Faculty Guidelines

Recommending an Honors Student

The Honors Program is always looking to identify talented students within the GHC student population. Our absolute best way to do through is through the faculty members who are in the classroom with them every day.

So what is the student profile for Honors?

Honors students tend to be highly motivated and high achievers. They respond with intensity to ideas, classroom discussions, and problem-solving. They can be highly creative and innovative. They are frequently willing to take on difficult and in-depth projects. They are often involved in the campus community to a greater extent than other students (www.nchchonors.org).

Teaching Honors-Designated Courses

All faculty members at GHC have the opportunity to teach an honors-designated course, if they would like. Honors courses at GHC are smaller (typically capped at 15-18) and more experiential in design.

Most Honors courses will have the following five objectives, or some variation:

1. To help students develop effective written communication skills (including the ability to make effective use of the information and ideas they learn);
2. To help students develop effective oral communication skills (while recognizing that not all students are comfortable talking a lot in class);
3. To help students develop their ability to analyze and synthesize a broad range of material;
4. To help students understand how scholars think about problems, formulate hypotheses, research those problems, and draw conclusions about them; and to help students understand how creative artists approach the creative process and produce an original work;
5. To help students become more independent and critical thinkers, demonstrating the ability to use knowledge and logic when discussing an issue or an idea, while considering the consequences of their ideas, for themselves, for others, and for society.

The Honors Program welcomes course proposals from all faculty members.

Mentoring an Honors-Option Contract

The Honors option allows students to earn honors credit in a course not specifically designated as an “Honors” course. An Honors option contract is a project that an Honors student pursues in a addition to the regular requirements of a traditional class. The project should combine the student’s interests and the subject matter of the course to create a deeper, more experiential learning environment. The contract is implemented when a professor and a student draw up an agreement specifying the work necessary for the student to perform to earn the credit.

The job of the faculty member is primarily to provide a mentorship (similar to that offered by a thesis advisor) by helping the student develop a project, establishing regular contact to check on the status of the project, and reviewing the final product before it goes the Honors Advisory Board for review.

For more information and important forms, click here.

Volunteering Your Time

The Honors Program always have plenty of opportunities for faculty members to volunteer their time to help the program. If you are interested, please contact the Honors Director.

Advising Guidelines

Whether you are advising in a New Student Orientation or during the Early Bird Advising period, you can help guide potential Honors Students in the right direction:

1. Direct students to this website to read more about the requirements.
2. Send them to the Honors Director for more information.
3. Let them know about the available honors courses.
4. If none of those courses fit with their schedule, let them know about the availability of Honors Option Contracts to fulfill their requirements.