The Honors Program at the University of North Florida offers talented students a unique approach to higher education. Averaging only 20 students, Honors seminars apply active learning in interdisciplinary settings. The goal is to build a community of learners who have the power to take their learning outside the classroom, enabling them to take what they read in their text and apply it to the outside world. In addition, Honors students are offered special funding opportunities to enable them to learn through travel, internships, and research. The Honors Program provides students with a personalized education that is usually only available at small liberal arts colleges but at the price of a state university tuition.
Honors Education
The Honors and Scholars Program offers a comprehensive four year program with multiple options to meet student career goals and aspirations through experiential learning in an interdisciplinary setting. The program is individualized to enable students to
distinguish themselves by providing opportunities to make valuable connections, gain access to resources, and build exceptional credentials.
The Learning Objectives of the Honors Program are 1. Critical Thinking
2. Creative Thinking 3. Communication
4. Leadership, Teamwork, and Citizenship
5. Understanding the Nature and Diversity of Cultures
The Honors Program presents an exciting diversity of courses, professors, and types of learning experiences designed to help students be successful in any major or career interest:.
Student Leadership
The Honors Program promotes the development of student leadership by providing students with a variety of outlets to put leadership skills to work. Students are encouraged to be part of the Honors Student Union by serving on the programming, community engagement, fund raising, and newsletter/ publicity committees. The Honors Student Ambassadors help recruit prospective students, and the Peer Mentors help guide students who need a little help making the transition to college. Student leaders also work closely with the Honors staff on Summer Orientation, Week of Welcome, and the First Year Honors Seminar. The Honors Program could not function without our Honors student leaders, and more importantly, a large number of students are given leadership responsibilities that serve as valuable training grounds for future leadership positions. We also allow students to earn the Leadership Certificate, offered by the UNF Institute for Values, Community and Leadership, as one way of completing the Honors capstone requirement.
Experiential Learning
Students and teachers take a hands-on approach to their subjects, moving education beyond the classroom walls and into the world around them to make connections between theoretical ideas and the real world. For example:
Students learning about foreign policy from a former Ambassador to the United Nations travel to Washington, D.C. to speak first-hand with senior policy officials at the Pentagon, the State Department, Congress and the White House.
Several of our Honors courses provide an opportunity for students to make academic connections between the University and the world through service experiences. This opportunity is designed to promote students’ development into true citizens and leaders of the community. The Honors Program is committed to extending learning beyond the classroom through a reflective service curriculum, which encourages students to use their newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations throughout their academic careers.
Some examples of service learning opportunities include:
The Community Scholars Program. A mentoring program created by Honors students for at-risk high school youth as a means to understanding the barriers to success in their lives.
Students learn about the challenges in the American healthcare system by taking a course called the Science and Ethics of Disease that includes volunteer experiences at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.
Honors students and engineering students take a class on the culture and history of Ecuador and then take a three week trip to Ecuador where they build a technology classroom for an Ecuadoran school.
Interdisciplinary Seminars
Students and teachers actively pursue answers to the age-old question: “What does this have to do with life in the real world?” In striving to find answers to the complex problems we face today, seminars bring the perspectives of two or more different academic disciplines to bear on the subject at hand. For example:
Students studying the relationship between 16th century French explorers and Florida’s Timucuan Indians learn what it’s like when two people from drastically different cultures meet; the seminar combines Anthropology, History, and Literature to open students’ eyes to cultural issues.
Students exploring issues surrounding moral decision-making in the 21st century learn from a diverse group of community leaders about how they make difficult choices and decisions. The issues cut across disciplines ranging from Political Science to Business to Sociology. Students create their own moral decision-making text.
Students exploring economics and politics compare the causes and consequences of the economic crisis of 2008 with the Great Depression of the 1930s. The issues cut across disciplines ranging from political science and economics to the literature and popular culture of both eras.
Undergraduate Scholarship
Students who undertake Honors in the Major or Interdisciplinary Honors are eligible to apply for competitive grants that fund their research or creative projects. In April of each year, the University of North Florida hosts a symposium in which the award recipients from the previous year present their finished projects. Their projects are also published in the Osprey Journal of Ideas and Inquiry, UNF’s Undergraduate Research Journal. These experiences are especially valuable for students who wish to pursue doctoral degrees or professional degrees in law, medicine or business.
Click here for links to the most recent Osprey Journal
Honors Opportunities
Joining the Honors Program at UNF affords students opportunities, which are often life-altering. For example:
Students who produce thought-provoking academic work get the chance to present their projects at Honors conferences at the national, regional, and state levels.
Students are eligible for Honors scholarships that fund internships in Washington, DC, New York City, London, Rome and many other cities.
Students are eligible for all of the opportunities available through the Scholars Program, which now falls under the
administrative purview of the Honors Program. For more information about these opportunities, visit the Honors and Scholars Program website.
Catalog 2012-2013 Degree Programs