13.99.99.R0.16 Honors Program

Effective: September 1, 1996

Supplements System Policy: System Policy 13.02

1. The Honors Program is administered by the director of Honors according to procedures recommended by the Committee on Honors and approved by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the vice president for academic affairs.

2. The University Honors Program at Texas A&M University-Commerce was developed out of the faculty's concern that serious, well-qualified students should have the possibility to maximize their intellectual opportunities. Since a university is a place for the cultivation of excellence, the various parts of the University Honors Program are intended to promote that excellence by providing concerned and responsible students the kinds of experience which would develop their particular talents and abilities. Since each student brings a unique character to the university, the University Honors Program was designed with the greatest possible flexibility. This is why there are two phases called Honors at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

3. The first phase of the Honors Program, adapted primarily to the freshman and sophomore years of college, is called University Studies Honors. University Studies Honors is a program which parallels the general university requirements for all students. Special sections of many courses are designated as honors sections (Marked by an H in the Schedule of Classes and on the student's transcript), and a student admitted into University Studies Honors is eligible to select any honors section. Students design their own honors program in consultation with the director of Honors, who serves as an academic adviser for all freshman and sophomore Honors students. These honors sections are designed to create the best possible learning environment for able and motivated students. These classes are usually smaller in size than a normal class, more homogeneous in the student's ability level, and the instructor has been carefully chosen to teach an honors class.

4. The second phase of the Honors Program covers the junior and senior years and is called University Honors. By this point, the student has usually decided on a "major" and is beginning to concentrate work into one or two disciplines. The University Honors Program is intended to complement this concentration. It is essentially an individualized, independent research project designed by the student and a member of the major or minor department whom the student has selected as an Honors adviser. Together the student and the selected adviser mark out a research area, create a readings program and a research topic for an Honors thesis. In fulfilling this requirement, students must complete Honors Reading (491) and Honors Thesis (490), in order to graduate with honors.

5. Students are admitted into University Studies Honors either on the basis of their high school record and their college entrance scores or on the basis of their college transcript. Students may enter this program during any semester of their freshman or sophomore year, and they are free to withdraw from the program at any time. Each semester faculty members are invited to recommend students they believe to be qualified for the Honors Program, and all students recommended are written a letter of invitation by the Honors Office.

6. Students are admitted to candidacy for University Honors upon application to the Committee on Honors. To be admitted a student either must have a 3.25 overall grade average or have that average requirement waived by the committee. To be admitted to candidacy for University Honors, each student needs to have completed two honors courses (usually the freshman and sophomore courses described in part 3 above). However, an honors capstone course is taught each semester to accommodate transfer students and students who have not taken the freshman and sophomore courses. Additionally, each honors student must take Honors Colloquium (HC 100 - 400) for one semester for one credit.

7. Normally, the student seeking admission to University Honors candidacy would submit the application during the junior year. But the committee will consider applications from students who have gone beyond that point in their academic career so as not to close out the opportunity to do this kind of individualized and intensive project. All members of the full-time faculty are eligible to direct honors projects (as Honors Advisers), and all faculty members are encouraged to identify and recommend candidates for this program.

References: Prior ETSU Policies V J 1 and B-51 approved December 1971; revised September 14, 1978, May 11, 1992, and October 5, 1994; Procedure A13.23.

Contact for Interpretation: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs