Honors options allow faculty members to add requirements to non-Honors courses or sections. Honors options can be added to any 2000-, 3000-, or 4000-level course with the exception of courses that have designated Honors sections. While Honors options can be taken at the 2000-level, they are ideal for upper-level electives. The plan of study for Honors options must enrich the student’s academic experience and may include additional or substituted assignments and readings that replace the normal course requirements.
Following the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) guidelines, Honors courses should emphasize research and creative scholarship (“learning in depth”), which involve “highly focused, often discipline-oriented learning experiences,” including but not limited to “an emphasis on research writing in the humanities and social sciences, including data analysis in the social sciences, and on experimentation, measurement, data analysis, and interpretation in the natural sciences.”
The Honors College student seeking to add an Honors option to a non-Honors course must first consult the faculty member teaching the course. If the faculty member is willing and able to create an Honors option, he/she and the student must complete and sign an Honors Option Contract form provided by the Honors College. The contract must include the following information:
The contract must be submitted to and approved by the Honors College before the semester begins. For Fall 2019, the deadline is August 19, 2019.
The student will be notified of the approval or denial of the contract within two weeks of the submission of the contract. If a proposal is not approved, the student may revise the proposal addressing the issues identified in the “Reasons for denial” section of the notification form. Only one revision is allowed, and all revised proposals must be submitted and approved before the semester begins.
