The Honors College

210 Oak View Hall

(248) 370-4450

Dean: Graeme Harper, DCA Ph.D. FRGS FRSA FRAI FAIM

Council: Amy Banes-Berceli, Biology; Eddie Cheng, Math; Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Psychology; David Kidger, Music; Ji-Eun Lee, Education; Thomas Raffel, Biology; Matthew Fails, Political Science; Sanela Martic, Chemistry/Biochemistry; Brad Roth, Physics; Susan Wood, Art History; Darrin Hanna, Engineering; Kathleen Spencer, Nursing; Christopher Wilson, Health Sciences; Karen Conn, Administrative Assistant; Debra Weeks, Executive Secretary

The Honors College was established to provide highly motivated students an intellectually stimulating community. The curriculum offers a distinctive undergraduate experience that integrates the sciences the professional fields and the arts through research, colloquia, creative activities, scholarly and extra-curricular activities, as well as leadership and service opportunities within the university and larger community. It offers specially designed general education requirements, and in major Honors choices, in conjunction with a departmental major. Students applying to the Honors College must first be admitted to or enrolled at Oakland University. Courses with the HC prefix are open only to students who have been accepted into the Honors College. Please visit our website at oakland.edu for additional information on the Honors College, its programs and requirements.

Requirements and Procedures

Departmental majors

Each student must complete a departmental major in the College of Arts and Sciences or a prescribed course of study in the School of Business Administration, the School of Education and Human Services, the School of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Health Sciences, or the School of Nursing.

A student who is not pursuing a standard major (for example, a student with an independent major) may be accepted to the Honors College if the Honors College Council determines that the student’s program is of sufficient breadth, depth and coherence.

The Honors College also offers a selection of “In Major” Advanced Scholarship courses, that can partly take the place of Honors College General Education courses. A list of “In Major” choices is available on The Honors College website or can be discussed with an Honors College adviser.

General education requirements of the honors college

The student must successfully complete HC 1000 and at least three Honors College core courses (16 credits), selected from HC 1000 , HC 2010 , HC 2020 , HC 2040 , HC 2050 , HC 2060 , HC 2070 , or HC 2080 .
The student must successfully complete at least one approved General Education Requirements course in each of the 10 knowledge areas that are not covered by the HC core courses taken.
The student must complete an approved writing intensive course in general education, (which may be satisfied by choosing an HC 2020 course after completion of WRT 1060 ), a writing intensive course in the major, a diversity course and a capstone. These four requirements may be met by courses that double-count in other general education areas or in the major.
The student must complete a four semester foreign language requirement (see policy on the Honors College website).
The student must successfully complete HC 3900 in the year before graduation.
The student must complete a senior thesis. See Honors College website for deadlines.

Note: Honors College requirements partially replace university general education requirements and replace Explorations requirements for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Community service

The student must complete a minimum of 10 hours per year of one sustained service

Good standing

The student must maintain good standing in the Honors College at all times. A copy of “Good Standing Guidelines” is available in the Honors College office or online.

Honors thesis

Each Honors College student must successfully complete a major scholarly work or creative project under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Proposals for all Honors College theses must be approved by the Honors College Council prior to proceeding with work. The student may receive departmental or Honors College independent study credit for all or part of this work. The student may, but is not required to, register for HC 4900 . The project must be independently designed and completed. If graduating in summer or fall (December commencement) the deadline is October 15 of the same year. If graduating in Winter or Summer (May commencement) the deadline is February 15 of the same year.

Thesis research grant

Students can apply for an HC thesis research grant to support the completion of their HC thesis at the time the thesis proposal is submitted.

Grade point average and graduation honors

A minimum grade point average of 3.50 is required for graduation. The diploma indicates that the student is a graduate of The Honors College.

The Honors College offers

The Honors College offers selected courses from this catalog as designed for student needs or determined by proposals submitted by faculty and accepted by an Honors College committee. Specific offerings for each semester may be found in the Schedule of Classes sail.oakland.edu and on the Honors College website.