honors program

 

UWRF Honors Program

The UWRF Honors Program is designed to meet the educational needs of students who have an outstanding record of academic achievement and a true sense of intellectual adventure. It allows students to experience a variety of course types and educationally related experiences while gaining academic credit. Students enrolled in the program have available Honors sections of many general education classes, take introductory and advanced Honors seminars, participate in Honors colloquia, complete an Honors thesis/project, enroll in service learning experience for credit and receive credits for participation in the intellectual and creative life of the UWRF community and elsewhere. All of these experiences are gained while still keeping within the major and minor requirements of an Honors student's academic program.

Eligibility/Program Requirements

Incoming freshmen must have a composite ACT score of 27 or higher and/or have graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.

Sophomores, juniors, or seniors can enroll if their cumulative GPA is 3.3 or higher.

Students must maintain a 3.3 cumulative GPA and complete at least two Honors program credits per year.

The program consists of 18 Honors program credits, all possible to accumulate within the 120 minimum credits necessary to graduate.

My Honors Program Experiences

I became a member of the Honors Program second semester of my freshman year. I have completed many of the requirements already and will finish them this semester and next as I prepare for graduation in May 2003.

Honors Program Invitation Letter

 

Accelerated Freshman English

This is an accelerated course designed to allow students with highly developed writing skills to satisfy the Freshman English graduation requirement of six credits in one three-credit course. Students who successfully complete this course do not have to take an additional three credits of Freshman English. Prerequisites: Top 10% of placement rankings based on the ACT English subtest and the EPT. Three credits.

Arts & Ideas

This course is designed as an integrated study of the history and literature, as well as art, music, philosophy, and drama of classical Greece, imperial Rome, Early Christian Europe, the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance in Italy, the Reformation and the Northern Renaissance. Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or above, cumulative GPA or 3.0 or higher and completion of Freshman English. Four credits.

Honors Seminar I - Irish Literature & Politics

This course included an orientation to the Honors Program and focused on the literature and politics of Ireland in relation to the world. One Credit.

Honors Events

This course is meant to encourage honors participants to engage in the intellectual and creative life of the university community and elsewhere. One credit per five events.

My Honors Events focus was in examining various multicultural events on campus and throughout the community. The events I chose to attend include an international movie, The Color of Paradise, a lecture about communist and post-communist art, a Celtic folk music concert, Gaelic Storm, a campus/community multicultural event, Unity in the Community, and an international food bazaar.

Service Learning Experience

Service Learning, in this context, means unpaid service work that will benefit the community and provide a significant learning experience. Service Learning is based on the rationale that the learning occurs through reflection on the service. One credit per 45 hours of service.

During the summer of 2002, I spent some free time being a "student advisor" during Freshman Orientation on campus. I helped the faculty of the Marketing Communications and Journalism departments assist incoming freshmen with class schedule registration. I offered a unique perspective to new students as a student experienced with the two departments, the university and the registration procedure.