AU Honors: The Faculty Experience

The University Honors Program is more than an intellectual home for bright, motivated students. It is also a community of faculty who are passionate about innovative teaching, intellectual exploration, and meaningful engagement across disciplines.

Honors faculty are committed not only to academic excellence but also to building connections with students and colleagues across the university. They embrace opportunities to engage both inside and outside the classroom, creating a learning environment where curiosity, collaboration, and discovery thrive.

Our students are eager to explore big questions that extend beyond the boundaries of any single discipline. Honors faculty help students make connections across fields of study and show how broad intellectual exploration can deepen students’ understanding of their chosen majors.

Faculty who teach in AU Honors must be full-time instructors, either tenure-line or term-line. In addition to teaching, Honors faculty are expected to participate in at least one community event each year, such as a Community Dinner, holiday gathering, campus lecture, or other Honors-sponsored activity.

Benefits of teaching in the program include funding for course enrichment, a dedicated teaching assistant, logistical support from Honors staff, and the autonomy to develop courses faculty are passionate about. Faculty interested in teaching in Honors are encouraged to explore the Honors curriculum and consider how individual courses contribute to the program’s overall structure.

Teaching in AU Honors

First-Year Courses | Fall and Spring Semesters

Honors Complex Problems / Honors Spring Research Experience

CORE 106 Honors Complex Problems (fall only)
HNRS 150 Honors Experiential Learning Lab (fall only)
Honors Complex Problems courses build on AU’s university-wide Complex Problems curriculum while adding a distinctive Honors component: a one-credit Experiential Learning Lab that meets weekly during the Wednesday block period.

Working closely with an Honors Program Associate (a peer educator who serves as both a teaching assistant and facilitator of the weekly labs), faculty design experiences that complement and extend the themes of the course. These labs give students opportunities to connect classroom learning with hands-on experiences, deeper reflection, and collaborative exploration.

Faculty proposing a Complex Problems (CP) course who would like it to be considered for Honors should indicate their interest on the course proposal cover sheet when submitting the proposal to AU Core. Please also copy the Honors Faculty Director, Jeffrey Romero Middents ([email protected]), so Honors can follow the proposal’s progress through the review process. Please visit the AU Core website for instructions on submitting a CP course.

HNRS 151 Honors Research Experience (spring only)
Honors Complex Problems faculty are also encouraged to consider teaching a one-credit Faculty-Led Research Experience (HNRS-151) in the spring semester. Faculty develop their own research topic, mentor students through the research process, and support them as they present their work at the annual Honors Research Conference. This course is offered as an overload assignment and compensated as such. Faculty should submit this form to indicate their interest.

Sophomore Courses | Fall and Spring Semesters

Theories of Inquiry / Honors Challenge Course

HNRS 395 Theories of Inquiry (fall only)
Theories of Inquiry is one of the signature courses in the Honors curriculum. The course invites students to examine how different disciplines ask questions, generate knowledge, and evaluate evidence. Students explore multiple traditions of inquiry while reflecting on the philosophical assumptions and intellectual frameworks that shape those approaches.

Required of all Honors sophomores, the course serves as the foundation for the interdisciplinary Challenge Course experience that follows in the spring semester. To encourage intellectual risk-taking, creativity, and exploration, the course is taught on a pass/fail basis.

Faculty teaching Theories of Inquiry collaborate to develop a shared course framework, including core texts and major assignments. Within that structure, instructors have significant flexibility to incorporate their own interests, expertise, and perspectives. Faculty who enjoy teaching across disciplinary boundaries and engaging students in conversations about ways of knowing are particularly well suited for this course.

Enrollment is capped at 16 students to support discussion-based learning and close faculty-student engagement.

Interested faculty should complete the intake form, which asks applicants to reflect on their interest in teaching an interdisciplinary Honors course. Theories of Inquiry is taught as part of a faculty member’s regular teaching load.

HNRS 398 Honors Challenge Course (spring only)
For faculty who enjoy mentoring intellectually curious and highly motivated students, the Honors Challenge Course offers a distinctive opportunity to guide student-designed research or creative projects. In this signature Honors experience, teams of three to five students develop an original interdisciplinary question, identify a faculty mentor, and work collaboratively over the semester to produce a substantial final project. Faculty mentors serve as guides rather than instructors, helping students refine their ideas, navigate the research or creative process, connect with relevant resources, and think critically about their work. Through regular meetings and individualized mentorship, faculty play a vital role in supporting student inquiry, creativity, and intellectual growth while fostering the independence that defines the Honors experience.

Faculty mentors often find the Challenge Course especially rewarding because it allows them to engage with students as emerging scholars, explore topics that cross disciplinary boundaries, and help bring ambitious student ideas to life.

Faculty who serve as mentors are compensated with a stipend. Faculty willing to be contacted by students about serving as a mentor should indicate their interest by filling out this form.

Advanced Undergraduate Courses | Fall or Spring Semester

Honors Colloquium

HNRS 400 Advanced Colloquium
Honors Colloquia offer students the opportunity to engage deeply with complex questions, contemporary issues, and enduring intellectual challenges. Rather than focusing solely on a single discipline, these courses often explore topics that sit at the intersection of multiple fields, encouraging students to examine problems from a variety of perspectives.

At the heart of every colloquium is a compelling question, puzzle, or problem. Through advanced reading, discussion, research, and collaborative inquiry, students develop sophisticated understandings of the topic while considering the strengths and limitations of different approaches.

Class sizes are capped at 16 students, creating an intimate environment that supports rigorous discussion and close mentorship. To maintain a diverse range of topics and ensure broad faculty participation, colloquia may be taught no more than twice within a four-year period, typically with at least two years between offerings.

Faculty teaching spring colloquia may choose to incorporate an optional spring break travel component. Travel experiences can enrich the course by providing opportunities for firsthand engagement with course themes, although participation must remain optional and planning must occur well in advance in coordination with Honors staff.

Faculty interested in offering an Honors Colloquium should submit an initial proposal to the Honors Advisory Committee, which reviews proposals on a rolling basis. For additional information about the proposal process, please contact [email protected].