Arts & Sciences Honors Program
The Arts & Sciences Honors Program provides a community for highly motivated and academically engaged undergraduate students. It offers opportunities for intellectual engagement through Honors courses, academic-inspired events and Honors thesis research and creative work (through which student earn Latin Honors).
CU Boulder incoming honors-qualified first-year and transfer students, and continuing undergraduates who have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher, are eligible to take one Honors Program course per semester. Students are not required to be enrolled full time; part-time students are also eligible to enroll in our courses. There is no extra cost to take an honors version of a course. Students are not required to take Honors courses, which means that students who take Honors Program courses are choosing to work at an honors level.
Admission for first-year and transfer students is done automatically through their application to CU Boulder's College of Arts & Sciences. Generally, students in the top 10 percent of the incoming class receive an invitation. This is based on numerous factors including high school GPA and application essays. Applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences are reviewed as the admissions process progresses and honors-eligible students will receive an invitation to the Honors Program after they have been admitted. Continuing students in the College of Arts & Sciences (those who have been at CU past their first year) who maintain a GPA of 3.3 or higher are automatically eligible to participate in the Honors Program. There is no Honors Program application; in all cases, eligibility is determined automatically.
Latin honors in the College of Arts & Sciences are conferred by the Honors Program. To graduate cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude, honors-qualified students must successfully write and defend an Honors thesis. Most students pursue Latin honors in their major (based on departmental requirements), but students may also pursue General Honors via the Honors Program, providing students the opportunity to write an interdisciplinary thesis.
The Honors Residential Academic Program (Honors RAP) is the optional residential component of the program. Honors RAP is open to a limited number of qualified incoming and continuing students. Students engage in small classes and co-curricular activities, forming an academic community in their residence hall. (See the Communities tab for more information about the Honors RAP.)
The Honors Program offers the certificate in Interdisciplinary Honors Studies, which allows undergraduate students to develop skills in interdisciplinary theory and practice that they can draw on to address social problems. The certificate is founded on the principles of diversity: intellectual, social and experiential.
Faculty
Chadwick, Jeffrey
Instructor; PhD, Purdue University
Feldman, Andrea
Senior Instructor; PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Fischer, Kate
Instructor; PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Hickcox, Abby Lynn
Senior Instructor, Associate Faculty Director; PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Jacobs, Janet L.
Director; PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Mishev, Ilia Dimitrov
Instructor
Courses
HONR 1001 (1) Honors Coseminar
Honors coseminars are designed to combine an honors seminar experience with the shared experience of an organized lecture course. Designed typically for 15 students, coseminars are taken for an additional 1 credit hour. Coseminars provide honors students with an opportunity to extend their common experience in the course lecture into an enriched interactive, critical thinking opportunity.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 4.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 1125 (3) Heroines and Heroic Traditions
Reevaluating global heroic traditions is critical to understanding power structures. In this course we will interrogate the concept of the monomyth and redefine what it means to be a hero/ine. The course will explore comparative mythology, folklore, literature, film and television in order to reinterpret and investigate heroic traditions in diverse communities.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: HONR 4025
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 1810 (3) Honors Diversity Seminar
Students will develop an appreciation for, and experience with, diverse perspectives. In particular this includes: racial/ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and class perspectives, for constructing knowledge as they proceed through their undergraduate studies. Three themes provide the framework for the course: education for the next century, the 21st century citizen, and the modern individual in a diverse society. Topics explored include privilege, stigmatization, targeted and nontargeted grouping, and oppression. Engaging in independent research and experiential, empathetic experiences is required.
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 2250 (3) Ethics of Ambition
Through selected readings in classical literature on ethics and through more contemporary readings and films, examines critical ethical issues relating to the competition of ambitions and the alternative styles of choosing between courses of action in a dangerous world. Uses biographies of those whose lives illustrate both the complexities of the struggles and the profundity of possibilities. Considers the unconscious metaphors of national visions and ambitions, the competing ethics of ends and means, the conflicting ambitions in a pluralistic society, and the transcendent ambitions of visionaries.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: FARR 2660
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Ideals and Values
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
HONR 2251 (3) Introduction to the Bible
Studies the major works, figures, and genres of the Bible and attempts to understand what they meant to their own time and why they became so important to Western civilization and contemporary America.
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Historical Context
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
HONR 2500 (3) Open Topics
Variety of new courses at the 2000 level. See honors program announcements for specific contents.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 2820 (3) Future of the Spaceship Earth
Examines major ecological, political, economic, cultural, legal, and ethical issues that will shape the future. Students consider how their decisions influence the future, and reflect on fundamental values and ideals underlying the search for solutions to these complex problems.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: FARR 2820
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Ideals and Values
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
HONR 2860 (3) The Figure of Socrates
Investigates why Socrates intrigued great writers like Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle and why, through his life and execution by the Athenian democracy, he still influences Western ethics, politics, and education and is central to cultural literacy.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
HONR 3004 (3) Women in Education
Honors women in education and their legacy. Introduces women educators, beginning in the late 19th century, whose significant theories of education and work in teaching have had an impact on all of our lives, in history and in society. Explores the educational theories and methods of several representative women educators and analyzes them through an investigation of their professional and personal lives.
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: WGST 3004
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 3220 (3) Advanced Honors Writing Workshop
Intensive practice of expository writing skills, particularly argumentation in longer forms. Course includes extensive practice in researching secondary sources, synthesizing large bodies of information, structuring cogent arguments for diverse sources, etc.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 9.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Juniors or Seniors).
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Written Communication
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Written Communication-Upper
HONR 3270 (3) Journey Motif in Women's Literature
Investigates literature thematically centered on forced migration, diaspora, and marginalized communities through novels, graphic novels, and short essays by women. Themes explored: feminism, identity, intersectionality, diaspora, issues of gender and borders, exile, ethnicity, and literary theory among others.
Requisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors) only.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 3550 (1-6) Open Topics
Investigates special topics in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Topics vary from semester to semester and from course to course. See Honors program announcements for specific contents. Open to Honors-qualified students beyond the freshman year. May be repeated for up to six credit hours for different topics.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 3810 (3) Privilege and Modern Social Construction
Examines social constructions that lead to productive interactions between and among American social communities. Using case studies and humanistic accounts, students analyze the lived experiences of a unique group or successful citizens who routinely evidence productive practices of multicultural engagement. Through interactions with policy makers and community practitioners, students design and enact activities that allow them to reconstruct their personal patterns of privilege practices of their peer groups in various settings.
Requisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors) only.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 3900 (3) Honors Internship Course
Engages students in hands-on work in the community imparting practical knowledge and real-world experience. The course is designed to help students combine professional experiences with an academic component that involves critical thinking and interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving. Benefits of the course include acquiring professional skills and knowledge, building a network of connections, developing insights on possible career options, and applying classroom material to real-world experiences.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
HONR 4000 (3) Open Topics
Variety of new courses at the 4000 level, see Honors Program announcements for specific contents.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Juniors or Seniors).
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 4025 (3) Heroines and Heroic Tradition
Given recent controversies about the roles of women in power, this course re-evaluates heroic traditions as the stories that ground our sense of public endeavor. What do we mean by heroic? What is a heroine? Are heroines different from heroes?
Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: HONR 1125
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 4055 (3) Discourse Analysis and Cultural Criticism
Discourse analysis critically investigates the founding assumptions by which systems of meaning operate. Its practice is aimed at a rigorous, systematic analysis of both specific cultural issues and the dynamics by which structures of meaning may be maintained or transformed.
Requisites: Requires a corequisite course of HONR 4056. Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors) only.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 4056 (1-3) Service Practicum: Discourse Analysis and Cultural Criticism
Help communities in need, with credit hours varying according to time commitment. The practicum provides experiential and intellectual understanding of the discourses and dynamics that maintain major cultural hierarchies of values and of resource distribution.
Requisites: Requires a corequisite course of HONR 4055. Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors) only.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 4075 (3) Environmental Justice
Examines the experiences of people who face disproportionate environmental harms related to historical marginalization correlating with race, class, and gender. Covers the history, principles, and contemporary state of the environmental justice movement in its opposition to environmental inequalities.
Requisites: Enrollment allowed for first-year AS students invited into the Honors Program for the current academic year (not including Honors RAP students) and continuing AS students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300.
Recommended: Junior or Seniors with 57-180 credits completed.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-U.S. Perspective
HONR 4490 (3) Capstone in Interdisciplinary Honors Studies
Explores the value of interdisciplinarity for conceptualizing, investigating, and solving problems. Critical analysis of interdisciplinarity across different fields will hone creative thinking, research, writing, and communication skills. Students will create a research project that encompasses multiple disciplines, informed by an appreciation of diverse points of view. Students will also examine how an interdisciplinary perspective is vital to being an engaged citizen.
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of HONR 1810 (minimum grade C-).
HONR 4900 (1-6) Independent Study
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course
HONR 4959 (3-6) Honors Thesis
Requires approval of Honors Program.
Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Additional Information: Arts Sciences Honors Course