Mission Statement: The Redwine Honors Program at Midwestern State University is designed to bring out the best in academically talented students and to serve as a core of academic excellence within the university community.

 

Characteristics of an Honors Education

This document presents a brief overview of Honors education at MSU and intends to serve as a guide for instructors who wish to participate in honors education at MSU. Although instructors have significant flexibility in designing Honors courses at MSU it is important that we maintain a consistent approach to delivering Honors education at MSU. Specifically, their needs to be a common understanding of what an Honor course is and how it differs from other courses at MSU. First, Honors education is NOT simply a more difficult version of a regular course, nor is it a regular course with JUST more work required. According to the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), an Honors curriculum is characterized by in-class and co –curricular activities that are:

  1. Measurably broader, deeper, or more complex than comparable learning experiences typically found at institutions of higher education;
  2. Include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy;
  3. Are appropriately tailored to fit the institution’s culture and mission;
  4. Occur within a close community of students and faculty.

At MSU we offer two types of Honors courses: 1. Honors Courses and 2. Honors Contract Courses. An Honors course is a specially designated and pedagogically enhanced section of a regular core undergraduate course or an upper division interdisciplinary seminar. It is listed as an Honors course and restricted to Honors program students. To supplement honors education at MSU we also utilize contract courses, which enable a regular upper division courses to be transformed into an Honors courses. The student and instructor would meet outside of regular class time for an enhanced educational experience. Honors Contract courses are designed to provide students with the opportunity to enhance their major coursework by exploring their discipline more deeply.