Honors education is expected to be challenging in substance, communication skills, and thinking skills. In addition, honors education is interactive, building intellectual relationships between faculty and students. Honors course experiences at ASU take several forms.







In essence, there are three different ways to take honors courses:

1) HON prefix courses are offered at the lower division (100 and 200) level and at the upper division (300 and 400) level. HON courses have a maximum enrollment of 19 students, are conducted in seminar format, are interdisciplinary in content and approach, and have a significant writing component. These courses are taught primarily by the faculty in Barrett Honors College, but each semester some HON courses are taught by disciplinary faculty.

2) Honors-only courses carry the prefix of the department offering the course. They are designed to challenge students in a small class format and develop in two ways:

a) breakout sections of large lecture courses and
b) stand alone seminars.

Both forms are limited to Honors students (although in exceptional cases outstanding non-Honors students can be added with permission of the professor). Honors-only sections and seminars must be taught by regular faculty, not by graduate students or temporary hires. In addition, they must:

~ have no more than 25 students
~ engage students in discussion
~ offer a challenging curriculum
~ include a significant writing component appropriate to the discipline.

3) Honors Contracts are not separate courses. They are individual contracts made between the professor teaching a course and an honors college student in the course. They are intended to build relationships between students and faculty, as well as to challenge and engage honors students beyond the requirements of the course. Honors Contracts are the most varied of the honors experiences at ASU. They should involve discussions between the faculty and student outside of the normal class period and often involve supplemental reading, writing, or speaking assignments that build communication skills and knowledge in the subject area. For more information on Honors Contracts including how to establish one, click here

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