Honors Program

Overview of the Honors Program

The primary goal of the Honors Program is to offer students a transformative learning experience that provides more than a knowledge base and set of skills that can influence their interactions with the world; rather, the Honors curriculum is deliberately designed to foster a way of seeing, thinking, valuing and behaving that necessarily influences a student's interactions because it has become an authentic and intrinsic element of his or her identity and humanity. We cultivate such transformational learning by creating academic situations that (a) bring students in closer contact with their teachers and peers, (b) engage topics and issues in greater depth, subtlety, and complexity than is possible in larger non-honors courses that necessarily must serve a wider range of learning levels, (c) place more of the impetus for learning on the individual student themselves, and (d) allow for a more individualized realization of educational objectives.

The Honors Program Foundation Courses are either specially-designated sections of University Core courses (e.g., Phil. 050H or 104H) or are courses that have been specially created by departments for the Honors Program (e.g., English 005 and 006). Smaller than ordinary, restricted to Honors Program students, and taught by instructors aware of and committed to the educational ideals of the Honors Program, both types of Foundation Courses enrich the student's core curricular experience and provide an important foundation for participation in Honors Program Seminar Series.

Honors Program Foundation Courses

During the first and second year, Honors Program students are required to take eight Foundation Courses (total of 24 credit hours). These courses are either (a) honors sections of University core courses, or (b) are courses that have been specially created by departments for the Honors Program (the latter also satisfies University Core requirements). Required Foundation Courses and credits are listed below.

• English/Literature: World and Text 1 & 2 (ENGL 005, 006), specially-created course for the Honors Program, 3 credits each (carry UCCS-LPA credits). Honors Program Students who receive a B or better in ENGL 005 and ENGL 006 receive "credit by validation" for ENGL 001 and ENGL 002 and thus satisfy both the Literature/Performing Arts (LPA) knowledge area and the Rhetoric (R) knowledge area.
• Philosophy: Philosophy of Human Nature and Ethical Theory (PHIL 050, 104), honors sections of Core courses, 3 credits each (carry UCCS-HNE credits)
• History: History of Western Civilization (HIST 001, 002), honors sections of Core courses, 3 credits each (carry UCCS-HCS credits)
• Theology: Introduction to Theology (THEO 001), honors sections of Core course, 3 credits, and upper division Honors Course, 3 credits (carry UCCS-T credits)
  

Honors Program Seminar Series

Each year, students are required to take an Honors Program Seminar. Each component of the Seminar Series builds progressively upon earlier Honors experiences as a means of nurturing over the four year span the type of intellectual acuity, creativity, and maturity that allows for integration of knowledge from a variety of disciplines.

First-Year Seminar

HOPR 010, 1 credit, limited to 10 students per section

Second-Year Seminar

HOPR 020, 2 credits, limited to 10 students per section

Third-Year Seminar The Year Three Seminar requirement may be satisfied in any of the following three ways:

• the HOPR 130 and/or 131 Honors Intellectual Traditions Seminars, 3 or 6 credits, or
• the Junior Research option, which involves taking HOPR 135 (3 credits), doing a summer research project, and finishing with an independent study (3 credits) with the faculty person with whom the research was undertaken to write up the project and participate in various symposiums, or finally
• a traditional honors seminar (HOPR 196) or qualifying departmental seminar (e.g., PHIL 196 or HIST 196), 3 credits.

Option 1 may be taken for 3 credits or 6, though we strongly encourage the full year sequence for 6 credits; Option 2 requires 6 credits; and Option 3 consists of 3 credits.

Fourth-Year Full Circle Seminar

3 credits, limited to 20 students per section

For complete details on the Marquette University Honors Program please visit http://www.marquette.edu/as/honors/

Summary of Honors Program for Engineering Students
Years One and Two*:

• ENGL 005* 3 cr (UCCS - LPA)
• ENGL 006* 3 cr (UCCS - LPA)
• PHIL 050H (in place of PHIL 050) 3 cr (UCCS - HNE)
• PHIL 104H (in place of PHIL 104) 3 cr (UCCS - HNE)
• THEO 001H (in place of THEO 001) 3 cr (UCCS - T)
• THEO 1XXH (in place of THEO 1XX) 3 cr (UCCS - T)
• HIST 001H 3 cr (UCCS - HCS)
• HIST 002H 3 cr (UCCS - HCS)
• HOPR 010 (first year) 1 cr
• HOPR 020 (second year) 2 cr

* Students who earn B or better grades in ENGL 005 and ENGL 006 will receive "credit by validation" for ENGL 001 and ENGL 002 and will thus also satisfy the Rhetoric (R) knowledge area.

Year Three**:

• Option 1: HOPR 130 and/or HOPR 131 3 or 6 cr
• Option 2: HOPR 135 and XXXX 195 6 cr
• Option 3: HOPR 196 or XXXX 196 3 cr

Year Four:

• HOPR 140 3 cr

TOTAL: 33 or 36 credits***

* The Honors foundational course list as belonging to years one and two might well be taken in a student's Jr. or Sr. year, depending on factors like his/her major, study abroad, etc.

** Option 1 may be taken for 3 credits (HOPR 130) or 6 credits (both HOPR 130 and HOPR 131). Students are strongly encourage to participate in the full year sequence for 6 credits. Option 2, the Junior Research option, involves taking HOPR 135 (3 credits), doing a summer research project, and finishing with an independent study (3 credits) with the faculty person with whom the research was undertaken to write up the project and participate in various symposiums. Option 3 requires taking a traditional honors seminar (HOPR 196) or qualifying departmental seminar (e.g., PHIL 196 or HIST 196) for 3 credits.

*** For student who earn B or better grades in ENGL 005 and ENGL 006 the Honors Program increases by nine to twelve the total number of degree hours required by Engineering students. This increase is due to the three credits for the one additional history course (one can be used as the UCCS-HCS requirement), the three credits associated with HOPR 010 and HOPR 020, the three or six credits incurred in year three, the three credits associated with HOPR 140 in year four, and a three credit reduction because the Literature/Performing Arts UCCS is satisfied by ENGL 005 and ENGL 006. For students who do not earn B or better grades in ENGL 005 and ENGL 006, the increased load would be between fifteen and eighteen credits.