There are two paths for earning an honors degree at Western Oregon University: the four-year Honors Program and the two-year Honors Associate Program. In general, the four-year program is designed for students entering WOU as freshmen; the two-year program is designed for transfer students or for WOU students who apply late to Honors, often after their freshmen or sophomore years.
Four-year Honors Program
Honors students admitted as freshman participate in a general education program, which substitutes for the required Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC). These first-year courses are kept small (maximum size 25) because all Honors courses are writing-intensive. Because of this, Honors students need not take WR 135, the writing course required of all other entering freshmen.
Honors courses are designed to confront students with problems, concepts, and perspectives transcending the confines of any single discipline. During the first two years, students of the program become acquainted with major philosophic, religious, literary, artistic, and scientific traditions.
While a cohort structure is maintained in order to foster a sense of community, a few or all of the courses for the 1st and 2nd years may be taken in reverse order if conflicts in the student's schedule make such changes necessary. However, since the third course in the Creative Arts sequence, Theater Arts, in usually integrated with a two-day trip spring term to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland (to see three of the plays being studied), students try to take that course freshman year if at all possible in order to travel with their classmates.
Four-year Honors Curriculum
First and Second Years
- Creative Arts (3 courses; 9 total credit hours)
- Literature (2 courses; 8 total credit hours)
- Philosophy (3 courses; 9 credit hours)
- Social Science Sequence (3 courses; 11-12 credit hours)
- General Science (3 courses, with labs; 15 credit hours)
Third Year
- Honors Seminar (3-4 credit hours)
- Thesis Development Seminar (1 credit hour)
- Thesis Research (ongoing)
Fourth Year
- Senior Thesis or Project (3 credit hours)
- Thesis Writing and Presentation (ongoing)
Four-year Program credit total: 59-61 hours
Two-year Honors Associate Program
The Honors Associate program was designed for those who apply to the Honors program after having already completed most of their Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC) requirements at WOU or elsewhere.
In general, Honors Associates begin the honors curriculum at the beginning of the junior year and complete 10-12 hours in addition to their academic major and minor. Their schedules below parallel the third and fourth years in the Honors Curriculum; however, Honors Associates take two Honors seminars (students in the four-year program may also take two but are only required to take one).
Honors Associates who have not completed their LACC here at Western are most likely to enter the program with a Block Transfer from an Oregon Community College, but there is considerable flexibility in working out appropriate programs for transfer students from other Honors programs or for students who still need a few courses to complete their LACC requirements.
Two-year Associates Curriculum
First Year (usually during Junior year)
- Honors Seminar (3-4 credit hours)
- Thesis Development Seminar (1 credit hour)
- Thesis Research (ongoing)
Second Year (usually during Senior year)
- Senior Thesis or Project (3 credit hours)
- Thesis Writing and Presentation (ongoing)
- Honors Seminar (3-4 credit hours)
Two-year Honors Associate credit total: 10-12 hours
