About Honors at Iowa
Participation
The quality of Honors at Iowa depends on student participation. Honors Students, whether at Iowa or anywhere else, learn more from each other than from faculty or staff. Ample, energetic engagement by students is what makes every course, activity, event, or program go. Honors at Iowa is a network of intellectual communities, and they succeed through active participation by many members. A good way to start is simply to come by the Blank Honors Center to meet us!
Top students seldom respond best to requirements. Honors at Iowa relies instead on resources, opportunities, and recognitions. This is especially true for participation. We do not insist that Honors Students complete any particular course, experience, or accomplishment. Instead we offer attractive alternatives for possible selection by diverse individuals. Then we support, acclaim, and credential Honors Students for what they personally choose to do well.
We are increasing Honors Classes, but we do not insist on a single introduction or a common core. Instead we provide many free-standing Honors Seminars and Honors Sections as well as a number of them networked into Honors Constellations or Honors Courses in Common. Then we award Honors Commendations for twelve semester-hour sets of courses and experiences.
We sponsor many kinds of Honors Experiences, and we help arrange many others, but we do not require any. Rather we recognize them with certificates, Commendations, and such. Thus we strongly encourage Iowa Honors Students to do some of our distinctive internships, to study abroad, and to experience Living-Learning Communities like the Honors House. We urge them to try Honors Forensics; tackle Honors Research or Teaching or Writing; attempt Honors Service-Learning or Volunteering; play Honors Music or Politics; and more.
We provide tons of Honors Activities: art exhibits, cultural events, diverse dances, science discourses, topical dinners, political discussions, film screenings, ice-cream socials, service occasions, video games, addresses by world leaders, etc., etc. Some come complete with free tickets, some with free meals, some with insider conversations, some with all of these, and even some with no extras at all — for the people who prefer their pleasures of learning one at a time. Still we do not demand taking part in any activities, let alone some quota or sample. Instead we reward participants with good, educational times; and we even celebrate the most adventurous among them with awards to acknowledge their high spirits.
We also support students in pursuing Honors Scholarships along with later awards from major national or international foundations. The Honors Scholarship Director tutors individuals on relevant opportunities and applications. The Honors Program even pays their transcript fees. The Aces Program for Analysis, Advocacy, and Action adds systematic cultivation of the experiences and credentials that scholarship competitors need for success. Yet we do not follow some schools in expecting scholarship applications as a condition for this University’s top merit scholarships. Again the Iowa Honors philosophy is to attract participation through resources, opportunities, and recognitions — rather than trying to require it.
We tell students in advance about these courses, experiences, activities, and scholarships with a weekly Honors Listserv, targeted interest listservs, our newsletter (Honorable Mention), and this website. Honors Advisors, professional and peer, are eager to answer questions and suggest instances for people who want to plan further ahead or want help sorting through possibilities.