An honors contract allows you to earn honors credit for a regular class by working directly with your instructor to enrich the learning experience. An honors contract is a great option for classes required for your major or minor, or for other upper-level courses you're interested in taking. The only classes that cannot be contracted are courses that already are Honors or count as Honors experiential learning credit.
The Honors Contract Form will be available beginning the first day of the semester on MyUI under Student Information > Courses & Grades. You will also be able to access it at here.
Students must submit contracts to their instructor through MyUI by midnight of the sixth Friday (NOT Saturday) of class of each semester. The deadline is listed here: https://registrar.uiowa.edu/academic-calendar. Note that the closing time is 00:00 not 23:59, so it may appear as a Saturday instead of the Friday.
How to Submit an Honors Contract Form:
Students must submit contract forms on MyUI within the first six weeks of the semester. Check deadlines HERE.
- Approach your instructor to ask if they'd be willing to do an honors contract with you.
- Discuss and agree on your project proposal and timeline for completion. Be sure your instructor approves this before you submit!
- Fill out the Honors Contract Form on MyUI (you can find the form under Student Information > Courses & Grades)
- Check your form has been submitted on Workflow under "My Initiated Packages." See more instructions here.
It is the student's responsibility to communicate with your professor and ensure both instructor approval forms are completed. The instructor is alerted via email about the first form after a student submits a contract via MyUI; The final instructor form for confirmation of satisfactory completion is sent to the instructor via Workflow two weeks prior to the end of the semester.
Responsibilities
As the student, you are expected to ensure full compliance with and understand the following terms of an honors contract:
- Students are encouraged to take an honors section rather than use a contract if an honors section is available.
- The project description must provide a clear distinction between honors contract work and the work required for the course.
- The project description must contain an actionable timeline for the proposal, with built-in benchmarks.
- Students must submit the required form through MyUI to earn honors credit.
- Check your Workflow to ensure form has been submitted and approved by your instructor.
- Students must submit their completed project to the professor according to the timeline laid out in the project description.
- The honors contract must be evaluated as S/U. The honors contract project cannot affect the student's overall grade in the course.
- Students must earn a B- or better in the class in order for the honors designation to be valid.
Contracts that do not meet the above criteria may be voided.
Note: Instructors have the right to decline a contract request. Some departments and colleges (e.g. Nursing) may have additional policies which apply.