Honors Program - Curriculum
The Honors Program comprises 23 credits. Twenty credits are earned through six honors courses completed in the first three years of the program (HR 100, HR 101, HR 200 or HR 201, 2 sections of HR 202, HR 300); the program recognizes three credits earned through an independent study usually undertaken in the student's major during the senior year.
Core Exemptions
Students who complete the Honors Program are exempt from 21 credits in the core curriculum.
Students who enter the program as freshmen are exempt from the 3 English core courses (9 credits). They also may exempt themselves from 4 courses chosen from the following 6 areas or disciplines, with no more than 1 exemption claimed in any area of discipline: Natural Science, History, Social/Behavioral Science, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Visual and Performing Arts (4 courses, 12 credits). In choosing to fulfill their remaining core requirements in Applied Ethics, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, Honors students may enroll in 200-level courses without having taken the stipulated prerequisites.
Students who enter the program as sophomores and who have completed EN 11 and EN 12 are exempt from the third English core course (3 credits). They are also exempt from 1 course in each of the following 6 areas or disciplines: Natural Science, History, Social/Behavioral Science, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Visual and Performing Arts (6 courses, 18 credits). In choosing to fulfill their remaining core requirements in Applied Ethics, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies, Honors students may enroll in 200-level courses without having taken the stipulated prerequisites.
The student's second year of Honors course work will satisfy either the U.S. diversity requirement (HR 200) or the world diversity requirement (HR 201) depending on the course the student completes. Apart from fulfilling 1 diversity requirement and replacing 7 core courses, Honors courses cannot be double-counted to satisfy any other curricular requirement.
Honors Achievement Designation
Students who complete the Honors Program in good standing have their achievement noted on their final transcripts. Those who complete the program with an average grade of B+ in honors courses receive the designation "University Honors Program Completed with Distinction." Those who complete the program with an average of A in honors courses receive the designation "University Honors Program Completed with High Distinction."
Fulbright Track in Honors
The Honors Program offers an alternative ordering of courses to support Honors students who apply for the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. This "Fulbright track" in the Honors curriculum allows Fulbright applicants to complete their Senior Honors Projects in their junior year so that this research can provide a foundation for their Fulbright applications. Honors students who are interested in the Fulbright track should speak to the Honors Program Director.
General Course Descriptions
First Year: The Western Tradition
HR 100 Ideas That Shaped the West
This team-taught lecture/seminar course examines selected ideas or themes from Western intellectual history, focusing on developments in philosophy, society, science, and the arts. The ideas selected vary from course section to course section. Four credits.
HR 101 Minds and Bodies
This team-taught lecture/seminar course examines constructions of the human person, and the social reflections of these constructions, in Western culture. The ideas selected vary from course section to course section. Four credits.
Second Year: Beyond the Western Paradigm
Either:
HR 200 Challenges to the Western Tradition
This course examines alternatives to the configuration of knowledge, art, power, and justice in the classical, majority culture of the West by considering critical voices traditionally marginalized in that culture. In the second year of honors coursework, students complete either HR 200 or HR 201. This course meets the U.S. diversity requirement. Three credits.
Or:
HR 201 Non-Western Culture
This course examines alternatives to the configuration of knowledge, art, power, and justice in the classical, majority culture of the West by investigating the history, worldview, and assumptions of a non-Western culture. In the second year of honors coursework, students complete either HR 200 or HR 201. This course meets the world diversity requirement. Three credits.
HR 202 Honors Seminar
This seminar, offered in one of the traditional disciplines, seeks to cultivate the skills of critical thinking, cogent argumentation, and effective writing, all by attending to a particular subject matter. Honors students earn six credits in HR 202 by completing one version of the seminar in their second year of honors coursework and another version of the seminar in their third year of honors coursework. A complete title, reflecting the seminar's particular subject matter, appears on the student's transcript. Students may not enroll in any section of HR 202 offered in a discipline in which they major or minor. Three credits.
Third Year: Interdisciplinary Inquiry
HR 300 Interdisciplinary Inquiry
This team-taught course stresses the value of interdisciplinary approaches to scholarly inquiry by investigating a wide-ranging theme from the perspective of at least two disciplines. Possible themes treated in a given year are progress and its critics, genius and creativity, and the city in the American imagination. Three credits.
HR 202 Honors Seminar
This seminar, offered in one of the traditional disciplines, seeks to cultivate the skills of critical thinking, cogent argumentation, and effective writing, all by attending to a particular subject matter. Honors students earn six credits in HR 202 by completing one version of the seminar in their second year of honors coursework and another version of the seminar in their third year of honors coursework. A complete title, reflecting the seminar's particular subject matter, appears on the student's transcript. Students may not enroll in any section of HR 202 offered in a discipline in which they major or minor. Three credits.
HR 399 Senior Honors Project: Independent Study
The Senior Honors Project provides an opportunity for students to engage in mature research under the supervision of a faculty mentor. The senior honors project is not a course in its own right but an independent study of three credits, typically conducted in the student's major field of study, which is recognized toward the completion of honors requirements. In the humanities, the project should be a paper of at least 25 to 50 pages in length. In studio art and creative writing, the project should take the form of a significant portfolio. In the natural sciences, mathematics, social sciences, nursing, and in the various areas of business, the finished project should conform to the discipline's acceptable format and length for publication. Three credits.