Honors Program
Program Overview
Honors Program
The Honors Program is a 17-credit hour curriculum. Students will take 5, one-credit hour required Honors Seminars. In their second semester, they engage in a 3-credit hour service-learning practicum. For the remaining hours, they will select nine hours of Honors Elective courses. Honors electives can be an applied experience with service, leadership, undergraduate research or creative activity, or internships. We also offer course-based electives in various subjects each semester. Students are advised to take electives that fulfill personal or professional goals.
Honors Curriculum Suggested Course Sequence
Below is a suggested course sequence for students in a 4-year graduation plan. Students should plan to take one Honors course a semester, alternating between a 1-credit course and a 3-credit hours course. For students not able to take summer classes, there is one semester that students will need to take 4 hours of Honors courses. There is flexibility to complete the curriculum in a shorter time, but students typically need at least three years. We are able to work with transfer students on a case-by-case basis to complete the curriculum.
Freshman Year
- HONR 1102 – Honors Community Leadership Seminar: Offered in Fall semesters only. HONR 1102 is intended to serve as an introduction to the Honors Program, its requirements and the Program's commitment to service, as well as the Honors Student Association.
- HONR 1303 – Honors Service-Learning Practicum: Offered in Spring semesters only. The purpose of this community-based course is to explore the notion of social change and service-learning and to challenge students to see themselves as agents of that change.
Sophomore Year
- HONR 2101 – Honors Experience Seminar: Offered in Fall semesters only. HONR 2101 is intended to provide students the time, space and guidance to plan their Honors experience.
- Students will choose a 3-credit honors elective course.
Junior Year
- Students will choose a 3-credit honors elective course.
- HONR 3101 – Project of Excellence Seminar I: Offered every semester, including summer. HONR 3101 culminates in the completion of a Preliminary Proposal for the Project of Excellence with the guidance and approval of the course instructor and the student's faculty mentor.
Senior Year
- HONR 4101 - Project of Excellence Seminar II and a 3-credit honors elective course: HONR 4101 is offered every semester, including summer. In HONR 4101 students work on completing the early stages of their Project of Excellence.
- HONR 4102 - Project of Excellence Seminar III: Offered every semester, including summer. In HONR 4102, students work on completing the final stages of their Project of Excellence.
Honors Elective Options
- Honors Applied Experience Elective Options: These applied experience elective courses are offered every semester, including summer. Each course requires 120 hours of applied experience to earn credit.
- HONR 2398 – Honors Applied Experience I
- HONR 2399 – Honors Undergraduate Research & Creative Works I
- HONR 4398 – Honors Applied Experience II
- HONR 4399 – Honors Undergraduate Research & Creative Works II
- HONR 4397 – Honors Internship
- Honors Course-Based Elective Options: Honors offers a variety of course-based options throughout the year, either as Honors courses or courses throughout various departments as a designated Honors section.
Program Learning Outcomes
The curriculum prepares students to complete an honors thesis, known as the Project of Excellence. In addition, the courses satisfy the Honors Program learning outcomes:
- Apply effective communication skills in academic and career contexts to support interdisciplinary collaborations and leadership opportunities.
- Engage in scholarly discourse by identifying, exploring, and developing a creative or scholarly project.
- Collaboratively engage with and learn from diverse communities and cultures to develop the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make a difference in the civic life of our communities.