User:KOneill/University of Utah Honors College

The University of Utah Honors College is a public honors college at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in 1962, the Honors College provides liberal arts education to top University of Utah students based on a holistic admissions process. Students admitted to the Honors College complete 24 credit hours of Honors course work, plus an Honors thesis project in their major. Successful students receive an Honors Bachelors Degree in their respective fields, the highest undergraduate degree conferred by the University of Utah. The Honors College is located in Fort Douglas and in the Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC). The Honors College enrolls approximately 2,300 students from every discipline on campus.

Overview
Founded in 1962, the Honors College has a distinguished history of excellence in undergraduate education. The centerpiece of the Honors College is Engaged Learning Opportunities – signature experiences that bring students and community partners together in collaborations that result in real world applications. By addressing some of today’s most important and relevant issues, students engage directly with the world around them and learn how they can make a difference in their own communities. Honors students regularly go on to some of the nation’s best graduate programs.

Honors courses do not exceed an enrollment of 30 students, and the average student/faculty ratio is 17:1. Class instructors are selected on the basis of their demonstrated teaching excellence. Honors faculty actively publish research in their fields and courses are often designed to coincide with current research activity. Occasionally, individuals from the community who have distinguished themselves in their profession are invited to teach in the Honors College.

Campus
The Honors College is located on either side of Legacy Bridge, a memorial to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which links the upper and main campuses of the University of Utah. On the main campus side sits the Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC), a 309-bed residence hall with academic and common spaces which accommodates a majority of the Honors programming and classes. On the upper campus side, Honors advisors and staff offices are housed in the Fort Douglas National Historic Landmark District, building 619.

Academics
The Honors College’s curriculum is designed to support broad liberal arts education and engaged learning experiences. Rigorous Honors courses demand academic excellence, beginning with Intellectual Traditions courses that explore foundations of knowledge through primary texts, and culminate in a faculty-sponsored undergraduate thesis in students’ respective disciplines.

Admissions
Admission to the Honors College is highly competitive, based on a holistic process considering students’ application essays, high school GPA, and SAT/ACT scores. As of 2016, incoming Honors students had an average unweighted GPA of 3.9 and average ACT scores of 30. Virtually all Honors students receive scholarship support, either directly from the University of Utah or the Honors College.

Courses
Honors students must complete 8 honors courses to complete their Honors Bachelors Degree. This includes two Intellectual Traditions courses, one Honors Writing, one Honors Science, three Honors Electives, and a thesis course. Electives can be major specific or fulfill other university general requirements. Honors electives cover a range of topics but concentrate in three thematic areas of Health & Society, Energy & Environment, and Policy & Social Justice. A majority of Honors courses, both elective and core, fulfill other University of Utah general education and bachelor requirements.

Ecology and Legacy Integrated Minor
The Honors College also offers a unique minor exclusively for Honors students, the Ecology and Legacy Integrated Minor. Over 3 semesters students take 18-credit hours of intensive work in which they use science, arts and the humanities to critically think about interactions between humans and their world. A majority of the course work takes place in field sites. Past locations have included the Great Salt Lake; Centennial Valley, Montana; and the Peninsula Valdes in Patagonia.

Thesis Project
All Honors Degree recipients at the University of Utah complete an Honors Thesis Project. Led by an Honors Faculty Mentor in their chosen discipline, theses consist of new primary research conducted by the student. Thesis Projects vary between disciplines and range from research papers to creative projects.

Housing
Honors students have the option to live in Honors specific housing in the Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community (MHC), Fort Douglas Officer’s Circle houses or Sage Point residence halls, but can also apply to live in any other on-campus housing provided by the University of Utah. The MHC provides options for private single rooms and double rooms. All rooms are apartment-style, where 3-8 students share a common living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms. Located directly in front of a UTA TRAX light rail stop, the MHC provides students access to downtown Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City International Airport, and the Salt Lake City Public Library, among other nearby destinations.

All students are eligible to live on-campus, but freshman are encouraged to spend their first year living on-campus to acclimate to the campus environment and build strong relationships with other students.

Living Learning Communities And Learning Communities
All students living in Honors Housing engage in Living Learning Communities centered on specific themes. Through these themed communities students live together and take specific course work designed to heighten their sense of community and engagement with the world outside the university. For students living off campus or in non-Honors housing Learning Communities provide similar themed courses that span an entire academic year, building relationships and shared experiences.