Honors Courses & Faculty

Sara and Harjeet’s Honors Contract Experience with Dr. Janowitz

The Honors Contract course option allows students to personalize their Honors learning experience by developing a final project where they can dive deeper into a topic they are passionate about. 

Fourth year students Sara Clarkson and Harjeet Mann both created Honors Contracts with Dr. Naomi Janowitz, Professor of Religious Studies, after taking her Honors class RST 110: Life, Meaning, and Identity. We interviewed them to learn more about their projects and experience working on an Honors Contract with Dr. Janowitz.

UHP says Goodbye to Dr. Furlow

At the end of September 2021, Dave Furlow, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior stepped down as the Director of the University Honors Program, Director of the First Year Seminars program, and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education.

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A Fond Farewell to Dr. Eddy Ruiz

Dr. Eddy Ruiz, UHP’s Associate Director, has been an essential part of this program for our students, staff, faculty, and overall UC Davis community.

In early 2016, Dr. Ruiz joined UC Davis as the inaugural Associate Director of both the newly created University Honors Program and a rapidly expanding First Year Seminars Program. Dr. Ruiz has been a tremendous partner in all aspects related to the long-term vision, daily operations, growth, and overall success of UHP and FYS.

SHAPE Brings Together Science and Art in Classroom and on Stage

The University Honors Program is excited to be partnering with the Science, Humanities and Arts: Process and Engagement (SHAPE) program to offer a very special course in Fall 2020! The course is titled Transforming Exclusion to Expression: Gender and Race in Climate Science and is co-taught by Professors Margaret Kemp and Dawn Sumner.

Putting People First: Facilitating Community in a Remote Learning Environment

By Eric Thai '20

The novel COVID-19 virus has disrupted the functioning of everyday operations worldwide. However, for higher education institutions like the University of California, Davis, the learning continues. While many professors face the challenge of rapidly learning new technologies to adapt to a remote learning experience, Dr. Cristina Moya, an Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and a first-time UHP instructor for Human Evolutionary Biology course, was prepared.

The Beta Lab: A Maker Space for Educational Games

By Danielle Baza '21

Up the stairs of the South Silo, tucked away in the Craft Center, lies the Textiles studio. A seemingly unusual spot for a class, the Craft Center is teeming with creativity and eccentric ideas and, as it turns out, is just the right spot for a course that thrives on unconventionalism: UC Davis’s Beta Lab.

One Last Advising Appointment: Thank you Heidi!

Heidi Van Beek, UHP's Assistant Director and Year 3 and 4 advisor, has been an integral part of this program since 2015 for our students, the programming, and overall UHP community.

First joining in May 2015, Heidi entered the new position of Assistant Director to act as an advocate for students in the program. She mainly worked with Year 3 and 4 students, including honors transfer students, helping these students to find a home at UC Davis and to make the most of their time here. 

UC Davis Receives Mellon Grant to Integrate the Arts, Humanities and Science in New Courses through Partnership with the University Honors Program and First-Year Seminars

UC Davis has been awarded a $600,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to offer new undergraduate courses that integrate the arts, humanities and science.

The new SHAPE program – Science, Humanities and Arts: Process and Engagement – will offer interdisciplinary courses co-taught by faculty from the arts, humanities and science, and the curriculum will be augmented with the work of visiting performance artists.

Experiencing the Drama of Politics, Culture, and Self Through Theatre

With lessons on shuffling chairs, performing Colombian hypnosis, and creating a human tableau, UHP's Theatre, Performance, and Culture class exemplifies 50 years of interactive, interdisciplinary, experience-based learning.

Drama 1 professor Larry Bogad highlighted the work of Augusto Boal, an influential Brazilian theater practitioner and political activist, specifically his books, Games for Actors and Non-Actors and Theatre of the Oppressed.

UHP's Human Sexuality Class Helps Local Foster Youth

By Shelbie Condie

Dr. Leah Hibel, associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies, created a special project last fall. In her Human Sexuality honors course, first and second- year students developed a sexual education curriculum for regional foster youth. This project was materialized when a request was sent by Foster and Kinship Care Education, a local program that serves those who want to become foster parents in Yolo County.