Honors

Great conversation ... requires an absolute running of two souls into one.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

A student may add an Honors option to a non-Honors course for Honors credit. The Honors Program at Florida Southern College has instituted this policy in order to provide opportunities for highly motivated students to participate in unique educational experiences not otherwise available through regular course offerings. Reflecting the vision of the Honors Program, adding an Honors Option to a course results in a collaborative project between student and faculty member. The design of such an option is tailored by both the student’s and a sponsoring faculty member’s interest.

The Honors Option requires a written contract between student and sponsoring faculty member. The contract and sponsoring faculty member must receive approval from the Honors Program Committee. Honors Option is not available for freshman or for courses that have Honors equivalents. Students should not take more than one Honors Options per semester and are limited to three during their career.

The decision to add an Honors Option to a course must be made in the first two weeks of a semester. Thus, students should approach a faculty member well before the semester during which such an option should be exercised. A student must receive an ‘A’ or ‘B’ in the course in order to receive Honors credit, irrespective of the completion of the Honors Option final project. The student is also required to present or publish the Honors Option final project at a scholarly event approved by the Honors Program Committee.

The Honors Option does not merely add difficulty to an existing course. The Honors Option requires qualitatively superior work in addition to the normal requirements for the course. These courses typically involve regular meetings and mentoring by the sponsoring faculty member.

An Honors Option proposal must include:

1. the student’s name;
2. the student’s major;
3. the student’s GPA;
4. a list of other Honors or Honors Option courses taken and the received grades;
5. the course number for the Honors Option course, as well as course catalogue description;
6. the goal of the Honors Option course, including why it is necessary for this particular course;
7. a detailed description of the course readings and Honors Option final project, including how the project fulfills the goals of an Honors course;
8. a method for course and project evaluation;
9. project completion date; and
10. faculty expectations and signature.

The Honors-Option final project should follow the following models – traditional research/integration paper using appropriate discipline formatting (e.g., APA or MLA), data collection based on quantitative or qualitative methodology appropriate to the discipline, interview with discipline authority/internship with analysis of the experience, product creation with analysis of the process/product (e.g., musical composition or webpage constructed for dissemination of research), and rhetorical analysis and argument.