Information for Faculty
Teaching Honors
Small classes (not more than 25 students), engaged students, and the opportunity to be passionate about your field of study—these are just some of the reasons to teach an Honors course. Because the students are highly motivated and academically prepared, it is possible to structure courses that explore connections among disciplines and relate course content to global issues. Students should engage in research in primary sources, think independently and creatively, and contribute to the class through discussion, oral presentations, or other special projects. Depth is more important than breadth; deep understanding is preferable to acing exams. Students should develop leadership skills and a sense of responsibility to the larger culture. Honors is about more than jumping through hoops; it is about forming defensible opinions, asking intelligent questions, and shaping individual as well as cultural values.
The Honors College serves more than 900 UNCG students from all of the professional schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. The entering first-year students in fall, 2011, expressed interest in nearly all of the majors offered at UNCG. Regardless of your field, opportunities exist for you to work with these students in the classroom, in your research, and one-on-one.
Honors faculty are among the University's most talented, passionate, and energetic teachers, and include several winners of university-wide teaching awards. The state-of-the-art global teleconference seminar facility in North Spencer Honors Residence Hall, which allows you to conduct live simultaneous classes globally with a colleague and his or her students in any part of the world, is also available to faculty teaching in the Honors College. North Spencer also provides excellent common spaces for your engagement with the students.
Develop New Honors Courses
Lloyd International Honors College welcomes your proposals for Honors courses, whether Honors versions of regular UNCG courses, embedded Honors courses, or new Honors seminars.
Honors courses emphasize independent work and more advanced study than do regular courses. The standard format for Honors courses is the seminar, which fosters discussion, collaboration, and mutual discovery among faculty and students, but there are several ways for faculty to engage Honors students. Honors courses are likely to entail more writing, research, and hands-on practical work than regular courses.