U of L’s Premier Academic Program

The Corvette, iPod, Return-of-the King Program in U of L Honors.

Commercial marketers identify a distinctive product with a unique name that eliminates confusion. We could call our premier program in the University Honors Program some equivalent of Corvette, iPod, or even a name with a narrative twist, something equivalent to the Return-of-the-King Program.

It is tempting. Students who enroll in our lead academic program are named  University Honors Scholars. It is a tough name. We constantly battle with the confusion that it brings.

Honors Scholars and Honors scholars are different, but as you read that do you notice that the second scholar is not capitalized? If you do, do you have a clue why the two are different? Honors student is the label we normally use, but Honors scholar is an acceptable, though infrequently used, alternative.

A marketer’s solution to making the difference clear is not a practical option. In higher education a cutesy name is not appropriate. Clever branding is not something you desire on your transcript or diploma. Thus we use the name University Honors Scholar, often shortening it to Honors Scholar for convenience.

So, what are Honors Scholars and Honors scholars? If  “scholar” is lower case, the scholar is anyone participating in the University Honors Program -- an Honors student. If “Scholar” is upper case, the student is fulfilling a very specific set of expectations that indicate he or she is embracing university education in the fullness of its offerings and achieving at the very highest level.

To approach the problem another way, the University Honors Scholars Program is a program within the Honors Program.

Why is the University Honors Scholars Program different from the Honors Program? The answer is that it is not really particularly different. It is more; more seminars, more participation and more academic success.

Strictly speaking, an active Honors student is required to take an average of one Honors Program class per year or a total of 12 credit hours in Honors classes during the undergraduate years. A student who signs on as a University Honors Scholar after the first semester in which a 3.5 or higher GPA is achieved is required to take a minimum of 24 credit hours of Honors coursework. Frequently, University Honors Scholars graduate with Honors credits far beyond the required minimum.

One of the hallmarks of U of L’s Honors Program is that participation is flexible. U of L wishes to extend the benefits of participation to all undergraduate students, including those who enroll in programs with very defined requirements claiming most of the student’s undergraduate schedule. Engineering, nursing, music and  business majors all find that they can include Honors coursework as part of their education by enrolling in Honors general education courses.

The Honors Program typically offers 45 to 55 general education credit courses limited to 25 students each semester. In addition, Honors seminars are open to Honors students who have completed 24 credits of university course work with Honors Scholars given priority access to the seminars.

Honors students take at least 12 hours of Honors general education and/or Honors seminars. Honors Scholars take at least 12 hours each of Honors general education and a minimum  of 12 hours of Honors seminars.

Honors Seminars

Honors seminars are limited to an enrollment of 16, providing students with close faculty and peer contact. Seminar coursework is lively, interactive and dynamic including integrative elements and imaginative work.

Seminars topics are variable each semester, some are intermittently repeated, some are unique. Two faculty members frequently join to teach the Honors seminars especially the Overseers Travel Seminars. The fall 2004 semester listing offers eight seminars.

Descriptions below include only the introductory material from the Honors seminar online course description. Full descriptions can be found here.