Teach Honors

By teaching students the methods to formulate, articulate, pursue, and communicate research questions and subsequent findings across the disciplines, you have the opportunity to help them develop into undergraduates capable of taking on advanced challenges.  All Honors College students take either HNRS 110 Principles of Research and Inquiry or HNRS 302 Principles of Research and Inquiry for Transfer Students during their first semester, so this class offers an unique opportunity to help cultivate a sense of intellectual community and purpose among students.

The Honors College has four topical courses that pursue focused questions selected and designed by the faculty.

• HNRS 122 Reading the Arts is a topical course in which classes learn about focused faculty-selected questions in the arts, considering works of art and/or literature in their historical or social contexts and developing their skills of formal analysis. Many faculty members elect to complement inquiry with attendance and/or participation in creative activities.

• HNRS 130 Identity Community and Difference is a topical course in which students explore how different conceptions of identity, community and difference are articulated and practiced in specific social and historical contexts. Students will explore how questions about individuality and subjectivity are asked in the humanities, arts, and/or social sciences.

• HNRS 131 Contemporary Social Issues is a topical course in which students pursue a focused question about contemporary social issues. Students consider and apply theories, methods and evidence from the social sciences and humanities. Topics range in focus from global to local issues involving how power and inequality shape social and institutional structures. 

• HNRS 240 Reading the Past is a course in which students pursue focused questions about a historical problem or situate a contemporary social issue in historical context. Students assess what is at stake in specific historiographic debates, consider how historical narratives are constructed and contested, and/or apply historical perspectives to analyze pressing social issues.

The Honors College has two courses where students are encouraged to explore their roles and responsibilities in society and/or identify and address issues of public or community concern. 

• HNRS 260 Society and Community Engagement Topics is a course where students pursue focused questions about a problem facing a community, society, or government. Students assess what is at stake in specific debates, consider how narratives are constructed and contested and/or apply multiple perspectives to analyze pressing social issues.

• HNRS 261 Community Connection Practicum is a course where students will identify and address a challenge or question in response to the needs of the community. All students will contribute to and benefit from rigorous discussion among of a cohort of students representing multiple disciplines. Where relevant, the conversation also includes stakeholders from the community. Students learn to account for their own and for other points of view, and to adapt communication practices to reach those who do not share their backgrounds or expectations. As a result, they integrate new directions & approaches as well as alternate, divergent or contradictory perspectives or ideas.

The Honors College has two course where students will address complex challenges through scholarly research or experiential learning.

• HNRS 360 Multi-Disciplinary Topics is a course where students are encouraged to ask and refine manageable research questions focused on a topical theme selected by the instructor. Students will evaluate, analyze, and synthesize new or existing evidence and explicitly identify and explain the implications of connections between their findings and existing scholarship. The results of projects developed in this research seminar will be communicated in the form of papers, public or digital communications, visual representations, public presentations, performances, and/or other significant deliverables.

• HNRS 361 Multi-Disciplinary Practicum is a course where students identify and address a challenge or question that emerges from their individual goals & interests or in response to the needs of the community. All students in HNRS 361, whether pursuing individual or community challenges, contribute to and benefit from rigorous discussion among of a cohort of students representing multiple disciplines. Where relevant, the conversation also includes stakeholders from the community. Students learn to account for their own and for other points of view, and to adapt communication practices to reach those who do not share their backgrounds or expectations. As a result, they integrate new directions & approaches as well as alternate, divergent or contradictory perspectives or ideas. Course deliverables include strengthened and transformed proposals, reports, and/or prototypes.

In addition to the core Honors College courses, students can take honors sections of courses within their major or a related field of study. These "H-Sections" ensure that Honors College students interact with their faculty and peers in a close-knit community setting that provides more in-depth and rigorous treatment of material.