Most approvals to offer an Honors version of an existing course, keeping the same course number, happen at the departmental level. Sometimes this simply requires department head approval, while other times it may require a faculty vote. Talk to your department head or undergraduate program director to find out how Honors is handled in your area.

If you are proposing a course that will need its own course number, you should follow the procedures for other new courses in your department, including approvals from your school or college C&C, GEOC, and/or the Senate. The curricula action request form used by GEOC and the Senate C&C will ask whether the course as a whole, or any sections of the course, will be taught as Honors.

In a Spring 2016 agreement among the Honors Board, the General Education Oversight Committee (GEOC), and the University Senate’s Curricula and Courses Committee (Senate C&C), all three groups affirmed that:

• Membership in the Honors Program may serve as a pre-requisite for enrollment in Honors classes, including those that hold general education designations. This pre-requisite is implemented through the Honors reserve cap.
• Instructors of Honors courses may issue permission numbers to otherwise qualified students who are not currently in the Honors Program.
• Departments may offer Honors versions of any course, including those with general education designations, at any time.
• Departments should not replace a general education course with an Honors version of the same course. The non-Honors version should be taught at least as often as the Honors version.

With the exception of UNIV courses, the Honors Program does not schedule Honors courses, instructors, or rooms. Departments should include Honors courses in their normal scheduling procedures by specifying the Honors grading basis and Honors reserve cap for each one.

The Honors grading basis ensures that all students who earn a B- or better in the course receive Honors credit on their transcripts.

The Honors reserve cap limits registration to students currently enrolled in the Honors Program or those with instructor permission. Usually Honors classes will have 100% Honors reserve capacity, but some individual circumstances may warrant splitting the reserve capacity or leaving some seats unreserved.

In addition to the standard department, school, and university approvals, Honors Core courses must be approved by the Honors Board. If you would like to propose a new course for the Honors Core, please contact Jaclyn Chancey. She will be happy to consult with you about the requirements for these courses and coach you through the approval process.