Honors Sections: Fall 2009

Requirements

To graduate as a University Honors Scholar, Honors students are required to complete:

• 27 credits in Honors courses and
• an Honors Capstone Project.

Honors students who enter after two years of college may choose to graduate as an Honors Thesis Scholar by completing:

• 12 credits in Honors courses and
• an Honors Capstone Project.

All Honors students must maintain a minimum semester and cumulative 3.25 GPA in order to remain in good standing. One exception to this rule is incoming freshmen, who are allowed a minimum 3.0 GPA their first year. Students who are on academic probation or who are disqualified from registering for a major are not allowed to stay in the Honors Program.

Honors students should take a minimum of 15 credits per semester, and should have their schedule approved by their Honors advisor. Honors students must complete at least 12 credits per semester, and must maintain an average of 3 Honors credits per semester. Students who fail to do so or to maintain an appropriate GPA will be placed on probation for one semester; failure to remedy the deficiency or deficiencies will result in being removed from the program. Please see the Retention Policy for more information.

Honors Freshman Curriculum

A scholar's first responsibility is to be able to effectively communicate, with clarity and persuasion. This means a mastery of composition and command of all forms of oral presentation. Hence, the first-year Honors curriculum is founded on the students taking an Honors section of ENGL 211 or 213 in the Fall semester (Honors students place out of ENGL 111) and taking an Honors section of COMM 141 in the Spring semester. The program is presently developing curriculum for the Sophomore and succeeding years.

Honors Contract

Using the Honors Contract, UAF Honors students can earn Honors credit in courses which are not offered as Honors sections. There are far more courses which are eligible for credit by Honors Contract than are offered as Honors sections. Thus, the Honors Contract plays a very significant role in the Honors Program, both as a mechanism by which UAF Honors students earn Honors credits and in the overall UAF Honors curriculum. It is no exaggeration to state that the Honors Contract allows the UAF Honors curriculum to be nearly as broad as the UAF Catalog. Please see the Contract Policies and Procedures document for further information. Here is the Contract Proposal form and here is the Contract Report form.

Honors Capstone Project

Each Honors student is required to complete an Honors Capstone Project. The purpose of the project is to encourage intellectual independence and creativity and, as appropriate, to introduce the student to proper research methods in preparation for graduate and/or professional work. The project should involve a synthesis of the knowledge and technical skills the student has attained and the development through critical thinking of a novel perspective. It should be the culminating academic experience of the student's undergraduate career.

The capstone project is usually, but not exclusively, a research paper. In programs or majors where a capstone project (e.g. recital, thesis project, senior project) is required, the capstone project can be used for the Honors Capstone Project requirement; no student will be required to do more than one capstone project in order to both graduate in Honors and satisfy their programmatic requirements. If the student's major does not require a capstone project involving independent research or other appropriate scholarly activity, an independent research project or other scholarly activity must be developed and completed to fulfill the Honors Capstone Project requirement. All project supervisors will be asked to provide an evaluation of the project. In special circumstances other types of projects may be substituted, e.g. original music compositions, creative writing, design and implementation of an extensive computer project, original works of art, etc.

Please see the Capstone Project Policies and Procedures document for more information. Here is the Capstone Project Proposal form, and here is the Capstone Project Completion form, as well as the Capstone Project Title Page template (which is also available in .doc format).