2012-2013 - Sweet Briar College

introduced to practices of scholarship expected in a sustained Honors course of study at Sweet Briar.
2) Honors Seminars: seminars developed especially for the Honors Program designed to foster
critical and creative thinking. Honors seminars are offered at the 100-, 200-, and 300-level. Honors
seminars are often interdisciplinary and some are team-taught. All Honors seminars require the
permission of the instructor to enroll.
a) First-year Honors Seminar: all first-year Honors students enroll in the 100-level first-year seminar in
the spring semester. This three-credit course provides first-year Honors students with a shared
academic experience designed to foster intellectual curiosity and to develop analytical skills, The
course will take a topical approach that looks beyond the approaches of a single discipline, and will
further develop critical and creative thinking, and the research and writing skills necessary for upperlevel
Honors course work.
3) Honors Sections: departments with multiple sections of regularly offered introductory courses
may offer one of the sections as an Honors section.
4) Honors Variants: individual or small group tutorials attached to regularly offered courses.
Students may request that a course be offered as an Honors variant.
At the conclusion of an Honors course of study, Honors student at Sweet Briar College have two
options for programmatic recognition: I.) The Honors Degree and II.) Departmental Honors
I. The Honors Degree
The Honors Degree is the culmination of an Honors course of study at Sweet Briar College. A student
wishing to pursue the Honors Degree should consult with her advisor and the director of the Honors
Program as early in her college career as possible. The Honors Degree may be sought in conjunction
with or without Departmental Honors (the Honors thesis component).
1) Successful completion of seven Honors courses which will include:
a) the First-year Honors Inquiry
b) the First-year Honors seminar
c) one 200-level Honors seminar
d) one 300-level Honors seminar
e) two additional Honors courses (seminar, variant, or section) and
f) the 470 Advanced Honors course in the student's major department
2) A cumulative grade point average of 3.4 or higher at graduation
Students who are not admitted to the Honors Program at the start of their first year may petition the
Honors Committee to accept alternate work as the equivalent of the first-year Honors course(s) in
fulfillment of the Honors Degree requirements, if they are accepted into the program after their first
semester. Transfer students may also petition the Honors Committee for Honors equivalency credit for
appropriate work completed at their previous institution to count toward the course requirements for the
Honors Degree. Students who complete a Sweet Briar approved course abroad may petition the Honors
Committee to accept it as the equivalent of an Honors course.
Students must earn a grade of B or higher in the first-year sequence (the Inquiry and seminar, overall)