Undergraduate Honors Contracts and Thesis Projects

The University of Nebraska Honors Program

The University Honors Program enhances undergraduates' college experiences by providing a challenging and creative academic program for the most talented and highly motivated students in Nebraska and across the nation. Comprised of students across all majors and colleges, the Honors Program offers students opportunities to learn in small seminars, develop close relationships with faculty, engage in co-curricular activities, and develop leadership experiences.

Honors Contracts

In addition to taking specially-designated honors courses, undergraduates also pursue honors contracts with instructors for non-honors courses. As an instructor, you may be asked by an honors student if you are willing to participate in such a contract.

Honors course contracts take a variety of forms, appropriate to individual course content and the discipline in which the course is taught. The primary goal for an Honors contract is to promote critical thinking and creativity, demonstrate synthesis beyond the material presented in the class, and offer additional interaction with the instructor. The Honors program staff are available to answer questions and help you through this process. Here are some examples of possible contracts.

Honors Thesis Projects

The Honors Senior Project (Thesis) serves as the cumulative work of an undergraduate Honors student. The Honors Senior Project asks students to go beyond their regular capstone efforts to produce research or a creative activity constituting Honors-level work. Students may write a traditional thesis, engage in creative activity, undertake a civic engagement or service project, or base their project in educational outreach. It is appropriate and encouraged for students to build upon previous academic work or experiences when appropriate (for example, capstone projects, undergraduate research, or civic engagement experiences). Because expectations differ greatly by discipline and type of project, there is no mandatory length or format for the Honors Senior Project. For many faculty, it is helpful to think of the Honors Senior Project as being equivalent in scope to the semester project a Master’s student might produce in a one-semester seminar.

We believe that faculty are in the best position to adjudicate the amount and level of work for a thesis/senior project that constitutes honors level quality, and that faculty mentors are solely responsible for certifying that the final thesis/senior project is completed at an appropriately rigorous level. The Honors Program staff is always available to answer questions and help faculty mentors through this process. You can find more information about projects and deadlines on the thesis senior project website.