Stephen Cornwell elected new Chair of the Honor Board

Stephen Cornwell, a sophomore Chemical Biology student, was elected Chair of the Stevens Honor Board on February 7, succeeding senior Olivia Schreiber who had held the position for the past year.  Since joining the Board in the Fall 2016 semester, Cornwell has remained deeply involved with the organization, serving as Outreach Chair this past year. As Chair, Cornwell plans on working on improving the Board’s image on campus and connecting more with the student body.

As per the Constitution of the Stevens Honor System, the Stevens Honor Board is responsible for “[promoting] honor and integrity throughout the Stevens campus both academically and socially,” and “[ensuring] that all submitted work is completed in such a way that all students can be confident in the integrity of the submitted work of their peers.” The Chair position comes with many responsibilities essential to the operations of the Board, including overseeing the general membership.

“For the new term, we want to make the Honor Board more well-received on campus and seen as an ally of the students. Our goal is to improve the image of the Board and fortify the community’s faith in the Honor System,” says Cornwell. “In addition to the education component, we’re also looking into new ways to reach out to the student body through new events, so people can be sure to be on the lookout for that!”

The Board’s latest initiatives have included educating faculty members about the Honor System. The outgoing executive board interacted with the upper levels of the administration, including Dean Jean Zu from the School of Engineering and Science and Dean Kelland Thomas from the College of Arts and Letters, and held meetings with faculty members to further explain the Honor Board’s role on campus. In the same spirit of educating members of the community, Cornwell will be working on increasing the student body’s awareness of the Board’s goals and values.

The Board recently opened spring 2018 applications for membership, which will be accepted until Wednesday, February 28 at 5 p.m. Students of all grades will be able to vote for their Honor Board class representatives between March 2 and March 9. Questions regarding the application process and the Board’s goals for the coming year can be directed to honor@stevens.edu.