General Education Honors Program
Richard L. Collier, Director
Presidential Scholars, Frederick Douglass Scholars, and students who complete a semester or more at the University at Albany with a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher are invited to enter this program. Other students with a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher may apply for admission on a space-available basis. To remain in the program, students must maintain an honors cumulative average of at least 3.25.
All tutorials in the General Education Honors Program are preceded by the prefix T. All tutorials are considered "liberal arts and sciences" courses. For major and minor programs which require lower division electives in the given subject, a General Education Honors Tutorial may be applied toward the major or minor. (For example, the tutorial T Eng 240 counts as a lower level elective within an English major or minor.)
These "tutorials" (honors seminars) have remained the distinctive feature of this program for the several hundred students who have participated in General Education Honors since the program was initiated over a decade ago. Because the students meet with honors instructors regularly to develop and discuss individual honors projects related to the course, this affords students an early opportunity to do creative and rewarding work under the mentorship of some of the University's leading faculty members.Tutorials are likely to involve such elements as independent study and readings; seminars or colloquia with other honors students and faculty; critiques or position papers; fieldwork; individual and directed research; creative works; and opportunities for students to relate the course material to their own interests and intellectual commitments, whether for a major, career, extracurricular pursuit, or hobbies.
First Semester Self-Selection:
Some entering freshmen who feel they will benefit from individualized honors work and believe they will achieve the 3.25 requisite average may enroll in the program at orientation for their first semester. Since the number of spaces remaining in the fall semester honors courses limits this option, admission is on a first come, first served basis until all spaces are filled.
To continue in the program, students must maintain an overall Albany average of at least 3.25. Students who choose not to continue in the program may still apply the credit from satisfactorily completed tutorials toward graduation, General Education, and major or minor requirements, as appropriate.
General Education Honors Program Requirements:
Students admitted will take 18 credits of their General Education requirements by completing specifically designated honors courses and their accompanying tutorials.
Students must complete six credits each in their choice of three different General Education discipline categories (currently, there are five categories: Humanities and the Arts, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Cultural and Historical Perspectives, and Human Diversity).
Students who successfully complete the three pairs of honors courses and graduate with a 3.25 or higher cumulative grade point average will have entered on their transcripts the words:
Honors in the General Education Program
