James Leloudis, associate dean of the Honors Program, said a plan for expanding the program has been in the works for several years.
But the University must secure funds before any expansion can take place. In his speech Wednesday, Moeser said a $25 million endowment would enable the program to secure faculty lines to support the expansion.
"We're looking out over a five-year horizon," Leloudis said. The expansion will gradually be phased in as funds are received and faculty become available.
The Honors Program invites 200 to 225 incoming freshmen -- the top 6 percent of the incoming class -- to join the program, Leloudis said.
He said that by the expansion's completion, 10 percent to 11 percent will be allowed to participate. "The idea is to double the number of students invited," Leloudis said. This will be done by increasing the number of faculty available in each department to teach honors classes.
By increasing the program's size, the capacity for students who aren't in the program to participate will increase as well, Leloudis said. Any undergraduate student can take an honors class, and by expanding, more spaces for non-honors students are created. "This is not a program with a wall around it," Leloudis said.
An expanded Honors Program also will be beneficial to the students already in the program, said Kathryn Compton, co-chairwoman of the Honors Program Student Executive Board.
Compton said some students are not able to continue to take honors classes and fulfill their major requirements at the same time. She said she and other honors students are requesting departments offer more upper-level classes and said the chancellor's support might spur the University to offer them. "Hopefully it will keep people interested in the Honors Program into their junior year," she said.
Leloudis said the limited size of the program is detrimental to UNC. Many students deserve to be offered admittance to the program but are unable to participate, he said. Some students decide to go to other universities because of this.
