Honors Program

https://www.ashland.edu/honors-program

Professional Staff

Jeffrey D. Weidenhamer, Director, Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Rebecca Schaaf, Coordinator

Mission Statement

The mission of the Honors Program is to offer academically talented undergraduate students cross-disciplinary experiences, participation in an intellectual community devoted to discussion and dialogue, and special projects and courses that challenge the mind. The cornerstone of the Honors Program is the belief that intellectual stimulation and camaraderie among Honors students give them a more complete college experience.

To satisfy this mission, Honors freshmen enroll in the First Year Honors Seminar during the fall semester, in which they are introduced to the Honors Program and Ashland University while learning how to think critically and communicate clearly, thereby helping with their transition from high school to college. Honors students also have the opportunity to enroll in Honors sections of the Core Curriculum, capped at 20-22 students per section and taught by some of the best professors at Ashland University. The Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar develops the Honors students' critical thinking and communication skills, building their involvement with previous Honors courses and helping them prepare for the rigors of the Honors Capstone Project. The pinnacle of the Honors experience is the Honors Capstone Project during which a student works closely with a faculty mentor in his or her major for at least two semesters to develop an original composition or research project which is orally defended during the final semester of the project.

Requirements for Admission to the Honors Program

Entering first year students generally have a high school GPA of 3.6 or above. Test scores are not required for admission, but incoming students who submit test scores typically have an ACT of 27 or above or SAT (critical reading and math) of 1280 or above. First year students must complete an application form and are interviewed by the Director of the Honors Program.

Students who wish to participate in the Honors Program and do not meet the GPA or test score guidelines above are especially encouraged to request an interview. Students who are admitted to the Honors Program will receive notification typically within two weeks of completing their applications.

AU students and transfer students who wish to apply for admission to the Honors Program must have an overall university GPA of 3.5, complete an application form, provide a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and meet with the Honors Director for an interview. AU students and transfer students accepted into the Honors Program after the 1st semester of their freshmen year are not required to complete the First Year Honors Seminar.

Continuation/Graduation Requirements

To remain in the Honors Program, students must maintain an overall GPA at AU of at least 3.3 during their freshman year, 3.4 during their sophomore year, and 3.5 during their junior and senior years. If the GPA drops below this standard, the student will be placed on probationary status if he or she can meet the standard by the end of the academic year; otherwise, the student will be dismissed from the Honors Program. A student on probationary status who does not raise his or her cumulative GPA to meet the standard by the end of the academic year will be dismissed from the Honors Program. Students who are dismissed from the Honors Program may reapply to the Honors Program if they raise their overall GPA to a 3.5. Students must meet the 3.5 standard at the time of graduation.

It is recommended that an Honors student complete at least 1-2 Honors Core courses by the end of the first year in the Honors Program, 3 Honors Core courses by the end of the second year in the Honors Program, enroll in Honors 310 during the junior year, and work on the Honors Capstone Project during the senior year. Additionally, Honors students are required to attend 4 events each year–the Honors Retreat, the Fall Honors Lecture, the Spring Honors Lecture, and the Academic Honors Convocation.

Recognition and Achievement Award

The academic transcript of each Honors graduate bears an acknowledgment of work completed in the Honors Program. The Howard O. Rowe Faculty Honors Scholarship is awarded annually to the graduating student whose Honors Capstone Project is judged to be the best among his or her peers.

For more information, call or visit the Academic Honors Program office in 103 Clayton Hall (x5260), or visit the website.

Honors Curricular Information

Honors Capstone Project

The Honors Capstone Project officially begins in the Honors student's next to last semester, although it may start earlier if the student, faculty mentor, and Honors Director agree. The Honors Capstone Project is typically completed in two semesters as two sections of Independent Study 498 in the student's major, and thus the student must submit an Independent Study Request form through etrieve on the AU Portal prior to registration. For more information, see the Independent Study Program section of the catalog. A written prospectus is required of all Honors students by the conclusion of HON 310, and this prospectus (approved by the faculty mentor and the Honors Director) should serve as a guide to the Capstone Project. The Honors Capstone Project will typically be completed in the Honors student's final semester, will be reviewed and approved by the faculty mentor, Honors Director, and an additional faculty reviewer of an appropriate academic department, and will be publicly presented to the Ashland University community. The Honors Capstone Project Handbook distributed in HON 310 should be consulted for the appropriate deadlines.

Honors Elective

Honors students have five options for completing the Honors Elective: taking a 2nd HON 390, taking an Honors designated core course in a 5th area, completing two Honors Contract Courses, completing three HON 201: Honors Community Engagement Projects or completing an Honors Study Abroad experience. The latter three options are described in more detail below.

Honors Contract Course

To fulfill the Honors elective requirement, Honors students may add-on one credit to two upper level courses within his or her major by completing additional work beyond the normal requirements and expectations of the courses. The additional work should focus on inquiry, discovery, and critical thinking, important skills the student will need as he or she works on the Honors Capstone Project.

An Honors student wishing to enroll in an Honors Contract course must fill out a contract, in consultation with the course instructor describing in detail the additional work or project that will be tied to the academic content of the course. This contract available from the Honors Program Coordinator must be signed by the student and the course instructor, and should be submitted to the Honors Program Director when the student registers for classes. The contract must be submitted by no later than the end of the 1st week of classes.

The Honors portion of an Honors Contract course will be evaluated satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) by the course instructor. The course to which the Honors Contract is attached will be graded according to the course criteria.

Acknowledgment of Honors Contract courses will be indicated on the student's transcript.

Honors Community Engagement Projects

To fulfill the Honors elective through the community engagement option, an Honors student must complete three HON 201: Honors Community Engagement Projects, with each project involving at least 30 hours of community engagement and a 2-3 page reflection paper. The Honors student must fill out an Honors Community Engagement Contract for each project prior to the enrollment in HON 201 and the beginning of the project. This contract, available from the Honors Program Coordinator, will be reviewed by the Honors Advisory Committee. 

Honors Study Abroad Experience

An Honors student participating in a Study Abroad Experience with an academic component related to the Honors Program Mission Statement may submit a petition requesting a waiver of the Honors Elective. This petition, available from the Honors Program Coordinator, must be approved prior to the beginning of the Study Abroad Experience and will be reviewed by the Honors Advisory Committee. At the request of this committee, the Honors Program Director may require a student to complete additional work beyond the normal expectations of the Study Abroad Experience to waive the Honors Elective. Study Abroad Experiences connected directly to Ashland University courses will almost always require a student to complete additional work. The student must submit a Course Substitution and Waiver Form signed by his/her advisor and the Honors Program Director upon completion of the Study Abroad Experience to the Office of Record’s and Registration. No Honors Program academic credit will be awarded for this experience, although the student may receive academic credit from the university.

Honors Core Requirements

Honors core courses are offered in 8 areas of the core curriculum – math/logic, religion, communication, natural sciences, humanities, aesthetics, historical reasoning and social sciences.  Honors students are required to complete Honors core courses in four different areas of the core.  Students who begin in the Honors Program having already completed 4 of these 8 core areas will only be required to complete Honors designated core courses in three different areas.  Students who begin in the Honors Program having already completed 6 of these 8 core  areas will only be required to complete Honors designated core courses in two different areas.  In both cases, completing an Honors designated core course in an additional area will satisfy the Honors Elective. Because these courses can substitute for the Core courses that all students are required to take, the Honors core course requirements should not add to the hours required of students to complete their degree.

Honors designated core courses will be capped at 20-22 students, with Honors students given first priority during registration. A non-Honors student may take an Honors designated core course if it is not fully enrolled and the student receives permission from the Director of the Honors Program in consultation with the instructor. An Honors course taken with the S/U option will not count towards fulfilling Honors Program curricular requirements (except for HON 310). Note that an Honors Core course taken with an S/U option will count towards completing a category of the Core curriculum, but it will not count as one of the required Honors designated Core courses. Honors students in good standing after their first year are able to take up to 21 credit hours per semester without additional fees.

*To complete the community engagement elective, students must sign up for HON 201 three times and complete three community engagement projects.

Courses and Descriptions

See HON Courses