Curricular Pathways

What are Honors courses?

All Honors courses are unique and available to those admitted into the Honors College. The Honors curriculum allows students to satisfy General University Requirements, meaning Honors is not a substantial addition of work or time to a student's undergrad. Learn more about the mission, values, and student learning objectives of the WWU Honors College here.

While Western Washington University accepts a wide range of credits, transferred credits do not replace the Honors College curriculum.

You can learn about the different types of Honors courses below as well as the different curricular pathways that students can take.

Curricular Pathways

Curricular pathways are subject to Honors academic advisor approval.

First-Year & Running Start Students

Required Honors courses:

  • HNRS 101
  • First-Year Sequence
  • (2) Colloquia
  • (2) Honors Seminars
  • HNRS 390: Capstone Preparation
  • HNRS 490: Senior Capstone

Completion of this course pathway will satisfy the requirements for the Honors Interdisciplinary Studies minor.

DTA Running Start Students

Students who have completed the DTA-AA through Running Start.

Required Honors Courses:

  • HNRS 101
  • First-Year Sequence
  • (4) Honors Seminars
  • HNRS 390: Capstone Preparation
  • HNRS 490: Senior Capstone (at least 4 credits of HNRS 490)

Completion of this course pathway will satisfy the requirements for the Honors Interdisciplinary Studies minor.

DTA students need to connect with an Honors advisor to ensure proper exceptions are made through Degree Works to reflect this pathway.

Transfer Students

Students who join us from community colleges, other universities, or are current Western students. These students typically have a high number of completed college credits. Meeting with an Honors College academic advisor is highly recommended.

Required Honors courses:

  • (4) Honors Seminars
  • HNRS 390: Capstone Preparation
  • HNRS 490: Senior Capstone

Transfer students are not eligible for the Honors Interdisciplinary Studies minor.

Transfer students can complete the DTA pathway if they would like to add the Honors minor to their transcript.

First-Year Sequence (13 credits)

Taken during a student’s first three quarters in the Honors College, the First-Year Sequence (FYS) provides challenging, immersive, and interdisciplinary opportunities to shape and explore a community of learners. Each of its courses are meant to question the values, methods, and histories through which our current understandings of knowledge and education have emerged.

In addition to the foundational experiences offered by the FYS, completion of the sequence awards students the
following General University Requirements (GURs):

  • 8 credits in Humanities (HUM);
  • 1 course in Comparative, Gender, and Multicultural Studies (CGM); and,
  • Fulfillment of the Communication B Block (BCOM)

Fall Quarter

HNRS 101

As a shared experience for all new students in the WWU Honors College, Honors 101 is an introduction to the how’s and why’s of the Honors experience in which students and professors explore the three foundational questions of the FYS: What must we change and challenge to create the classrooms we desire? What could it mean to trust in
uncertainty and to explore without intent? How can selfless learning empower the communities we inherit, inhabit, and establish? (1 credit)

HNRS 103: Navigating the Human Experience – Pre-Modernity

In Honors 103, students explore worlds, origins, histories, and ideals related to the concept of pre-modernity. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 HUM credits)

Winter Quarter

HNRS 104: Navigating the Human Experience – Modernity

In Honors 104, students explore institutions, inventions, violences, and values related to the concept of modernity. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 HUM credits)

Spring Quarter

[Choose one]

HNRS 105: Navigating the Human Experience – Post-Modernity [A]

In Honors 105, students explore creations, rejections, deconstructions, and reclamations related to the concept of postmodernity as they took shape beyond North America and Europe. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 ACGM credits)

OR

HNRS 106: Navigating the Human Experience – Post-Modernity [B]

In Honors 106, students explore creations, rejections, deconstructions, and reclamations related to the concept of postmodernity through non-dominant traditions of North America and Europe. Through diverse media, open dialogue, and collaborative inquiry, the course and its work are invitations to practice new forms of classroom participation and creation. (4 BCGM credits)

Lower Division Colloquia (8-10 credits)

Taken any year. Two Honors Colloquia are required. These 200-level classes are offered each year in areas such as economics, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, and geology.

Upper-Division Seminars (6 credits)

Taken junior or senior year. A minimum of two Honors seminars is required. Seminars are 300-level courses that Western faculty compete to teach, which cover an array of fields and topics that are refreshed each year. Seminars typically have between 10 and 15 students.

Senior Capstone Project (2-9 credits)

HNRS 390 Capstone Project Preparation is a 1-credit course that aids Honors students in the steps required to design and execute the project that is the final step in completing their Honors coursework. By the end of the term, students will have thoroughly gone through the preparatory process. HNRS 390 will be a required course for students entering the Honors College in Fall 2023 and beyond.

HNRS 490 can be taken over 1-3 quarters prior to graduation to complete the capstone. HNRS 490 is a variable credit load with a minimum of 2 credits and a maximum of 8 credits. Replacement of HNRS 490 with departmental research credits is possible but requires prior approval from Honors.

Honors Recognition at Graduation

Separate from the Honors Minor, Honors students who complete any of the above pathways, in addition to maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.5 for the last 90 graded credits of university-level work, earn University Honors recognition at graduation.

Priority Registration

Honors students may request priority registration for any 3 quarters during their tenure at WWU (exclusive of their first quarter). Requests for priority registration will be prompted by the Honors staff prior to Phase 1 registration for the upcoming quarter.

Priority registration allows you to register for all your classes (not just Honors) within the first time slot of registration. Priority registration does not give exceptions for course restrictions (e.g. MJ, JR, SR, PREREQ). You will still need to meet the listed prerequisites or get the proper overrides from the course's home department.