Honors Program Components
The AUHP consists of a 22-credit hour package of courses and academic activities. The table below captures a timeline for several components of the program, including the first-semester orientation (Part 1) as well as the four credit-bearing components (Parts 2 – 5). In addition, the AUHP also includes a colloquium attendance (Part 6) and service (Part 7) component. All seven components are briefly described below the table.
| Freshman | Sophomore | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall: First Sem.Orientation HP core course (3) | Fall: HP core course (3) | Fall: Honors credits* | Fall: Honors credits* |
| Spring: HP core course (3) | Spring: HP core course (3) | Spring: Honors credits* | Spring: Honors credits* |
| Total: 6 credits | Total: 6 credits | Total: 1 – 11 credits | Total: 1 – 11 credits |
| *Credits come from an additional HP core course, an upgraded “honors” version of a course within a HP student’s major area of study, a research project/creative product course, and a study abroad experience. | |||
1. First-Semester Orientation Program
A First-Semester Orientation Program will serve as a community-building mechanism, as well as an introduction to the particular features of the AUHP, the liberal-arts mission of the institution, and to various faculty who will be involved in the program. This orientation program consists of four mandatory meetings during the fall semester of students’ freshman year.
2. Honors Program Core Courses (12 – 15 credits)
During each of the first four semesters of AUHP participation, students will enroll in one AUHP core course for a minimum of 12 hours of coursework. These courses will be designed intentionally to focus on the program theme, Studies in Virtue and Human Value, and the ethical implications that follow. Courses may be team-taught and interdisciplinary. They will substitute for various required foundational courses according to the content. The AUHP core courses will reflect the breadth of student learning outcomes, as are reflected in the Asbury University Foundations curriculum. AUHP students will have at least three honors program core classes to choose from each semester. While four AUHP core courses are required, AUHP students may opt to take a fifth core course if desired, given availability.
Several features of the HP core courses:
- HP core courses may be team-taught and interdisciplinary
- HP core courses embrace classroom discussion
- HP core courses feature significant writing exercises with integrative essays and guided research papers
3. Honors Program Upgraded Courses within Major (3 – 6 credits)
Beyond the 12 credits of required courses outlined in Part 2, each Honors Program student will complete 3 – 6 required hours of academic work via a custom-tailored combination of credits within their chosen area of study. An honors student, in consultation with their major advisor, will enroll in an existing 3-credit course within their major but will take it as “honors.” “Honors” means the HP student and professor have agreed to a reasonable additional expectation for the course – reflecting an elevated version of the experience. The HP designation for a course must result in at least one additional product or experience to be generated or had by the student. However, the upgraded version of the course should still be considered a 3-credit experience. Department chairs will decide if proposed amendments to a course will satisfy as being considered an “honors” version of the course. Some examples might be an additional paper addressing a challenging concept or theoretical perspective in an upper-level psychology or literature elective, or an added analysis or more complex analysis of data for a science course, culminating in either an additional written product and/or a class presentation addressing this additional work.
4. Summative Experience (1 credit)
HP students will complete at least 1 credit hour associated with an undergraduate research project or the generation of a creative product. In either case, it will be expected that the resulting artifact will be submitted to the SEARCH competition. This course will take the form of a 1 credit Independent Study.
5. Academic Travel Abroad Experience (3 credits)
HP students are expected to take part in a 3 credit academic study abroad travel experience.
The experience can be selected from a variety of approved study-abroad student trips, typically one led by AU faculty. Some possibilities include a study abroad semester in Paris or China, or shorter experiences like a two-week trip to retrace the Apostle Paul’s steps, a Holocaust-studies tour, or a Spanish history tour. However, students can also fulfill this requirement by participating in a CCCU sponsored program, such as the Oxford Studies Program, or the Middle East Studies Program. A semester abroad experience would likely take place after the student’s freshman year, and Honors Program staff will work closely with students to choose a study-abroad option that best fit their personal or curricular interests.
This trip can serve as the student’s cross-cultural experience requirement.
6. Colloquium Speaker Series
The HP Colloquium series will connect HP students (as well as the broader Asbury community) to important national conversations taking place about matters of social, cultural, economic, scientific, and religious importance. HP students will attend a minimum of eight external speaker series lectures or presentations on- or off-campus while at Asbury (no more than two speaker events can be from off-campus venues). These events must be sponsored by the AUHP itself, or approved by the AUHP as acceptable events. (Those sponsored by the AUHP will often have a corresponding event reserved for only AUHP students to facilitate extended interaction with the visiting guest speaker.) AUHP students will work with the AUHP staff to track their attendance at these events.
7. Service Experience
Honors Program students will contribute a minimum of eighty hours of service over four years. Students may choose from a variety of service opportunities both on- and off-campus. Hours are served during regular in-session semesters. Upon completion of the service requirement, students will compose a reflection of their personal philosophy of service as it relates to the program’s theme Studies in Virtue and Human Value and design a resume’ of service experience. Ideally, on-campus service is academic in nature through tutoring in the Center for Academic Success or supporting events such as the Honors Program Colloquium Speaker Series and the annual SEARCH symposium competition. Other Asbury community leadership roles may apply. A wide-range of off-campus service opportunities are available and are pre-approved by the program directors.