ORU), joining AACTE’s Holmes Program contributed to an initiative to create a dedicated space within our department for aspiring education leaders. Over the past year, we’ve succeeded in setting up a fledgling program that we hope will flourish and grow as time goes on.
Our Holmes Scholars Program began in September 2015. Its conception and development was very much influenced by the Holmes Program presentation given at the AACTE Annual Meeting in 2015.
In strategizing on how to develop the program, we sought advice from the AACTE Holmes Program manager, who provided us with very helpful information. We also spoke to a Holmes Scholar alumnus on expectations and our responsibilities. Within ORU, we partnered with the admissions department to utilize the university’s Quest Fellows Scholarship in order to meet the requirement of financial support for our first Holmes Scholar.
Communication was also key to the setup of our Holmes Scholars Program. In order to keep faculty informed and up-to-date, we made a presentation about the program during the college’s faculty in-service time, which happens at the beginning of each semester. An update of the program was also provided later in the semester during a department faculty meeting. Further, we designed a website and created a brochure for our Holmes Scholars Program.
The implementation of the program has also been supported with related activities. During the past year, our Holmes Scholar attended the 2016 AACTE Annual Meeting and AACTE Washington Week events. These events are chronicled in the “latest news” section on our College of Education web page. The scholar also attended the AACTE state chapter’s education conference in October for professional development and has a goal to participate in the Holmes Scholars poster session at the 2017 Annual Meeting.
Meanwhile, we also have developed a mentoring relationship with an alumnus of the Holmes Scholars program who has been very supportive of our Holmes Scholar. Within the university, our Holmes Scholar has also had the opportunity to present to our faculty and the university’s president on her activities and participation in the program. We have other initiatives planned for the future to ensure the continued success of the program.
Interested in learning more about the AACTE Holmes Program? Visit our website or contact Omar Davis at odavis@aacte.org.
Tags: Holmes Program
