Forum, the Honors College Mission Course
Creativity is central to the students' Forum concept, which is to identify, research, and propose a social impact concept to address a complex problem in a community.
Students create new social impact concepts based on a "bottom-up," human-centered approach, and in the process they employ system thinking to tackle complex problems.
Each team in the Forum is composed of students from varied majors who are required to produce a social impact concept.
Students engage in diverse interdisciplinary teams to share perspectives and learn from each other as they learn about the world.
Forum students tackle global problems with social impact concepts in a local context, enabling them to learn globally oriented logical reasoning and fine-tune their communication skills through writing and presenting.
The Honors College Forum is a truly interdisciplinary mission course focused on tackling global issues through social impact while teaching students how to transform their ideas into action. Through the Forum, students develop traits and non-cognitive skills—such as critical thinking, problem solving, social interaction, persistence, creativity, introspection, and more—that will help them contribute meaningfully to society and succeed in life.
During the Forum, students engage in critical discussions through plenary sessions with distinguished guest speakers and in small workshop sections organized around interdisciplinary project-based teams, each working for an entire semester to develop and present a detailed plan for a change-making product, service, or initiative. Students are required to take the Honors College Forum in their first year in either their first or second semester.
Past Forum Speakers
The Forum invites distinguished change-makers from Rutgers and around the world to focus on key topics within the syllabus. Each speaker’s presentation is integrated into the work the students are doing in individual sections and outside the classroom.
Recent Forum Winners
Innovation Lab
The Forum teams committed to implementing their projects may be considered for the more advanced Honors College Innovation Lab, where they receive support and resources toward the development, refinement, and launching of a social impact enterprise.
FAQs
Beyond the Forum
Through interdisciplinary, project-based learning, the Forum strengthens critical skills, helping Honors College students to apply what they've learned in the Forum within new settings and ultimately become global citizens and exceptional leaders.
Contact Us
For any Forum related questions, please contact: