Academics

Honors Commendations

Honors Commendations are distinctive Iowa inventions to celebrate achievements by Honors Students.  They recognize work in Honors Classes and Experiences.  To graduate as a member of the University of Honors Program requires earning an Honors Commendation, and Honors encourages its members to earn more than one.  Because there are many ways to do this, Iowa avoids constraining its Honors Students to a core curriculum.  It offers coherent educations in diverse directions, and it informs them with Iowa’s special strengths in connecting learning in many fields.

Each Honors Commendation involves twelve semester-hours of Honors Classes or roughly equivalent Honors Experiences.  Each earns a certificate signed by the University President and the Honors Director.  We present these certificates at the Honors Commendation Ceremony every autumn, and eventually each Honors Commendation appears on the student’s official transcript of studies at the University of Iowa.