Honors General Studies Program

The Honors General Studies Program offers an alternate general studies experience designed to inspire curious, highly motivated students to serve as leaders of thought and agents of change.

This program is a separate track of general studies and not a major or a minor in itself. Honors core courses have a flavor distinctly different from the regular general studies courses because they use primary source material more extensively than textbooks to enhance the development of independent thinking. Many Honors courses follow an interdisciplinary approach that stresses the unity of knowledge; some courses are team taught. The classes are more personalized and typically smaller than other general studies classes.

Students in the Honors Program are awarded an annual scholarship dependent on successful completion of specific courses and a minimum GPA. See the Honors webpage for specific details and scholarship amounts. At graduation, students who complete the Honors Program requirements with at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA and a 3.0 GPA in honors core courses and honors core cognates will be designated as "Honors General Studies Graduates."

Admission Requirements. The Honors Admissions Committee considers high school GPA, standardized test scores, personal interviews with applicants, and recommendations from teachers. Students already enrolled in the University may apply to the program or petition the Honors Program director to enroll in a specific Honors course.

Honors General Studies Requirements

These are the general studies requirements for the B.B.A., B.S., B.Ed., B.L.S., B.Mus., and B.S.W. degrees (60-63 hours) and the B.A. degree (72-75, hours including the foreign language requirement). 

BSE students complete all of the requirements for Sections I and II plus the Engaging Faith and one elective from Section III (54-55 hours).

Each GS course can fulfill only one GS requirement.

 

Section II: Ways of Knowing

Honors students experience an integrated approach to the liberal arts through a team-taught Western Thought sequence, interdisciplinary religion courses that explore religion in a social context, and a lab science sequence. (27 credits)

Ways of Knowing: Natural Science (8)

Select one of the following sequences (8 credits):
BIOL 141General Biology

4

BIOL 141LGeneral Biology Lab

0

BIOL 142General Biology

4

BIOL 142LGeneral Biology Lab

0

CHEM 141General Chemistry

3

CHEM 142General Chemistry

3

CHEM 144General Chemistry Laboratory

1

CHEM 145General Chemistry Laboratory

1

PHYS 211General Physics

3

PHYS 212General Physics

3

PHYS 214General Physics Laboratory

1

PHYS 215General Physics Laboratory

1

PHYS 251Principles of Physics

3

PHYS 252Principles of Physics

3

PHYS 254Principles of Physics Laboratory

1

PHYS 255Principles of Physics Laboratory

1

Ways of Knowing: Humanities, History, and Social Science (12)

HONR 131Western Thought

4

HONR 132Western Thought

4

HONR 133Western Thought

4

Ways of Knowing: Religion (7)

HONR 349Religion in a Social Context

4

HONR 496Honors Seminar: Faith and Learning

1

HONR 497Honors Seminar: Faith and Learning

1

HONR 498Honors Seminar: Faith and Learning

1

Section I. Foundational Skills

Honors students are expected to already have stronger than average foundational skills so will take fewer credits in this area than traditional GS students. HONR 141 fulfills the requirement for both ENGL 121 and 122; HONR 243 fulfills the requirement for both research writing and oral communication. (17 credits)

Foundations of Faith (4)

HONR 281The Bible and Its Environments

4

Physical Health

Choose two of the following:
PEAC 113-190Physical Activity Courses

1, 1

Quantitative Reasoning (4)

Choose one of the following:
MATH 106Introduction to Statistics

4

MATH 121Precalculus I

4

MATH 171Calculus I

4

Written Communication and Information Literacy (7)

HONR 141Writing Seminar: Identity, Responsibility, and Citizenship

3

HONR 243Honors Research Writing

3

HONR 392Honors Portfolio

1

Section III: Ways of Engaging

Honors students will select electives from enriched interdisciplinary elective options that encourage high-impact learning experiences, graduate school preparation, and alignment with career goals. (BSE students are required to complete the Engaging Faith requirements, plus one additional course chosen from the other three elective categories). 


Engaging Faith

Select at least 7 hours from the following courses:

RELB 333Biblical Perspectives on Healing

4

RELB 354/ENGL 454Literature of the Bible

4

RELB 410Women in the Bible

2

RELB 474Study Tour: The Holy Lands and Its Peoples

4

RELH 205Biblical Archaeology

4

RELH 303World Religions

4

RELH 457History of Adventism

3

RELT 342Issues of God and Faith

3

RELT 348Christian Ethics

4

RELT 412/PHIL 412Philosophy of Religion

4

Global Understanding:

Select one of the following courses:
COMM 325Multicultural Communication

3

ENGL 359World Literature

4

HIST 240Cities and Cultures in Middle Eastern History

4

HIST 242Modern East Asian History

4

HIST 257Voices in African History

4

HIST 274Study Tour: English History in Context

4

HIST 283Latin America

4

HIST 474Study Tour: English Reformation

4

SOCI 236Privilege and Oppression

4

SOCI 420Immigration and Identity

4

Responsible Citizenship:

Select one of the following courses:
COMM 357Media Law

4

CPTR 230Computing for Insight

4

CPTR 308Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology

4

ENVI 385Environmental Stewardship

4

HIST 360/HMNT 360Science and The Enlightenment

4

MGMT 476Foundations of Leadership

4

PHIL 204Essentials of Critical Reasoning

4

PHIL 305Moral Philosophy

4

PHIL 411Philosophy of Law

4

PHIL 440/HIST 440History of Social and Political Philosophy

4

PLSC 224American Government

4

TECH 321Technology and Society

4

Aesthetic Appreciation:

 Select one of the following courses:
ART 312Aesthetics and Photography

4

ART 324History of World Art

3

ART 325History of World Art

3

ART 326History of World Art

3

ENGL 214Themes in Literature

4;12

ENGL 274Study Tour: British Literature in Context

4

ENGL 360Shakespeare Festival

2

ENGL 474Study Tour: Topics in British Literature

4

FILM 318Film Studies

4

WRIT 324Creative Nonfiction Writing

4

WRIT 334Poetry Writing

4

WRIT 337Stylistics

4

Requests for substitutions for credit earned through directed study or study abroad opportunities may be submitted to the Honors Program director for consideration. In addition to Adventist Colleges Abroad, WWU has specific affiliations with Middlebury College’s Oxford Humanities Program, The Council of Christian Colleges and Universities Best Semester Program, and the Balua Regional Archaeological Project. Dual Credit, AP Credit, and required cognates not fulfilled by honors courses may also be allowed to count toward fulfilling honors electives, as determined through a petition to the honors director.

Foreign Language

All BA students are required to complete a foreign language sequence of 12 quarter hours at the elementary level or 8 quarter hours at the intermediate level. (The Greek I sequence plus GREK 331 satisfies this requirement).
FREN 101Elementary French

4

FREN 102Elementary French

4

FREN 103Elementary French

4

GREK 231Greek I

4

GREK 232Greek I

4

SPAN 101Elementary Spanish

4

SPAN 102Elementary Spanish

4

SPAN 103Elementary Spanish

4