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Honors Coursework in the Major

There are two mechanisms for students to earn Honors elective credit (they need 9 credit hours) in the major: Honors Contracts and HON Attribute Courses.

Are you working on your department's 9-credit-hour plan? Visit this page for information, FAQs, and instructions for submitting your plan.

  • What are HON-attribute courses?

    Honors degree requirements at the University of Utah are fulfilled through a partnership between the Honors College and degree programs. The Honors College provides a core curriculum of four courses focused on critical thinking, interdisciplinarity, discourse across diverse positions and domains and provides learning communities for personal and professional growth. We also provide unique opportunities through interdisciplinary electives, Praxis labs, and Integrated Minors. Degree programs offer HON-attribute courses to provide special opportunities to build expertise in the major and prepare students for successful thesis completion. Ideally, these fulfill major requirements as well as serve as electives for the Honors degree. The Honors College collaborates with departments to increase the number of HON-attribute courses available for each degree in order to (1) increase availability of courses that both fulfill Honors degree and major degree requirements; and (2) ensure that available HON-designation courses build experience and expertise within degree programs and prepare students for successful thesis completion.

    What are the requirements of HON-attribute courses?

    • Must have several of the following characteristics (per the Honors Policy Board March 2024):
      • Increased discussion-based interactions between the student(s) and faculty member(s)
      • Direct research experiences or discussions on research methodologies and frameworks
      • Increased elements of writing and communication with feedback.
      • Active, hands-on, and experiential learning emphases
      • Emphasis on interdisciplinary connections
      • Explicit contributions to developing a thesis or capstone project
      • Activities that extend beyond the traditional classroom setting
    • Should be limited to a maximum enrollment of 30, providing for increased engagement with faculty. (An HON-attribute class may meet with a class with higher enrollments).
    • Must be taught by faculty-status instructors (i.e., not graduate students or post-doctoral fellows).
    • Must have Honors in the course title to identify them as courses fulfilling Honors degree requirements.
    • Must include a catalog course description that clearly indicates that the course has the HON attribute.
    • Can be offered at any level (1000-5000).
    • Can be in-person or online.
    • Should contribute to major requirements in order to allow students to earn Honors elective credit and satisfy major requirements simultaneously.

    Many HON-attribute courses are HON versions of non-HON courses (also known as "meets with" or "similar" courses; they are not "cross-listed" because they are not fully interchangeable). In such cases:

    • The HON version of the course must have its own course number. In the case of an HON version of an existing course, the recommended convention is to add a 1 to the course number (e.g., 3091 for an existing 3090 course).
    • The HON version must fulfill the same gen-ed/bachelors designations, major requirements, and/or associated learning outcomes as the non-HON course.

    HON-attribute course submission and review process

    Screenshot of the "Course-New" form in Coursedog pointing to the "Pre-populate Data" section and the option to "COPY FROM COURSE".

    HON attributions are reviewed by the Honors Policy Board (HPB). Review by the HPB is triggered by course submission in Coursedog.

    Submission in Coursedog

    1. Respond YES to Will this course be seeking an Honors attribute? (see image).
    2. Ensure that the course name includes "Honors".
    3. Upload a syllabus and Honors memo that follow the instructions for each below.
    4. Ensure that the course name and number are consistent across the syllabus, Honors memo, and Coursedog.
    5. Ensure that the course description clearly indicates that the course has the HON attribute.

    If the new course is an HON version of a non-HON course:

    1. You may want to use the copy from course option (see image).
    2. Indicate "similar/meets-with" in the appropriate field.
    3. Ensure that the HON version is marked for the same gen-ed/bachelors designations, major requirements, and/or associated learning outcomes as the non-HON course.
    4. Ensure that the syllabus clearly shows the HON/non-HON course differentiation via yellow highlight (see below) before uploading.
    5. Ensure that the Honors memo also indicates the "meets with" course.

    Click here for examples of successful HON proposals (UofU Box access required).

    Honors Memo

    Please use the Honors Memo Template. The memo identifies the course’s HON-attribute characteristics (see above); and includes a brief paragraph explaining how the course meets the indicated characteristics. Make sure that the explanation explicitly links the HON-attribute characteristics to course features evidenced in the syllabus.

    Syllabus

    The syllabus should show clear evidence of the HON-attribute course characteristics that are indicated in the memo through learning outcomes, assignments, etc. In cases where the new HON-attribute course is paired with a non-HON version of the course, differences from the non-HON version should be highlighted in yellow and should provide evidence of the HON-attribute course characteristics indicated in the memo. See these examples (UofU Box access required).

    Deadlines

    When to submit your new HON-attribute courses in CourseDog:

    New HON course meets with existing course that has GE designations. The new HON course must have the same GEs as the meets with counterpart. Submit four weeks earlier than you would normally submit a new (non-GE) course to allow for HON attribute review.
    New HON course meets with existing course that does not have GE designations. Submit four weeks earlier than you would normally submit a new (non-GE) course to allow for HON attribute review.
    New HON course does not meet with an existing course and does not have GE designations. Submit four weeks earlier than you would normally submit a new (non-GE) course to allow for HON attribute review.
    New HON course does not meet with an existing course and has GE designations. Submit by the deadline required for new GE course proposals. HON attribute review will be conducted in parallel with GE review.
    New HON course and meets-with a non-HON counterpart that is also new; neither has GE designations. Submit four weeks earlier than you would normally submit a new (non-GE) course to allow for HON attribute review.
    New HON course and meets-with a non-HON counterpart that is also new; both have GE designations. Submit by the deadline required for new GE course proposals. HON attribute review will be conducted in parallel with GE review.

    TL;DR - depending on details (see table), you will either be aiming for the GE designation deadline OR allowing four weeks additional time for an HON review.

    Future reviews of HON-attribute courses

    HON attributions will be re-reviewed periodically by the Honors Policy Board.

    FAQs

    Can students who are not in the Honors College enroll in HON-attribute courses?

    While Honors students should have some priority based on their need for HON electives, if you have sufficient seats, you could (and should) open these courses for non-Honors students.

    Can an online course carry the HON attribute?

    Yes. An HON course should have a very substantial live and interactive component, even if it is online.

    Must an HON attribute course have a non-HON counterpart?

    No. In some cases, an HON-attribute course may be deemed less relevant for all majors, so offered only to Honors students and, if seats are available, to students interested in an HON course experience.

     

    Major requirements and gen-ed/bachelors designations attached to these courses continue to be reviewed and managed by their respective appropriate bodies (e.g., Department and College curriculum committees, GECC) according to the timelines relevant to those bodies, and are not overseen by the Honors Policy Board. Once established, HON-attribute courses are included in review processes for major and gen-ed/bachelors designations, by the same committees, and on the same timeline as any other courses.

  • Questions about Honors Contracts? Email [email protected]

    What is an Honors Contract?

    Honors Contracts give students a way to enhance non-honors courses so that they provide elective credits towards the Honors degree, in collaboration with the course instructor. With an Honors Contract, a non-honors class can count towards honors elective requirements. Note that the work associated with the Honors Contract does not factor into the course grade and is evaluated on a completed/not-completed basis.

    What a contract is not...

    It's not its own course with a unique course number. Courses that have unique course numbers are Honors-attributed courses. It does not require additional credits. No additional steps are required for curriculum administration (IE coursedog).

    *Faculty might think of a contract as an extra credit assignment that would take ~20 hours spread throughout the semester.

    Who is eligible for Honors Contracts?

    Any Honors student is eligible to request an Honors Contract in a course in which they are currently enrolled. Not all courses are appropriate for Honors Contracts, and the faculty instructor for a course may choose whether to develop an Honors Contract.  

    What kinds of courses are Contract-eligible?

    Contracts are not permitted for internship or independent study courses, and only faculty-status instructors can agree to an Honors Contract. Beyond these limitations, departments and programs can decide which courses are Contract-eligible in the programs they offer. These decisions should be made with the goals of supporting students in completing their degree program and making progress towards Honors requirements. For some programs, that may mean focusing on core requirements in the upper division part of the degree program. For others, it may be important to provide opportunities early in the major.

    What type of work is expected in an Honors Contract?

    An Honors Contract requires that the student go beyond what is required for the course in terms of experiences and assignments/work.  A typical Contract will require about 20 additional hours of student work over the term.

    The required work will ideally meet several of the following characteristics:

    • Increased engagement with faculty-status instructors—substantive discussion-based interactions between students and faculty members.
    • Provide a deeper engagement, relative to the course, with the topics/materials through features like:
      • Incorporate research through direct experiences or discussions on research methodologies and frameworks across disciplines.
      • Increased elements of writing and communication with feedback appropriately tailored to the discipline and subject matter
      • Provide an active and experiential learning emphasis
      • Engage students in hands-on experiences
      • Stretch beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries to emphasize interdisciplinary connections
    • Explicitly contribute to developing a thesis or capstone project
    • Encourage co-curricular activities beyond traditional classroom settings

    Honors Contracts may involve—but are not limited to—activities like the following:

    • Development of enriched teaching materials or lab experiments for future offerings of the course.
    • Deepening a course-related assignment in ways that draw from other disciplines.
    • Designing and completing a special project, performance, or product – ideally, one that might position the student effectively for future thesis work.

    What are the benefits of an Honors Contract?

    Honors Contracts provide students an opportunity to go beyond what is possible in a traditional class and work more closely with the faculty instructor. Contracts allow students to pursue their interests by diving deeper into their coursework. These experiences could lead to Honors Thesis topics and mentoring opportunities. The process of creating a Contract gives students experiences in self-advocacy and self-directed work, which are also excellent preparation for post-baccalaureate work and education. For departments and programs, Honors Contracts support students in situations where departments are unable to offer honors-specific courses due to resource constraints. For all departments and programs, Honors Contracts can also provide indications of where there is sufficient student demand to justify developing an honors-attribute course.

    Issues that might arise

    If the student does not complete the Contract, the student will not receive honors elective credit. Failure to complete the Contract SHOULD NOT impact the student’s grade in the course. The course grade is based solely on the course syllabus. The Honors Contract must be completed within the time frame of the course – thus, a student cannot complete the course, receive a grade, and then add the Contract some months later.

    How is an Honors Contract established? What happens when the Contract is completed?

    The Honors College will provide support for Honors Contracts. This will include the following: 1) a relatively painless process for students to propose Contracts and faculty to approve them, as well as for faculty to verify that the Contract was completed; 2) management of the Honors Contract for the student’s degree audit; 3) maintenance of records of previous Honors Contracts with examples for new faculty to examine; and 4) periodic review of Contracts across campus to ensure consistency and transparency.

    We will finalize and distribute details about the technical process for Honors Contracts in Fall semester 2025. This will include a streamlined electronic form that records a work plan and outlines what is required for satisfactory completion, and enables straightforward faculty approval of the planned contract and faculty documentation that the Contract was fulfilled.