Episode 72: Sarah Holtan on Honors Colleges as Living Learning Communities
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How can you create and operate an Honors College to make a big place feel small? How do you get the scale right to balance quantity and quality? How can you balance giving people what they want versus what's good for their growth and development? We dive into these questions with Sarah Holtan, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Carroll University and Host of The Get Down to College Business Podcast.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education, the traditional "one-size-fits-all" model for honors programs is being challenged. Academic leaders are moving away from rigid, test-score-driven elitism toward more holistic, connected communities. In a recent episode of the Connected College Podcast, Sarah Holtan, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Carroll University, shared her insights on why the most successful honors colleges are those that prioritize their unique student demographics over national templates.
By focusing on living-learning communities, holistic admissions, and the power of "socializing architecture," institutions can create environments where high-achieving students don't just succeed—they belong.
Redefining Student Success on Three Levels
To build a better honors program, we must first define what success looks like. Sarah Holtan suggests looking at success through three distinct lenses:
The Macro Level: These are the traditional metrics every administrator knows—retention rates, graduation timing, job placement, and national peer comparisons.
The Micro Level: This involves the "memorable moments." It’s the programming in a residence hall that a student remembers years later or an anecdote about a peer connection that doesn't make it into an accreditation report but defines a student's experience.
The Personal Level: At its core, success is about belonging. For many, the ultimate metric of a successful college career is the lifelong friendships and the sense of community formed during those developmental years.
The Best of Both Worlds: The Living-Learning Community
A major challenge for students at larger institutions is making a big place feel small. Honors programs serve as a "safe enclave," offering the resources of a large university with the intimacy of a tight-knit group. At Carroll University, this is achieved through a dedicated residential space.
The physical environment—what Holtan calls "the place"—is a critical symbol. When students live and learn together, the barriers to connection drop. Interestingly, the layout of these spaces matters. Research suggests that traditional "hallway" configurations, rather than isolated suites, act as a behavioral nudge. This "socializing architecture" encourages students to knock on doors, study together, and build the peer networks that drive retention.
Moving Beyond the GPA: A Holistic Model
One of the most radical shifts in modern honors programming is the move away from standardized test scores and strict GPA requirements for entry. Instead of recruiting based on a "3.85," forward-thinking programs are looking for intellectually curious individuals who want to give back to society.
By removing the pressure to constantly "protect" a perfect GPA, honors colleges encourage students to take risks. When the fear of a "C" is removed, students are more likely to enroll in challenging courses outside their comfort zone, fostering true intellectual growth rather than just resume padding.
Adapting to Future Disruptions
Higher education is facing unprecedented disruption, from shrinking budgets to changing student expectations. The key to surviving these shifts is scalability and authenticity. Holtan’s advice to higher ed leaders is simple: Don't be afraid to break the mold.
Your honors college does not need to mirror a national model if you don't have the same resources or demographics. Instead, focus on the infrastructure you can support and ensure it is executed with high quality. High-achieving students are proactive and discerning; they will notice if a program is being "shortchanged." By balancing quantity with quality, institutions can maintain high-impact practices even in a shifting economy.
Episode 72 Transcript
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Elliot Felix: Welcome, Sarah. I'm so excited for our conversation.
Sarah Holtan: Thanks Elliot, for having me today. I'm thrilled to be here.
Elliot Felix: I think a great place to get started is learning how you did, how did you get started in higher ed?
Sarah Holtan: Elliot, I wasn't supposed to be in higher ed. I was supposed to be a political reporter in Washington dc, which is what I went to college for way back in the nineties. And I think I made a good choice and ended up in higher ed after spending my first career as a television news producer. I worked at the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee for several years producing live television news. And like so many people who are in that industry, you burn out and at some point you physically can't take it anymore. The hours, the pace—you're broke all the time because you don't make any money and you don't feel maybe the same purpose that you had hoped you would feel when you were starting out in a career.
Sarah Holtan: And so routine burnout led me to start working on my master's degree and the seed was planted that well, maybe I don't wanna be a practitioner of news anymore, but I could certainly teach it to others. I could turn around and take what I learned in the newsroom and become a journalism educator at the college level.
Elliot Felix: That's so interesting.
Sarah Holtan: Yeah. It explains a lot if you work with me. Sometimes my pace is a little accelerated. I take pride in meeting deadlines. So my pace is a little bit faster than maybe some people are used to, but I try to work it as a vantage.
Sarah Holtan: Then right when I was finishing my master's, somebody I knew was looking to fill a position in the communication department. I started focusing on journalism courses when I started working full-time as a professor. I did that for a number of years, loved it, and then I ended up shifting over into academic administration. I was asked to take on a Dean of students' role, which I didn't see coming, but I was asked because while I was a strong classroom teacher, I was also a faculty advisor for half the extracurriculars on campus. I believe the president was hoping that academics and student life would be more bridged together, and that we would break down that silo.
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Elliot Felix: I would love to hear your definition of student success. Is it connecting those things? How do you define it?
Sarah Holtan: You'll probably guess that I'm not gonna give you one simple answer 'cause I tend to see things a little bit more connected. I'm gonna answer this on three different levels. First is the macro answer. The established metrics are in place for a reason. When we think about retention, completion, graduation rates, and job placement, those are important and we should monitor them in relation to our national peers.
Sarah Holtan: But I also wanna define it on the micro level. Every day I'm in the trenches and I see the problems. When I hear students talk about great programming they had in our honors building that was memorable to them, that speaks to me on that micro level. It might not rise to the top leadership level, but it mattered to those students.
Sarah Holtan: And then the third level, I think about student success for me had so much to do with my own sense of belonging, which I attribute to my lifelong friends. Those bonds I developed in college stayed with me as some of the most important growth moments. I think about how I would like that to translate for our students—having that really strong connection to other peers is the biggest thing I point to with my own college experience.
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Elliot Felix: One of the innovators I interviewed talked about belonging as making a big place feel small. I feel like honors programs are a great way to do that. I would love to hear your take.
Sarah Holtan: That's exactly how I describe the honors program at Carroll University. Ours is a living learning community where first-year students live together in residential campus housing. The physical setup absolutely reflects the idea that we're here to build community together. It provides a safe enclave for making friendships in a natural way.
Sarah Holtan: Our honors students take classes together and they have an Honors Council which is student-led. We have a dedicated residence hall with public spaces, kitchens, and recreational space. It works really well to bring all of that together in one place.
Elliot Felix: Talk to me a little bit about the design of this living learning community.
Sarah Holtan: When you walk in, the first level is all public space with a kitchen and a conference room with its own printer. Then there's a big multipurpose room where they do programming, classes, and meetings. We have whiteboards for brainstorming and a patio. The private residential area has three floors with individual rooms and communal bathrooms.
Elliot Felix: It turns out that rooms along a hallway create a "socializing architecture" that acts as a nudge to get out and talk to people. One study found 22% more interaction and a greater sense of community compared to suites or apartments.
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Elliot Felix: How are these programs changing in the future? What's on the horizon for honors programs?
Sarah Holtan: I don't think any of our changes for honors will be unique. Higher ed is facing disruption. The pressures of limited resources or the inability to grow are things we all face. The biggest challenge is finding room for growth to suit wherever the next cohort of students wants to go. Not every cohort wants the same things.
Sarah Holtan: We have to keep up with the reality that we may not have more budget funding, or we might have shrinking budgets in the future. How do you maintain or grow if your resources can't be scaled?
Elliot Felix: Is there any risk of backlash against honors programs as being perceived as selective or elite?
Sarah Holtan: I'm sure there's some people who feel that way. One thing unique about our campus is that we actually don't recruit or enforce academics with the same standards some colleges do. We don't require a certain GPA or standardized test score for application. We look at the whole person. We are looking for intellectually curious people. This allows students to take risks—like taking a class that is really hard without the fear of risking a perfect GPA.
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Elliot Felix: What's your advice to someone who's running one of these programs or a living learning community to cope with these changes?
Sarah Holtan: Don't be afraid to build your honors college model after your specific student demographic and profile. Your honors college does not have to look like some of the national models at other really well-established schools. If you don't have the same strengths or resources, it doesn't have to be what everyone else is doing.
Sarah Holtan: Go back to the drawing board and look at what would suit your campus and your students' needs best. Also, really look at your infrastructure and your policies. These programs need dedicated resources. If you're not willing to provide them, you might just end up spinning your wheels.
Sarah Holtan: Honor students are go-getters. They have high initiative and they are highly motivated. To try and shortchange them on the things needed to execute the program well—they're gonna sniff that out in a fast minute. So don't try and do it poorly. Do what you can and do it well with the resources you have available.
Elliot Felix: That balance of quantity and quality is so important. If you try to do too much for too many people, you might not be able to deliver at the kind of quality that really makes an impact. Sarah, thank you so much for your insights.
Sarah Holtan: Thank you, Elliot. It's an honor to work with these students.