Honors Courses

CALS Honors courses are designed to give you individual and small-class interactions with faculty and fellow students. Faculty get to know CALS Honors students, and can help with letters of recommendation and advice on employment and higher degree opportunities.

To complete the CALS Honors Program, you must take ALS 4921 ( Honors Colloquium), ALS 4932 ( Honors Orientation), xxx 4909 (Honors Project) plus 2-3 additional hours of honors courses. The 2-3 additional hours must come from upper division courses not previously counted for credit.

ALS 4921 -- Honors Colloquium: This course focuses on problem-solving, critical thinking and current issues in agricultural and life sciences. The topic of each class varies with the instructor. The very best professors teach and visit this class, bringing 'cutting edge' topics directly to you. Satisfies CALS writing requirement and Gordon Rule; 3 credits. Required for all CALS Honors Students.

ALS 4932 -- Honors Orientation: This course orients students to the CALS Honors Program and assists them in getting started with a thesis project. The course features guest lectures, class discussions, interactive exercises, and outside learning with a faculty mentor. 1 credit. Required for all CALS Honors Students.

Honors Project: Look for xxx 4909 in the course listing for your major; by "xxx" we mean that the course prefix varies, but all CALS departments have Honors Project courses. Take it while you are working on or wrtiting up your project/thesis. Outside of CALS, departments may not have a xxx 4909 course, so consult your Departmental Honors Coordinator to determine what to take.

Honors Course Contracts: involve scholarly inquiry and faculty mentoring linked to upper division courses within your major. Together with your instructor, you will articulate the additional course requirements needed to qualify for Honors course status by completing the Honors Contract form. This is the most common way that CALS Honors course work is completed. Once we receive the contract form in the Dean's office and approve it, we create an honors section of the course for you, entitled "Honors <<course title>>". Honors contracts are due in the Dean's office no later than the 3rd week of the semester in which the course is taken.

NOTE: You can write an Honors Contract on upper division courses in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences only! We cannot change course titles in other colleges to include Honors - only CALS. This is particularly important for students in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, which has many upper division courses outside of CALS.

Graduate and UF Honors Courses: UF Honors courses numbered 3000 or above and not previously counted for credit will also satisfy CALS Honors course requirements. Graduate courses are those numbered 5000 and above, and they require the consent of the instructor for you to enroll; contact the instructor directly.

Questions about course work? Ask your Departmental Honors Coordinator, or the CALS Honors Director .