Honors Course Development

To teach an Honors course, professors must first apply to become members of the Honors faculty. This may be done prior to submitting materials for a new Honors course or section, or may be done simultaneously.

Honors classes aim to combine the University’s best teachers with high-ability and high-achieving students who want to get the most out of their education and who are especially likely to be planning to attend graduate or professional schools. The aim is not to make courses more difficult but to make them more challenging and engaging. It is not unusual for such classes to contain less “busy work” but more challenging assignments; such classes are more likely to have essay tests than multiple-choice tests; they almost always focus more on theoretical issues and outside scholarship than rote memorization. Because Honors classes are smaller, they are almost always more interactive and involve more significant classroom discussions.

For more information, or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Philip Phillips, Associate Dean, at Philip.Phillips@mtsu.edu or 615-898-2699.

New Honors Section of an Existing Course

Suppose a professor wants to propose a new Honors section of an existing course. In that case, that professor must submit a current syllabus and a proposed syllabus for the Honors class indicating the Honors component(s). This might involve special class presentations, a greater focus on lab work, fieldwork, other “hands-on” learning forms, or more detailed and meaningful research or writing projects. The Honors Council will not approve a class for Honors credit simply because the class will have a longer paper or unspecified additional work. The appropriate paperwork in the proper format must accompany the syllabus.

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Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar is a special topics course currently offered in two different courses: UH 3500 and UH 4600. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course introduces students to the political, social, economic, scientific, artistic, and/or humanistic aspects of culture. Reading materials are drawn from literature, history, philosophy, science, art, and/or other areas relevant to the semester topic. See the class schedule for the current semester’s topics. Students may take either course more than one time as issues change. Topics may be repeated if the faculty can teach the subject again in a future semester.

To propose a new topic, please use the form below. You will be asked to submit a course description, a syllabus, and a letter of support from your department chair to teach this class in a future semester. In addition to the syllabus, you will be asked to briefly justify the course in terms of its distinctiveness and interdisciplinary scope.

All topic proposals are reviewed by the Honors Council before final approval is given. 

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