Honors Academic Experiences

The College of Letters and Science Honors Program provides Honors Students special opportunities to engage academically through a variety of “Honors Academic Experiences”:

Honors Courses & Sections

Honors Seminars (INT 84AA-ZZ)

Discovery Seminars (first-year: INT 89AA-ZZ and 94AA-ZZ; transfer: INT 186AA-ZZ and 187AA-ZZ.

Honors Contracts (Upper-Division courses only)

“Automatic” Honors Courses (including 98, 99, 198, & 199 courses)

UCEAP, UCDC, UC Sacramento, or UCNRS

Please note, for a course or a seminar to count as an Honors Experience, a student must enroll in the course and its Honors section concurrently (if it has one) for a letter grade and earn at least a B in both the lecture and the section unless the only option is to enroll Passed/Not Passed.

Honors credit (Experiences) for the Honors Program may only be earned while you’re a member of the Honors Program. Honors work completed prior to your Honors Program start quarter will not count toward meeting Honors Program requirements. This same rule applies to completing Community Service requirements.

If you're trying to figure out how many experiences you've completed, rather than emailing your question, please fill out this form and we'll get back to you.

Honors Courses & Sections

SPRING 2023 Honors Sections

*For CHEMISTRY Honor Sections - CHEM 2C, 6BH, 6CH, & 109CH - PLEASE USE THIS LINK FOR ENROLLMENT DETAILS - https://undergrad.chem.ucsb.edu/current/faq

 

Many of the Departments in the College of Letters and Science offer Honors alternatives for their courses.   Honors courses typically follow one of two models: 

Lecture Courses with Honors Sections

Many UCSB courses require students to attend a lecture that meets two-or-more times a week and also, once a week, a discussion “section,” led by a graduate student instructor, with whom they will review and discuss topics in the week’s lecture.  For courses with Honors sections, Honors students meet with the faculty member teaching the course for the section.  For some courses, students are expected to attend both a regular section and the Honors section for the course, and in others, they attend the Honors section instead of the regular section.  Typically but not always, students earn an additional unit when they enroll in an Honors section. 

Enrollment Information:  Students usually need to secure an approval code from an instructor to enroll in the Honors section.  Students interested in enrolling in a course with an Honors section should enroll in a regular section via GOLD during their registration “Pass Times” and will be given information about enrolling in the Honors sections by the instructor during the first week of classes.  See this quarter’s list of Honors Courses for specific details. Remember, to count as Honors Experiences a course and its Honors section must be taken concurrently and for a letter grade (not Pass/Not Passed) if optional grading is available for the course. Please note, for a course to count as an Honors Experience, a student must enroll in the course and its Honors section concurrently (if it has one) for a letter grade and earn at least a B in both the lecture and the section unless the only option is to enroll Passed/Not Passed.

Special Honors Versions of Courses

A few departments offer Honors versions of courses.  An Honors version has significantly smaller enrollment than the standard version of the course which allows the students and professor to go more deeply into the course material and/or approach the subject differently.

Enrollment Information:  Typically, students are invited to apply to enroll in Honors versions of regular courses.  See this quarter's list of Honors Sections/Courses for specific details.  Remember, to count as Honors Experiences, courses must be taken for letter grades (not Pass/Not Passed) if optional grading is available for the course.

Honors Seminars

*ALL Honors Seminars count as 1 Honors Experience

SPRING 2023 Honors Seminars

Honors Seminars (INT 84'S) are two-unit courses of no more than twenty students designed by faculty to introduce students to the faculty member's research and scholarly interests. All Honors Seminars meet for two hours a week. See the above link for a list of upcoming seminars, and see the bottom of this page for the archive.

Add codes are no longer required to add Honors Seminars; eligible Honors students should be able to enroll directly in GOLD. 

INT 84 Honors Seminars are lower-division and designed with first and second-year students in mind. First and second-year students in the Letters & Science Honors Program who have exceeded the "Senior" unit standing limitation for INT 84 may request an exception to bypass this restriction by emailing me at kvonderlieth@ucsb.edu. **When you email me - PLEASE include your perm number and which INT 84xx you are interested in. Third and fourth-year students are not eligible to bypass the Senior unit standing restriction. Students who receive access to bypass the restriction must still enroll through GOLD during an active pass time while the course has space remaining.

Discovery Seminars

*ALL Discovery Seminars count as 1 Honors Experience

SPRING 2023 - First Year - & Discovery+ Seminars

 
*There are NO BYPASS's given out for Discovery Seminars

 

 

* If you have any questions about Discovery Seminars please email kvonderlieth@ucsb.edu. Please include in your email your perm and the INT.

Discovery Seminars provide opportunities to learn in depth how knowledge is made at UCSB.  In Discovery Seminars, you'll get to know faculty, learn more about how people in different disciplines think and explore subjects and questions that are new to you in ways you never expected. You will find them in GOLD as: 

INT 89AA-ZZ and 94AA-ZZ for first-year students 

INT 186AA-ZZ and 187AA-ZZ for transfer students

 

Honors Contracts

Honors Contract Proposal Form

Honors Contracts Proposal Deadline for Spring 2023 - Friday, April 14th

Honors Contracts CANCELLATION Deadline for Spring 2023 - Friday,May 19th

*If you need to cancel your honors contract please email kvonderlieth@ltsc.ucsb.edu

INT 197HC will be added onto your schedule during week 8 (Please read below about info on INT 197HC)

***Graduate students, including Teaching Assistants and Teaching Associates, MAY NEVER supervise Honors Contracts. Honor contracts are for UPPER-DIVISION courses only. Contracts ARE NOT accepted for Exercise and Sports Studies, Education/CNCSP, College of Creative Studies, Technology Management, IHC - Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Computer Science, or Engineering courses.

 

Honors Contracts are the primary method of earning honors credit in upper-division courses (courses numbered 100-199). A contract is an individual arrangement that a student develops with a professor to enhance your experience in a course. If the instructor agrees to the contract, you must create an Honors curriculum for the course and submit it online using the Honors Contract Proposal Form. The Honors Contract is intended to deepen and broaden the student's experience in the course rather than simply increase the workload. An important aspect of an Honors Contract is the opportunity for a student to meet regularly with the  professor. (See the link below in #2 for the online Honors Contract Proposal Form.)

ABOUT INT 197HC:

Students will earn 1 unit of credit (P/NP only) for completing an Honors Contract via INT 197HC. 

INT 197HC will appear on transcripts but students will not be expected to attend a separate course. Students will use the same online Honors Contract Proposal Form to submit their information by the end of the second week of the quarter. Honors Program staff will facilitate the enrollment process in INT 197HC for students based upon online submissions received by the deadline. This course will not actually appear on your schedule until week 7, but you are expected to work on the contract as soon as you submit. To receive a grade of Pass in INT 197HC, students must successfully complete the terms of the honors contract and earn a letter grade of B or higher in the associated upper-division course. At the end of the quarter, Honors Program staff will contact your professor to confirm that you successfully completed the terms of the contract. If so, and as long as you earn a letter grade of B or higher in the course, “course honors” will be added to your transcript for the course to which the contract is attached (and Pass will be appear for the INT 197HC course), after grades are recorded. 

*NOTE for students doing more than one contract per quarter:  The units for INT 197HC will reflect the number of contracts completed (i.e. for 2 contracts there would be 2 units added for INT 197HC provided both contracts are completed).

  • If you complete the Honors Contract and get a B or better in the class, "course honors" will be added to the class, your grade in INT 197HC is P, and it counts as an Honors experience.
  • If you do not get a B or better in the class but still complete the Honors Contract, your grade in INT 197HC is still P but it does not count as an Honors experience.
  • If you do not complete the Honors Contract, your grade in INT 197HC is NP (regardless of the class grade).          

HONORS CONTRACT ENROLLMENT INFORMATION:

See the following list for enrollment steps and requirements for Honors Contracts.

  • Students must complete the Honors Contract Proposal Form by the end of the second week of instruction each quarter. The proposal form will be posted on this page during the eligible submission period.

 

  • Contracts are only accepted for upper-division, academic courses in the College of Letters and Science. Contracts are not accepted for Exercise and Sports Studies, Education/CNCSP, College of Creative Studies, Technology Management, IHC - Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Computer Science, or Engineering courses.

 

  • Honors Contracts must be supervised by the course's instructor of record.

 

  • Instructors who are members of the Academic Senate (this includes instructors with the title of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Senior Lecturer with Security of Employment, Lecturer with Security of Employment, or Lecturer with Potential Security of Employment) may supervise an Honors Contract. Most instructor titles may be found in the UCSB Catalog on their department's Faculty page, or on the UCSB Academic Senate Membership list.

 

  • Instructors with the titles of Visiting Professor are not members of the Academic Senate, but may supervise a contract if the dean determines that the contract proposal meets the Honors Program's academic standards.

 

  • Graduate students, including Teaching Assistants and Teaching Associates, may never supervise Honors Contracts.

 

CANCELLING YOUR HONORS CONTRACT:

If you need to cancel your approved Honors Contract (INT 197HC course) before the 7-week drop deadline, you will do so by emailing both the Honors Staff at kvonderlieth@ltsc.ucsb.edu and your professor regarding the cancellation. However, once Honors Program staff enroll you in the INT 197HC Contract course by week 7, then you will need to petition to drop the INT 197HC Contract course. (These petitions are rarely approved and you would receive "NP" for the Contract course, so be sure to email us prior to week 7 of the quarter if you want to cancel a contract.) 

 

ABOUT HONORS CONTRACTS:

If you have questions about how to formulate an Honors Contract or about appropriate content of Honors Contracts, please consult Questions & Answers about Honors Contracts - A Guide for Students or see the Contact Us page for advising options.

* Please note these restrictions regarding the contract:

  1. You should approach your professor either before the quarter begins or during the first few days of instruction to discuss the possibility of establishing an Honors Contract. Contracts are only accepted for upper-division Letters & Science courses. Do not submit a contract proposal for any course that is already an honors section or already on the list of Courses Automatically Granted Honors Credit.

  2. If the instructor agrees to the contract, you must create an Honors curriculum for the course and submit it online using the Honors Contract Proposal Form (available here only during the online submission period). The online form must be submitted by the end of the second week of the quarter, at which time we will notify you if your proposal is accepted or if it's denied due to not meeting contract regulations. NEW effective Fall 2018:  Honors Program staff will facilitate the enrollment process in the new INT 197HC honors contract course for students based upon online submissions received by the deadline. This course will not actually appear on your schedule until week 7, but you are expected to work on the contract as soon as you submit.  To receive a grade of Pass in INT 197HC, students must successfully complete the terms of the honors contract and earn a letter grade of B or higher in the associated course.

  3. At the end of the quarter, we will email your professor to verify that you have completed the contract. Provided the course grade is satisfactory, “Honors” will be designated on your transcript (for the course to which the INT 197HC contract is attached) when your professor returns the confirmation, and "Pass" will be added to the INT 197HC course. Please allow a few weeks for these updates to appear on the transcript

  4. Honors Contracts for Summer Sessions * Please note* There is NO INT 197HC added to your schedule for Honor Contracts. You will recieve honors only for the course the contract is in. No extra unit(s) INT 197HC are added to your schedule. 

     

Automatic Honors Courses (Including Independent Study/Research)

List of Automatic Honors Courses (click here)

In many cases, the Honors Program will recognize as Honors Experiences, independent research or independent study work for which students receive academic credit as well as for most courses a student would do while earning “Distinction” in a major.  Please see the list of Automatic Honors Courses (just above) for complete details.

Enrollment Information:  see your major advisor for enrollment details. "Course honors" will not be designated on transcripts for Automatic Honors Courses, but they will count as honors experiences provided the grade earned is satisfactory. Students must choose the letter graded option (instead of Passed/Not Passed) if available and earn at least a B for an “Automatic” course to count as an Honors Experience.

UC Education Abroad (UCEAP), UC Washington DC (UCDC), UC Center in Sacramento (UCCS), and UC Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) Programs

A UCEAP term will count as a single, upper-division Honors Experience as long as the student was registered for at least 12 letter graded units, earned no grade lower than a B, and earned at least a 3.0 GPA.  (Note:  This must be through University of California EAP to count as an Honors Experience.)  Students who earn 24 letter graded units, earn no grade lower than a B and earn at least a 3.0 GPA will earn two Honors Experiences.  Honors students who plan to study abroad for a full academic year should meet with an Honors advisor to determine how many Honors Experiences they will be likely to earn while abroad.

A UCDC or a UCCS term will count as a single, upper-division Honors Experience as long as the student earned at least a B in the required research seminar.  

A term of UC Natural Reserve System (NRS) Field Studies will count as a single Honors Experience. The California Ecology and Conservation (CEC) Program is a part of the Natural Reserve System Field Studies Program, which enables students from across the University of California to gain a deeper understanding of the natural world while visiting NRS reserves. The CEC is an intensive program of study with a workload equivalent to four, on-campus, courses. It is offered every Spring, Summer and Fall. See their website for application deadlines. Please notify Honors Program staff if you are enrolled in UCNRS.

* Note:  Individual courses taken during UCEAP, UCDC, UCCS and UCNRS terms cannot count as Honors Experiences.

Enrollment Information:  See the UCEAP, UCDC, UCCS and UCNRS websites for details.

Transcript Information

For Honors Courses and Contracts completed with a letter grade of B or higher, the phrase “Course Honors” will appear on your transcript. This is not the case, however, for any course that appears on the list of Courses Automatically Granted Honors Credit, for Honors Seminars, for Freshman Seminars, or for UCEAP (etc.). Though these courses or programs will apply toward the completion of the Honors Program, "course honors" will not appear on your transcript.

If you have a question regarding a course honors designation on your transcript, please contact the program at honorsmail@ltsc.ucsb.edu.

Honors Courses and Seminars Archive

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2022