The document summarizes UMKC's first year of implementing a Latin honors system to recognize academic achievement at graduation. It discusses that the new system led to twice as many students receiving honors compared to the previous system. However, some academic units exceeded the intended quotas for the percentages of students receiving Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Cum Laude honors. The College of Arts and Sciences significantly exceeded quotas due to unexpectedly high grade inflation. The document analyzes challenges in estimating GPA cutoffs, accounting for final semester grades, avoiding exceeding quotas, and how to define stand-alone semesters versus annual averages for calculating honors.

1. UMKC Latin Honors
A review of the first year.

2. Latin Honors policy
On average (adjusted across “time” )
• Not to exceed (top) 5%
Summa Cum Laude
• Not to exceed (top) 10%
Summa & Magna Cum Laude combined
• Not to exceed (top) 20%
Summa, Magna & Cum Laude combined
• Undergraduate and First Professional degrees only
• GPA required for graduating with Latin honors is
calculated using GPA data from previous two years

3. Quick Summary
• Latin honors has been very well received by UMKC students and
they are generally pleased with our implementation of Latin honors.
• Twice as many students receive some form of honors at graduation
compared to the old With Distinction system of honors.
• In almost all units on campus, in the first year of implementation, we
came very close to awarding the exact percentages in the policy –
within one or two students in almost all cases (except A&S).

4. Summary (cont.)
• The first year implementation in A&S was flawed not because of anyone’s
negligence, but due to unpredictably high grade inflation.
• We decided to stand by the GPA cutoffs announced during the first year in
order to maintain the best public / student relations possible.
• The policy in academic units other than A&S does not need adjustment.
Each unit did an outstanding job and can be expected to continue to handle
Latin honors appropriately for their own students under the existing policy.
• Faculty Senate may need to address Latin honors in A&S.
• Academic units who awarded fewer Latin honors during 2004-2005 than
their quota (Dental Hygiene, SCE and Pharmacy) may want to review their
policy in order to award more Latin honors in 2005-2006.

5. 5 Major Challenges
1. Estimated GPA necessary to earn Latin honors
2. Grades from the final semester
3. Not exceeding the quota in any category
4. Semesters “Stand Alone” vs. Annual totals
5. One student, two degrees with honors –
should this count as one or as two in the
quota?

6. 1. Estimated GPA
• Estimated the minimum GPA required to
graduate in top 5%, top 10% and top 20% using
data from the past two years
• Grade inflation
• Small class sizes
• Anomalous semesters

7. 1. Estimated GPA
• A&S exceeded the number of Latin honors awarded
using the cutoff GPA estimated by the Records Office.
• The estimated GPA was advertised as the requirement
for graduating with Latin honors.
• For 2004-2005, we agreed to use the estimated GPA
cutoffs even if it meant exceeding the number of Latin
honors percentages.

8. 2. Grades from the Final Semester
• Policy specifically excludes the grades earned in the final
semester. For commencement and diplomas, it is
necessary to determine which students will graduate with
honors weeks before final examinations.
• Students who raised their cumulative GPA when grades
from the final semester were included did not agree with
the policy.
• Some students argued reasonably that honors should be
based upon the class rank or GPA after all degree
requirements are considered or completed.

9. 2. Grades from the Final Semester
• The final semester grades are not known early enough
to prepare commencement publications and to order
diplomas.
• The exact class ranks may shift slightly if the final grades
are taken into consideration.
• For 2004-2005, we agreed not to lower anyone’s Latin
honors, but to raise students to the appropriate level of
Latin honors if by virtue of their final grades, they
qualified for the higher level.

10. 3. Not Exceeding the Quota
• It is impossible to determine the quota until you know how many
students will actually graduate! That is not known until a few weeks
after grades are processed following each semester, and annual
totals are not known until August each year.
• “Estimating the GPA” contributed to exceeding the quota.
• In small classes, perfect 4.000 GPAs by more than one student
could exceed the Summa quota (ie. Dent Hyg, BS, Nursing)

11. 3. Exceeding the Quota
• Students agree that the quota should be adhered to - the
value of the honor is diluted if the quota is exceeded
• Students demand that clear and consistent
communication regarding Latin honor qualifications
• Last year’s quotas were exceeded with full anticipation
of a policy review before this year’s honors are
determined
• A&S opposes reducing this year’s number of honors in
order to on average meet the quotas over a two year
time span

12. 4. Stand Alone semesters
vs
Annual or Multi-year averages
• The policy is unclear
• Should each semester be viewed alone? or should
the three semesters of an academic year be viewed as
a whole? or can the quota percentage be stretched
over more than one year?

13. Challenges to the semester vs year basis
for calculating a quota
• In some units, Law, Medicine and Nursing for example, nearly all
students graduate in May. The number of students graduating at
midyear or in the summer is extremely small.
• In some units, the students who do not graduate in May include
academically challenged students. If the semester is viewed stand
alone, Latin honors may be awarded for a much lower GPA.
• If we do not consider each semester stand alone, how can we
estimate the number of Latin honors to award in November without
exceeding the quota in April / July?
• For 2004-2005, we agreed to look at the academic year as a whole.
In a few cases, the quota for Latin honors was exceeded in
November with expectations of getting back on track in April.
• We discussed (but came to no agreement) on combining years in order to
average 5%, 10% and 20% over multiple years.

14. 5. One Student, Two degrees
• A&S had ten students during 2004-2005 who completed
two degrees or two majors, with Latin honors.
• These ten students are counting as 20 in the quota of
Latin honors.
• The question is: “Should we be counting how many
degrees are awarded with honors or how many students
graduate with honors?”

15. 5. One Student, Two degrees
• Some students complete two degrees with Latin honors from two
different AU’s simultaneously
– MD students also complete a bachelors degree
– A few students finish 2 bachelors degrees in different AU’s
– Many students finish double majors and Latin honors are
conferred on both majors

16. Look at the Numbers
• See handouts. Page One highlights in red the places
where we exceeded the quota
• Biology, Dental Hygiene, DDS, SCE, Nursing and
Pharmacy did not exceed any of their quotas.
• Medicine and the Conservatory only exceeded the
Summa quotas by (Med 1) and (Conservatory 2).
• B&PA exceeded the Summa quota (3) and combined
Summa + Magna (2). Law only exceeded the Cum
Laude quota (2).

17. The College of A&S Numbers
• A&S exceeded the quota in all categories (except one - BA Summa).
• Note: only A&S is subdivided by degree with separate cutoffs for
BA, BS and BLA.
• The excess in A&S for last year = Summa (6), Summa+Magna (21)
and Summa+Magna+Cum Laude (40).
• The A&S estimated GPA cutoffs fell well short of the actual GPA
achieved by graduating students.

18. School of Education Numbers
• The School of Education exceeded the quota in all
categories.
• The excess for last year was Summa (2),
Summa+Magna (1) and Summa+Magna+Cum Laude (1).

19. A&S by Percentage
• A&S graduated 778 bachelors students last year.
• The rest of campus graduated 662 bachelors students
and 318 first professional students.
• It is important to look at the excess percentage in the
College of A&S instead of headcount.
• Summa was over by 15%, Summa+Magna was over by
27% and Summa+Magna+Cum Laude was over by 25%.

20. Discussion
• GPA Cutoffs
• Exceeding quotas
• Stand alone semesters vs Annual average
• Grades from the final semester
• One student, two or more degrees
• Anything else?