Honors
Undergraduate University Honors Office and Honor Societies
Florida State University has a long history of providing recognition and support for outstanding students, beginning with a directive from a faculty committee in 1932. The program's purpose, as described in a report to the President and the Faculty Senate, was “to provide enlarged opportunities for…students; to give them a challenge and an incentive; to develop initiative, resourcefulness and self-reliance; to present knowledge in terms of fields, not courses.” (Report on Honors Work, FSU Archives, 12/21/32). The scope and focus of the Honors Program at Florida State University has evolved in accordance with the development of Higher Education and the changing needs and makeup of the student body. In addition to the Honors in the Major Program, which is an outgrowth of the university's first departmental honors program, students may earn the Honors designation by taking specifics courses and completing co-curricular and extracurricular requirements. The University Honors Program draws upon the special opportunities available at Florida State University, a large, preeminent research university with increasing social and economic impact in Florida and the nation.
University Honors Office
Associate Dean: Dr. D. Craig Filar; Associate Director for Curriculum and Faculty Development: Michael Furman; Associate Director: Katie Femrite; Assistant Directors: Brian Wilcoxon, Julia Pennington; Specialized Teaching Faculty II: Furman, Gundogan, Moret, Owens; Specialized Teaching Faculty I: Slayton, Martinez; Instructional Faculty I: Michael Franklin
The University Honors Office supports the University's long tradition of academic excellence by offering two programs, the University Honors Program and the Honors in the Major Program. Staff, which include the Associate Dean, Associate Director, Assistant Directors, and advisors, support the program's objectives in numerous ways, including dedicated advising of Honors students, auditing students' progress in the program, and curating special activities and events. Our faculty teach Honors Signature courses, mentor students, and provide academic guidance and support to help students achieve their best.
Florida State University Honors Program
The University Honors Program develops the University's most talented students into excellent scholars, leaders in their communities, and innovators in their professions. Students who have been accepted in the University Honors Program must complete Honors course credits. To graduate with Honors, students should maintain a 3.200 FSU GPA and complete Honors Program requirements, including a required Honors Colloquium for first-year students and at least one course from the program's signature course program. Other ways students earn academic credit include successfully completing Honors sections of departmental courses, Honors-augmented courses, Honors directed individual study courses (DIS), approved graduate courses, and Honors in the Major course credits.
Students must complete Honors courses with a grade of “C–” or better. Honors-augmented courses will be counted if a grade of “B–” or better is earned and the Honors-augmented project is completed satisfactorily. Students using Honors in the Major hours must earn a “B–” or better. Students who finish the University Honors program have “Completed Requirements of CoreFSU Curriculum Honors Program” noted on their transcripts.
Honors Signature courses, which are taught by the program's core faculty, engage students in broad, critical, and creative thinking about issues of human existence using interdisciplinary, inquiry-based, integrative, and active learning methods to foster flexible, higher-order thinking as a foundation for leadership and academic success. These courses are designed to capitalize on and foster the hallmark characteristics of Honors students: innovation; the drive and capacity to engage in critical and analytical thinking; creativity and flexible thinking; openness and the ability to communicate effectively with others from different social, political, and cultural backgrounds; a passion for complexity and challenge; and ability to employ multiple perspectives in approaching issues. These courses are designed and taught by faculty across academic disciplines who are selected for their teaching and research expertise. Honors Signature courses meet CoreFSU Curriculum requirements that Honors students do not typically meet via AP, IB, or AICE testing, which streamlines the attainment of university graduation requirements and expedites the path toward honors graduation. Honors Signature courses are limited to nineteen students per section in the Fall semester and twenty-four students in the Spring.
More information about the program and its academic requirements can be found at honors.fsu.edu.
Recognitions
Earning the Honors Medallion. Students who successfully complete the University Honors Program requirements and/or the Honors in the Major project will have Honors distinctions noted on their transcript and receive an Honors Medallion during a special graduation ceremony. The medallion may be worn during the University's commencement exercises.
The Outstanding Senior Student Honors Distinction. Students who complete both University Honors Program and Honors in the Major and earn a 3.900 GPA or higher are recognized as Outstanding Senior Scholars.
Admission Requirements for the University Honors Program
Admission by Application. All high school students accepted into Florida State University as freshmen may apply to the University Honors Program. Applicants will be evaluated based not only on their high school performance and standardized test scores, but as importantly on the quality of their Honors Program application, which consists of an additional short essay.
Lateral Admission. Any first-year student at Florida State University who was not admitted to the Honors Program through the standard admission process may apply for lateral admission. A limited number of students are admitted laterally to Honors at the end of the spring term of their first year. Lateral applicants are assessed on their college GPA, college course rigor, and the quality of written essays regarding the program. Information about the lateral application process will be available at the beginning of each Spring term. Note: Decisions about lateral admission are made after Spring term grades are posted. Students who are admitted laterally are held to the same program requirements as students admitted by standard admission.
Remaining in Good Standing
To remain in the University Honors Program, students must maintain at least a 3.200 FSU cumulative GPA, successfully complete the University Honors Colloquium during their first year in the University Honors Program, with the exception of students in the First Year Abroad Program, and complete one Honors Signature course.
Honors Housing
Pending availability, Honors students have the option to live in several campus residence complexes. The Honors residence complex, Landis Hall, provides an excellent environment for Honors students to socialize and study together. Since many students share the same courses, both planned and spontaneous study sessions are common. Honors students also have the option to live in Jennie Murphree Hall, which will dedicate several floors to Honors student housing and will offer programming akin to what is offered in Landis Hall.
Acceptance into the University Honors Program does not guarantee University housing in Landis Hall, Jennie Murphree Hall or elsewhere. Students who intend to live on campus are strongly encouraged to submit their application to University Housing immediately after their admission to the University.
The Florida State Honors in the Major Program
Many colleges and academic departments at Florida State University participate in the Honors in the Major Program, which is intended to encourage talented juniors and seniors to undertake significant independent and original scholarship as part of the undergraduate experience. Completing an Honors in the Major project deepens a student's knowledge of their field and helps them prepare for post-graduate work or education. Honors in the Major work is carried out by the student over a period of two or three semesters in close collaboration with a faculty project director who is from the student's major department. Each student in the program works with an Honors in the Major project supervisory committee comprised of a faculty project director and two or three other members, one of whom must have a home academic department the same as the student's major department, and another who must have a home academic department different from the student's major department. The members of the committee are selected by the student. Most often, the faculty project director and members of the supervisory committee are tenured, tenure-track, or specialized faculty members. Post-doctorate researchers are eligible to serve as a member of the supervisory committee as long as they will be at Florida State University for the duration of the student's Honors in the Major project. While many students conduct traditional thesis research, the Honors in the Major Program also supports the creative endeavors of students in majors such as Creative Writing, Dance, Film, Music, Studio Art, and Theatre.
Students must submit a formal application via the Honors in the Major Program website in the semester before they intend to register for Honors in the Major credit hours. The application must show that the student has the required grades and credits, a proposed project topic, sufficient time prior to graduation to complete the project, a faculty project director, and the approval of the chair or director of the academic department or program in which the student is majoring.
Typically, each student in the program works on the Honors in the Major project for two or three semesters. A prospectus is due to the University Honors Office during the first semester of research. This brief paper states the nature of the Honors in the Major project, its scope, and its methodology. The prospectus must be approved by all members of the supervisory committee. Further details regarding the prospectus and how to submit forms are available from the Honors in the Major Handbook, downloadable at https://honors.fsu.edu/academics/honors-major.
During each of these semesters, the student must enroll in one to three semester hours of Honors in the Major credit using the appropriate course number provided by the student's major department. Students must earn a total of six to nine Honors in the Major credits and must receive at least a “B–” in each of these courses. A student who does not have six credit hours of work graded “B–” or better will not be eligible for program completion and graduation with honors. Students must also maintain at least a 3.200 cumulative and FSU GPA (unrounded to the third decimal place) until graduation. Several departments have additional requirements; students should contact the undergraduate faculty advisor in their major department in which the Honors in the Major work will be based for further information.
To complete the Honors in the Major requirements, students must complete six or more credit hours of Honors in the Major coursework over two to three semesters and successfully defend their Honors in the Major project. The student orally defends the completed Honors in the Major project in a meeting with the supervisory committee. Following a successful defense, the student must submit the required defense forms and one electronic copy of the completed project no later than the official last day of classes in the defense semester. Students who meet these requirements will graduate “With Honors” in their major, a distinction that is announced during commencement and designated on the graduate's official transcript. Further details regarding project submission, specific defense deadlines are available from the Assistant Director of the Honors in the Major Program and at the Honors in the Major Handbook, downloadable at https://honors.fsu.edu/academics/honors-major.