The Honors program promotes the intellectual and personal development of high-ability undergraduate students both inside and outside the classroom. Along with admission to Honors classes and recognition on their diplomas and transcripts for high achievement, Honors students receive priority scheduling, unique research opportunities, and fellowships in some cases. Honors students in Newark typically join the Laurel Collegiate Society, a campus organization for high-achieving students, and take advantage of its many field trips and on-campus activities. Each year, outstanding students are also recognized at the Ohio State Newark Salute to Undergraduate Achievement dinner.
Honors classes are not courses that simply require more work; they allow students to engage at a different level. Limited to 15 highly motivated students, Honors classes are structured to provide more interaction among students and faculty. These smaller, more intimate classes typically are presented as discussion seminars rather than lectures. Often students develop projects that allow them to research an area of particular interest, in close consultation with their professors. Some courses, designated as Honors-embedded, also allow students to earn Honors credit in non-Honors classes by working individually with the professor on projects.
To help students meet their Honors coursework requirements, many GEC courses as well as upper-level courses are offered in an Honors format. Freshmen and sophomores can also earn credit for Honors work when they take upper-level, non-honors courses. Finally, a one-credit-hour Honors seminar is offered on a different topic each quarter; for winter quarter 2012, that class is a three-day trip to Washington, D.C.
Students planning to graduate in one of the majors offered at the Newark campus should review the information below on earning and maintaining Honors status and consult with their major advisor. Students planning to finish their degrees on the Columbus campus also are urged to join the program at Newark so that they can begin earning the Honors credits necessary when they seek to join the Honors and Scholars program. Fulfilling an Honors contract in Columbus, for example, likely will require taking Honors versions of GEC courses, and many of those requirements can be met at Newark in the first two years. Without Honors courses in the first two years of study, transfer students will find it difficult to complete an Honors program in Columbus.
.