The certificate in Interdisciplinary Honors Studies 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.
Students who pursue the certificate will cultivate the ability to engage in meaningful dialogue across disciplinary divides and across social differences. Completing the certificate will help students develop the ability to look at a problem from multiple perspectives and the skills to help them work with people in society from all backgrounds and identities.
Housed in the Arts & Sciences Honors Program, the certificate draws from the curriculum across the College of Arts & Sciences, complementing a student’s specialization in their major field.
Participation in the certificate program allows students to engage in interdisciplinary scholarship, cultivate critical thinking skills and become engaged campus and community citizens.
Requirements
The interdisciplinary honors certificate requires 18 credits - 9 credits in 3 required HONR courses and 9 credits in elective honors courses. Students must complete 9 of the 18 credit hours at the upper-division level.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| HONR 1810 | Honors Diversity Seminar | 3 |
| HONR 3900 | Honors Internship Course | 3 |
| HONR 4010 | (Honors Capstone Seminar) | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 9 | |
Additional Requirements
In addition to the three required courses, an additional 9 credits (3 courses) in the form of electives. Electives can be drawn from courses offered by the Honors Program (course sections 880-889, classified as Arts & Sciences Honors courses in the registration system). At least one elective must be an upper division course.
See lists of courses that fulfill this requirement from future, current and past semesters: Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020 and Spring 2020.
Learning Outcomes
The training in interdisciplinary and cross-divisional thinking central to the Certificate in Interdisciplinary Honors Studies will prepare students to learn about, ask questions about, and make connections with topics and areas unknown to them when they are in the workforce and/or in graduate studies. Similar to students’ training in interdisciplinarity, their coursework addressing diversity, privilege, and social marginalization will prepare them for conversations and collaborations across difference in work and graduate studies and in their communities. The Arts & Sciences Honors Program is inherently interdisciplinary, and coursework offered by the program spans the three divisions of the College of Arts & Sciences. Drawing on the program’s strengths, the certificate will teach students how to think, engage, and converse across disciplines, divisions, and differences.
Upon completing the certificate, students will:
- Become fluent in cross-disciplinary dialogue through core certificate courses and through elective courses distributed across at least 2 divisions (Arts Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences).
- Understand and engage with the challenges and advantages of interdisciplinary work in the introductory and capstone courses.
- Reflect on the internship experience from multiple disciplines and across divisions in the internship course.
- Develop a framework within which to understand interdisciplinary work, as well as communication across academic departments as well as across axes of social difference in the introductory and capstone courses, which will explicitly address interdisciplinarity and dialogue across social differences.