2017 College of Ag Honors Welcome Event

Teaching for Honors

Teaching for the University Honors Program

Compensation

UHP Courses may be taught either onload (within your teaching load) or on overload with approval of each faculty member's Department Chair.

  • Teaching Onload
    • Faculty may teach their UHP course as part of their regular teaching load
    • The faculty's department receives a $13,500 course buyout to hire a replacement lecturer
    • Faculty are “held harmless” for student credit hour difference
    • Requires approval of department chair and dean
  • Teaching Overload
  • Teaching a 1unit Socratic Seminar 
    • Does not impact base teaching load
    • Instructor receives $2,500 in Academic Enrichment Funds
    • Requires Honors Director approval, draft syllabus and course description required
    • Topics can range from content related to the faculty members research to current trends in their academic field to career development 
    • The primary goals of this course should be to: 
      • develop critical thinking skills
      • practice engaging in discussion
      • engage curiosity
      • cultivate intellectual humility 
    • Similar model to First-Year Seminars (FYS) 
  • Teaching an Honors Discussion Section 
    • Does not impact base teaching load
    • Instructor receives $2,500 in Academic Enrichment Funds
    • Instructor teaches a discussion/lab section in their general enrollment course in which enrollment is reserved for Honors Program students   
Offering a UHP course

The goal of an honors course is to provide students with special, small courses that provide greater access to faculty and a closer encounter with the course material. The content of the UHP course should remain generally within the declared course title, but we encourage the instructors to innovate and alter the curriculum to go into greater depth on the subject.

These courses cannot be graded on a standard curve, and we encourage the instructors to experiment with a variety of forms of assessment. All Honors students are highly motivated and dedicated students, and it would be counterproductive for them to be competing directly against each other for just one or two A’s in each class.

  • Any course that fulfills GE or major requirements can be offered as a UHP course
  • Courses are 3, 4, or 5 units
  • UHP courses are capped at 25 students
    • Note that Honors versions of courses that are typically high-enrollment (e.g., BIS 2A, ENG 17) have higher caps, specific to each course
  • Courses are available only to UHP students
  • UHP staff works with departmental staff to create and schedule the course
Benefits of teaching a UHP course
  • Ability to design an innovative and interactive curriculum. See the UHP course listing for examples.
  • Small, interactive courses facilitate dialog and discussion. In the past, many instructors have taken advantage of the small class size to employ teaching techniques that they would not otherwise have been able to try.
  • High achieving and high potential students
Prospective Faculty are encouraged to