Honor Roll of Honors Faculty | Goals & Objectives of Honors Courses

Goals & Objectives of Honors Courses

I. Mission of Honors College
The mission of the Honors College is to promote academic and intellectual excellence at the University of North Texas. The Honors College serves talented and highly motivated students who are seeking an opportunity to build an intellectual and academic framework sufficient for graduate school, a successful career, and lifelong learning. Through its support of the Honors College, the University of North Texas assists students in the pursuit of excellence. In turn, the Honors College enhances the academic reputation of the University of North Texas, helping the institution attract and retain excellent students. Through this process, the stature of the university is enhanced and the value of all UNT degrees is increased.

II. Goals of Honors College Courses

Honors Courses will:

• embrace and promote the goal of becoming an educated person, with the appropriate skills necessary for pursuing this goal;
• emphasize academic excellence;
• assist students in building an intellectual framework that will prepare them for graduate study, a career, and a lifetime of learning;
• provide opportunities for students to explore ideas and make conceptual linkages across disciplinary boundaries;
• encourage students to explore concepts and values of community, including a cosmopolitan worldview;
• give students the opportunity to engage the best faculty in small classes that emphasize excellence in a supportive learning environment; and
• encourage faculty members to develop and try innovative approaches to course content and teaching.

III. Objectives for Honors Courses
Although important objectives apply to all courses at the university level, especially those within the core curriculum, Honors courses should be designed for the pursuit of additional objectives. We hope that every Honors instructor will include some of these objectives in the syllabus for his/her course.

Honors courses will

• emphasize development of analytical and evaluative skills through readings from primary sources, journal articles, and other supplementary materials;
• encourage students to engage in high level thinking and learning through activities such as intensive discussion; writing in small, collaborative learning settings; and intensive research papers and projects;
• promote independent thinking by making students accountable for important aspects of their learning;
• place material in a conceptual context that illustrates its importance and relationship to other knowledge;
• provide enhanced opportunities for students to develop research skills and produce independent, original research or creative products as part of the course requirements; and
• include innovative approaches to course content and teaching, so that honors courses can serve as campus-wide prototypes.

The following list is an honor roll of faculty members who have taught an Honors course, mentored an Honors student in preparation of a thesis, or served on the Honors Executive Committee. Please let us know additional names that should be placed on the list.