2006-2007 Honors Curriculum Development Grants

 

Enhancing Undergraduate Education

In our continued effort to increase the number and variety of Honors courses to meet growing demand and to encourage innovative teaching in Honors classrooms, the University Honors Program is again sponsoring Honors Curriculum Development Grants. The grants are available on a competitive basis to individual faculty members as well as departmental and college teams. While the grants awarded will be available for use at the beginning of the summer session, we have no expectation that the newly developed or refined courses be offered in the fall semester. In fact, we are looking for proposals with long-term impact upon the Honors curriculum. We would hope to see new or revised Honors courses made available to students by spring or fall 2006.

Funding Priorities

In reviewing grant proposals, the following priorities for Honors curriculum development will be used:

•  First, considerable interest has been expressed in making interdisciplinary courses available to Honors students. Such courses are often the centerpieces of Honors curricula on other campuses. Interdisciplinary courses could span two related fields, involve the disciplines housed in an entire college, or even cut across academic colleges. They could well involve two or more instructors.

•  Second, academic units are encouraged to develop college or departmental Honors Sequences that would constitute a systemic Honors curriculum for their majors. The Mays Business School, the Look College of Engineering, and the College of Liberal Arts currently offer such Honors Sequences. Individual departments may also wish to create sequences of Honors courses within their own curricula. Currently, the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Mathematics, and Department of Psychology offer departmental Honors Sequences. Click here for a document that sets forth the provisions that the Honors Programs Advisory Committee has established for college and departmental Honors Sequences to be proposed, reviewed and included on official university transcripts.

•  Third, to help students of ability and promise benefit fully from the University Core Curriculum, the University Honors Program offers an Honors Sequence called “Foundation Honors.” To qualify for graduation with Foundation Honors, students complete one course required in each Core area (not including physical education), a total of 19 Honors hours. We are interested in developing as many Honors courses as possible that will apply to the Core Curriculum.

•  Fourth, there is a continuing student need for 300/400 level Honors courses. For example, more than a week prior to the first day of classes for the Fall Semester 2006, almost 1,000 students had enrolled in 300-400 level Honors courses. Others sought places and could not be accommodated: More than a dozen advanced Honors classes were full at that point and another dozen advanced Honors classes had 3 or fewer seats available.

In awarding curriculum development grants, the University Honors Program will pay special attention to those proposals that apply to one or more of the priority needs listed above.

Proposal Guidelines

Individual faculty members making proposals should limit their requests to $2,000 unless more than one course is involved. Larger grants can be made available to support departmental or collegiate initiatives. Grants may be used to provide summer salary support, to aid in the purchase of equipment used in Honors instruction, to fund travel related to course development and other appropriate expenses.

Proposals for 2006-2007 Honors Curriculum Development Grants should be submitted to the Honors Programs Advisory Committee, Office of Honors Programs and Academic Scholarships (101 Academic Building–4233 TAMU) by October 31, 2006. Awards will be announced in November. Proposals from individual faculty and proposals for funding to create or revise departmental Honors Sequences should be accompanied by an endorsement letter from the department head. Proposals for funding to create or revise college Honors Sequences should be accompanied by an endorsement letter from the college dean.

There is no special application form. Applications should be in memorandum style and identify the course(s) to which the grant would apply, describe the proposed development project, and include an itemized budget. For additional information, please contact Professor Kurt Ritter, Associate Director for Honors Programs by e-mail at kurt-ritter@tamu.edu or telephone him at 845-1957.