About Grand Challenges Scholars

The Collaborative

The Collaborative is a team of honors deans and directors from across the nation who have a shared passion for advancing higher education and workforce development through innovative honors educational pedagogies. The Collaborative joined forces with FANH experts to develop The Justice Challenge which launched on Dec. 15, 2022.

Collaborative Partners

College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences

Affiliations

Scholarly Endeavors of The Collaborative
Peer Reviewed Articles
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Hart, J., Appel, H., Kotinek, J., Knox, P., Ziegler, W., Roberts, D., Radasanu, A., Nichols, T., Fine, L. (2023). Simul Fortior: The Rise of an Honors Collaborative and The Justice Challenge. Journal of the European Honors Council. 6(2):5.
  • Hart, J.L., Bottā€Knutson, R.C., Appel, H., Kotinek, J., Knox, P., Ziegler, W. (2023). Pedagogy of engagement, innovation and reflection: Hackathons in honors education. In Honors in Practice. 19:125-28.
  • Kotinek, J., Bottā€Knutson, R.C., Fine, L.E., Hart, J.L., Ziegler, W., Knox, P., Nichols, T., Sumner, S., Appel, H., Andersen, M.C., Bryk, M., Radasanu, A., Cassady, J., Garbutt, K. (2023). The Justice Challenge: Honors endeavors innovative pedagogies through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program. In Honors in Practice. 19:121-24.
  • Radasanu, R., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Fine, L.E., Kotinek, J., Hart, J.L., Nichols, T., Appel, H., Roberts, D.M., Knox, P., Ziegler, W. (2023). A Relational Model for Honors Education: From Contagion to Permeability. 2023. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council. 24:47-62.
  • Ziegler, W, Appel, H, Bott-Knutson, RC, Radasanu, A, Hart, JL, Knox, P, Keen, R, Kotinek, J, Andersen, M. (2023). "Honors education: A Natural Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education." Proceedings of the International Conference on Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Monograph Chapters
  • Appel, H., Bottā€Knutson, R., Hart, J., Knox, P., Radasanu, A., Fine, L., Nichols, T., Roberts, D., Garbutt, K., Ziegler, W., Kotinek, J., Cooke, K., Keen, R., Anderson, M., Kapur, J. (2023). ā€œTeaching and Learning in the Fourth Space: Preparing Scholars to Engage in Solving Community Problems.ā€ In Honors Colleges in the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges, edited by Richard Badenhausen, National Collegiate Honors Council.
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Kotinek, J., Appel, H., Hart, J.L., Knox, P., Radasanu, A., Roberts, D.M., Nichols, T., Fine, L., Ziegler, W., Bryk, M., Sumner, S., Budowle, R., Cordingley, K., Bastian, G.E., Roerig, N., Stroud, A., Garbutt, K. An edifying honors collaborative. Accepted for publication in J. Zubizarreta and V. M. Bryan (Eds.), Honors and faculty development. National Collegiate Honors Council, 2024.
  • Hart, J.L., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Appel, H., Kotinek, J., Knox, P., Sumner, S., Roerig, N., Ziegler, W., Fine, L.E. Hacking through the Silos: Honors Faculty Development. Accepted for publication in Honors and Faculty Development, edited by J. Zubizarreta and V. M. Bryan (Eds.), National Collegiate Honors Council, 2024.
  • Parolin, P., Nichols, T.J., Skinner, D. and Bott-Knutson, R.C. (2023). The Role of the Honors Dean in the Future of Honors Education. Honors Colleges in the 21st Century, edited by Richard Badenhausen, National Collegiate Honors Council, (pp. 155-79).
Professional Presentations
  • Appel, H., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Garbutt, K., Nichols, T., Kotinek, J., Knox, P., Roberts, D., Ziegler, W., Andersen, M., Cooke, K., Hart, J., Kapur, J., Keen, R., Fine, L., Kadlecek, C., Radasanu, A. (2021). "The Rise of a Nationwide Collaborative of Honors colleges and Programs from Public Institutions." Presented at the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Orlando, Florida.
  • Appel, H., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Hart, J., Keen, R., Kotinek, J., Nichols, T., Radasanu, A., Roberts, D. and Ziegler W. (2022). Honoring our communities: Lessons on engaging diverse Honors cohorts. Presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Dallas, Texas.
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Appel, H., Anderson, M., Cooke, K., Fine, L., Garbutt, K., Hart, J., Kadlecek, C., Kapur, J., Keen, R., Knox, P., Kotinek, J., Nichols, T., Radasanu, A., Roberts, D. and Ziegler, B. (2021). The Justice Challenge: Engaging Students in the Future of Food, Climate and Energy. Presented at the 2021 NSF Convergent Food Systems conference.
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Appel, H., Hart, J., Kotinek, J., Ziegler, W., Garbutt, K., Radasanu, A., Knox, P., Roberts, D., Keen, R., Anderson, M., Cooke, K., Kapur, J. and Nichols, T.J. (2022) The Justice Challenge: An honorable model. Presented at the 2022 Honors Education at Research Universities (HERU) conference, Houston, Texas, USA.
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Appel, A., Kotinek, J. and Ziegler, W. (2022). Amin Gutierrez de Pineres S. Beans to Beanstalks: Counting to Cultivating. Presented at the 2022 Council of Honors Education annual meeting, Denver, CO.
  • Bott-Knutson, R., Nichols, T., Hickman, K., Appel, H., Hart, J., Kotinek, J., Ziegler, W., Garbutt, K., Radasanu, A., Knox, P. and Roberts, D. (June 2023). Leveraging Honors Education in Food, Climate, and Sustainable Agriculture via The Justice Challenge. Presented at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Annual Conference, Las Cruces, NM.
  • Bott-Knutson, R., Hart, J. L., Garbutt, K., Radasanu, A., Nichols, T. J., Appel, H., Cooke, K. and Anderson, M. (October 30-November 3, 2024). Elevating Honors Education Through Systems Thinking: Applications in Community Engagement, Self-studies, and Strategic Thinking. To be presented at the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Bott-Knutson, R., Roerig, N., Spreng, J., Rosenau, K. and Khuu, N. (2024, April). Honors Education Redefined: The Justice Challenge Experience. Presented at the Upper Midwest Regional Honors Conference, Dubuque, IA.
  • Hart, J., Bott-Knutson, R., Radasanu, A., Roerig, N. and Ziegler, B. (2023). Just food: Honors hackathons to develop transdisciplinary team-oriented skills toward equity [Conference session]. Presented at the 58th National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference, Chicago, IL. The group was joined by 3 Justice Challenge participants from the University of Louisville, 1 from South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć State University, and 1 from Northern Illinois University.
  • Kotinek, J., Appel, H., Ziegler, W., Roberts, D., Nichols, T. and Bott-Knutson, R.C. (2021). The Rise of a Nationwide Collaborative of Honors Colleges and Programs from Public Institutions. Presented at the 2021 NCHC conference.
  • Nichols, T. J., Bott-Knutson, R., Hart, J. L. and Kotinek, J. A National Honors Endeavor to Address Food Justice. (October 30-November 3, 2024). To be presented at the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council, Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Nichols, T., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Radasanu, A., Kotinek, J. and Roberts, D. (2023). Engage Breakfast: The Justice Challenge. Presented at the 58th National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
  • Radasanu, A., Appel, H., Bott-Knutson, R., Hart, J. L. and Nichols, T. (May 2024). Making Honors More Permeable: From Contagion to Permeability. Presented at the Biennial Honors Education at Research Universities Conference, Lexington, Kentucky.
  • Roerig, N. and Eide, H. (2023). The Justice Challenge: Letā€™s change the world! [Conference session]. Presented at the 2nd Annual South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć Honors Showcase, Madison, SD.
  • Ziegler, W, Appel, H, Bott-Knutson, RC, Radasanu, A, Hart, JL, Knox, P, Keen, R, Kotinek, J, Andersen, M. (2023). "Honors education: A Natural Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education." Presented at the International Conference on Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, Honolulu, Hawaii.
  • Ziegler, W., Radasanu, A., Appel, H., Keen, R. (2022). Capstone on Top of Capstone: The Honors Dilemma. Presented at the Capstone Design Conference, Dallas, Texas.
Honors Education within Agricultural Science
  • Hansen, A., Nold, R.A., Kutzke, K., Bott-Knutson, R.C., Djira, G. 2021. Early exposure to an honors course yields retention of agricultural majors in honors. NACTA Journal. 65: 460-464.
  • Kutzke, K.L., Nold, R.A., Gonda, M.G., Hansen, A.M., Bott-Knutson, R.C. 2020. Student perception and affinity: Establishment of an institutional framework for the examination of underrepresented programs such as agriculture in honors. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors. 21: 95-116.
  • Bott-Knutson, R.C., Larson, B., Van Heek, N., Nichols, T., Stluka, S. 2019. Community partnerships help undergraduate students to meet the ā€˜grand challengesā€™ of today. Collaborations Journal. 2(1): 1-7.
  • Nichols, T., Larson, B., Stluka, S., Van Heek, N., Bott-Knutson, R.C. 2019. Honors collaborates to meet the Grand Challenges. NACTA Journal. 63: 282-287.

Grand Challenges Scholars History

The Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College received United States Department of Agricultureā€™s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) funding to launch a campus-wide approach to ā€œMeeting the Grand Challengesā€ as outlined by USDA. This project originated in 2013 under the leadership of then Dean Timothy Nichols. In 2016, Rebecca Bott-Knutson succeeded Nichols as Dean of Honors. The pair collaboratively led the project to a successful conclusion in 2017. Since the conclusion of the project in 2017, South ą£ą£Ö±²„Šć State University has continued to lead the way in the exploration of Honors Education within Agricultural Sciences.

Honors innovation in the food, agricultural, natural and human (FANH) sciences has continued evolve, particularly upon the establishment of "The Collaborative" in 2021. The Collaborative is a subset of the members of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universitiesā€™ (APLU) Council on Honors Education (CoHE) Student Opportunities Committee ā€“ a team of honors deans and directors from 14 universities from across the nation who have a shared passion for advancing higher education and workforce development through innovative honors educational pedagogies. The Collaborative joined forces with FANH experts to develop The Justice Challenge which launched on Dec. 15, 2022.