Chancellor’s Honors Program

Timothy Hulsey, Associate Provost and Director

http://honors.utk.edu/

The Chancellor’s Honors Program is the University of Tennessee’s principal honors program with students representing majors in all nine of the university’s undergraduate colleges. The Chancellor’s Honors Program is built on four cornerstones: course work, community, research, and participation in the Ready for the World Initiative. Featuring limited enrollments and dynamic faculty, enhanced and enriched honors course work is offered by the Chancellor’s Honors Program, as well as by departments across the university. The Honors Living and Learning Community welcomes first-year and returning students, while other specialized programs are geared primarily for returning students. Prominent among these are the Honors Council, which is the Chancellor’s Honors Program student government, the Honors Ambassador Program, which provides liaison across program constituents and helps with program recruitment, and the Honors Peer Mentor Program, which connects advanced honors students with their first-year peers. Chancellor’s Honors students may also benefit from exclusive grants in support of required Honors Thesis projects and required international and intercultural learning. In recognition of their exceptional academic achievement, Chancellor’s Honors students receive special graduation recognitions.

The Chancellor’s Honors Program anchors the University of Tennessee’s uniquely decentralized system of honors programs and opportunities. Chancellor’s Honors students are encouraged to participate in one or more of the University of Tennessee’s many specialized college or departmental honors programs.

Eligibility

The Chancellor’s Honors Program is available to entering first-year students, current first- and second-year students, and qualified transfer students. High school seniors with superior academic credentials are encouraged to apply. While there is no required minimum high school GPA or minimum ACT/SAT score, recent entering classes have had an average high school core GPA of above 4.0 and an average composite ACT of 32.

Requirements

To supplement the requirements in their respective colleges, Chancellor’s Honors students complete:

• One University Honors seminar (UNHO 101 ).
• Seven 3-credit (or more) honors courses. These may include lower-level general education honors courses and upper-level honors courses. ¹Only upper-level courses are eligible for the honors-by-contract option.²
• One 3-credit Honors Thesis project (UNHO 498  or equivalent approved by CHP).

TOTAL: 25 credit hours of honors course work

Additionally, all Chancellor’s Honors students are required to undertake approved international/intercultural learning to fulfill the Chancellor’s Honors Program graduation requirements. The Ready for the World graduation requirement may be fulfilled through participation in an approved study-abroad program, an approved international research or service experience, an approved intercultural experience, or via the completion of an undergraduate major or minor in a modern foreign language.

Chancellor’s Honors students are also expected to engage and participate actively in the life of the campus and community. Chancellor’s Honors students are required to attend at least three honors-approved events each semester and complete 25 hours of documented community service each year.

Chancellor’s Honors students are expected to make timely progress towards honors graduation while maintaining a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5. Students risk losing their place in the program if they fail to meet these requirements.