Teaching Freshman Honors Colloquium

You have been selected to teach the Freshman Honors Colloquium because of your proven record as an excellent teacher and because you model the intellectual curiosity expected of our students. Rather than creating a uniform syllabus for this course, the Honors College values your own intellectual passion and urges you to find a theme or cluster of ideas that will give your text selection and class activities cohesiveness over two semesters and thus a flavor and approach distinctly different from those of other course sections. 

You thus have great latitude in designing your Colloquium section. Certain elements, however, should be common to all sections: intensive writing, a significant proportion of literary texts, much class discussion, research, a reasonable breadth of content, and flexibility for student initiative.

For a broader view of our philosophy of Honors instruction, you should also consult The Nature of an Honors Course formulated by the Honors College Policy Council. 

We are deeply grateful for your interest in teaching this crucial first course for our students. We pledge our support for your efforts and those of your students in several ways. Modest financial resources are available for field trips, teaching materials (e.g., videos), and food (e.g., a picnic at your home). When you tell us of a student in trouble, we will also follow up with the student's advisor to see what obstacles are getting in the way.

We hope that you enjoy teaching this course. It is a privilege and an honor to challenge, guide, and nurture the quick-minded and ambitious students in our charge. 

Each year the Honors College provides incoming freshmen with course descriptions written by the instructors of particular sections. Students use these descriptions throughout the advising and registration period when they meet with Honors advisors to select their courses. Students retain considerable choice of sections. It is important, therefore, that you be specific in your description (naming the topic, tentative texts to be used, and work required) as you describe your own course section.