Honors Program
The University Honors Program offers membership to academically qualified and motivated students who wish to enrich their undergraduate education with special activities and challenges. The Honors Program offers unique and challenging classroom experiences, independent study undertaken in close collaboration with faculty members, and a wide range of co-curricular activities.
Program of Study
Honors students are eligible for special sections of required Integrative Liberal Studies classes, taught by carefully selected instructors, limited in size, and enriched with opportunities for travel and special speakers. They also take Honors Special Topics courses, interdisciplinary and innovative, at the junior and senior levels. In recent years these classes have included such topics as The Cathedral (with a field trip to The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.), The Nuclear Dilemma, Human Rights and Human Wrongs, Geometry and Art, and Films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Students interested in independent study enroll in upper-level courses called Readings and Research for Honors and work closely with faculty mentors. Finally, there is the Senior Honors Colloquium in which advanced students work collaboratively with faculty advisors on in-depth research or community service projects. Honors students also receive special advising during registration.
Co-Curricular Activities
Members of the Honors Program are expected to be active and engaged in a wide range of both curricular and co-curricular activities. For instance, Honors students are often invited to informal meetings with distinguished speakers and scholars who visit the campus; they have the opportunity to enroll in Honors Semesters at other campuses both in the United States and abroad; and the program arranges frequent visits to plays, concerts and other cultural events. Honors students are particularly encouraged to participate in the university’s Summer at Oxford program. There are also field trips, participation in professional conferences and purely social gatherings. Many Honors students attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, an annual conference where students from around the country present the results of their scholarly and creative work.
Service Learning
The Honors Program recognizes service learning as an integral component of a liberal arts education, and Honors students are active in community service work. A UNC Asheville Honors student is one who participates meaningfully across the spectrum of university activities. The Key Center for Community Citizenship and Service Learning directs much of the student service work.
Admission
Students admitted to the University Honors Program have high test scores and class rank, as well as other evidences of ability, dedication and imagination. If you have an SAT Reasoning Test score of at least 1250 combined in Math and Critical Reading (ACT with Writing Test score of 27 and above) and/or a class rank in the top 10 percent of your high school class, and you wish to maximize your undergraduate experience and be an active part of an exciting program, you should complete the application, which includes an essay.
Applications must be received by May 15. Transfer students with a 3.5 grade-point average in courses transferred to UNC Asheville may apply. Continuing students with a 3.5 grade-point average may also apply.
Graduation with Distinction
Honors students may earn one of UNC Asheville’s highest graduation honors by completing at least 21 hours in a specified Honors curriculum and maintaining an overall GPA of 3.25, with a 3.50 for Honors courses.
More Information
University Honors Program
141 Karpen Hall, CPO #2150
UNC Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804-8509
828.251.6227
honors@unca.edu