Honors Courses
Honors courses take students on a different intellectual journey. They are taught
by OSU professors who are volunteers. No faculty member is required or obligated to
teach an honors class, which means those who choose to do so are doing something they
are passionate about. Usually honors professors are teaching in areas that are their
specialty and which they really want students to understand and love as much as they
do. There's nothing quite like an enthusiastic professor who takes you on a journey
that you might have thought you were not capable of.
Honors courses are also typically much smaller than their traditional counterparts at OSU; most have 20-22 students enrolled and some have fewer than 15. This allows professors to engage students in a more active learning environment and introduce topics in unique, and often innovative, ways. These courses are designed to help students develop both oral and written communication skills, to gather and synthesize information, to think about problems in new and complex ways, and to develop their critical thinking skills. Honors courses tend to be highly interactive, discussion-based classes that engage students in a supportive learning environment.
While all classes are different, it is the honors seminars that are at the core of the honors intellectual experience. All students in honors are required to take two honors seminars, though it is not unusual for students to take more as the seminars can be quite addictive. Honors seminars are courses that cross disciplines; courses that do not fit nicely into any of the usual academic pidgeon holes; courses that truly give students an enhanced intellectual experience. Many of our seminar offerings also fulfill general education requirements at OSU, so students are able to meet their seminar requirement while also simultaneously fulfilling a degree requirement.
The Honors College offers approximately 20-30 honors seminars each semester. Examples of past and current seminar topics:
- The Story of Lizzie Borden: Axe Murder in American Culture
- Plantation to Plate: Sugar, Bananas, and Coffee in the Americas
- Living in Space
- Sex in College Culture
- City as Text: Stillwater, Oklahoma!
- Class, Inequality, and Democracy
- Science and the Movies
- Biology, Race, and Gender
- Ethical Issues Across Cultural Perspectives
- Constitutional Dimensions of Diversity
The Honors College offers approximately 120 honors classes per semester in a variety of general education areas. You can view a current list of honors courses, as well as their descriptions, by clicking here.
Transcript and Diploma Designations
Honors course credit is denoted on OSU transcripts. OSU also places special entries on the transcripts of students who complete the requirements for the General Honors Award, the College or Departmental Honors Award, and the Honors College Degree. The Honors College Degree is the highest academic distinction that OSU can bestow upon an undergraduate student.
Students earning the Honors College Degree receive a special diploma with the Honors College Degree designation (in addition to any Latin honors earned), and they are the only undergraduate students to wear a baccalaureate hood at commencement ceremonies. Students may earn an Honors College Degree in any major on campus, and over 2100 Honors Degrees have been awarded to date.
Students may also earn an Honors College Degree with International Study Empasis by
completing requirements for either a specified academic minor with three hours earned
in a study abroad experience, or completion of an international study program with
a minimum of 18 credit hours of related courses.