Teaching Opportunities in Honors
The Honors Program credit requirements are 22 in total— 1 cr. HON 1010, 15 cr. across three or more disciplines, and 6 cr. of Honors upper-division coursework (at least 3 cr. of which should be from an Honors Colloquium).
Honors 1010- 1-credit first-year seminar required for all Honors Program students.
Honors section- section that is reserved exclusively for Honors students, maximum capacity is 20. Example offerings include Honors General Biology II, Professional Communications, Honors Music Appreciation. Check with your department chair and the Honors director about the potential to offer a new Honors section in your department.
Other Honors options include Honors Group Contracts in which faculty provide an enriching project beyond the regular course requirements for Honors students in this section and Honors Recitations/Seminars which meet one hour weekly (but are zero-credit hours) as a supplement to the regular section allowing students to earn Honors credits equal to those in the regular course provided they earn at least a B in the regular course and S in the recitation/seminar.
Honors Colloquium- 3-credit upper-division seminar exclusively for Honors students, often multidisciplinary and team taught. Past offerings include The Human Body and Visual Art, Sound of Science, The Role of Materials and Processes in Emergent Technologies, Biomimicry, Civil Discourse, Alternative Energies- Devices and Policies. Honors students must take at least one Honors Colloquium as part of their two Honors Upper-Division requirements. See the Honors Colloqium Proposal Form. Contact the Honors Director for any questions. Fall 2025 proposals are now being accepted for review!
Honors students in the Chemistry of Fibers, The Human Body and Visual Art, and Sounds of Science Honors Colloquia.
Individual Student-Initiated, Proposal-Based Options:
Honors Contract- earn Honors credit in the regular section of a course by designing and completing a project or other component determined in collaboration with the instructor. Courses with Honors sections offered are not eligible for Honors Contracts.
Honors Experiential Learning- earn Honors credit for research, internship, study abroad, or significant, sustained community leadership. Faculty supervisor required.
Honors Upper-Division in the Major- earn upper-division Honors credit by enhancing a culminating course in the major with a significant project determined in collaboration with the instructor. Examples include ME Senior Design (student took the team leader position and held a workshop to teach others how to use a specific software package) or other substantial projects in addition to regular course assignments for Psychology Senior Thesis, Engineering Senior Capstone.
Honors Directed Study- earn upper-division Honors credit through an independent study guided by a faculty mentor. Need not be a topic within the student’s major field of study. Examples include a NURS student who was mentored by a Music Therapist faculty member in an Honors Directed Study on music intervention for health professions in a clinical setting.
Honors Thesis- earn upper-division Honors credit through a significant research-based project mentored by faculty.
Note: All of the above options are subject to departmental chair and Honors director approval.
Other ways to get involved with the Honors Program
Represent your discipline on the Honors Council or serve as the Honors Faculty Liaison in your department.