Honors Course Additional Experience (HCAE) Case List

This Honors Course Additional Experience form should be used to submit a course-related experience that matches one of the following descriptions of additional work:

1. An Augmented Undergraduate Syllabus: The augmented syllabus is a written agreement between a student, a faculty member, and UHP in which the student agrees to do work above and beyond the regularly required undergraduate course assignments in order to make a non-Honors course count as an Honors course experience. To qualify as an Honors experience, the work done must be qualitatively beyond course requirements. Typically, this work covers topics in greater depth and involves greater use of primary sources, more creativity, more synthesis, and advanced analysis. The student is solely responsible for obtaining both preliminary and final approval from the course instructor and UHP.

2. Faculty-Directed Research: When appropriate, students may conduct research related to the subject of the course under the instructor's supervision to fulfill an honors add-on. This may involve joining a research project or lab, or conducting individual research under the instructor's supervision that is not integrated into other course assignments. This work may very well extend beyond the course's timeline and lead to further directed research credits or thesis work.

3. Semester-Long Project: Rather than doing a variety of things outlined in an augmented syllabus, or working on research with a faculty member, a special project related to the course material may be the best option for turning some non-Honors courses into Honors experiences. Again, this project should not be just "an extra paper," but rather something that will engage the student throughout the semester in meaningful exploration, discovery, primary-source contact, experiential learning, community engagement, problem-solving, and/or other vehicles to provide for a meaningfully different level of engagement with the course material.

4. Graduate Level Coursework: Students may receive honors credit for completing courses at the graduate level, above and beyond the normal undergraduate curriculum. For 6xxx, 7xxx, and 8xxx-level courses, that process is automatic, and this form does not need to be submitted. All other courses (including 5xxx-level) must submit an explanation of their graduate level coursework as an Honors add-on. This may take the form of enrollment in a 5xxx level course that is traditionally reserved for graduate students (<20% undergraduate enrollment) or the student opting to follow graduate-level syllabus expectations in a mixed or cross-listed course. In all instances, the student's participation should indicate coursework beyond what is normally expected of undergraduates in their major.

Students should consult their Honors advisor and the UHP website for initial guidance to make sure that the experience would meet program requirements.

The experience submitted will only be used to fulfill an Honors experience requirement if all parties have granted approval, including the course instructor and UHP reviewers.

Student Submitted: the student has filled out and submitted the initial request form.

Instructor Approved: the instructor of the associated course has approved the additional coursework or the level at which the course is taught.

UHP Approved - To Process: for graduate level courses, no end-of-semester approval is needed as the student's grade in the course will determine whether or not they pass and the course will be counted as an Honors Requirement.

UHP Approved - To Confirm Later: for additional coursework (that is not included in the syllabus and therefore won't receive a grade), the student and the instructor will need to confirm the completion of the agreed-upon work again at the end of the semester in order for the course to be counted towards the student's Honors Requirements. The student will receive a reminder email prompting them to complete the end-of-semester confirmation.

EoS Student Confirmed: At the end of the semester, the student will submit the confirmation that they have completed the additional coursework when they turn it in. 

EoS Instructor Confirmed: The instructor of the course will also evaluate the additional coursework at the end of the semester and confirm or deny that it matches the agreed-upon standards.

Fulfilled: UHP has processed the case and added it to the student's APAS.

Canceled: The student has requested for the case to be cancelled at some point during the semester, OR the student has filled out the end-of-semester completion form stating that they did not complete the work.

Denied: The course instructor or UHP admin has denied that the proposed coursework meets the standard to count as an Honors Requirement.