Advanced Studies
University Honors Program
SIUE’s Honors Program is for high achieving and highly motivated students in all fields and majors. To prepare students not just to succeed, but to excel and become leaders in their chosen fields, SIUE’s Honors Program emphasizes developing the capacities of integrating knowledge, of creativity, and of self-reflection. These capacities are developed in seminar-style classes that are taught with participatory (student-centered) pedagogy that confronts students with the challenge of applying knowledge to real-world problems and facing difficult and uncomfortable situations. We encourage students to take risks and help them learn from and harness their failures. The Honors Program at SIUE aims to nurture not just innovators and leaders in the professions but active and engaged citizens. It creates, for a diverse body of high-achieving and motivated students, an inclusive community of inquiry, reflection, self-development, and experimentation. The program instills and develops an atmosphere of collegiality, respect for difference, comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity, lifelong curiosity, and humility.
Honors students are academic leaders on campus; they promote the enduring value of liberal education in all of their courses. They are given the privilege of priority registration in order to accommodate their often ambitious schedules.
General Education Requirements for Honors Students
Honors students are required to complete a general education program that combines the requirements outlined in University policy 1D1 - University-Wide Criteria for the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), and Professional Baccalaureate Degrees - with the following 25 credit-hour Honors curriculum. These requirements fall into three categories: the Honors Core, the Pro-Seminar Requirement, and additional requirements.
Honors Core (15 credit-hours)
Honors students are required to take Honors 120, “Questions and the Spirit of Inquiry,” and Honors 121, “Honors Rhetoric” the first-semester of their first year. These linked courses are designed to introduce students to university instruction and inquiry by examining a big question of abiding human concern while simultaneously teaching them how to make, present, and compose persuasive arguments. Honors students go on to take Honors 250, “Patterns in Human Endeavors," which explores the connections between seemingly diverse fields or topics; this course is designed to lay the foundations of learning how to integrate knowledge. Honors students complete the Honors Core by taking Honors 320A, “Interdisciplinary Problems in Society and Culture” and Honors 320B, "Interdisciplinary Problems in Sciences and Technology.” These courses provide honors students the opportunity to apply the disciplinary knowledge they have been acquiring and the ability to integrate knowledge that honors education has nurtured to wicked, real-world problems.
Honors Pro-Seminars (4 credit-hours)
Honors pro-seminars are small, short discussion-intensive classes that address pressing contemporary matters. Most pro-seminars are taught in a five (5) or eight (8) week period, meeting once a week. They are designed as opportunities for honors students to get used to talking about difficult, sometimes uncomfortable issues that confront our culture and our time; in the pro-seminars students can learn how to navigate some of the sharp value differences that animate our time. Honors students are required to take Honors 100, “On Education,” in the second semester of their first-year. The pro-seminar examines the nature of liberal education and the relationships between education, work, and the broader demands of living a good life. After that honors students take Honors 200, “Globalization,” and Honors 300, “Special Topics” during their sophomore and junior years. Honors 200 examines the accelerating economic integration of the world that is producing both remarkable opportunities and deepening anxieties and disruptions of social, political, and cultural institutions. The topic of Honors 300 is variable, but the interesting thing is that it is determined by a group of honors students who meet to decide what should be offered. Finally honors students are required to take Honors 499 at the same time they take their departmental senior assignment. Honors 499, “Honors Capstone on Civic Life,” is the Honors Program capstone experience. It provides honors students interdisciplinary feedback on their disciplinary senior assignments as well as the opportunity to take their disciplinary/professional work into the public, during the Honors Symposium. All honors students are required to participate in the Honors Symposium.
Additional Requirements (6 credit-hours)
Honors students are also required to satisfy the requirements of:
- a lab course (EL) in the physical sciences (PS) or life sciences (LS);
- a mathematics, statistics, or quantitative reasoning course.
These requirements may be satisfied through major or minor degree requirements.
These requirements are detailed below (which is only a model):
Year 1 (Fall Semester)
(3) HONS 120—Questions and the Spirit of Inquiry
(3) HONS 121—Honors Rhetoric
Year 1 (Spring Semester)
(1) HONS 100—On Education
Year 2 (Fall Semester)
(3) HONS 250—Patterns on Human Endeavors
Year 2 (Spring Semester)
(1) HONS 200—Globalization
Year 3 (Fall Semester)
(3) HONS 320A—Interdisciplinary Problems in the Society and Culture
Year 3 (Spring Semester)
(1) HONS 300—Special Topics
Year 4 (Fall Semester)
(3) HONS 320B—Interdisciplinary Problems in Science and Technology
Year 4 (Spring Semester)
(1) HONS 499—Honors Capstone on Civic Life
Honors students will work with both a dedicated Honors Advisor and a discipline/program specific advisor in order to guarantee that they meet the requirements of both the Honors Program and the specific requirements of their major in a beneficial way.
Honors Curriculum for Continuing and Transfer Students
SIUE’s Honors Program allows for continuing SIUE students or transfer students, with 1-60 hours of college credit, to apply for and potentially join the program. The application process for continuing and transfer students is available on the Honors Program’s website. Continuing or transfer students fall into two categories, those with 30 hours or less of college-level work and those with 31 to 60 hours; the curricular requirements vary, depending in which of these categories the student falls.
Continuing or transfer students with 1-30 credit-hours are exempt from Honors 120 and Honors 121 but are required to complete the remainder of the honors curriculum outlined above (15 credit-hours), including the Additional Requirements. They are required to take Honors 250, within two semesters of admittance to the program. In addition, they are required to earn credit in two English composition courses.
Co-Curricular Requirement
Honors students are required to engage in 50 hours of service before graduation. Opportunities for service are provided through the Kimmel Student Involvement Center. See their website for current service opportunities.
Program Retention
Honors students must maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade point average to remain in good standing in the Honors Program. If in any semester an honors student’s cumulative grade point average falls below a 3.2 average, the student shall be placed on program probation. The student will receive written notification and given up to one full academic year (Fall and Spring semesters) to raise their cumulative GPA to 3.2. If at the end of year the student does not attain a 3.2 cumulative GPA, she/he is to be dropped from the Honors Program.
Honors Pre-Law Scholars Program
Honors students with an ACT composite score in the 85th percentile nationally (or the equivalent SAT score in critical reading and math) and who are interested in attending law school upon earning their bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have the option of joining the Honors Pre-Law Scholars Program. Application is done during admission to the Honors Program or subsequently through the Honors Advisor. It is open to freshpersons, sophomores, and juniors. Upon acceptance into the Pre-Law Scholars Program, students are given the opportunity to participate in a variety of courses, program, and lectures related to the law. Honors Pre-Law Scholars are guaranteed admission to SIU Law School if they complete the curricular and co-curricular requirements of the SIUE Honors Program in good standing (3.2 cumulative GPA), complete all graduation requirements for a B.A. or B.S. degree from SIUE, and complete all SIU School of Law application requirements. In compliance with the American Bar Association, SIUE Pre-Law Scholars will be required to have a valid LSAT on file through the Law School Admissions Council. Further, Southern Illinois University School of Law considers, as part of the admissions process, prior acts of academic and other misconduct. Similarly, the SIU School of Law must certify to the Board of Bar Admissions of each state in which students apply for admission that they are fit to practice law. For these reasons, all SIUE Pre-Law Scholars are required to make a full and complete disclosure to the character and fitness questions outlined in SIU School of Law application. Questions pertaining to this requirement may be directed to the SIU School of Law Office of Admissions.
In addition to completing the honors curriculum, Honors Pre-Law Scholars are required to take the Honors Pre-Law Concentration (15 credit-hours), combined in the following way:
Legal Foundation (one required, another may be taken as an elective)
- CJ 348/PHIL 348/POLS 392 Law and Society
- POLS 390 The Judicial System
- CJ 410 Judicial Process
Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning, Logic
- PHIL 213 Deductive Logic
Communication (one required, another may be taken as an elective)
- ACS 204 Argumentation and Debate
- ACS 300 Communication in Interviewing
- ACS 304 Conflict Management and Communication
- ACS 305 Listening
- ACS 430 Persuasion and Social Influence
- ENG 332 Argument
- ENG 369 Grammatical Analysis
- ENG 405 Pragmatics
- ENG 409 Syntactic Analysis
- ENG 410 Rhetoric, Writing, and Citizenship
- ENG 416 Language and Society
- ENG 490 Advanced Composition
- ENG 491 Technical and Business Writing
- PSYC 206 Social Psychology
- PSYC 365 Group Dynamics and Individual Behavior
- THEA 112a Core: Acting 1
Legal Studies (one required, another may be taken as an elective)
- ANTH 359 Legal Anthropology
- ANTH 366 Human Variation
- ANTH 369 Introduction to Forensic Anthropology
- MC 401 Media Law & Policy
- PHIL 340 Social and Political Philosophy
- PHIL 343/POLS 391 Philosophy of Law
- PHIL 441/POLS 485 Modern Political Theory
- PHIL 498/POLS 498 Legal Theory
- POLS 495 Constitutional Law: Powers of Government
- POLS 496 Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- POLS 497 Environmental Law
- POLS 498 Legal Theory
Elective Course (One an additional 3 credit-hour course from any of the above not already taken).
Students who are in the Pre-Law Scholars Program, while guaranteed admittance to SIU Law, are not committed to attend the SIU Law School. In addition, courses in the Pre-Law Scholars Program can be counted toward the Pre-Law minor.
Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES)
Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) is a pathway for motivated students in all fields and majors to use their general education credits to work alongside community organizations to study and address the world’s most pressing problems.
CODES students take a set of core courses emphasizing transdisciplinary research and problem-solving methods together in their cohort. They meet each semester in research-team courses facilitated by their mentoring instructor and a community organization to address major social problems in our region such as food insecurity or the inequitable effects of climate change. Students take their education beyond the walls of the classroom and into the St. Louis region.
The research teams analyze, visualize, and share their work with the broader public using data mining, mapping, storytelling, networking, and cultural analytics. In this way, the pathway gives students firsthand experience applying twenty-first century skills including collaboration, systems thinking, and innovative approaches to digital communication. In this community-based program, students learn the important skill of negotiating the civic responsibilities they bear toward others in both physical and digital spaces.
General Education Requirements for CODES Students
CODES students are required to complete a general education program that combines the requirements outlined in University policy 1D1 – University-wide Criteria for the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), and Professional Baccalaureate Degrees – with the following 22 credit-hour curriculum.
CODES Summer Seminars
Students participate in two-day, non-credit bearing research seminars in the summers preceding each year of the pathway where they will choose community partners, learn from peer mentoring, and share their research outcomes.
CODES Research Teams (9 hours)
Students meet in intensive research teams comprised of eight to ten students, a faculty mentor, and a community partner. Teams focus on a “wicked” or seemingly unsolvable problem such as nutrition and food access, the challenges of intergenerational communication, and poverty’s manifestations across rural and urban environments. The level of difficulty the research teams undertake grows with students, and the curriculum is intentionally organic, transforming each year based on student and faculty interest and community need. Students and faculty work together to structure a series of readings from diverse fields such as history, literature, anthropology, biology, and sociology that supports their work, and study their problem using critical thinking, writing, and qualitative research methods. In final projects each semester, research teams apply a variety of digital methods to communicate the results of their research.
CODES Core (13 credit-hours)
CODES students are required to take CODE121 and CODE123 during their first year. These courses are designed to help student research, map, conceptualize, and communicate about global problems and their impact on our region. Students will learn how to write and speak using interdisciplinary, multi-modal forms of communication. In their second year of instruction, students will take CODE220, in which students will learn how scientific modes of inquiry can apply to their problem. Their work culminates in CODE320, a summer research experience before the third year, in which students complete a public-facing digital collaborative project to explain their problem and propose solutions, incorporating creative non-fiction, graphic design, and data visualization. In their final year, students enroll in CODE420 to reflect on their work and prepare for careers and continuing studies.
Completion Plan
Year | Summer | Fall | Spring | Outcome |
Year 1 | Two-Day Orientation | CODE 120: Research Team I (3 hours) CODE 121: Transdisciplinary Communication (3 hours) |
CODE 122: Research Team II (3 hours) CODE 123: Research and Systems Thinking (3 hours) |
Multimodal essays, digital storytelling, and public speeches communicating the problem |
Year 2 | Two-Day Mentorship of New Students | CODE 220: Community Engagement with Science (3 hours) | CODE 221: Research Team III (3 hours) | Digital problem visualization integrating previous research |
Year 3 | CODE 320: Digital Collaborations (3 hours) | Culminating digital project | ||
Year 4 | CODE 420: CODES Capstone (1 hour) | Resumes, graduate school application materials, portfolios |
In addition to the course requirements listed above, students must satisfy the following requirements through major, minor, or additional coursework:
- a lab course in the physical sciences
- a mathematics, statistics, or quantitative reasoning course
The Illinois Board of Higher Education mandates 37 hours of course work across the bachelor’s degree that integrates “communication, mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, life and physical sciences (to include a laboratory component), and humanities and fine arts.” In the CODES pathway, students complete these requirements using transdisciplinary problem solving; diversity of knowledge is integrated within each course. For this reason, students are considered to have finished their general education coursework holistically upon completion of the pathway. If a student leaves the pathway early, the articulation plan demonstrates how the courses can count toward general education requirements in the Lincoln plan.
Term & Year | Courses | Articulation |
Fall Year 1 | CODE 120: Research Team I | Humanities Breadth Global Cultures Experience |
CODE 121: Transdisciplinary Communication | Foundations Written Communication I Foundations Oral Communication First Semester Transition |
|
Spring Year 1 | CODE 122: Research Team II | Foundations Reasoning & Argumentation |
CODE 123: Research and Systems Thinking | Foundations Written Communication II Social Science Breadth |
|
Fall Year 2 | CODE 220: Community Engagement with Science | Life Sciences Breadth |
Spring Year 2 | CODE 221: Research Team III | US Cultures Experience Info and Communication in Society Breadth |
Summer Year 3 | CODE 320: Digital Collaborations | Interdisciplinary Studies Fine and Performing Arts Breadth |
Students Transferring from Lewis and Clark Community College
In addition to the students enrolled in the CODES Pathway at SIUE, 25 students and Lewis and Clark Community College’s Honors Program will be engaged in the curriculum, participating in summer seminar, and collaborating with SIUE students. They will fully enter SIUE’s version of the program in the summer prior to their third year of study when they enroll in CODE320 on SIUE’s campus.
Late Entry to Pathway
Although the CODES Pathway use a cohort model with a chronological completion process, students may request acceptance after their first semester, and will be asked to complete an orientation with CODES faculty and students prior to entry if accepted.
Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program
The Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) Program at SIUE encourages, supports, and enables students to participate in research and creative activities at the undergraduate level. An undergraduate research or creative activity experience enhances the quality of the baccalaureate experience by giving students opportunities to engage in scholarship, to interact with faculty, and to connect more fully in the educational process of discovering and creating. The URCA Program recognizes that student talents can be uncovered in ways that do not always appear through the usual format of classroom instruction and testing. In cooperation with the academic departments at SIUE, the URCA Program recruits eligible students as URCA Associates or Assistants. URCA Associates work one-on-one with a faculty mentor to lead their own research projects or creative activities over the course of an academic year. This is an extremely competitive program, and only a maximum of 10 Associates will be selected per academic year. Associates are the principal investigators in their projects. The process involves several stages:
- submitting a proposal and budget for approval,
- being accepted into the program,
- doing the research or creative activity during the semesters specified in the proposal,
- participating in periodic URCA events,
- preparing a final report, and
- presenting the results at the URCA Symposium.
URCA provides budgetary support for conducting the scholarly activity as well as advisory support during preparation of the proposals and reports. The Office of Academic Innovation and Effectiveness, in which URCA is housed, assists students during their work by providing prompt administrative support as needed. Academic departments and supervising faculty mentor(s) provide all necessary research guidance and facilities. Academic departments also arrange the purchase of commodities and services required for the projects, using the project budget funds provided by the Provost’s Office. In addition, URCA Associates receive a monetary award in two installments — one per each semester of participation. Full-time undergraduate students who have been accepted as a major in any of the disciplines at SIUE and who maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better are eligible to compete for URCA Associate positions. Students must have junior or senior standing at the time they conduct their URCA Associate work and may use the URCA Associate project to fulfill the Senior Assignment requirement for graduation (with departmental approval). Proposals must be signed and submitted in the prescribed form by the third Friday of March to the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program, Office of Innovation and Effectiveness, Box 1300, SIUE, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1300.
URCA Assistants work approximately nine hours per week on faculty-led research or creative activities over the course of one semester. These positions provide students with an introductory experience in the research or creative activities of a specific field. Up to 80 Assistants per semester will receive a monetary award for their participation, and many students participate each semester without receiving the monetary award. In this program, first interested faculty submit their research or creative activity proposals to the URCA Program coordinator. Faculty who have their proposals approved are then eligible to mentor URCA Assistants. After the faculty proposals are selected, students apply online for the Assistant positions through the URCA Web site (siue.edu/urca). This typically happens in the middle of the semester before the work will be completed. Students accepted as Assistants must meet the learning outcomes set forth by the faculty member who is principal investigator on the project. Some Assistant positions are available for course credit, but no tuition waiver is associated with the URCA program. Full-time undergraduate students at SIUE who have a minimum GPA of 2.3 are eligible to apply for URCA Assistant positions, and students may apply for Assistant positions at any time during their SIUE careers (freshman through senior years).
More information and application/proposal forms are available on the URCA website: siue.edu/urca.