UHP Classes

Honors courses -- whether sections of pre-existing General Education courses modified to meet the needs of students in the University Honors Program or special courses created for use with Honors in the Major -- are different from most undergraduate offerings both in content and in the way they are taught. Honors courses are designed to be more demanding; they include a heavier emphasis on theory and address more complex issues. The assigned readings are normally scholarly works, books and articles, rather than textbooks. Class time is devoted to discussions designed to give students the opportunity for independent interpretation and analysis. The emphasis is on written papers or projects, not standardized testing. Assignments are constructed to accommodate individual student interests and concerns. In short, the presumption is that students in the University Honors Program are able to embark on more challenging and creative assignments, are less dependent upon the assistance of their instructors in understanding assigned readings, and are motivated to function at a more advanced stage of critical analysis when considering the validity of a given work.