Program Requirements

Honors Core: Social Sciences is the foundational course of the Honors experience, which all incoming first-year Honors students take together. Dr. Jocelyn Evans, Director of the Kugelman Honors Program, is the instructor. This foundation will prepare students to address those features of modern society that either support or threaten community. In this course, students will explore the philosophical underpinnings of community and investigate the distinctive features of communal life. Specific attention will be given to conceptions of justice and equality, political engagement, social interaction, urban design and city planning, public presence, personal meaning and usefulness, notions of public/private property and collective responsibility, and shared physical and virtual space. Likewise, we will consider threats to community, including: (potentially) social networking and technology, lawlessness and violence, collective efficacy, and problems of collective action. Students then will consider the ways in which citizens can benefit from engaging their respective communities of interest, can foster more meaningful civic life, and can provide leadership to build a better future. By the end of the semester, you should be thinking about your community and raising the following questions: What is your community? How do you define it? What does it provide you? How is this community different from what it was for your parents and grandparents? What can you do to enhance this community?

Honors Core: Natural Science is the second and final course in the Honors Core sequence. All first-year Honors students take the course in the spring semester of their first year. Dr. Alexis Janosik is the instructor. In this course, students will explore what it means to be a human in the biosphere while utilizing a strong emphasis on cultivating new methods of thinking and communicating ideas. This is an interdisciplinary course which involves engaging and enriching class discussions, in-depth thinking, reasoning, and active research to form the foundation of the academic experience unique to the Kugelman Honors Program. This course will focus on human literacy and diversity: awareness and understanding of the fundamental concepts about what it means to be a human and our interaction with the biosphere. We will explore how humans interact with their various environments, from biological and social to economic and physical. Our mission is to demystify and humanize science in an open conversation that instills passion, awe, and responsibility for humans and the Earth.

Honors students must complete two (2) Honors seminars before they graduate. Honors seminars are interdisciplinary courses created and taught by professors from various departments exclusively for the Honors program. Honors Seminars are limited to 15 students each. Seminars are offered each fall and spring, and topics vary.

Past popular seminar topics include Politics of Food, From Wastelands to Wetlands, Metalaw: Ecology & Justice in the Planetary Era, Zombies & Survival, Cancer: Scientific Research and Social Impacts, Conjunctive Psychology, Science of Brewing, and Tolkien: Text & Film.

Honors students must complete the Honors Service Learning and E-portfolio course before graduation. The one-credit hour course covers theories of service learning, community engagement guidelines, the Honors service requirement, E-portfolio best practices, and E-portfolio usage. The student learning outcomes for the course include surveying our current Honors service projects, articulating methods, values, and outcomes for selected service projects, communicating with stakeholders for selected projects, developing an individual service learning plan, articulating critical components of a successful e-portfolio, and learning the basic commands and attributes of the Honors e-portfolio system.

Honors Thesis Research Methods is a one-credit hour course offered each spring semester. This course helps students understand the thesis-writing process and covers the primary research methodologies required to begin a thesis project.

The class is conducted as a collaborative, hands-on workshop. It covers important areas such as choosing a topic, approaching an advisor, scholarly research methods, time management, and thesis presentation requirements. 

Honors students can take up to 3 s.h. of thesis credits while completing their Honors thesis under the guidance of a thesis advisor. The Honors thesis is intended to be a capstone project for students and can assume various forms depending on a student's major. For students in majors requiring capstone projects as part of their degree program, enhancements to such existing requirements can be negotiated so that Honors students are not completing double theses or capstone projects but are further developing their major's culminating work.

As the final requirement of the Honors programs, Honors students must formally present their thesis research or creative activity. Students are encouraged to apply to present at any of the three Honors conferences that the program annually attends (the Florida Collegiate Honors Council, Southern Regional Honors Council, and the National Collegiate Honors Council) or at the Student Scholars Symposium held each spring at UWF.

Before graduating, Honors students are required to complete focused community service. Students are able to complete independent community service or participate in projects through university and/or group service projects. 

Any applicable hours can be tracked through the university community service form in Argopulse. All contributions should be reflected through the student's e-portfolio. 

All students in the Kugelman Honors Program must maintain a 3.0 G.P.A. at UWF.

Failure to meet this requirement will result in being placed on probation in the Honors Program. If an Honors student fails to achieve a 3.0 G.P.A. for two consecutive semesters, the student will become academically ineligible to be a member of the Honors Program. Students who do not complete an Honors course for two consecutive semesters (not including summer semesters) will be terminated for non-participation.

Students who have become academically ineligible can apply for reinstatement to the Kugelman Honors Program once their G.P.A. exceeds 3.0 by submitting a petition for reinstatement to the Honors Director.