Honors by Contract
Conversion of regular Bucks courses into honors courses
An honors-by-contract arrangement allows an Honors@Bucks student in a "regular" academic course to enter with his/her professor into a private contract that assigns additional coursework emphasizing scholarly research, high-order critical thinking, and/or experiential learning. The honors student's completion of the contracted work to the professor's satisfaction converts the regular course into an honors course on the student's transcript.
Honors contracts are facilitated by Dr. Stephen doCarmo, Honors@Bucks coordinator, and should be arranged at the end of the semester preceding that in which the contract will be in effect.
Faculty-student partners should submit completed contract forms (these are provided by Dr. doCarmo, program coordinator) for Honors Council feedback and approval by a deadline early in the semester.
Honors@Bucks students must complete at least one dedicated-honors course before beginning by-contract coursework.
Honors@Bucks students may forge honors contracts only in courses helping fulfill requirements for their own programs of study.
Generally speaking, Honors@Bucks students may not forge contracts in courses being offered in dedicated-honors format that same semester.
Note that honors contracts are not available for one- and two-credit courses—nor are they available for studio-based fine-arts courses (e.g. VAFA100: Drawing Fundamentals).
Note, too, that there are no additional fees or tuition costs for honors-by-contract coursework.
If you're an Honors@Bucks student interested in arranging contracts for an upcoming semester, please contact Dr. Stephen doCarmo, Honors@Bucks program coordinator.