John Martinson Honors College
Honors Contract Courses
Learn more about the requirements and pathways to earning credit through honors contracts here
About
What are Honors Contracts?
An honors contract is an agreement between an undergraduate student and a faculty instructor that allows the student to turn a standard course into an honors course.
In general, honors contracts allow the student to go beyond the material of the regular course and to produce more sophisticated work. A student may, for example, delve more deeply into methodology, structure, theory, or application; perform additional or alternative research; develop a service project; or present findings in some format.
Steps to contracting a course
Paperwork is processed within the college offering the course being contracted—not the Honors College or the home college of the student undertaking the contract.
CONTRACTING IN 4 QUICK STEPS!
Student initiates conversation about contract with course instructor.
If instructor agrees, instructor provides student with modified syllabus.
Student initiates college-specific workflow.
College designee approves contract and initiates grade mode change.
Honors Contract Process: Step-by-Step
Student approaches faculty instructor to request honors contract course. Faculty member is under no obligation to agree.
Student and faculty instructor decide upon honors elements and create honors syllabus, which must include specific assignments, deadlines, and grade scheme.
Student submits grade mode change request via the Scheduling Assistant using instructions to request H grade mode. Requests must be submitted on the H (Honors) Grade Mode deadline day at 11:59PM per the Office of the Registrar Drop/Add Refund & Deadline Calendar.
Student and faculty member complete the honors contract form. Student submits contract form, standard syllabus, and edited syllabus to the appropriate Honors Coordinator college contact listed on page 2 of this document. Honors contract form and documents must be submitted to the Honors Coordinator on the H (Honors) Grade Mode deadline day at 11:59PM per the Office of the Registrar Drop/Add Refund & Deadline Calendar.
Honors Coordinator approves or denies contract and enters their approval or denial via the Registration Workflow. The deadline for Honors Coordinators to enter their decision into the workflow is the last day to drop a course with a “W” with only advisor authorization at 11:59PM per the Office of the Registrar Drop/Add Refund & Deadline Calendar.
The approval of the H grade mode will insert “Honors” into the title of the course when the final course grade is filed. Students should check course status in myPurduePlan beginning one week after approval of the H grade mode change.
Student completes honors contract course.
Faculty member evaluates contract work and assigns grade for the course.
All students MUST request an Honors (H) Grade Mode Change using the Scheduling Assistant in myPurdue.
Deadlines
Honors Contracts are due by the Registrar's H (Honors) grade mode deadline. Please see the Registrar's Calendar Year (Spring, Summer, Fall) Drop/Add Dates here.
The deadline to add H Grade mode for full-semester courses is Thursday, August 29, 2024. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Contract Resources by College
Submission Information by College
Paperwork is processed within the college offering the course being contracted—not the Honors College or the home college of the student undertaking the contract.
For contracts in the College of Pharmacy, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and College of Veterinary Medicine, click here.
Faq's
Frequently Asked Questions
An honors contract is an agreement between an undergraduate student and a faculty instructor that allows the student to turn a standard course into an honors course. Submitting an honors contract form and an H grade mode request in the Scheduling Assistant represents a commitment by both the student and the faculty instructor.
A student enrolling in an honors contract course may do more work (e.g. the addition of an honors project to a standard syllabus) or alternative work (e.g. a different set of assignments). In general, honors contracts allow the student to go beyond the material of the regular course and to produce more sophisticated work. A student may, for example, delve more deeply into methodology, structure, theory, or application; perform additional or alternative research; develop a service project; or present findings in some format. The intention is for the work to contribute to the outcomes associated with the Honors College pillars (see front page).
Work load varies depending on design, but it should remain within a reasonable minimum and maximum. One rule of thumb is the time it takes to research and write a 10-page paper (minimum) or a 20-page paper (maximum)—or the appropriate disciplinary equivalent. A student should expect to spend more time on an honors contract course than the standard version of the course.
Student and faculty partners are expected to develop an honors syllabus with clearly outlined expectations, deadlines, and grading scale. Students are also expected to plan regular meetings with the faculty instructor throughout the semester to review and discuss the honors elements of the course.
Yes. Course work assigned to a student with an honors contract contributes to the student’s final course grade.
Students may dissolve an honors contract by completing a Grade Mode Change via Scheduling Assistant to revert a course to its original grade mode (https://www.purdue.edu/registrar/currentStudents/students/GradeModeChanges.html). The request must be fully approved by the add/drop/modify deadline at 11:59PM per the Office of the Registrar Drop/Add Refund & Deadline Calendar (https://www.purdue.edu/registrar/calendars/index.html). University rules and regulations regarding schedule revisions apply to honors contract courses.
All regular Purdue faculty members may offer a contract course. Visiting faculty and continuing lecturers holding the terminal degree in their field may do so with the approval of their department head and/or disciplinary college. Graduate student instructors may not offer honors contract courses.
Resources
Example Contract Assignments
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Planned an herb garden for the new Purdue Student Farm location, working with a landscape architecture professor and the student farm's manager. Design was presented in class. Student taught half of one class period on the uses and medicinal qualities of four herbs.
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Created electronic study aids (e.g., electronic mortality tables, a tool to generate annuity tables) to be used by future students in the class. Met with faculty member each week to review work and discuss next steps.
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Revised/Expanded a Wikipedia article on Shear Flow, a topic covered in the course. This included creating diagrams and examples, as well as several phases of review.
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Worked closely with faculty member to develop and write two 5-page research papers on topics related to the course material and/or to scholarly project. Met regularly with faculty member to discussion ideas and progress.
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Met weekly outside of class for a 50 minutes long honors segment. Sight-read ancient Greek from the New Testament. Utilized skills from regular class interactions and was exposed to and learned new language concepts not covered in the regular class.
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Piloted a series of experiments with an instructor. Summarized the results of each lab session and documented problems encountered. Offered possible suggestions for improvements.
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Completed extra homework assignments for each unit (normally bonus). Completed a company financial statement project that required looking at a selected company's annual report, performing calculations, and writing up a financial analysis.
Questions about Contracts?
More information
For more information on honors contracts or for access to our contracts toolkit on Brightspace, please contact Chirine Lavassani at clavassa@purdue.edu.
