The Honors Experience
At UTSA Honors, our goal is to help students to use outcome- based learning within the context of high-impact educational practices. We want our students to become more dexterous problem solvers and moral agents. Honors courses aren't necessarily harder than other courses taught at UTSA. Instead, they provide an experiential approach to assist elite students of all majors to become servant leaders, develop as professionals, and intellectually achieve beyond their GPA. We help our students to emerge as culturally sophisticated global citizens, live engaged and intentional lives, and acquire skills that will help them flourish.
A guide to our Honors Pedagogy can be found here.
S.P.I.C.E.S
Honors Courses fall under one of the S.P.I.C.E.S Categories.
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Service
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Professional Development
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Intellectual Achievement and Research
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Cultural Exploration
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Engaged Living
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Skill Development
Learning Outcomes (C.A.P.A.C.I.T.I.E.S)
Honors courses must incorporate 2–3 of our C.A.P.A.C.I.T.I.E.S. learning outcomes—developed in collaboration with community and industry partners to reflect the key skills essential for success in today’s workforce.
Signature Accomplishment
Students in an honors course will produce signature accomplishment, that is, the artifact or experience that defines the student learning. Examples include but are not limited to: poster presentation, public performance or exhibition, community action project, business pitch or startup plan, digital storytelling project.
Examples of Honors Courses
Day of the Dead Canoeing and Embodied Ecology
Cook. Eat. Write. Repeat Storytelling for Life
Anatomy of a Doctor
Want to Teach for the Honors College?
Honors College Faculty Fellow Program
Interested in teaching highly committed and talented students at UTSA? Enjoy small classes and experiential learning? Have a really cool class idea? Be an Honors Faculty Fellow (FF) for a year!
Here’s how it works. The FF program is for two long semesters. Honors buys out a portion of your Service in the first semester, and you teach an experiential learning Honors course in the second semester. It can be Fall/Spring or Spring/Fall. Renewable for up to two years, pending approval based on course evaluations and student feedback.
Which course? Up to you! The only requirements are that you are passionate about the topic and learning is experiential, which in Honors means learn, apply, reflect, repeat.
Program Benefits:
- The course can offered by your department or the Honors College
- Class sizes range from 10-35, depending on course
- Dedicated funds for experiential learning upon approval
- First semester: Honors pays the college $6000 of the faculty member’s salary to buy-out a service commitment during the first semester. The buyout saves the college that amount.
Apply Here! Applications due August 15 for Fall (service)/Spring (course) cycle and January 27 for Spring (service)/Fall (course) cycle. Please contact Honors College Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Hector Aguilar ( hector.aguilar@utsa.edu) for more information.
The Honors College Romo Endowed Professorship
The Honors College encourages applications for the Romo Endowed Professorship in the Honors College. The Romo Endowed Professorship provides the opportunity for outstanding, tenured members of the UTSA faculty to regularly teach in the Honors College for up to two years. Each Romo chair receives a $2,500 stipend each year to teach 1:1 in the Honors College and offer 1 public lecture. Honors offers additional funds to support experiential learning.
Requirements:
- Full-time faculty member with tenure
- Record of excellence in teaching and scholarship
- Support of home department of 1:1 course release each year of the Professorship.
Apply here! Applications open in November of every academic year. More information can be found in the Romo Guidebook. Please contact Honors College Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Hector Aguilar ( hector.aguilar@utsa.edu) for more information.
Romo Endowed Professors
| Whitney Chappell (2025-2027) | Mark Leung (2023-2025) |
| Nathan Richardson (2025-2027) | Luca Pozzi (2023-2025) |
| Rosalind Horowitz (2025-2027) | Abraham DeLeon (2022-2024) |
| David Han (2024-2026) | Maria Arreguin (2022-2024) |
| Cristina Sue (2024-2026) | Nazgol Bagheri (2022-2024) |
| Rene Zenteno (2024-2026) | Aaron Cassill (2019-2022) |
| Kirsten E. Gardner (2023-2025) | Valerie Sponsel (2016-2019) |
Areas:
Honors Faculty
Honors Courses
Honors Curriculum
Guided Experiences
Honors Strategists
Areas:
Honors Advising
HonorS Experiential Learning Lab
HonorS Experiential Learning Lab
Honors Contracts
Honors Internships
Honors Experiential Learning Fair
