University Honors Program

Presidential Honors is awarded to students admitted to the Honors Program who choose to complete an alternative curriculum sequence. Requirements to achieve Presidential Honors include: completing twenty-four Honors credit hours by taking four six-credit interdisciplinary courses; completing an Honors project that would  be worth an additional three credit hours: and graduating with a 3.75 cumulative GPA. The four courses are co-instructed by a faculty member, an academic advisor or student affairs professional, and an undergraduate Honors student.   Students complete the four courses during their first and second years of enrollment, thereby satisfying all BG Perspective requirements before their third year of study.

The framework of the four courses focuses on critical thinking, values clarification, exploration of historical and current “great ideas” (e.g., cultural, political, social, philosophical), interdisciplinary studies, service-learning, and a capstone experience for students within the theoretical context of their specific majors. The curriculum is grounded in the BGSU Learning Outcomes, the BG Perspective Learning Outcomes, and the BGSU Honors Program Academic Advising Learning Outcomes.

Summary of Four Semester Core

The four semester core curricular experience is cohort based and sequential. As first year groups enroll in the Honors Program, each will enroll is a series of four courses that are interdisciplinary, problem-based, and cumulative. The four courses include:

• Semester 1:    Critical Thinking about Values
• Semester 2:    Values in Ideas and Leadership
• Semester 3:    Values in Action
• Semester 4:    Scholarship in Action

Completion of entire four semester core curricular experience serves as an equivalent to completing BGSU general education requirements but will not necessarily supplant general education courses required of individual majors. For example, students who are required to take certain general education courses like PSYC 1010 as a prerequisite to upper level requirements will still need to complete that course.