Honors Curriculum

View the Fall 2020 Honors Course Listing

Fall 2020 UH Course Descriptions

School of Arts and Humanities

School of Business

School of Science

School of Human Services and Social Sciences

University Honors

Honors Program members are required to complete at least three hours from the following list of University Honors (UH) Participation courses by the end of their fourth semester in the program. These UH Participation courses count as part of the required 24 hours of Honors credits. Entering freshmen who have earned 31 or more credit hours may apply for a waiver of two of the three required UH Participation courses.

University Honors (UH) 101 Honors Lecture 

1-hour course; Pass/Fail. Students may receive credit for a maximum of two of these. The topic of this course would vary each semester (service learning, education reform, poverty, tax reform, etc.). This course would be an open forum for the discussion of ideas and submission of reflective papers and/or service-learning projects.

University Honors (UH) 201 Honors Forum 

1-hour course; Pass/Fail.  Students may receive credit for a maximum of two of these. Students enrolled in these courses will be required to attend a certain number of campus events (pre-approved by Honors) and discuss and submit reflective papers for each event.

University Honors (UH) 202 Honors Book Club

1-hour course; Pass/Fail. Students may receive credit for a maximum of two of these. Students enrolled in this course will perform assigned reading and actively participate in class discussions.

Fall 2020 UH Course Descriptions

University Honors Course Instructors

Submit University Honors Course Application

Honors by Contract (HBC) is another way to fulfill the Honors Program curriculum requirements. Most courses numbered 300 or above at JSU are eligible for Honors by Contract. 

Course contracts enable students to earn Honors credit by incorporating an Honors component within a regularly offered class. Honors contract courses ideally require something qualitatively different rather than something quantitatively more. Enhanced substitutions for the normal course requirements are preferable to more of the same. The component should be designed to incorporate a "consolidating experience," a written paper or report (possibly including a class presentation) that serves to bring the experience together.

Where longer papers, additional reports, etc., are called for, the added work should be designed to fulfill a larger learning objective. Teaching one or more classes and doing special research projects (especially in the STEM fields) have been especially beneficial. Wherever possible, Honors students should share the results of their work with the class in the form of an oral presentation, a poster session, or some other means.

If a student completes the contracted course with a grade of "B" or better and satisfactorily completes the terms of the contract during the semester that credit is earned, the student will earn an Honors credit for the course. Students receiving an "Incomplete" in a course that they have contracted will not receive Honors credit for the course. Likewise, students receiving an "A" or "B" in a contracted course who did not complete the terms of their contract will not receive Honors credit. If a student is unable to complete the contracted work, the student can still receive credit for the course but cannot receive an Honors credit.

Honors by Contract in Chemistry and Geosciences

With the permission of the faculty member, students may be able to select from upper level courses in the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences and designate them as honors by contract course. Options for honors activities within these courses may include: additional research experience, presentations at conferences, written assignments, community engagement and/or service learning opportunities.

Honors by Contract in Nursing
Students are able to choose from any upper division nursing course as a designated honors by contract course. Options for honors activities within these courses may include additional clinical experiences, presentations, written assignments, community engagement and service-learning opportunities. 

All Honors by Contracts must be submitted online by the first day of classes in the semester the student is completing the contract.

Verification of completion of Honors by Contracts are due no later than the Monday of the last week of classes. This means your projects/papers/presentations will be due to your instructor prior to this date.

Honors by Contract Instructions (PDF)

Honors by Contract Steps for Students (PDF)

Submit Honors by Contract Form