Honors Program

Dean:  Dr. Lori Owens

104 Martin Hall

In keeping with the university’s mission of serving the academic needs of a diverse student population, the Honors Program provides academically gifted students with the opportunity to develop fully their intellectual potential.  The Honors Program provides an enriched educational experience by fostering a strong grounding in the liberal arts and sciences, small classes, interaction with other outstanding and motivated students, instruction from some of JSU’s most innovative and engaging faculty, special activities, and special recognition for students successfully completing 24 hours or more of Honors courses. Students who are recipients of the JSU Honors Scholarship have additional requirements for the Honors Program.  For more information about the requirements, please contact the Honors Office at honors@jsu.edu.  Incoming students are invited to apply for admission to the program based on a 25 composite ACT score or 1210 SAT and a high school GPA of a B or higher.  Students with no ACT or SAT score may be provisionally admitted with an initial English Ed Ready score of 71 or higher.  Since test scores may not always provide a complete picture of ability, students may also apply to the Honors Program following the completion of their first semester at JSU if they earned a GPA of 3.25 or higher.  May 1 is the priority deadline for entering freshmen applying to the Honors Program, but the Honors Program accepts applications throughout the year.  The application and guidelines are available at https://www.jsu.edu/honors-program/ or by calling (256) 782-5696.

JSU offers Honors courses which fulfill many 100-level and 200-level course requirements, as well as “Honors by Contract” opportunities for 200-level and higher numbered courses in most majors.  Students who are members of the Honors Program enjoy priority registration in Honors classes.  Students with the appropriate test scores and GPA who are not members of the Honors Program will be allowed to register for honors classes if seats are available.

University Honors (UH) Participation courses, UH 101 Honors Lecture (1), UH 201 Honors Forum (1), UH 202 Honors Book Club (1), and UH 205 Honors Professional Preparation Seminar (1), are designed for freshmen and sophomores in the Honors Program and offer a true Honors experience featuring smaller classes and engaging dialogue regardless of major.  Students may also select from these upper level UH courses to earn the required three hours of University Honors Participation hours: UH 300 Honors Special Topics: Interdisciplinary (1), and UH 439 University Honors Model Debate Team: Global Issues (1).  With permission from the Honors Program, students may also count UH 398 Honors Study Away (1-18), and UH 399 Honors Study Abroad (1-18) as one of their required University Honors Participation classes.  These participation courses count as part of the required 24 hours of Honors credit.  Entering freshmen who have earned 31 or more credit hours may apply for a waiver of two of the three required UH Participation courses.

Students may select from a variety of general education courses to meet the required Honors credit or enroll in Honors by Contract courses in their major and minor to fulfill Honors credit.  Students with Advanced Placement and/or Dual Enrollment credit may find the Honors by Contract option very advantageous in completing the required Honors credit.  Students are encouraged to gravitate toward their strengths in selecting Honors courses. The Honors Program will work individually with students to develop a pathway to earn the required Honors credit.

For further information, contact the Dean of the Honors Program, Martin Hall 104, honors@jsu.edu, or visit https://www.jsu.edu/honors-program/.