Lindner College of Business continues legacy of Honors innovation
Incoming first-year business honors students to experience new approach
Honors students starting their first year at the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business in Fall 2021 will be pioneers in a new approach to honors programming.
The college is shifting from three distinct honors structures to a unified, agile curriculum powered by two, personalized learning communities — Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS and Marvin P. Kolodzik Business Scholars.
This innovation responds to significant changes in global business practices, of students and employers alike, and across Lindner and UC since welcoming the inaugural honors class in 1997.
Read more about the honors innovation and how it continues the legacy of its founders and alumni in a letter from Lindner College of Business Dean Marianne Lewis, PhD.
Dear Lindner Community,
Marianne W. Lewis, PhD, Dean and Professor of Management at the Lindner College of Business
As many in our Lindner community know — and have experienced for themselves — honors programming at the Lindner College of Business has propelled innovation and excellence across the college.
Since welcoming our inaugural honors class in 1997, so much has changed. Creative approaches to curriculum, experiential learning, community building and student support that were first piloted in honors have been scaled repeatedly across the college. The impact has been remarkable. Honors innovations have been integral to elevating our college, from nearly tripling our enrollment and raising job placement to increasing graduation rates and impressive rankings. Arguably, and perhaps most notably, is the impact on student quality. Consider that standards for direct admission to Lindner today are higher than those held for that first honors class.
Fall 2021 will welcome a new class of first-year honors students and the next iteration of developments. The college is shifting honors from three distinct structures to a unified, agile curriculum powered by two, personalized learning communities — Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS and Marvin P. Kolodzik Business Scholars.
In the rest of this letter, I will share information about the honors innovation process and results as well as the visionary foundations on which our honors evolution builds.
Innovation Process and Results
A comprehensive process enabled the revisions rolling out for business honors. Over the past six months, college leaders met with hundreds of alumni, donors, employers and students, gaining insights into our core honors foundations and changing employer and student demands. Below are just a few of the inspiring alumni views that came to light:
- “Prioritizing honors innovation is a must for the college’s transformation strategy, Lindner NEXT. There is such potential to continue raising the bar for honors and the college, especially through our engaged alumni.” — Clarissa Niese, BBA/Lindner Honors-PLUS ’03, Lindner Business Advisory Council.
- “Given the rate of change I experience in startups today, Lindner needs to re-envision how we help students cultivate their entrepreneurial potential with the right blend of flexibility and support from our alumni, faculty, and peer community.” – Lane Hart, BBA/Kolodzik Business Scholars ’13, UC Student Body President 2012-13.
- “As our communities increasingly expect corporate leaders to leverage their influence for social impact, I hope to see honors innovations heighten our investment in preparing top students to be champions for a more inclusive workforce and a more equitable society.” — Chandler Rankin, BBA/Kolodzik Business Scholars ‘20, UC Student Body President 2019-20.
- “There is great opportunity to harness the momentum of Next Lives Here, particularly UC’s drive to develop tomorrow’s entrepreneurial, digital, and socially responsible leaders. Honors innovation must keep pushing the envelope.” — Abigail Klare, current BBA/BA/Lindner Honors-PLUS, UC Board of Trustees Student Representative 2019-21.
Gained insights also highlighted best practices across the college’s legacy honors programs integral to the innovation:
- Lindner Honors-PLUS pioneered the development of leadership, professionalism and a global mindset via academic and experiential rigor.
- Kolodzik Business Scholars raised the bar for personalization, fostering exceptional flexibility and community building.
- Circle of Excellence piloted means for students to earn distinctions and funding, while expanding experiential options into research and service.
There is such potential to continue raising the bar for honors and the college, especially through our engaged alumni.
Clarissa Niese, BBA/Lindner Honors-PLUS '03
Additionally, employer insights and student feedback helped clarify vital honors needs. Employers stressed that as technology and markets change more rapidly, so do their demands. To continuously adapt, they seek talented and diverse problem solvers who are exceptionally collaborative, creative and analytical. Likewise, ambitious students want a fast track that is challenging and customizable, helping them sharpen their goals, build their strengths and make a positive impact on the world.
We found that the outcomes of this process resonated with UC’s Next Lives Here priorities and opportunities in development with the Cincinnati Innovation Corridor and Digital Futures.
As a result of this comprehensive process, the honors innovation revolves around four pillars:
- Lindner Business Honors Curriculum – Specialized Academic and Experiential Learning
- Lindner Honors-PLUS & Kolodzik Business Scholars – Personalized Honors Communities
- Dedicated Infrastructure – Honors Faculty and Staff
- Fast Track – Foundation for Exploration, Freedom for Flexibility
Lindner will rise above rival business honors programs by blending leading-edge coursework, experiential learning and community support. Our honors courses will develop students’ problem-solving skills through progressively complex, interdisciplinary projects. Leveraging UC’s co-op excellence, experiential learning will begin first semester and build quickly via leadership and professional development, domestic and international travel, and, of course, co-op. Finally, the honors learning communities of Lindner Honors-PLUS and Kolodzik Business Scholars will harness the empowering potential of outstanding peers and inspiring alumni.
All current honors students retain their existing honors designations and scholarships, while also benefitting from the new developments. And although new students will no longer join Circle of Excellence (COE), that program’s innovations inform honors revisions and ongoing collegewide efforts. Valuable lessons from COE stem from its powerful combination of grit, opportunity and community. In that program, students earn access to honors programming and support by engaging in meaningful leadership, professional experiences, research and community service opportunities. Current COE students retain these opportunities, while the program’s legacy, furthered by collaboration with COE leaders and alumni, will help guide more inclusive developments. By spring 2022, the college will offer means to transfer into honors and expand options for all business students to earn specialized distinctions and opportunities.
Visionary Foundations: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Carl H. Lindner Jr., 1919 - 2011
The legacy of honors innovation at Lindner was fueled by the visionary leadership of Carl H. Lindner, Jr., founder of Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS in 1997, and Marvin P. Kolodzik, founder of Marvin P. Kolodzik Business Scholars in 2008. Each program was launched to address particular and timely needs, and we are deeply grateful for the insights and support of the Lindner Family and Marvin Kolodzik throughout this process.
Mr. Lindner sought to stop the Cincinnati "brain drain," seeing a first-class business education as critical to retaining the region’s best and brightest to fuel our local economy.
Marvin P. Kolodzik, left with Mr. Bearcat mascot and OBAIS Professor Ruth Seiple, who served as director of the legacy KBS honors program from 2015 to 2021.
Mr. Kolodzik envisioned the power of an exceptionally flexible and nurturing path for top students, especially for the growing population of students who transfer to UC, as he once had.
The history of business honors is also that of passionate faculty innovators. Dedicated founding honors directors, Professors Jeri Ricketts, Ric Sweeney and myself, and the most recent directors, Professors Ruth Seiple, Raqule Crawley, and Melissa Newman, have left their legacies on the programs and the lives of the students they helped empower.
Former Provost and Professor Emeritus Norm Baker
Yet it was Former Provost and Professor Emeritus Norm Baker who truly started it all. He stressed the power of honors to “raise all ships” by attracting top students and employers, and by tapping the creative energy of faculty, staff and alumni. His original goals for honors continue today: compete against the best business schools in the country, meet talent demands of leading employers, and model the envisioned future of the college.
Honors innovation at Lindner enters its next phase with a new unified, accelerated and flexible curriculum. Yet the founding legacies remain, embodied within the honors communities of Lindner Honors-PLUS (LHP) and Kolodzik Business Scholars (KBS). Honors students entering Fall 2021 will be the first to experience a “house system” adapted from Oxford and Cambridge.
After confirming their acceptance to the college, honors students will be organized into the two honors communities. These communities leverage their powerful alumni advantage — decades of inspiring graduates and donors — to provide unparalleled mentoring and support. Living and learning together in Morgens Hall during their first year, the LHP and KBS communities will fuel students’ personal and professional development while at UC and far beyond.
The college is incredibly proud of its honors legacy, especially of our visionary founders and remarkable alumni. We will continue to build from these foundations as the world around us changes. Honors will model our purpose of empowering business problem solvers and our values of academic and inclusive excellence.
Thankfully, we’ve learned that honors is where we can pilot new approaches, then scale for the entire college. The proof is clear in the remarkable achievements of the past decades. Just as the best firms are always evolving, so is Lindner, with honors blazing the trail.
Sincerely,
Marianne W. Lewis, PhD
Dean and Professor Management
University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business
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