Honors Credit By Contract

An honors contract is a mechanism for adding an “honors dimension” to a course or section which is not already an honors course. The contract project should add an additional academic dimension to the course by introducing new material or by allowing the student to go into greater depth than normally required in some aspect of the course.

The honors contract is designed to foster creativity in projects which are acceptable both to the honors student and the instructor. The examples given here are just that—examples. The list is not in any way intended to limit the scope or nature of projects:

• class presentation of research undertaken for the honors contract project, or special recital of musical work
• report on a biography of a famous person in the academic field or review of additional readings (books, articles) related to the course
• completing a sequence of focused discussion sessions with other Honors students in the course and the instructor
• original musical composition, sculpture, theatrical script, or other work of art
• additional laboratory experiments or mathematical problems, followed by written report
• research paper (usually 8–12 pages) based on interviews or library resources on a topic related to the course
• review of work of a foreign-language author (written in that language)
• mandatory participation in an otherwise optional class field trip, followed by a written field trip report
• completing a sequence of on line laboratory exercises, followed by a written summary report
• attending several departmental seminars, followed by written summaries and focused discussion sessions with other Honors students in the course and the instructor

Process

To initiate an honors contract:

• The student will submit the form requesting Honors Credit by Contract at the beginning of the semester.
• The student and the instructor for the course must agree to the terms of the contract, and obtain approval from the chair of the department in which the course is offered.

The deadline for submitting the approved honors contract form to the Honors College office is the end of the third week of the fall or spring semester (or the end of the first week of a summer session). The deadline for completing honors contract work is the end of the semester or summer session in which the course is taken. The only circumstance in which an “incomplete” contract is permitted if the student receives a grade of “I” in the course. (The contract then must be completed at or before the time the professor removes the “I” grade.)

For instructors-Grading:

Grades for the course are submitted as usual through Workday.

• If the student has earned a B or higher and has completed the requirements in the contract you signed at the beginning of the semester, enter the grade as usual.  The student will be assigned Honors course credit.
• If the student has earned a B- or lower and has completed the requirements in the contract you signed at the beginning of the semester, enter the grade in as normal. However, please note that the student will not be assigned Honors credit since all Honors coursework must be completed with a grade of B or higher.
• If the student has not completed the requirements in the contract you signed at the beginning of the semester, regardless of the course grade, please assign the grade in Peoplesoft as usual. However, send the WHC an email in such cases so that the “Honors” tag for that course can be removed since the student did not complete the Honors work.