1. University Honors Program
  2. Academics in the Honors Program
  3. Earning Honors Credits
  4. Honors Courses

Honors Courses

Honors Courses are designed with Honors students in mind!

The Honors Program collaborates with departments across campus to offer Honors Courses. Our current selection of courses is based on professor and student interest, and we're always working to update existing courses and facilitate more opportunities for Honors students! 

Because professors are experts in their fields, we ask them to use their experience and expertise to best determine what particular tasks and coursework work with their discipline, the Program's goals, and Honors students' needs. 

Individual Honors courses have a lot of variety, but they typically have some key shared features, including:

  • Smaller Class Sizes: We aim to have Honors courses about half the size of their regular counterparts!
  • Discussion Based Instruction: Collaborative discussions with the professor and other students instead of lecture-heavy classes and memorization
  • Applied Learning: Focus on using skills learned through coursework to address real-world problems
  • Attention to Exploration: Thinking critically about the topics introduced in class and generating new ideas
  • Community Engagement: Interrogating how the course material affects others and implementing ideas with integrity and flexibility  

Professors use our Student Learning Outcomes as a benchmark for the direction of their Honors instruction. 

Check out our Student Learning Outcomes 禄

Honors Courses fall into three categories:

These are the Honors versions of courses that have preexisting regular counterparts. Enrollment is restricted to Honors students and these courses will replace the regular version of the course in students' degree requirements. Students will learn the same core skills, but have the opportunity to engage with more (or more complex) material and complete more involved projects. Instruction will be discussion based and we try to limit enrollment in these courses to approximately half of the size of their regular counterparts. 

  • For example: English 115 has covers the same core subjects as English 102, but only Honors students can enroll in it. 

Fall 2025 Honors Equivalent Courses

  • CJUS 311-H01: Crime and Mental Health with Jada Hector
  • CJUS 420-H01: Drugs and Crime with David Khey
  • ENGL 115-060: Academic Writing with Rhonda Berkeley
  • HIST 103-001: World Civilizations I with Robin Hermann
  • HIST 223-001: United States to 1877 with Carl Richard
  • PHIL 151-001: Intro to Philosophy with Joseph Giavotella
  • PSYC 115-001: General Psychology with Madison Gamble
  • SOCI 101-001: General Sociology with Emily Blosser

Honors Program Courses are unique, interdisciplinary courses that could only happen in Honors! They are not required by any current degree plan and would be electives for the students. These courses give professors and students the opportunity to dive deep into niche specialty interests or bring together different topics in an interesting and compelling way. 

  • These courses begin with the prefix HONR
  • For example: the Director of Honors, Dr. Sandoz, uses her background as a distinguished professor of Psychology to team up with the University's Provost, Dr. Hebert (who has a PhD in Statistics) to teach HONR 400: The Human Context to a small group of Honors students every Spring semester.
  • Honors Baccalaureate Thesis preparation courses are Honors Program Courses as well

Fall 2025 Honors Program Course Offerings

  • HONR 497-001: Honors Thesis Preparation with Mary Ellen Stegall
  • HONR 498-001: Honors Thesis with Emily Sandoz
  • HONR 499-001: Honors Thesis with Emily Sandoz

Honors students sign up for the Honors version of the course, and they attend class alongside a group of students signed up for the regular version of the same course. 

The professor will assign the Honors students additional coursework to help them meet our Student Learning Outcomes as well as completing the work assigned to the entire class. 

Students have the option to sign up for two different versions of the same class during registration, but both versions attend the same course. The Honors version can have the HONR prefix or a different departmental prefix in the course catalog. The Honors Program publishes course offerings every semester, so be sure to double-check your courses to make sure you get the Honors Credit you need!

Fall 2025 Cross-Listed Honors Courses

  • CHEM 105-005: Honors General Chemistry with Yu Wang
    • Cross-listed course: CHEM 107-002: General Chemistry I
  • ENVS 115-001: Honors Environmental Science with Katherine Eddings
    • Cross-listed course: ENVS 100-001: Intro to Environmental Science
  • HONR 415-001: Media Literacy in the Modern Age with Ethan Gautreau
    • Cross-listed course: HUMN 300-005: Themes in the Humanities
  • MATH 251-003: Honors Survey of Calculus with Patricia Beaulieu
    • Cross-listed course: MATH 250-003: Survey of Calculus
  • MATH 272-004: Honors Calculus I with Kevin Zito
    • Cross-listed course: MATH 270-004: Calculus I
  • MATH 309-007: Honors Calculus II with Kathryn Boddie
    • Cross-listed course: MATH 301-006: Calculus II
  • MATH 310-003: Honors Calculus III with George Turcu
    • Cross-listed course: MATH 302-003: Calculus III
  • PHYS 203-001: Honors General Physics I with Robert DiFabio
    • Cross-listed course: PHYS 201-002: General Physics I
  • POLS 111-001: Honors US Government with Rick Swanson
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 110-001: US Government
  • POLS 111-002: Honors US Government with Ted Brown
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 110-002: US Government
  • POLS 111-003: Honors US Government with Azamat Sakiev
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 110-003&4: US Government
  • POLS 111-005: Honors US Government with David Hughes
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 110-005: US Government
  • POLS 111-006: Honors US Government with Jacob Authement
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 110-006: US Government
  • POLS 221-001: Honors World Politics with Bryan Frost
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 220-001: World Politics
  • POLS 221-002: Honors World Politics with Azamat Sakiev
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 220-002: World Politics
  • POLS 318-001: Honors State & Local Government with Jacob Authement
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 317-001: State & Local Government
  • POLS 318-002: Honors State & Local Government with Beth Rauhaus
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 317-002: State & Local Government
  • POLS 318-003: Honors State & Local Government with Beth Rauhaus
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 317-003: State & Local Government
  • POLS 371-001: Honors Political Thinkers with Bryan Frost
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 370-001: Political Philosophy: Thinkers
  • POLS 383-001: Honors Law & Legal Reasoning with David Hughes
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 382-001: Intro to Law & Legal Reasoning
  • POLS 386-001: Honors Moot Court with Blacin Godfrey
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 385-001 and CJUS 399-001
  • POLS 388-001: Honors Constitutional Law with Jason Maloy
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 387-001: Constitutional Law
  • POLS 415-001: Honors Congress with Jacob Authement
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 414-001: Congress
  • POLS 471-001: Honoral Political Philosophy: Xenophobia with Brian Frost
    • Cross-listed course: POLS 470-001: Political Philosophy: Xenophobia
  • UNIV 100-H01: American Dream in Film and Music
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H02: Effects of Communication
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H03: Movies, Tom Hanks, and Leadership
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H04: Film and Literature
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H05: History Reframed
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H06: World Culture and Clothing
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H07: World Culture and Clothing
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H09: World Culture and Clothing
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H10: Supernatural Bio
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students
  • UNIV 100-H11: Legal Careers Myths & Truths
    • Not cross-listed, but not restricted to Honors students

Explore our full schedule of classes 禄