Honors College

Administration

Catherine Rymph, Dean
Rachel Harper, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
 

Contact Information:
(573) 882-3893
http://honors.missouri.edu
210 Lowry Hall

Honors College

The Honors College is a community of motivated and high-achieving students from all the undergraduate colleges at the University of Missouri. The Honors College offers an innovative and dynamic curriculum that encourages in-depth study in traditional fields of learning as well as other kinds of intellectual inquiry, including interdisciplinary and experiential learning. The College fosters scholarly engagement through research opportunities, study abroad, internships, and other experiences that expand learning beyond the classroom. Students receive personalized advising through a team of professionally-trained advisors.

The Honors College gives honors students maximum flexibility to serve their individual interests. Honors courses, taught by many of the university’s best professors, encourage close interaction between students and faculty and allow students to experience a small-college atmosphere within a large research university.

Opportunities in the Honors College are described below.

Honors Curriculum

Honors courses offered through the Honors College are listed in the University Catalog. The Honors College also offers the following alternative ways by which to earn Honors Credit:

  • Honors Learning-by-Contract. This arrangement allows honors students to take a non-honors course for honors credit by completing additional or alternative work. To do an Honors Learning-by-Contract, students must enter into a contractual agreement with a professor and gain approval from the Honors College. Up to nine hours of Honors Learning-by-Contract can be used toward the Honors Certificate. 
  • Honors Credit via Graduate Course Work. Honors students may earn credit toward the Honors Certificate by taking graduate-level classes. Up to nine hours of graduate course work can be used toward the Honors Certificate. 
  • Honors Credit via Study Abroad. Up to six hours of study abroad credit completed while a student at MU can be considered as honors credit. 
  • Honors Courses offered through individual departments. These include special topics courses and honors sections of regularly-offered courses.
  • Research and other independent-study types of courses, offered both through departments and the Honors College.

Honors course information and required forms can be found on the Honors College website.

Special Programs and Services

Advising 

The Honors College offers one-on-one academic advising for all honors students. 
Advisors are assigned alphabetically. Students can find their advisor and schedule an appointment here: https://honors.missouri.edu/academics/advising/

Honors Scholarship and Research

The Honors College offers a number of scholarships and research placements to incoming and current students. Information about our Scholarship and Research programs can be found on the Honors College website.

Honors Housing

The Honors Learning Community fosters a living and learning space that enriches intellectual and social stimulation and encourages residents to succeed academically and socially during their time at the University of Missouri. Honors Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) are available in a number of interest areas.

MedOpp Advising Office

The MedOpp Advising Office provides pre-professional advising for pre-medical (allopathic and osteopathic), pre-dental, pre-optometry, pre-podiatry, and pre-physician assistant students at MU. Their services are available to all University of Missouri students. https://medopp.missouri.edu/

Office of Global and National Fellowships

The Office of Global and National Fellowships provides assistance to all University of Missouri students. Fellowships advisors support students throughout the fellowship application process. https://fellowships.missouri.edu/

Honors College Admissions

Interested students are encouraged to visit our website for more information on how to apply and on the profile of a “typical” successful Honors applicant, as well as the required materials for admission—including official transcripts, official score report, essays, and more. The Honors College does not accept applications from conditionally-admitted students.

Program Requirements

Maintaining Honors Eligibility

GPA Requirement

To retain membership in the Honors College, students must maintain an MU cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. Students with an MU cumulative GPA below 3.5 will receive a warning letter the first semester in which this occurs. Students with an MU cumulative GPA below 3.5 for a second consecutive semester will no longer be members of the Honors College. Students with a cumulative Mizzou GPA below 3.0 will be removed immediately.

Participation Requirement

Students are required to participate in our Honors One Read program their first year and complete two honors courses per year for their first two years at MU. All honors courses will count toward this requirement, including honors-designated courses and Honors Learning-by-Contract. 

Honors Certificate Requirements

Students who complete 24 or more hours for honors credit and maintain a 3.5 cumulative GPA (as calculated after final grades are posted at the end of the semester in which the student is graduating) are eligible to graduate with an Honors Certificate. Credit hour limits apply for some types of courses. Students should apply for the Honors Certificate by completing the application. In order to participate in the Honors Ceremony, students must apply no later than the end of the third week of classes in their final semester. 

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In addition to six full-time faculty and administrators, the Honors College has over 70 honors-affiliated faculty
 

GN_HON 1010H: Career Explorations

Discussion in which experts discuss their specialties and answer students' questions on the nature and current status of their disciplines. Open primarily to freshmen. Graded on an S/U basis only.

Credit Hour: 1
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 1030H: Honors Discussion Groups

Informal discussion between students and faculty on various academic topics. Graded S/U only.

Credit Hour: 1
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 1050H: Honors Seminar

Freshman-sophomore seminar offering a small group opportunity to write about and discuss works chosen by instructor.

Credit Hour: 1
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 1070H: Honors Elective Colloquium


Credit Hour: 2-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 1080H: Honors Internship

Independent study under the supervision of a regular faculty member.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: written proposal with professor's approval submitted in advance to the Honors College. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2010H: Honors Tutorial

Small group of students (2-5) engage in collaborative work under faculty guidance. The focus is determined in advance by a faculty member and shaped through discussion with the enrolled students. Course may be repeated for credit.

Credit Hour: 1
Prerequisites: instructor's consent. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2011H: Unbound: Reading Without Limits

The Honors College partners with the Unbound Book Festival to offer classes focused on invited authors and their works. Students will have the opportunity to read and discuss works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry and meet the authors during the Unbound Book Festival weekend. Graded on A-F basis only.

Credit Hour: 1
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2015H: Theory and Practice of Tutoring Writing Seminar

(same as ENGLSH 2015H). Addresses both the theory and practice of tutoring and the foundations of good writing. This course also qualifies students for a part-time job working as Writing Center/Online Writery tutors in future semesters.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: ENGLSH 1000; Honors eligibility required; instructor's consent


GN_HON 2015HW: Theory and Practice of Tutoring Writing Seminar - Honors/Writing Intensive

(same as ENGLSH 2015H). Addresses both the theory and practice of tutoring and the foundations of good writing. This course also qualifies students for a part-time job working as Writing Center/Online Writery tutors in future semesters.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: ENGLSH 1000; Honors eligibility required; instructor's consent


GN_HON 2085H: Honors Independent Study

Independent study under the supervision of a regular faculty member.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: written proposal with professor's approval submitted in advance to the Honors College. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2111H: Epic Destinies, Individual Journeys

Exploring the art, literature and philosophy of the Ancient Mediterranean World, this course will take us from the fall of Troy to the flowering of art, poetry and magic throughout the Roman Empire. We'll encounter tragic heroes, a suffering Job, Socrates, Plato and his student Aristotle, and the great Roman poets Virgil and Horace. We'll descend to the underworld at least twice, discover the origin of the phrase carpe diem and witness the Roman invention of concrete. Along the way, we'll find ourselves asking not simply what the Ancients believed, or under what circumstances and in what social and historical contexts the works of the Ancient Mediterranean World were composed or performed, but also how they continue to shape and influence our modern world. This is the first course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2111HW: Epic Destinies, Individual Journeys - Honors/Writing Intensive

Exploring the art, literature and philosophy of the Ancient Mediterranean World, this course will take us from the fall of Troy to the flowering of art, poetry and magic throughout the Roman Empire. We'll encounter tragic heroes, a suffering Job, Socrates, Plato and his student Aristotle, and the great Roman poets Virgil and Horace. We'll descend to the underworld at least twice, discover the origin of the phrase carpe diem and witness the Roman invention of concrete. Along the way, we'll find ourselves asking not simply what the Ancients believed, or under what circumstances and in what social and historical contexts the works of the Ancient Mediterranean World were composed or performed, but also how they continue to shape and influence our modern world. This is the first course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2112H: Here Be Monsters

Exploring the art, literature, music and philosophy of the Medieval and Renaissance periods, this course opens in North Africa during the late Roman Empire on the threshold between the classical and medieval eras, and it closes in Shakespeare's London during the English Renaissance. In between, we'll explore the fens of Beowulf's Denmark, the battlefields of Roland and Charlemagne, and Hell itself in Dante's Inferno; meet werewolves and dragons and pilgrims; navigate the intellectual, political, and religious turmoil of medieval Europe; and encounter the glory of Renaissance Italy. This is the second course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2112HW: Here Be Monsters - Honors/Writing Intensive

Exploring the art, literature, music and philosophy of the Medieval and Renaissance periods, this course opens in North Africa during the late Roman Empire on the threshold between the classical and medieval eras, and it closes in Shakespeare's London during the English Renaissance. In between, we'll explore the fens of Beowulf's Denmark, the battlefields of Roland and Charlemagne, and Hell itself in Dante's Inferno; meet werewolves and dragons and pilgrims; navigate the intellectual, political, and religious turmoil of medieval Europe; and encounter the glory of Renaissance Italy. This is the second course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2113H: Reasonable Devils and Dark Visions

Exploring the art, literature, music and philosophy of the Early Modern World, this course will take us from the delirious hills of La Mancha in 17th century Spain to a desperate slave ship in the South Pacific in the mid-19th century. Along the way, we'll ponder our existence in a bread oven in the Netherlands, bathe in a lake of fire in Hell, confront the squalor of 18th century London, explore the perils of home schooling from Switzerland to the Arctic ice, brave Romantic madness in Germany and Russia, and be peered at by New England mermaids. This is the third course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2114H: Diagnosing the Dark

Exploring the art, literature, music and philosophy of the Modern Era, this course will take us from the intellectual and social revolutions of the mid-19th century to the cusp of the 21st century. Along the way, we'll encounter countries haunted by war and cities haunted by racism and crime. We will witness Modernist revolutions in seeing and making and even glimpse the dawn of the digital age and the first hint of the possibility of artificial intelligence. In the shadow of such events, the traditional themes of the Humanities - the problem of evil, the puzzle of human nature, the challenge of right action, the quest for justice, the mystery of love, our ethical and social responsibilities, and the continual search for a voice and an art adequate to our experience - resonate from work to work throughout our Era. This is the fourth course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2114HW: Diagnosing the Dark - Honors/Writing Intensive

Exploring the art, literature, music and philosophy of the Modern Era, this course will take us from the intellectual and social revolutions of the mid-19th century to the cusp of the 21st century. Along the way, we'll encounter countries haunted by war and cities haunted by racism and crime. We will witness Modernist revolutions in seeing and making and even glimpse the dawn of the digital age and the first hint of the possibility of artificial intelligence. In the shadow of such events, the traditional themes of the Humanities - the problem of evil, the puzzle of human nature, the challenge of right action, the quest for justice, the mystery of love, our ethical and social responsibilities, and the continual search for a voice and an art adequate to our experience - resonate from work to work throughout our Era. This is the fourth course in the long-running Honors Humanities Sequence.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2120H: Honors Humanities Seminar

This course meets a general education humanities requirement.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2230H: Honors Social Science Seminar

This course meets the general education social science requirement.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2230HW: Honors Social Science Seminar- Honors/Writing Intensive

This course meets the general education requirement for social science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2243H: Behavioral Sciences Sequence I: Personal Identity

This interdisciplinary course approached the perennial but fascinating question of how we define, develop, and present ourselves. It considers this question from a range of disciplinary, regional, and thematic perspectives. Meets general education requirement for behavioral sciences.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2244H: Behavioral Sciences Sequence II: Social Relations

This interdisciplinary course explores the construction of human identity as it related to social groups (these groups might include anything from the family to fan clubs, sports teams to college students). Meets general education requirement for behavioral sciences.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2245H: Revolutions

An in-depth look at the American Revolution, this course has two primary goals: (1) To understand revolutions not as heroic endeavors but as messy, complicated affairs that introduce new problems as they solve old ones and circumscribe liberties for some as they secure them for others; (2) To think, in a global sense, about how revolutionary goals and movements not only feed off one another, but also diverge from one another to fit the needs and oppressive circumstances of different polities.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2246H: Global Citizenship

This course continues our introduction to the fundamental problems and concepts of social science by concentrating on today's emerging global society and the ways in which it shapes social identity. The course also aims at encouraging students to think of themselves as global citizens - people who possess a sense of their own role as citizens of the world.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2246HW: Global Citizenship - Honors/Writing Intensive

This course continues our introduction to the fundamental problems and concepts of social science by concentrating on today's emerging global society and the ways in which it shapes social identity. The course also aims at encouraging students to think of themselves as global citizens - people who possess a sense of their own role as citizens of the world.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2310H: Honors Behavioral Science Seminar

This course meets a general education behavioral science requirement.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2452H: Honors Biological Science Seminar

Open to all honors-eligible students. These courses may be cross-listed with Biological Science Departments. Interdisciplinary or experimental courses are encouraged.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2453H: Introduction to Research

The Introduction to Research course is designed to prepare students for future independent STEM research experiences. Students who take this course can expect to be prepared to become student researchers in diverse STEM disciplines. Graded on A-F basis only.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2456H: Honors Math (Computer Science) Science Seminar

Open to all honors-eligible students. These courses may be cross-listed with Mathematical Science Departments. Interdisciplinary or experimental courses are encouraged.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2457H: Honors Physical Science Seminar

Open to all honors-eligible students. These courses may be cross-listed with Physical Science Departments. Interdisciplinary or experimental courses are encouraged.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2461H: Environment: From Molecules to the Cosmos

Evidence-based exploration of how the world was made, environments formed, life evolved, and how it works together to sustain life on Earth. Graded on A-F basis only. Earns general education credit for physical and biological sciences.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2462H: Energy: From Particles to Civilizations

Inquiry based exploration of energy, what it is, how it is used, and how it sustains our life on Earth. Graded on A-F basis only.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 2950H: Honors Research

Active participation in a professor's research for up to six hours a week.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: written description of the work with professor's approval submitted in advance to Director of the Honors College. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3120H: Honors Humanities Seminar

This course meets a general education humanities requirement.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3120HW: Honors Humanities Seminar- Honors/Writing Intensive

This course meets a general education humanities requirement.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3210H: Honors Behavioral Seminar

This course meets a general education credit for behavioral science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3210HW: Honors Behavioral Colloquium - Honors/Writing Intensive

Earns general education credit for behavioral science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3230H: Honors Social Science Seminar

This course meets a general education credit for social science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing required. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3230HW: Honors Social Science Seminar- Honors/Writing Intensive

This course meets a general education credit for social science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing required. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3242H: The Future Is Indigenous! - Honors

Today, Indigenous peoples around the world are reasserting an ancient idea that our human responsibilities to the planet come through place, and that our planetary responsibilities are fulfilled by investing in and learning from place. Place-based Indigenous thought and activism give us new ways of thinking about global citizenship within a more-than-human democracy of beings - a "pluriverse" - and changes our understanding of what it means to be human in the twenty-first century. After looking at the limitations of the system of global ethics in cosmopolitan philosophy, we will get acquainted with the "place thought" of three Indigenous peoples: the Western Apache of the USA, the Maori of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Huaorani of the Ecuadorian Amazon. This course satisfies three credit hours of general education requirements in the behavioral and social sciences and is part of the Honors College's Interdisciplinary Topics in the Human Sciences series. Graded on A-F basis only.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3242HW: The Future Is Indigenous! - Honors/Writing Intensive

Today, Indigenous peoples around the world are reasserting an ancient idea that our human responsibilities to the planet come through place, and that our planetary responsibilities are fulfilled by investing in and learning from place. Place-based Indigenous thought and activism give us new ways of thinking about global citizenship within a more-than-human democracy of beings - a "pluriverse" - and changes our understanding of what it means to be human in the twenty-first century. After looking at the limitations of the system of global ethics in cosmopolitan philosophy, we will get acquainted with the "place thought" of three Indigenous peoples: the Western Apache of the USA, the Maori of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Huaorani of the Ecuadorian Amazon. This course satisfies three credit hours of general education requirements in the behavioral and social sciences and is part of the Honors College's Interdisciplinary Topics in the Human Sciences series. Graded on A-F basis only.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3452H: Honors Biological Science Seminar

This course meets a general education credit for biological sciences.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing required. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3456H: Honors Math (Computer Sci.) Science Seminar

This course meets a general education credit for mathematical science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing required. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 3457H: Honors Physical Science Seminar

This course meets a general education credit for physical science.

Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: junior standing required. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 4050H: Honors College Cooperative Education Program

For Honors Cooperative Education Program Students. No billing hours, No term finalization.

Credit Hours: 0


GN_HON 4070H: Advanced Honors Elective Colloquium

These courses may be cross-listed with courses in graduate or professional programs or one-of-a-kind courses which may have no other more appropriate academic home. Interdisciplinary or experimental courses are encouraged.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Restricted to juniors and seniors. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 4070HW: Advanced Honors Elective Colloquium - Writing Intensive

These courses may be cross-listed with courses in graduate or professional programs or one-of-a-kind courses which may have no other more appropriate academic home. Interdisciplinary or experimental courses are encouraged.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: Restricted to juniors and seniors. Honors eligibility required


GN_HON 4950H: Honors Research

Active participation in a professor's research for up to six hours a week.

Credit Hour: 1-3
Prerequisites: written description of the work with professor's approval submitted in advance to the Honors College. Junior standing required. Honors eligibility required