Honors Contract
Honors Carolina students have the unique opportunity to pursue an independent project of their own design within a regular course. The project should complement the course work and must produce a tangible final product — written, performed, or exhibited.
This opportunity is attractive to students who may have a limited number of Honors Carolina courses offered within their major. If you are interested in creating an Honors Contract, review the information below and talk with your professor about designing a mutually agreeable project.
Student Eligibility
This opportunity is available to any 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year member of Honors Carolina. Students must submit a proposal using the form below. Proposals will route directly to the course instructor for initial approval and to the Honors Carolina office for final approval.
Students may pursue one Honors Contract each semester.
ALL HONORS CONTRACTS MUST INCLUDE A FINAL SUBMISSION OF AT LEAST TEN (10) WRITTEN PAGES. Contracts that take the form of a presentation, performance, artwork, or product / application design should be accompanied by at least ten (10) PowerPoint slides.
Course Eligibility
Students may design an Honors Contract for any non-honors course in which they are currently enrolled, assuming the course is not on the list of excluded course types below. Honors Contracts may not be applied retroactively.
Courses excluded from eligibility include:
- Independent Study/Research
- Directed Readings
- Internships
- Special Studies
- Study Abroad / Off-campus
- Summer School courses
- First Year Seminar / First Year Launch
- HNRS or “H” courses
- < 3.0 credit hours
- Continuing Education
- Courses taught by individuals without a UNC faculty appointment (graduate students, post-docs, guest lectures, etc.)
Format & Student Responsibilities
- Honors Contracts require a final, tangible product to be presented to the course instructor at the end of the semester for evaluation. Written projects must be at least ten (10) pages in length. Contracts that take the form of a presentation, performance, artwork, or product / application design should be accompanied by at least ten (10) PowerPoint slides.
- Honors Contracts should require at least three (3) hours of work per week and must provide for at least (3) scheduled meetings between student and course instructor during the semester.
- Students are required to submit the final product to the course instructor no later than the last day of class (not exams) in the semester.
- Students are required to complete an Honors Contract Summary Report no later than the last day of class (not exams) in the semester.
Evaluation & Instructor Responsibilities
- Instructors are required to review the student’s initial proposal and sign-off on the proposal form by the semester deadline (see “Submission of Proposals” section below).
- Students and course instructors should meet at least three (3) times outside of class during the semester to review progress on the project.
- At the conclusion of the semester, the course instructor will receive and review the final product of the Honors Contract.
- Honors Carolina will contact the course instructor and ask if the student successfully completed the requirements outlined in the original Honors Contract proposal. The instructor will either reply “yes” (successful completion) or “no” (incomplete). A formal grade is not required.
Credit Awarded
Students who successfully complete the requirements as outlined in their approved Honors Contract proposal will receive 3.0 hours of Honors Carolina program credit toward completion of their Honors Carolina Laureate. No academic credit (major/minor, graduation, general education) is earned via completion of an Honors Contract, and it does not appear on a student’s transcript.
Submission of Proposals
- Determine which course you’d like to develop an Honors Contract in this semester.
- Approach the course instructor and discuss with them your idea. Share a link to this page in case they have questions about the Honors Contract.
- Submit the proposal form below. It will route to your instructor for approval which they will provide to our office via email.
- The Spring 2025 proposal form will close on Wednesday, January 29 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
- Honors Carolina will begin review of all proposals AFTER the submission deadline and notify students whether their proposal has been approved or denied by Wednesday, February 5.
Questions about the Honors Contract?
Please contact:
Jason Clemmons (he/him)
Director of Curriculum, Recruitment & Operations
jason@unc.edu