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Honors Curriculum

Honors students admitted as freshmen participate in an alternate general education program, which completely substitutes for the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC) that is required of all non-Honors students at WOU.

Not counting the thesis, students in the Full Honors Program will complete 55-57 credit hours in Honors. This number is parallel to the number of credits that non-Honors must take to complete their general education requirement (55 credits). In other words, participating in Honors does not require any additional credits towards graduation.

During the first two years, students in the program become acquainted with major philosophic, literary, artistic, sociological, and scientific traditions. In later years, they complete their electives and senior projects. While a cohort structure is maintained in order to foster a sense of community, students from different classes are welcome to take classes out of sequence when desired or necessary. Course substitutions, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) credits are all allowed, when appropriate, in the program.

Enrollment in the Honors Program also automatically satisfies WOU's writing-intensive (6 credits) and Introductory Composition (WR 135, 4 credits) requirements, mandatory for all non-honors students. The public presentations of the thesis proposal and the completed honors thesis also automatically satisfy WOU's COM 111 (3 credits) requirement, mandatory for non-honors students. This exempts Honors students from 13 credits of non-Honors coursework that would otherwise be required.

First and Second Years

• Creative Arts (9 total credit hours)
• Literature (8 credit hours)
• Philosophy (6 credit hours)
• Social Science Sequence (8 credit hours)
• Non-Honors Social Science Elective (3-4 credit hours, from the non-honors curriculum)
• General Science (12 credit hours, including labs; science majors take non-Honors courses to satisfy this requirement)
• Honors Electives (6 credit hours minimum, may also be taken during 3rd and 4th years)

Third and Fourth Years

• Honors Seminar (3-4 credit hours)
• Thesis/Senior Project Development Seminar (1 credit hour)
• Thesis/Senior Project Independent Study and Presentation (3 credit hours)

Honors Program total: 59-61 credit hours

Contact

Honors Program  (503) 838-8519 | or e-mail: honors@wou.edu