The Mission of the University Honors Program is to enrich the intellectual life of able and highly motivated undergraduate students, to create a community of students and faculty who love learning, and to celebrate the outstanding achievements of students. To accomplish these goals, the Honors Program provides opportunities and challenges that enhance students' education at UNCG.
Honors Courses
The Honors Program sponsors a variety of courses that meet University and departmental requirements. Most Honors courses are seminar in style and are small (20-22) students). All Honors courses foster discussion, collaboration, and mutual discovery among students and faculty. The range of Honors courses includes special sections of General Education courses that meet General Education Core requirements, interdisciplinary courses, seminars on special topics, tutorials (in which 1-5 students work with a professor on a topic), independent study (in which one student works on a project with a professor), and the Senior Honors Project (in which a student, under the guidance of a professor, produces a research project). The advanced Honors courses, such as the Senior Honors Project, allow students to do original and sophisticated work. They are an excellent preparation for graduate school, professional training, and other post-graduation endeavors.
Honors Events
The Honors Program holds numerous extracurricular events, such as picnics, lectures, field trips, discussions, plays, symposiums, community service projects, and special presentations. Honors students help create these events and participate actively in them.
Honors Advising
The directors of the Honors Program are available to advise students about how each of them can take advantage of the Honors Program and other rewarding opportunities at UNCG. The Program also provides guidance about postgraduate fellowships. These prestigious fellowships - the Fullbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, Mellow, Truman, and Udall - require early and diligent attention from students who aspire to win them. The Honors Program shepherds students through the application process.
Honors Awards
The Honors Program administers awards that recognize high achievement. At an Honors Convocation every spring, the Program bestows the Student Excellence Award, the University's highest undergraduate honor, on about 25 outstanding juniors and seniors. The Program also puts on an annual banquet to honor those students who, at the end of their undergraduate career, complete the Honors Program.
Honors Teachers
Teachers of Honors courses are among the best teachers in the University. They are deeply engaged with their disciplines and dedicated to helping students achieve their greatest potential.
Honors Abroad
UNCG's excellent exchange program with foreign universities allows students to study abroad for little more than the cost of attending UNCG. In collaboration with this program, the Honors Program has established a special arrangement with the University of Hull in England whereby during the spring semester up to ten Honors students live together in campus housing and take courses at Hull that meet UNCG's General Education requirements. In addition to these courses, students take an Honors enrichment course (HSS 310) that includes readings and meetings at UNCG during the fall semester, a week of activities in London in January, and cultural activities and discussion at Hull throughout the semester. Honors students may also take HSS 310 (see course description) at other foreign universities as well as at Hull.
