The Honors Program provides a mentored pathway through the curriculum designed to help students develop skills in creative inquiry, pursue advanced topics within and across disciplines in great depth, and master complex analytical and research skills. The honors curriculum begins with Honors Seminars and Tutorials designed for first- and second-year students to introduce them to the skills of creative inquiry across disciplines. The honors curriculum culminates in an honors independent research or creative project under the mentorship of a faculty member in the student’s area of academic interest. Students are provided guidance and assistance not only from faculty mentors, but also from a vibrant community of fellow honors scholars as they develop and complete their honors independent projects.
The honors curriculum offers opportunities to experience the excitement of scholarship and inquiry that is often on the frontier of knowledge. While taking a course in the honors curriculum, you may conduct a research project in a laboratory alongside your professor, discuss and analyze primary literature, attend live artistic performances, visit museums or historic landmarks, host a guest speaker, or create and share a creative work with the campus community. These experiences will accelerate your learning, build confidence in your intellectual capabilities, and maybe even ignite a new passion that you continue to pursue beyond OWU. The different elements of the honors curriculum are described in more detail below.
Honors seminars and tutorials are designed for first- and second-year honors students to be intense learning experiences. In these courses, students explore topics in great depth with a faculty member and other honors students while learning fundamental concepts and theories related to a particular discipline. Seminars and tutorials differ primarily in the size (i.e., tutorials are very small–often fewer than five students) and how often the class meets (i.e., tutorials may only meet once a week). Previous knowledge is not required to participate in these courses.
Honors Courses are open to all honors students during their four years at OWU. Honors Courses are offered all four academic divisions: the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and fine arts. Honors Courses can be unique offerings designed by a faculty member especially for the Honors Program, or they can be special sections of existing courses modified to meet the rigors of honors-level study. Honors courses are designed to develop skills in creative inquiry, writing, critical thinking, and engaged discussion and analysis of complex and in-depth topics.
Honors in Course can be earned in any course with the permission of the instructor. Some courses have built-in option to earn Honors in Course with established guidelines for the additional work students must complete to earn the honors in course designation. In courses without a built-in honors option, students can work with faculty members to develop an individualized plan to achieve Honors in Course. This option works particularly well for a specialized upper-level course in the student’s area of interest.
To earn Honors in Course, a student will be expected to complete additional work or a creative project that requires sustained effort and contact with the faculty member over the course of the semester. To earn Honors in Course for a class without a built-in option, students can apply to earn Honors in Course, using the Honors in Course Proposal Form by the end of the fifth week of the semester in which the course is being taught. For courses that have a built-in Honors in Course option, students can register for the H option through the regular registration process. The student must earn a B- or higher in the course to earn ‘H’ in course.
Contact Dr. Mark Allison, maalliso@owu.edu for additional information or questions about earning Honors in Course.