Sebastian Purcell, director
Old Main, Room B-15C
607-753-5580
Email: honors@cortland.edu

Description

SUNY Cortland's Honors Program is designed for students with high ability and unusual motivation. It brings together accomplished teachers and outstanding students in courses taught especially for the Honors Program. The courses are designed to provide enriched academic experiences consistent with the students' academic abilities and interests.

Qualifications for Admission

Admission to the program is open to entering fall freshmen. To be eligible for admission, applicants should have an exceptional academic record based on grades, standardized tests (SAT, ACT), course selection and extracurricular activities. Exceptional students who have already completed course work at Cortland may also apply for admission into the program. A limited number of students transferring from honors programs at other institutions also may be admitted. 

Requirements

To complete the Honors Program, students must take at least 24 credit hours of honors-level courses including:

• INT 290: Honors Sophomore Colloquium: Introduction to Scholarship
• INT 390: Honors Junior Colloquium: Thesis Proposal
• INT 499: Honors Program Thesis

This progression of courses prepares the student to write the honors thesis, a requirement for completing the Honors Program. 

Students fulfill the remaining required credits by taking designated honors courses, or customized contract courses. Students who study abroad (full time, at least 12 credits) may count this experience as three of their honors credit hours. Likewise, students who complete a full time internship (at least 12 credits), or complete 12 credits of student teaching, may count this experience as three of their honors credit hours.

• Specially designated honors courses are offered in a variety of General Education categories, including
  • GE 2:   Natural Sciences
  • GE 3:   Social Sciences
  • GE 5:   Western Civilization
  • GE 7:   The Humanities
  • GE 6:   Contrasting Cultures
  • GE 8:   The Arts
  • GE 11: Prejudice and Discrimination
  • GE 12: Science, Technology, Values and Society

View General Education Program  

Some of the courses offered through the General Education program are unique to the Honors Program, and others are special honors sections of courses offered to the general student population.

• Contract courses are regular courses that students take for honors credit. The student establishes a contract with the faculty member teaching the course that spells out the additional work the student will do for honors credit. Contract courses must be at the 300 level or higher and taken in the major or minor.  No more than two contract courses may be counted towards the 24 credit hours needed to complete the Honors Program. Guidelines for taking contract courses are available in the Honors Program office.