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Independent Honors Study

Purpose

  • To allow students to develop an area of study complementing and broadening their regular class experiences.
  • To earn Honors credit hours.
  • To encourage interaction between Honors students and faculty.
  • To fulfill part of the requirements for the Certificate in University Honors and the University Honors Scholar designations.

Expectations

Students may earn 1 – 6 hours of credit. One hour of credit is equivalent to 2 – 4 hours of work per week throughout the semester, 2 hours of credit is equivalent to 5 – 7 hours of work per week, 3 hours of credit is equivalent to 8 – 11 hours of work per week, etc.

NOTE: Students may complete Independent Study (non-Honors, course number 287) and Independent Honors Study (course number 299) as often as they like. However, only a maximum of 6 credit hours may apply toward graduation.

Examples of Independent Honors Study projects

Procedures

  1. The student contacts a faculty member to see if he or she would be willing to supervise an Independent Honors Study project.
  2. The student writes a description of the proposal that has been discussed with and approved by the faculty supervisor. The proposal description should include assignments, evaluation criteria, and due dates. The number of credit hours the student will receive must also be indicated (i.e., 1 – 6 credits).
  3. Proposals must be approved by the faculty supervisor, as well as the Department Chair.
  4. The major department for which the student is doing an Independent Honors Study gives the student a permit to register for this course (course number 299). THE STUDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR REGISTERING FOR THIS COURSE ONCE THE PERMIT HAS BEEN ADDED.
  5. The white copy is to be returned to the Honors Office, the green copy is for Records, yellow is for the Department, pink is for the Faculty Supervisor, and goldenrod is for the student.
  6. After the student and faculty supervisor have agreed upon a proposal, the Honors Program reviews the contract for incomplete information. If information is missing, the contract will be returned to the student and the student will be asked to revise it.
  7. Returned proposals are usually because the student has not indicated the number of credit hours he or she plans to earn, a department number was not specified, or signatures were missing. For research-related projects, students may want to consider Undergraduate Research Participation (IDS 285 & IDS 286), where credit hours may also be earned.

Evaluation

At the end of the semester, the student’s faculty supervisor turns the student’s grade into the department.