Honors in the Major CLAS Spring 2017

Why? UI Honors requires substantial course work, such as the following: All first year students must take the Honors FYS. Students must complete 12 s.h. of honors work by end of the 4th semester of UI enrollment. Students must complete 12 s.h. of “experiential learning,” which may include an honors in the major And students must maintain a UI cumulative GPA of 3.33. Not all students have are able to finish both UI Honors and Honors in the Major. Honors in the Major no longer requires membership in or graduation from UI Honors

After Summer 2017, UI Honors will no longer handle these administrative tasks related to Honors in the Major. Approving Honors Contracts Notifying the Registrar of completion of Honors Contract Notifying the Registrar of completion of Honors in the Major Honors will continue to accept Honors in the Major work for the 12 s.h. of experiential coursework for UI Honors and will handle related paperwork. It will also house related theses used for both Honors Programs. During the Spring 2017 semester, UI Honors will continue to facilitate all processes for Honors in the Major.

Honors standards in CLAS remain unchanged GPA for Honors in the Major Departments and programs will continue to set the requirements and the GPA standard for earning honors in the major, with the expectation that this GPA will remain at or above the UI GPA of 3.33, the traditional standard for honors in the major over the last decade. Honors Contract Courses Students may continue to request that non-honors courses be “contracted” as honors courses in order for the student to earn honors credit by doing additional honors-level work in the “contracted” course. Departments will continue to decide if Honors contract courses may be applied to Honors in the Major. If not applied to the major, students may still request Honors Contract courses to enrich their own learning.   Honors standards in CLAS remain unchanged

Contract Courses: Rules for Students are Unchanged There needs to be a clear distinction between honors contract work and the work required for the course. A student may not contract a class that is graded pass/fail (S/U is allowed). Off-cycle courses may not be contracted. The student may not contract a class that already offers an honors section unless the student has a scheduling conflict. The instructor has the right to decline the request to contact a course for honors credit. The Honors Contract Form must be submitted for the student to earn honors credit. The student must earn a B- or better in the class overall.

Information for Students Steps for Students Requesting a Contract Course will Remain Similar to the Current Process Approach your instructor and ask if they'd be willing to do an honors contract with you. Discuss and agree on your project proposal and timeline for completion. Fill out the form while you are discussing the project with your instructor. The instructor can review and approve the form while you are there. BUT the form is now electronic. Find the form on MyUI (you can find the form under Student Information > Courses & Grades). Students must have a UI Cum GPA of 3.30 to access the form. Information for Students

The online form for Honors Contract course work may be found here on the student’s MyUI page. The student must log-in before using the form.

Honors Contract Form. Student must be logged in for the form to function properly.

Once the student is logged in and opens the form, the form will add the student’s name and UI ID number automatically. If the student is a member of the UI Honors Program, the form will be routed directly to UI Honors after going to the primary instructor of the course for approval of the contract. The instructor and student may want to complete the form together. How does the form work?

If the student is not a member of UI Honors, the student will be asked to choose the major from a pull-down menu to which the Honors contract is relevant. Only the majors that the student has declared will appear as choices on the menu. This choice of major is important since it routes the workflow form for final approval to the Honors advisor/coordinator of that major. We recommend that instructors and students work on the form together since an error in choosing the correct major will route the form to a different department for approval.

The form is only available for use during the semester for which the student is enrolled in the course to be used. Honors contracts are due the last business day of the month following the start of the semester. Advisors and instructors may find an “eternally open form” here: https://apps.its.uiowa.edu/forms/honors. Tell Kathryn Hall if fails to function. The form is “smart” and will only be available for students with a minimum UI GPA of 3.30 or with first-semester status as a transfer student and thus lacking a UI GPA. How does the form work?

The student will next select the specific course to be used for the Honors contract from a pull-down menu on the form. This menu will only show the student’s current courses, thus narrowing the student’s choices. The student submits the form which will go to the primary instructor of the course chosen. The instructor should review the form and then approve it if appropriate.

The form is next sent to the Honors advisor/coordinator of the department in which the student is earning Honors in the Major or to UI Honors is the students is a member of UI Honors. Departments will set up the workflow path so the form reaches the right person. Otherwise, it will default to the DEO delegate as now set up. If acceptable, the form should be approved.

Transcript Notation of H vs HC Students who are members of the University Honors Program who successfully compete an honors contract will see the course designated as "H" on their grade report. Students who are not members of the University Honors Program who successfully complete an honors contract will see the course designated as "HC" on their grade report. Transcript Notation of H vs HC

Completion of Honors Contract Project and Addition of HC on Transcript Once the project portion of the course for the contract is reported as completed by the instructor, the system will automatically check for the B- grade. If the B- grade is earned, the honors credit will be added automatically to the student’s transcript using the notation of HC to signify Honors credit earned through a contract. Completion of Honors Contract Project and Addition of HC on Transcript