Our curriculum, The Honors Experience (T.H.E.) is an experience-based, highly customized curriculum to fit each student’s individual goals. The curriculum offers a combination of Honors experience-based coursework and outside of the classroom learning. Our curriculum allows students the flexibility of graduating with honors without adding significant additional credits to the degree. By graduation, students will complete a set of signature Honors Experiences in the form of Honors courses, Honors special programs, or activities that take place outside of the classroom. We develop students to succeed in what we call the S.P.I.C.E.S. areas. We know that the most successful, well-rounded graduates stand out in six areas:
- Service
- Professional Development
- Intellectual Achievement beyond the classroom
- Cultural Exploration
- Engaged Living
- Skill Development
Students who complete T.H.E. learn by taking part in transformational experiences that feature the emphasize the following learning outcomes:
Learning Outcomes
Our learning outcomes, or C.A.P.A.C.I.T.I.E.S., reflect our emphasis on knowledge discovery and application through personal development and civic engagement. Throughout all Honors Coursework and Honors Experiences, students will work across the following guiding ideals and capacities in order to develop into thoughtful, engaged leaders.
| Honors College Learning Outcomes | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Demonstrable Achievement | The artifact or experience that defines the student learning. | |
| Guiding Ideals | Wonder | The embracing of new questions. |
|
Engagement |
The embodied pursuit of knowledge. | |
|
Discovery |
The invention that results from engagement. | |
|
Guidance |
The guidance provided to facilitate engaged learning. | |
| Capacities | Creative Courage | The ability to use knowledge, skills and materials at hand to produce a self/team designed product, solution, or presentation to an outside agency. |
| Adaptability & Resilience | The ability to learn from failure, accept constructive criticism, and/or handle setbacks & estranging situations. | |
| Project Management | The ability to take a major, long-term project from idea to completion. | |
| Agency through Accomplishment | Gaining self confidence by delivering outcomes of high-quality. Quality is demonstrated by the level of the peer review and notability of the accomplishment. | |
| Communicating Effectively | The ability to communicate to a diverse group of audiences. Effective communication should be demonstrated in multiple ways. These include speaking, writing, and thinking; however, truly effective communication also entails demonstrating the impactful use of speaking, writing, and thinking using a diverse array of technologies and multi-media platforms. | |
| Intellectual Dexterity | The ability to creatively synthesize information, make significant "leaps" across domains of knowledge, and/or apply skills in unique ways. | |
| Team/Independent Learning & Decision Making | The ability to work in a team setting toward producing a "co-authored" accomplishment. The ability to effectively self direct toward questions, materials, and solutions. The ability to effectively work with a group or individual to solve a multi-layered problem that has multiple possible approaches and solutions. | |
| Intercultural Confidence | The ability to appreciate and flourish in a cross-cultural experience. | |
| Ethical Reasoning | The ability to solve problems and reason to conclusions in ways that consider justice and the moral consequences of both the method and outcome. | |
| Self-Reflection & Awareness | The ability to clearly demonstrate awareness of the multitude of effects that learning has had upon you and the ways in which your engagement and discoveries have impacted others. | |
HERBS
The HERBS are out guiding principles of the Honors College ethos. We strive to help students understand their learning as a public good and hope to inspire them to use what they learn for the betterment of others. We ask our students to remain steadfastly committed to living our H.E.R.B.S., always reminding them to be:
Honorable
Equitable, Just, and Fair
Resilient
Benevolent
Supportive
Curriculum Requirements
Learn about our curricular requirements and how you can customize The Honors Experience to fit your personal, professional, and life goals.
