User:Mdriscoll96/sandbox/University of San Diego Honors Program

The University of San Diego Honors Program is a four-year, interdisciplinary program within the University of San Diego in San Diego, California, United States. Introduced into the College of Arts and Sciences in 1979, rather than a specific building or separate college, the Honors Program consists of a curriculum integrated with students' major area of study as well as the University's Core Curriculum requirements. The top ten percent of the incoming first-year class is invited to apply to the Honors Program.

Mission
The Honors Program Website states that "The Honors Program is designed to provide smart, passionate and eager students with challenges and opportunities that will allow them to achieve their intellectual goals. The program emphasizes teaching excellence, small seminar-style classes, and a core curriculum of innovative courses. Honors students have numerous opportunities for interaction with faculty, specialized course work, undergraduate research and focused academic advising."

Admission
The top ten percent of the incoming class, based on high school grade point averages and scholastic aptitude test scores, is invited to apply to the Honors Program. Involvement in community, school and leadership activities, and evidence of a sustained desire to do excellent academic work are also considered in applicants. Students who do not enter the program in their first semester at the University as well as transfer students may apply for mid-year admission. Current USD academic record will be considered for mid-year applicants. Generally, following their third semester, students are not admitted to the program unless they can ensure completion of the Honors curriculum by the end of their fourth year at the University.

Requirements
Each Honors Program student takes an average of one Honors course per semester at the University, but may plan the timing of courses differently as long as requirements are met. Honors students must maintain a 3.4 grade point average, and complete 25 units of Honors courses by their graduation date. Eight of the 25 required Honors units must consist of two team-taught courses (each four credits). Honors Students also complete a Senior Thesis in their major area of study. The fall semester of their senior year, Honors students may utilize research credits toward research for their thesis. The Spring semester of senior year includes a Senior Thesis Seminar course for Honors students. Students who study abroad receive a waiver 4 units of Honors Credit (and thus complete 21 total units at USD), and one regular course at the University may be "contracted" into an Honors course once during the student’s enrollment pending the Program and the professor's approval.

First-year students in the Honors Program live in the Insight Living Learning Community (LLC). They participate in LLC activities on and off campus, live together in one housing area on campus, and take an Honors Preceptorial Course their first semester, taught by their Preceptor or Academic Advisor.

Curriculum
The University of San Diego Honors Program consists of small, seminar-style single-taught courses and team-taught courses. These courses often meet Core Curriculum requirements, or those of students’ major area of interest.

The first Honors course Honors students take is their Honors Preceptorial course, a course taught by a professor who is to be their Preceptor, or academic advisor, until such time as they declare their major. This course is taken by students in the Honors Program who all live in the same freshman housing area as a part of the Insight Living Learning Community (LLC). All incoming Honors Students are a part of this community, and LLC-wide intellectual activities occur throughout the year.

Team-taught courses are a unique feature of the Honors Program which are taught simultaneously by two professors from different disciplines. This collaboration yields examination of topics from an interdisciplinary perspective. Team-taught courses are offered each semester and span a wide range of disciplines. Examples include: Sacred Things: The Material Culture of American Religion (taught by one Theology and Religious Studies and one Art History professor), The Facebook Phenomenon: The (Social) Capital of Social Media (taught by one Marketing and one Communication Studies professor), and Conflict Diagnosis and Dispute Resolution in a Global Environment (taught by one Business Management and one Ethics and the Law professor). The fall semester of senior year, Honors Program students optionally participate in Independent Study or complete a Capstone Project in their major field of interest. Their spring semester, Honors Program students take an Honors Thesis Seminar, which allows them to complete their required Honors Capstone Thesis.