Honors students take a series of seminar-style courses with fellow Eclectic Scholars. The courses are based around self-exploration, problem solving, and discussions and projects that span disciplines.
By spending time inside and outside of class tackling complex issues, Honors students form a strong cohort and gain an understanding about how their skills and talents within their individual disciplines can cross boundaries.
Below is our enriched interdisciplinary curriculum:
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies for the Eclectic Scholar (HONR 10000). This course will serve as an introduction to interdisciplinary studies, and establish a foundation for new honors students. The course will review the goals and expectations of student participation in the program, and engage students in multi- and interdisciplinary thinking, with the aim of challenging students to take up Hiram’s mission to ‘face the urgent challenges of the times.’ With that aim, the course explores what it means to be a leader, as well as how members of a learning community engage in service and community outreach. (Offered every fall 12-week term. 1CR, PNC)
Reflecting on Urgent Challenges (HONR 30000). This course provides an in-depth exploration of literature aligned with the annual ethics theme, examined from an interdisciplinary perspective. Additionally, this course continues developing leadership skills introduced and discussed in the introductory course, including opportunities to explore mentorship and leadership positions on campus and in the community. Budget-depending, this course will also include a field trip component appropriate to the specific course theme. (Offered every fall 12-week term. 2CR, must earn B- or better to progress through program)
Addressing Urgent Challenges (HONR 30100). Addressing the urgent challenges of our times requires more than a deep awareness of the world around us and an ability to identify the connections between a complex set of circumstances, causes, and consequences and to see the possibility of change. It requires the ability to innovate, to collaborate, to manage, and to create. It requires that we bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical and become agents of change. In this course, students will address an urgent challenge in our community aligned with the annual ethics theme by engaging in a service project, collaborating to take an idea for change from development of a vision to implementation and assessment. Specific projects will be defined by students and their faculty mentors. (Offered every spring 12-week term. 2CR, must earn B- or better to progress through program.)
Eclectic Scholars Honors Capstone (HONR 48000). This course completes the Honors program requirements. Students will develop an Honors thesis project that reflects upon and examines their Honors program experience, including coursework and experiential learning, and applies this knowledge to inform how they would approach an urgent challenge they find personally meaningful. Students will submit a written thesis prospectus and present a public presentation at the end of the spring 12-week term. The course will also provide professional development opportunities as students prepare for post-Hiram education and/or entering their chosen career. (Offered every spring 12-week term. 1CR, must earn B- or better to complete the program.)
Upon completion of these four courses, students will also satisfy one of their interdisciplinary core graduation requirements.