Process
It is strongly recommended that faculty speak with their department chair and the Honors College prior to developing a new course proposal.
After submitting a complete proposal, the faculty member will be invited to a review meeting with the Honors College Curriculum Committee. Proposals will be evaluated on content, rigor, curricular need, and faculty qualifications to teach the class. At least one external reviewer from another academic unit will be included at course review meetings.
A final decision about the new course proposal will be sent by email to the faculty member with further guidance and requests for revisions (if any) within two weeks of the curriculum meeting.
Course proposals that are intended to satisfy General Education requirements must be reviewed and approved by the Texas State General Education Committee (GEC) in addition to the Honors College. Guidelines and expectations for GEC proposals can be found on their website. Please note that additional materials addressing the relevant core curriculum component area are required for all GEC proposals.
Deadlines
Course proposals for the fall term must be received by 1 September of the prior school year. Course proposals for the spring must be received by 15 February of the prior school year.
General Information and Expectations for Honors College Courses
- Texas State faculty of any rank may teach an honors course.
- Most honors courses adopt an interdisciplinary approach, and many are structured as seminars or active workshops that promote engagement with course content.
- Most honors course enrollments are limited to 20 students.
- Students in an honors course often represent many different academic fields. In order to effectively leverage diverse perspectives and viewpoints, and to attract enrollment, course material should appeal to students with broad disciplinary training.
- Honors courses are usually writing intensive. This means that at least 65% of the overall course grade must derive from written work, and at least one written assignment should be 500 words or more in length. The writing intensive requirements must be explained in the course proposal.
- Honors courses may count toward degree or program requirements in other colleges with prior approval from the relevant academic unit. Compelling proposals will be accompanied by at least one curricular equivalency, allowing the course to count toward another major, minor, or degree program.
Release Time
Chairs or directors must release full-time faculty (including faculty on the instructional line) to teach in the Honors College. Upon request, the Honors College may reimburse home departments to help defray the cost of covering the faculty member's departmental course load. The chair’s/director’s signature on the Departmental Approval Form indicates their willingness to grant the faculty member’s release. Faculty who are not full-time may contact petert@txstate.edu to discuss arrangements to teach an honors class. Faculty are usually not permitted to receive course overloads for teaching in honors.
Required Forms and Attachments
To be reviewed, a complete course proposal must be received by the relevant deadline. Required components of a course proposal include: (1) Honors College Course Proposal Form, (2) Departmental Approval Form, (3) Course Substitution Form, (4) current CV for the instructor. You can locate and download all of the required forms from our database. General education proposals must also include a complete syllabus using the GEC template available online.