Honors Experiences

Honors Experiences include undergraduate research, education abroad, experiential learning, and service learning opportunities.  Honors Experiences provide unique ways for Honors students to expand their horizons by conducting academic research, learning from professionals in their field, working with community service agencies, or by immersing themselves in other cultures around the world.  Six credit hours of Honors Experience credit is required, and many majors have required or optional courses that can count. Honors Experience credits can also be used to fulfill the Honors Elective requirement. Use this document to help guide your decision-making process for experiential education. 

Please consult the list of Pre-Approved Experience Courses to see options in your major. The Lewis Honors College offers the following credit-bearing Honors Experience options:

• HON 395: Honors Research and Creativity. Independent research or creative projects supervised by a faculty member in the field. Work must result in a report or publication evaluated by the supervising faculty member.  A completed/signed HON 395 Research Proposal form is required and must be submitted to Honors within the first week of the semester.  Please follow the HON 395 approval process.
• HON 352: Study and Travel Abroad. An experiential, travel-abroad course that requires pre-travel class preparation followed by travel abroad that will provide students with multi-cultural exposure, leadership, and a new frame of reference for understanding the world and their role in it. Please note that all education abroad credits can be used to fulfill the Honors Experience requirement.
• HON 393: Honors Leadership and Service. This course is designed to assist students in developing the tools they need to be successful in their student leadership positions in the Lewis Honors College, such as peer mentors and the Honors College Ambassador Team (HCAT). Peer mentors and HCAT members are selected via an application process. For more information about peer mentors, please email Kondwani Phwandaphwanda. For more information about HCATs, email Erin Newell. 
• HON 394: Honors Service Learning. A service-learning course focused on critical problem solving, project management skills, shared team collaboration and assessments. Students obtain a clearer understanding of complex organizations like nonprofits, consider the value and role of service to others and putting others before self, and cultivate a greater appreciation for service in their future careers. These courses are listed in the Honors Course Descriptions for each semester. To participate, register for the desired section like a regular course.
• HON 399: Honors Service Learning and Community Engagement. An Independent Study course wherein students partner with a faculty member or Honors staff to work on completion of a service- or community-based learning experience in the field that meets specified goals. For student-proposed HON 399 projects, please follow the HON 399 approval process.
• HON 386: Internship Experience, 0 credits. This course is offered to allow students to receive a transcript notation for a significant summer internship experience, counting toward 3 of the 6 required Honors experience credit hours. An internship includes significant mentoring from the employer that complements the student’s studies. The internships that qualify for HON 386 must be full-time (30 hours/week or more; minimum of 200 hours total) in order for a student to fulfill 3 credits of Honors experiential education expectations. Unpaid internships will only be approved for internships with a non-profit.  HON 386 cannot be used in conjunction with an Education Abroad program. Interested students should submit a HON 386 Proposal, which requires a position description prior to June 15 to Dr. Ryan Voogt. At the end of the summer, students must submit an HON 386 Final Report, which includes a verification from the employer regarding the student’s participation in the internship to pass the course. This form must be submitted prior to the first day of fall semester classes. 
• Honors EXP 396/397: Experiential Education. This course provides credit for those in on or off-campus experiences over the fall, spring, and summer. Experiences might include work experiences, part-time internships, full-time internships, education abroad internships, REUs, etc.). Please contact Aryn Wright for enrollment. Next Steps for Honors EXP 396/397.