Information for Our Current Students
Here, current Honors students can find guidance through the Honors curriculum, class equivalences, information on your senior thesis and the Honors Symposium.
This information will keep you on track in your studies and alleviate any anxieties about approved credits. We also encourage mentors and counselors to use this guide when advising current and future Honors students.
You'll also find instructions for contracting a course in your major as well as the required forms for your Honors senior thesis proposal, schedule, and contract as downloadable PDF files.
Questions? Contact the Honors Program director Dr. Emma Woelk.
Honors Curriculum
The Honors Program at St. Edward’s University empowers high-achieving and curious students to create a community of learning, explore enduring questions, and engage in research and creative scholarship.
Honors students are required to fulfill 24 credit hours of coursework through the Honors Program.
Choose two of the following first-year LLC small seminars:
- Health and Disease in the Community / Biology sequence for Honors students in the natural sciences
- Writing the American Dream
- Religion, Diversity and Civic Life
- Strategic Communication / Speaking Truth to Power
6 hours
See equivalences in next tab.
Two of the following team-taught courses:
- Art/Artist/Society
- The Enlightenment and its Critics
- The Graphic Novel: The Interplay of Image and Text
- Medical Ethics
- Prophets, Saints and Heroes
- Slow(ness), or the Paradox of Time
- Post-colonialism
6 hours
- Introduction to the Liberal Arts
- 2 Curiosity Seminars, for example:
- Austin as Text
- Queer Art & Activism
- The Roots of Mathematics
- The Cool
- Just a Game?
- The Science of Sci-Fi Movies
- Income Inequality and Tax Policy
3 hours
- Contracted Course in the Major
- Senior Thesis Preparation/Research/Internship
- Honors Senior Thesis
9 hours
General Education Equivalencies in the Honors Curriculum
Choose two of these four courses during your first year.
- Health and Disease in the Community / Biology sequence for Honors students in the natural sciences
- Equivalent: Biology 1307 (fall) or Biology 1308 (spring)
- Writing the American Dream
- Equivalent: Exploring Artistic Works / Diverse American Perspectives
- Religion, Diversity and Civic Life
- Equivalent: Studies in Religion and Theology
- Strategic Communication / Speaking Truth to Power
- Equivalent: Oral Communication
- Art/Artist/Society
- Equivalent: Ethics
- The Enlightenment and its Critics
- Equivalent: Global Perspectives
- Graphic Novels: The Interplay of Image and Text
- Equivalent: Creativity and Making
- Prophets, Saints and Heroes
- Equivalent: Studies of Religion and Theology
- Literature and Ethics
- Equivalent: Ethics
- Medical Ethics
- Equivalent: Ethics
- Slow(ness), or the Paradox of Time
- Equivalent: Creativity and Making
Senior Thesis and Symposium
Your Honors senior thesis is where you will engage in independent research and thesis creation. Past thesis projects include creative work such as graphic novels, plays, and fashion designs, as well as varied academic research on Gothic architecture and gentrification and art in Harlem and East Austin. Your final project is intended for you to reflect on your individual passions and create a work close to your own interests.
You will prepare for your senior thesis with a semester-long research or internship project constructed with the support of a research mentor within your major. This research can also occur during the summer before the fourth year, and is often supported financially through the Office of Fellowships.
Your research will be presented to the university community at the Honors Symposium and submitted to your faculty mentor as your senior thesis.