Curriculum

Special Programs

Additional Benefits

Admission

Retention

Courses

Honors Transcript Recognition

Faculty and Courses

MISSION

The Craig and Barbara Barrett Honors College is a community of learners dedicated to superior undergraduate education based on the pursuit of excellence, respect for the individual, commitment to integrity, and service to society.

The college offers talented, motivated students educational opportunities designed to enrich and further their personal academic and career goals. It is a portal through which academically talented students gain unique access to the university’s human and physical resources. Transdisciplinary in nature, the college develops curricular and other learning opportunities to meet general and disciplinary undergraduate educational objectives. The college supports undergraduate research, encourages study abroad, guides students to relevant internships, mentors applicants for fellowships and scholarships, and assists students with application to graduate school.

Unique in Arizona and the Southwest, the college serves students seeking degrees at Main, in Tempe; ASU West, in northwest Phoenix; and ASU East (Williams Campus) in southeast Mesa. Students across the university can take advantage of the university’s full resources with the assurance of consistently distinguished teaching and research and with commensurately rigorous expectations for performance.

Students from all disciplinary colleges and academic majors enroll in the Craig and Barbara Barrett Honors College. The Colleges of Business, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Public Programs, and Nursing offer particularly strong programs. The College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the School of Social Work developed the nation’s first honors curricula in their disciplines. Students with majors in the Colleges of Education and Fine Arts can also choose from a wide range of exciting courses, especially at the lower division. - Back to Top

CURRICULUM

Students seeking to graduate from the Barrett Honors College must also graduate from a disciplinary college. The ASU honors curriculum normally allows students to finish all requirements within the 120 semester hours of credit usually required for graduation.

The first two years of the honors curriculum typically focus on General Studies. The second two years concentrate on the student’s academic major and lead to graduation from both a disciplinary college and the Honors College. Participating in this part of the curriculum allows students to complete an extended creative or research project appropriate to their academic interests while fulfilling their honors thesis requirement. In conceiving and completing this project, each student works closely with a faculty mentor to identify and develop an original concept that extends and integrates the student’s work in a discipline. - Back to Top

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Office of National Scholarship Advisement

The Office of National Scholarship Advisement (ONSA) assists honors and other high-achieving students by identifying nationally competitive programs appropriate to each person’s intellectual and career goals, nurturing these prospective applicants, and advancing their candidacy. This office, administered by the college, serves the entire ASU community. ASU students regularly earn distinction in the most rigorous and prestigious scholarship competitions. Many pursue enhanced degree programs and research projects under the auspices of Goldwater or Truman Scholarships. Other students undertake postgraduate study in the United States and abroad as Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Udall, National Science Foundation, or Mellon Scholars. Many others have been recognized by a range of postgraduate awards, fellowships, and assistantships. This office does not administer any need- or merit-based student financial assistance. For more information on ONSA programs, call 480/965-5894.

Study Abroad

Honors College students have exclusive access to three summer study abroad programs (one in Britain, one in Paris) and one that travels to Athens, Rome, and Tunis and to the ASU International Programs office, which offers more flexible course registration and transfer arrangements. These plans allow students to earn honors credit while overseas.

Internships/Mentorships

Students in the Barrett Honors College may participate in special internship opportunities or mentoring by leaders—in government, industry, and the private sector—throughout metropolitan Phoenix. For more information, call 480/965-2359.

Events/Programming

Honors College students participate in a range of cultural enrichment activities and are offered discounted tickets to selected performing arts events throughout Arizona, monthly lunches and dinners with the dean, and special access to the most important contributors to contemporary thought who visit ASU. Each year the college hosts the university’s premier scholar-in-residence program, The Centennial Lecture. Past guests include novelist Carlos Fuentes, paleontologist Steven Jay Gould, psychiatrist Robert Coles, microbiologist Lynn Margulis, and essayist Susan Sontag.

The college is home to the John J. Rhodes Chair, which is designed to bring to the college persons who have significantly contributed to civic life and distinguished themselves as public service leaders. Students have unique opportunities to engage intellectually with these outstanding visiting lecturers. In 1998, the college was honored to have Dr. Henry A. Kissinger serve as the inaugural chair. - Back to Top

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

The Barrett Honors College and all its facilities and services are fully available to every student, regardless of where he or she lives. The Honors Halls of Residence offer students an integrated living-learning environment; faculty and academic advisors serve the students there. Classrooms, recreational and study lounges, and a computing lab compose the principal facilities of the college.

Honors College students receive priority at preregistration and have extended checking out privileges in the campus libraries. Honors courses in disciplinary departments are typically limited to 22 students. Honors courses (HON) are usually limited to 18.

Students can receive transcript recognition for lower-division honors studies. Students who meet all upper-division requirements of both their disciplinary college and the Honors College receive transcript recognition of that accomplishment, as well as special acknowledgment in the graduation ceremonies and collegiate honors convocations.

Participants in the Honors College have diverse interests and strong records of success. Many go on to the nation’s finest graduate and professional programs, including Chicago, Cornell, Harvard, Michigan, MIT, Northwestern, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Yale. Many students have published portions of their honors theses and have presented their work at the national and regional meetings of scientific and honors societies. - Back to Top

ADMISSION

Students who have demonstrated high levels of academic achievement at the high school or university level are invited to apply for admission to the Barrett Honors College. All candidates for admission must file a separate application to the college.

Applicants are initially evaluated on the basis of their high school GPA (Arizona Board of Regents GPA based on 16 competency courses), high school class rank, and performance on the SAT or ACT; or a student may possess other talents that contribute to academic leadership and community service. Continuing ASU or transfer students are evaluated on their college GPA.

The typical first-year student in the college has the following profile: high school GPA of 3.75; top six percent of his or her high school graduating class; and 28 composite on the ACT or 1270 composite on the SAT.

Continuing and transfer students who have completed at least 12 semester hours of study with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 (4.00 = A) may apply for admission to the college. In general, the college admits students entering with a 3.25 GPA and no more than 45 semester hours completed, or a 3.33 GPA and no more than 60 semester hours completed, or a 3.40 GPA with more than 60 semester hours completed. Community college transfer students who have graduated from their institution’s honors programs are encouraged to apply.

All students who believe they can better succeed at the university by participating in the Honors College are encouraged to apply. Application forms and additional information about the college and its activities are available by calling the college’s office at 480/965-2359. - Back to Top

RETENTION

Honors students must maintain high standards of academic performance and show progress toward completion of graduation requirements in their disciplinary majors and the Honors College. Students must complete an average of one honors course each semester. The associate dean of the college must approve any deviation from this standard. Good standing in the Honors College requires students to maintain the following cumulative ASU GPAs (4.00 = A):

1. less than 45 semester hours, 3.25;
2. between 45 and 80 semester hours, 3.33; and
3. above 80 semester hours, 3.40.

A student with a lower cumulative ASU GPA is placed on probation and is withdrawn from the college if he or she does not make reasonable progress in raising the cumulative GPA during the following semester. Students who fail to complete at least one honors course in two semesters may be placed on inactive status. A student on inactive status within the college is not eligible for honors housing, extended library privileges, early registration, or honors internship placement. Reinstatement to active status requires a formal application and appointment with an honors advisor. - Back to Top

COURSES

Only courses in which a student earns at least a grade of “C” may be used to meet Honors College requirements.

Freshmen and students entering the college with fewer than 45 semester hours of course work must take HON 171 and 172 The Human Event. This cross-disciplinary seminar acquaints them with ideas that form the foundation of a university education and emphasizes critical thinking, discussion, and writing.

Students entering the college after completing 45 semester hours must take HON 371, 374, or 394; junior-level seminar courses introduce them to critical thinking, discussion, and writing in a topical area chosen by the instructor.

Departmental courses carrying footnote number 19 in the Schedule of Classes are limited to honors students and others who receive special permission from the instructor to enroll. Enrollment in these courses is limited. Compared to their non-honors equivalents, these courses are designed to offer a richer, more complex intellectual experience appropriate to the discipline and the level of the course for all students enrolled. Other disciplinary honors courses group honors students in small cohorts to work on research projects of common interest.

Departmental courses carrying footnote number 18 in the Schedule of Classes allow honors students to contract with the instructor of designated non-honors courses to earn honors credit by pursuing enrichment activities, which may include supplemental sessions with the instructor. Footnote 18 contracts must be filed during the first four weeks of class and completed during the semester in which the course is offered. Each contract form offers guidelines to aid students and faculty in developing appropriate contracts.

Course numbers listed in the Schedule of Classes as 298, 492 Honors Directed Study, 493 Honors Thesis, 497 Honors Colloquium, and all classes with the HON prefix are reserved for Honors College students and always carry footnote 19. Students may receive credit for more than one of each of these courses in a given department.

Departmental courses with the number 493 are reserved for honors students completing their honors theses. A student may enroll for these courses only with the approval of the sponsoring academic department and of the faculty member who serves as the student’s thesis director. Course numbers listed in the Schedule of Classes as 493 fulfill the student’s literacy and critical inquiry (L) General Studies requirement. Honors College students may also enroll in graduate level courses that automatically earn honors credit.

All courses a student takes for honors credit may be used toward graduation, even if the student does not graduate from the Honors College.

Honors Transcript Recognition

All courses used to fulfill lower-division or upper-division/graduation requirements for the Barrett Honors College must carry earned letter grades of at least “C.” A “Y” grade does not meet college requirements.

Lower Division

To receive transcript recognition for lower-division honors work, students must complete 18 semester hours of honors course work within 60 earned semester hours with a cumulative ASU GPA greater than or equal to 3.40 (4.00 = A).

Courses must include HON 171 and 172 The Human Event. Courses that earn automatic honors credit, although not carrying a footnote number 19 in the Schedule of Classes, include ENG 105 (any section), CHM 117 and 118 (any section), and MAT 290 and 291 (any section).

Students may apply upper-division honors course work toward lower-division requirements; however, those classes may not also be used to meet Honors College upper-division/graduation requirements.

Upper Division/Graduation from the Honors College

To graduate from the Barrett Honors College, students must

1. complete HON 171 and 172 The Human Event for continuing ASU or transfer students with less than 45 hours of credit or one of the following upper-division seminar courses: HON 371 Freedom and Authority, 374 Black and White Atlantic, or 394 Special Topics for continuing or transfer students with 45 or more hours of credit;
2. complete 18 additional semester hours of upper-division honors course work for an earned letter grade, which must include three to six semester hours of Honors Thesis and six semester hours outside the academic major and which may include graduate courses;
3. complete ASU graduation requirements in an academic major; and
4. earn a cumulative ASU GPA greater than or equal to 3.40 (4.00 = A).