The curriculum of SUNY Brockport’s Honors College allows students to integrate Honors courses into their existing General Education (GE) and academic major requirements, as well as to tailor Honors courses to their personal interests and goals. Honors course requirements are adapted to the year in which students begin the program.
- First-year students: Honors students who enroll in their first semester as first-year students (i.e., entering freshmen) complete a total of ten Honors courses while at Brockport (22-24 credits total, including 13-15 GE credits).
- Transfers and Brockport sophomores or juniors: Students who join the Honors College as transfers or as Brockport sophomores/juniors complete a minimum of three Honors courses: Honors Contemporary Issues (GE), HON 395 “Thesis Practicum,” and HON 490 “Sr. Honors Thesis” (7 credits total).
Honors General Education Courses
- HON-GEP 100: “Honors Academic Planning seminar” (1 credit): The Honors version of a class required for all Brockport first-year students, aimed at introducing you to academic life at Brockport.
- HON 112 “Introduction to Honors” (4 credits): Topics-based seminar required for all students who join the Honors College in the first semester of their first year of college. Focuses on the development of foundational skills and knowledge essential to success in college and beyond. Satisfies two GE requirements: Written Communication and Perspectives on Gender.
- Two additional lower-division Honors sections of SUNY GE courses (6-8 credits, at student’s discretion): Required for all students who join the Honors College in the first semester of their first year of college. A wide variety of options is offered each semester, and together they expose students to knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world.
- Honors Contemporary Issues (3 credits): Required for all Honors students. The Honors Contemporary Issues course satisfies an upper-division GE requirement. Multiple courses are offered every semester.
Specialized Honors Courses
- Two sections of HON 380 “Interdisciplinary Colloquium” (1 credit per section, 2 credits total): Required for all students who join the Honors College in the first semester of their first year of college. These pass-fail interactive seminars involve a “deep dive” into a special topic that touches upon a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Topics vary from semester to semester and focus on analyzing a particular text, ethical issue, pedagogical concern, or research question that is relevant to multiple fields of study. Recent examples include: “Consciousness & Science Fiction” and “Social Psychology, Prejudice & Discrimination.”
- Honors Engaged Learning Experience (3 credits): Required of all students who join the Honors College in the first semester of their first year of college. Most Honors students satisfy this requirement, which focuses on student-driven and/or experiential learning, through work completed in their major, such as internships, supervised teaching, teaching assistantships, clinical or field experiences, independent or directed studies, service-learning courses, and certain studio or lab courses. But other options are available as well, including education abroad, peer mentoring, and so on. Students also have the option of petitioning to satisfy the requirement through a non-credit equivalent (e.g., completion of community service or shadowing hours, student leadership responsibilities, the Summer Research Program, etc.). Students are required to submit an Honors Engaged Learning Experience Proposal Form for review during the semester prior to undertaking the experience they select to satisfy the requirement.
- HON 395 “Thesis Practicum”: (1 credit): Required for all Honors students. This pass-fail course prepares students to embark on the Senior Honors Thesis and is usually completed during the junior year. The course guides students through the process of planning the thesis, including selecting a topic and faculty director, developing an appropriate methodology of research, and getting acquainted with available campus resources.
- HON 490 ” Senior Honors Thesis” (3 credits): Required for all Honors students (although certain majors have equivalencies). As the capstone experience of the Honors College, the Senior Thesis is a scholarly or creative project designed by Honors students under the direction of a professor in their academic major (or a closely related area). It requires both a written product and a formal presentation consistent with the practices in the relevant field of study. The deadline to submit an Honors Thesis Project Registration form to the Honors College Office is the end of the second week of the semester during which a student is enrolled in the thesis course.
Honors Electives
Every semester, the Honors College offers a variety of elective courses any Honors students can take. Honors electives can count as substitutes for Honors GE courses; however, unlike Honors GE courses, Honors electives do not fulfil SUNY Brockport GE requirements.
Honors Contract
- In the case of unusual circumstances, Honors students may utilize one Honors Contract as a substitute for an Honors GE course. The Honors Contract enables a conventional course—whether GE or in an academic program, depending on the course the student chooses to contract—to count for Honors credit through special arrangement with the instructor and approval of the Honors Director. The deadline to submit an Honors Contract proposal form to the Honors College Office is the end of the second week of the semester during which a student is enrolled in the course.