+Honors Contract Courses

The ability to design and create your own academic honors experience comes to fruition through the +Honors Contract Course opportunity. You and a faculty member will work together to enhance and enrich your learning experience as you substantively alter or amend the syllabus of a non-honors course to reflect the goals of achieving an interdisciplinary outlook, a deeper understanding of a topic or skill, and the ability to self-direct your learning.

With prior approval, an Honors College student can opt to use the +Honors Contract Course option to partially complete the Honors College course and credit hour requirements. No student may enroll in more than TWO contract courses* and +Honors Contract Courses are only an option for you once you have completed a 3+ credit honors-designated course. 

The +Honors Contract Course option requires a student to enter into an agreement with a full-time faculty member (exceptions may be made, but only at the discretion of the Dean of the Honors College) to pursue a unique sequence of study that matches the intellectual integrity of all other Honors courses, and is requires rigorous learning. 

The plan of study must go substantially beyond the normal requirements of the course and must enrich the student’s academic experience. +Honors Contract Courses are not simply “read more, write more” or added work or problem sets. Rather it requires a creative and thoughtful approach to enriching existing assignments or enhancing the class with a distinctive project or set of assignments in scope, skill, effort, and expectations. 

And, because the course is now an honors-level course, it also requires that you and the professor meet at least four additional times (beyond the classroom setting) over the course of the semester.

Additional information and the +Honors Contract Course form can be found by clicking the link for the submission, below.

Contract Guidelines

1. All documentation for a +Honors Contract Course must be submitted and approved using the link above no later than the end of add/drop at the beginning of each semester. No exceptions will be made. 
2. Undergraduate Course Option. (Prior approval to enroll in and use this option is required). 
   1. You must verify, using the schedule of classes that the course is not already being offered as an Honors course in the semester in which you plan to undertake a +Honors Contract.
   2. The course must not be asynchronous. It can be in-person or hybrid, but not fully online. Exceptions may be considered but only by advance permission.
   3. Please be prepared to provide all of the following:
      1. Course title, number (e.g. Barbecue and Soul Food 01:090:498)
      2. Course day(s) and time, semester 
      3. Professor Name, Department, and Title (e.g. Henry Rutgers, History, Assistant Professor)
   4. You must meet with the faculty member of the course (in-person or over Zoom, according to their preferences) prior to beginning of the semester to develop the plan of enriched and enhanced study.
   5. The faculty member, in consultation with the academic department, must agree that this option is viable.
   6. The student and professor must agree to the specifics of the work assigned and be able to meet outside of class time, a minimum of four times, to discuss the student’s level of progress using the +Honors Contract Course option.
3. Graduate Course Option. (Prior approval to enroll in and use this option is required). 
   1. You must meet with (in-person or via Zoom) or engage in an email correspondence with a departments Director of Undergraduate or Graduate Studies to verify that undergraduates are permitted to take the specific graduate course. 
   2. The faculty member, in consultation with the academic department, must agree that this option is viable.
   3. The student and professor must agree to meet outside of class, a minimum of four times, to discuss the student’s level of progress in a graduate setting. 
4. All +Honors Contract Courses (undergraduate and graduate) must include at least one component of public scholarship–-the presentation of the student's enriched outcomes either in class, at a University or Honors College poster presentation event, or through e-versions of webpages, blog posts, etc. This must be documented in the proposal for the +Honors Contract or in the syllabus for the course (that is uploaded).

Contract Prohibitions

1. Students cannot contract a course that already has an honors section attached to it.
2. The +Honors Contract Course option cannot be used for Honors College Capstone coursework.
3. You cannot take more than two +Honors Contract Courses in fulfillment of the College curricular requirements. [* This restriction does not apply to MGSA students at this time.]
4. Fully asynchronous courses cannot be used. Special exceptions may be granted by the Honors College.
5. +Honors Contract Courses are not open to students who have not yet completed a 3+ credit Honors course..

Faculty Guidelines

Undergraduate Option.

1. Faculty must agree to add substantive and meaningful adaptations or extensions of assignments that will enrich the entire semester-long course. 
2. A contract cannot consist of a single, additional end-of-term paper, or a similar self-directed assignment, nor should it be additional problem sets or simply "read more, cite more, write more" approaches. All contract work must be sustained, embedded, and enriched.
3. Faculty must agree to integrate the additional work into the grading and the course outcomes, so that the Honors work impacts the student's final performance. 
4. If there is an issue with the student’s success or engagement, the faculty member must contact either the student's advisor or the appointed deans of the Honors College: Assistant Dean Carolyn Johnson or Dean J.D. Bowers.
    

 Graduate Option

1. Faculty must agree to holding the student accountable to the graduate-level grading standards.
2. Fulfilling all the graduate-level coursework is all that is required.
3. If there is an issue with the student’s progress, the faculty member must contact either the student's advisor or the appointed deans of the Honors College: Assistant Dean Carolyn Johnson  or Dean J.D. Bowers.

Students, please submit the form below. You must attach a) the original course syllabus, and b) a detailed description of the adjusted coursework that you will undertake. The description must include all specific information about timelines, enriched or expanded reading lists, extended or expanded projects, additional areas of inquiry, specific dates for student-faculty meetings, and agreed upon deadlines.

All required materials must be submitted before the last day of the Add/Drop registration period; no late submissions will be accepted.

Formal and official approval will be communicated within one business week of that deadline.