For Faculty

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 Honors Programs sponsors Honors Curriculum Development Grants, which are available on a competitive basis to individual faculty members as well as departmental and college teams.

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 Honors Programs Advisory Committee has established specific requirements 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. Most students who are progressing towards graduation with an Honors Distinction express difficulty in finding a scheduled upper-division Honors course. Departments who enjoy a relatively large proportion of Honors students are especially encouraged to develop upper-division Honors course offerings for their majors.

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 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 Dr. Dave Louis, Associate Director for Honors Programs.

Proposals for Honors Curriculum Development Grants should be submitted to the Honors Programs Advisory Committee, c/o Honors Programs, by October 31. Awards will be announced in November.

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For Faculty

Enhancing Undergraduate Education

Funding Priorities

Proposal Guidelines