Distinctions & Opportunities

Academic Distinctions

Hutton Honors College

The Edward L. Hutton Honors College presents challenging and rewarding educational opportunities to high-achieving students. Each semester the Hutton Honors College sponsors a variety of honors experiences for qualified students. In addition to special sections of traditional departmental courses, the Hutton Honors College offers its own innovative seminars. Specially chosen honors advisors assist students with course planning and help incorporate honors opportunities into advisees' undergraduate experiences. Students in the Hutton Honors College are not required to enroll in specific courses, although those matriculating in the Fall Semester of 2010 and thereafter must complete at least two approved honors courses by the end of their sixth semester. In addition to the two required courses, students have the option of earning a General Honors Notation through the Hutton Honors College and/or an honors degree through their major department or school. Students should contact the Hutton Honors College, 811 East Seventh Street, (812) 855-3555, for further information.

Recognition in General Honors

Hutton Honors College students may pursue departmental honors programs in the College of Arts and Sciences (and in several of Indiana University's professional schools); they may also, if they choose, earn a General Honors Notation on their official transcript and diploma. In order to earn this designation, students must successfully complete the following general requirements of the Hutton Honors College and be in good standing:

  1. Complete, with a minimum grade point average of 3.400, a general honors curriculum consisting of a minimum of 21 credit hours of honors courses approved by the Hutton Honors College, including at least two 3 credit Hutton Honors College courses with the HON-H prefix.
  2. Achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.400 at graduation.
Honors Seminars and Special Sections
Honors seminars provide a small-class experience in which students and faculty members explore how scholars and practitioners frame questions, use strategies and methods to uncover answers, and assess the validity of competing approaches. More advanced seminars offer opportunities for study and research on specialized topics. Many departments reserve special sections or seminars—such as Principles of Chemistry and Biochemistry I, Honors (CHEM-S 117), Introduction to Microeconomics and Macroeconomics: Honors (ECON-S 201-S 202), and Honors Finite Mathematics (MATH-S 118)—for Hutton Honors College students and for other students with superior scholastic records. The Hutton Honors College faculty also teach honors seminars in their home academic units.

Support for Students

Juniors and seniors may be eligible for funds in support of academic research, creative activity, international experiences, capstone projects, or professional experience internships during the regular academic year or the summer. Funds are also available to sophomores, juniors, and seniors for international experiences. These resources are designed to meet expenses not normally anticipated in planning an undergraduate program and may be used to support various needs. Applications are normally submitted during the spring semester both for summer funds and funds for the following fall, and during the fall semester for the following spring semester.

Internship support is also available for students who wish to engage in an undergraduate teaching program or an equivalent pedagogical experience in their major area of study. These resources are meant to support a close faculty-student relationship in which the student is treated as a junior colleague.

Finally, seniors in departmental honors programs who are writing honors theses may also apply for thesis support funds.

Please see http://www.indiana.edu/~iubhonor/hds/granthd.php for additional information about these resources.

Course Descriptions for Hutton Honors College Courses (HON)
  • HON-H 200 Interdepartmental Colloquia (1-3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar. Topics will vary. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 211 Ideas and Experience I (3 cr.) P: Completion of the English composition requirement and consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focused on the intellectual heritage of the West. Acquaints students with great works from different historical periods, cultural settings, and disciplines. Selected works by writers such as Homer, Plato, Virgil, Augustine, Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Descartes, Voltaire, and Galileo will be read.
  • HON-H 212 Ideas and Experience II (3 cr.) P: Completion of the English composition requirement and consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focused on the sources of modern thinking in the works of authors such as Rousseau, Kant, Goethe, Wordsworth, Stendhal, Darwin, Marx, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Freud, Weber, Veblen, Einstein, Kafka, Sartre, and Camus.
  • HON-H 213 Madness and Melancholy (3 cr.) Includes some contemporary discussions of how depression and other mental disorders are treated and defined; the majority of the reading consists of literary, medical, and philosophical accounts of madness and melancholy written from the classical period to the early seventeenth century.
  • HON-H 226 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in arts and humanities. Does not fulfill the CASE Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences requirement.
  • HON-H 228 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in social and historical studies. Does not fulfill the CASE Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences requirement.
  • HON-H 230 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in natural and mathematical sciences. Does not fulfill the CASE Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences requirement.
  • HON-H 232 Meaningful Writing (3 cr.) To become skillful at writing, students need to read and appreciate definitively good works of prose (whether fiction or nonfiction) and/or of poetry. Classic works of prose and poetry are analyzed to improve students' own writing skills. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 233 Great Authors, Composers, and Artists (3 cr.) It has been suggested that a broad, liberal education begins with exposure to classic works of literature, music, and art. This course examines classic works of literature, particularly from the English and/or American literary canon, and/or classic works of music and art. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 234 Literature of Time and Place (3 cr.) Focuses on works of fiction and/or nonfiction that are distinctive of a particular time period, memorable event or occurrence, or location. Relevant monographs capture the essence of a specific era, happening, or the perspectives of people in a particular place. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 235 Religion in Literature, Music, Art, and Performance (3 cr.) Religion has been a theme in literature, music, and art for as long as there has been literature, music, and art. This course examines the origins, varieties, and meanings of religion and of sacred texts in poetry and prose, in music, in visual art and design, and in dramatic performances. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 236 Use of Force (3 cr.) Considers coercion as a tool in the international arena, with particular attention to the use of military force. Analysis of case material from various time periods and geographical regions, as well as concepts from the social or behavioral sciences or from historical studies. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 237 Law and Society (3 cr.) Law is not merely the normative framework creating order or fairness in public and private institutions. Among other things, it defines relationships among friends, creates predictability in city bus routes, and influences children's moral character. This course considers law beyond the ordinary bounds of the courtroom and lawmaker's chamber. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 238 Politics and Communication (3 cr.) Examines communication as a vehicle for conveying political opinion, for forging political identities, for testing political and public ideas, and for understanding how political actors differentiate themselves in the public arena. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 239 Gender across the Disciplines (3 cr.) Gender is a cross-cutting theme with salience for disciplines as varied as French, forensics, and forestry. This course focuses on representations of gender in the interface across multiple disciplines, such as in the boundary between art and biology or between literature and psychology. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 240 Science and Society (3 cr.) Science permeates society, but the reverse is also true. The agendas of scientists, ethical norms in science, and the goals of scientific endeavors all have societal underpinnings. This course considers not only how science affects societal forms and functions but also how society affects the scientific enterprise. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 241 Scientific Uncertainty and Discovery (3 cr.) Applies concepts used by the natural and physical sciences to illuminate general laws of science and to describe natural phenomena using primarily quantitative methods and empirical inquiry. Uses the scientific method for asking and answering questions about scientific phenomena and scientific uncertainty. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 242 Animal Ethics (3 cr.) Examines our relationships and interactions with, and the uses and treatment of animals by integrating literary texts with provocative essays by various philosophers. By law, animals are considered property. What are the implications of that status? What does it mean to "own" an animal? Considers these and other questions related to the treatment of animals.
  • HON-H 243 Big Patterns of Historical Change (3 cr.) Macrohistory is an emergent field in which scientists, archaeologists and anthropologists seek to identify rules of historical change that might be used to predict the future. This course examines representative works in this field together with professional critiques of those works.
  • HON-X 298 Honors Research (1-3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College prior to semester of enrollment. Open to Hutton Honors College students who wish to pursue individual or group research outside of existing departments or departmental courses. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 299 Honors Discussion (1 cr.) Used as a one-credit addition as part of a block enrollment section for freshman- and sophomore-level courses. Denotes a discussion for which students receive honors credit for otherwise non-honors courses in departments outside the Hutton Honors College.
  • HON-H 300 Interdepartmental Colloquium (1-3 cr.) P: Sophomore or junior standing and consent of Hutton Honors College. May be repeated with different topics up to a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • HON-H 303 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in arts and humanities. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 304 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in social and historical studies. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 305 Interdepartmental Colloquia (3 cr.) P: Consent of Hutton Honors College. Honors seminar focusing on topics in natural and mathematical sciences. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • HON-H 400 Interdepartmental Colloquium (1-3 cr.) P: Junior or senior standing and consent of Hutton Honors College. May be repeated with different topics up to a maximum of 9 credit hours.
  • HON-H 488 C.I.C. Traveling Scholar Program (0 cr.) S/F grading. Students from other Committee on Institutional Cooperation (C.I.C.) institutions participating in the C.I.C. Traveling Scholar Program for Honors Undergraduates must enroll in this noncredit course in order to register for other classes at Indiana University Bloomington.