New Course Development Information

Process

It is strongly recommended that faculty speak with their department chair and the Honors College prior to submitting a new course proposal.

After submitting a complete proposal, the faculty member will be invited to a review meeting with the Honors College Curriculum Committee, consisting of current Honors faculty, staff, and students.

A final decision about the new course proposal will be sent by email to the faculty member with further guidance and requests for revisions (if any) within two weeks of the curriculum meeting.

Course proposals that are intended to satisfy General Education requirements must be reviewed and approved by the Texas State General Education Committee in addition to the Honors College.

Deadlines

Course proposals for the fall term must be received by 1 September of the prior school year. Course proposals for the spring must be received by 15 February of the prior school year. New general education / honors course proposals are only accepted at the September deadline.

General Information and Expectations for Honors College Courses

  1. Texas State faculty of any rank may teach an honors course.
  2. Many honors courses adopt an interdisciplinary approach. All are structured as seminars and promote active engagement with course content. Honors course enrollment is usually limited to 20 students.
  3. Students in honors courses often represent many different academic fields. In order to effectively leverage diverse perspectives and viewpoints, and to attract enrollment, course material should appeal to students with broad disciplinary training.
  4. Honors courses are usually writing intensive. At least 65% of the overall course grade must derive from written work, and at least one written assignment should be 500 words or more in length. The writing intensive requirements must be explained in the course proposal.
  5. Honors courses may count toward degree or program requirements in other colleges with prior approval from the relevant academic unit.

Release Time

Chairs or directors must release full-time faculty (including faculty on the instructional line) to teach in the Honors College. Upon request, the Honors College may reimburse home departments to help defray the cost of covering the faculty member's departmental course load. The chair’s/director’s signature on the Departmental Approval Form indicates their willingness to grant the faculty member’s release. Faculty who are not full-time may contact petert@txstate.edu to discuss arrangements to teach an honors class. Faculty are usually not permitted to receive course overloads for teaching in honors.

Required Forms and Attachments

To be reviewed, a complete course proposal must be received by the relevant deadline. Required components of a course proposal include: (1) Honors College Course Proposal Form, (2) Departmental Approval Form, (3) Course Substitution Form, (4) current CV for the instructor. You can locate and download all of the required forms from our database.

Please submit all required materials to Peter Tschirhart, Associate Dean in the Honors College, by email.