Barrett Academic Course Requirements
Honors students must maintain high standards of academic performance and show progress toward completion of
graduation requirements in their disciplinary majors and in Barrett. In order to graduate from Barrett, students must
complete the following, which includes a total of 36 credit hours of honors course work:
1. HON 171 and HON 272/273/274,
The Human Event
, must be completed in sequence during a student's first
two semesters in the college.
2. Thirty additional credit hours of honors course work must be earned with a letter grade of “C” (2.00) or
higher. This may include HON prefix classes, honors sections of classes, honors enrichment contracts or any
automatic honors courses such as ENG 105 (in-person sections), CHM 117, CHM 118, PHY 333, or graduate-
level courses.
3. Included in the 36 credit hours of honors course work are at least 18 hours of upper-division or graduate-
level honors credits for an earned letter grade of “C” (2.00) or higher, including six credit-hours of honors
course work outside the academic major. Students should investigate specialized honors, upper-division
tracks within their majors.
4. Those admitted as upper-division transfer students (defined as 48 post-high school university credits
completed by the time of planned enrollment in Barrett) must complete a three-credit, 300-level HON special
topics course in addition to the 18 required hours of upper-division honors course work. Six of the 21 honors
credits must be outside the academic major. A total of 21 hours of upper-division honors course work are
required for these upper division transfers because they do not have time to complete all 36 honors hours.
5. Students are required to complete an honors thesis or creative project for at least three credit-hours, though
students are encouraged to complete six credit-hours of thesis or creative project work. These credit hours
may be included in the 18 required hours of upper-division, honors course work. The honors thesis or creative
project is launched with a prospectus due one academic year before the defense. The final copy of the honors
thesis or creative project must be filed by the posted deadline during the student’s graduation semester.
6. ASU graduation requirements in an academic major must be met.
7. Students must maintain a cumulative ASU GPA of 3.25 or higher.
Barrett course requirements may be met in a variety of ways. There are two specific required courses for first-year
students. Only courses in which a student receives a grade of “C” (2.00) or higher may be used to meet Barrett
requirements.
Those entering the college as lower-division students may take as many as 18 lower-division honors credits, which
include HON 171 and 272/273/274 The Human Event, and at least 18 upper-division credits (total honors credits
must be 36). HON 171, 271, 272, 273 are cross-disciplinary seminars that acquaint students with ideas that form the
foundation of a university education and emphasize critical thinking, discussion and writing.
Those who enter as upper-division students must take 21 upper-division honors credits, including a required 300-
level honors course. Junior-level seminar courses introduce students to critical thinking, discussion and writing in a
topical area chosen by the instructor. All students are expected to complete this course no later than the first or
second semester after transferring.
Departmental honors-only courses are limited to honors students and others who receive special permission from the
instructor to enroll. Enrollment in these courses is limited. Compared to their non-honors equivalents, these courses
are designed to offer a richer, more complex intellectual experience appropriate to the discipline and the level of the
course for all students enrolled. Other disciplinary honors courses group honors students in small cohorts to work on
research projects of common interest.
Honors enrichment contracts are available in many departmental courses allowing honors students to contract with
the instructor of designated non-honors courses to earn honors credit by pursuing enrichment activities, which
include supplemental sessions with the instructor. Honors enrichment contracts must be filed by the student during
the first four weeks of class and completed during the semester in which the course is offered. The enrichment
contract form offers guidelines to aid students and faculty in developing appropriate contracts.
Course numbers listed in the online ASU schedule of classes as 298/492 Honors Directed Study, 493 Honors Thesis,
497 Honors Colloquium, all classes with the HON prefix, and those with departmental prefix that carry the honors
designation as a notation are reserved for students in Barrett and always count for honors credit. Students may
receive credit for more than one of each of these courses in a given department.
The departmental course with the number 493 is reserved for honors students completing their honors thesis or
creative project. A student may enroll for this course only with the approval of the sponsoring academic department
and of the faculty member who serves as the student’s thesis or creative project director. Course numbers listed in
the online ASU schedule of classes as 493 fulfill the student’s upper-division literacy and critical inquiry (L) General
Studies requirement.
There are certain courses that carry automatic honors credit. These include ENG 105 (any in-person section), CHM
117, CHM 118, and PHY 333. Graduate level courses automatically earn honors credit.
