Student senate has completed the first step in passing its President’s List bill, an additional academic distinction that would highlight students earning a GPA of 3.8 or higher.
Student Senate President Meilin Reyes and President’s List bill handler Sen. Jackson Troxell will present the bill at the faculty senate meeting on Thursday for their approval and vote. If the faculty senate approves the bill, the President’s List will be implemented on student transcripts in the spring semester, according to Troxell.
The idea of a President’s List has been in development since the beginning of the fall semester and was proposed at one of the early senate meetings as a group, according to Troxell. The research process for the bill involved examining other public New England universities who also have an R1 research designation and some type of President’s List in place.
“As [URI] ascends into a higher level of universities — being listed as Wall Street Journal’s No. 1 Public University in New England for two years in a row, as well as getting that R1 status, potentially establishing a medical school — we thought we really should be recognizing higher academic excellence,” Troxell said.
The universities examined, such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst, set their minimum President’s List GPA at a 3.8 or 3.85, which is where the student senate got the 3.8 minimum from, according to Troxell.
Part of the rationale behind establishing the President’s List was to incentivize students to work harder for high academic achievement overall, according to Reyes.
“Adding this new President’s List to the university highly encourages students,” Reyes said. “Your really high achievements are recognized and valued, and this is why we want to give you this recognition/acknowledgement of being on the President’s List.”
Additionally, due to uncertainty and changes in higher education, the distinction highlighting student success will potentially help URI to continue gaining federal recognition, according to Reyes.
“[Public universities] continue receiving the support that they get externally and that ends up benefiting the school in the long run,” Reyes said.
Given that many students choose to put their current Dean’s List designations on their resumes, the more prestigious President’s List distinction may also set students apart when applying for jobs or graduate school, according to Reyes.
“That singles them out from the rest of the people that apply,” Reyes said.
In terms of how the designation will appear on transcripts, students achieving at the 3.8 GPA minimum will only be on the President’s List, not the President’s and Dean’s Lists, according to Troxell.
Once the new designation is in place, students should not be discouraged if their GPA does not qualify them for the President’s List or even the Dean’s List, according to Reyes.
“Just because you don’t make it to the President’s List doesn’t mean you’re not a high achiever,” Reyes said. “That is not what the purpose of the President’s List is. You’re equally as successful as anybody else at the university.”
