Special Programs: CAMPUS HONORS PROGRAM

NOTE: This document was generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC Programs of Study. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but be advised that requirements may have changed since this book was published. Errors may have also been introduced in the conversion to a WWW document. Thus for items of importance, it might be wise to seek confirmation from either the paper version or a live human being.

The Campus Honors Program (CHP) offers special challenges and opportunities to a small number of academically talented and highly motivated undergraduate students. It fosters collaborative relationships between students and distinguished faculty through small intensive classes, a faculty mentor system for introducing students to the intellectual standards and methodologies of academic disciplines, and informal contacts encouraged by cocurricular offerings. CHP sponsors four series of noncredit cocurricular events: A "Scholar Adventurers" lecture series on faculty research; a "Study Abroad at Home" series of seminar-workshops centering on other cultures; a series of dress-rehersal visits at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; and an "International Tasting Club" lunch series. The aim is to encourage breadth and excellence from the outset of the student's college career, and to facilitate interaction with scholars at the cutting edge of their disciplines.

Only approximately 100 new students can be admitted to the CHP each year as first-year students. A few additional students, however, may join the program on an off-cycle basis at the beginning of the sophomore year. Designated as Chancellor's Scholars, CHP students may be enrolled in any undergraduate curriculum. Those who meet retention requirements continue as Chancellor's Scholars throughout their undergraduate career. Required CHP course work is concentrated in the freshman and sophomore years when students take intensive and specialized versions of general education courses. At the junior and senior level, when students are necessarily involved in their majors, they are required to take one advanced CHP seminar. In short, because the CHP is directed at students who desire an undergraduate education that is broad and general as well as professionally specialized, the emphasis is on fundamental principles and interdisciplinary connections.

It is important to understand what CHP is not, as to understand what it is. CHP courses represent additional opportunities for academically gifted and adventerous students; they are not an alternative curriculum. Basically, they provide an honors-quality way of satisfying general education requirements for graduation and of helping students to discover the interrelations between their own discipline and other disciplines. Nor does CHP supplant or conflict with departmental honors programs. In consultation with their departmental academic advisers, Chancellor's Scholars develop their own combination of regular and CHP courses. Accordingly, most of the courses CHP students take are regular University offerings.

Most importantly, CHP is a challenge. A Chancellor's Scholar must make a special commitment to the intellectual life, and to the dialogue and community in the Honors House.

Benefits

As a small general studies program within a large state university, the Campus Honors Program seeks to combine the advantages of a major public institution with those of a small liberal arts college. Opportunities offered by the program include:

-- Challenging courses designed especially for CHP students with limited enrollment (usually fifteen students or fewer),

-- Summer grants to fund student research projects ($1,000) and to support student domestic and foreign travel ($500 and $1,000, respectively),

-- A variety of social and intellectual activities outside the classroom, including cultural events and seminars on topics of interest,

-- Access to the University Library stacks,

-- Transcript notation of Chancellor's Scholar status,

-- Access to computer facilities in the Honors House and to a specially developed communications network,

-- Orientation and senior sibling programs for incoming students,

-- Honors House, the honors student center, which offers an atmosphere conducive to study and relaxation,

-- Priority registration for classes, and

-- Interaction with an outstanding group of peers.

Admission

Entering freshmen with high ACT/SAT scores and exceptional high school records are invited by CHP to apply for admission to the program, but any incoming or currently enrolled freshman may ask to be considered. Acceptance is based upon such factors as standardized test scores, high school class rank and grade-point average, evidence of creative and leadership abilities as displayed in extracurricular interests and activities, the strength of application essays, and evidence of willingness to accept CHP challenges and contribute to the program. The Honors Program is open to students in all majors offered on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and an effort is made to ensure that each incoming class of Chancellor's Scholars is broadly representative of the curricula of the University as a whole. Students who are strongly motivated not only to excel, but also to make a difference at Illinois are sought for Chancellor's Scholars.

For additional information or to obtain an application form, contact the Campus Honors Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1205 West Oregon Street, Urbana, IL 61801; (217) 244-0922. For full consideration, completed applications should be received by February 1 for admission the following fall.

Next in section: EDMUND J. JAMES UNDERGRADUATE HONORS PROGRAMS

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