Curriculum Requirements

The Embry-Riddle Honors Program consists of at least 21-27 credit hours of Honors. These requirements are embedded in (not added to) the existing curriculum:

• 12-13 credit hours applicable to general education requirements
• At least 9-14 credit hours within the student’s major.

General Education

The Honors curriculum emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to education by requiring students to enroll in three, three-credit-hour seminars (a total of nine credit hours) that encourage a global perspective and place disciplines in dialogue.

The seminars are capped at 20 students (all members of the Honors program), are discussion based, and focus on developing students’ communicative, critical, research and leadership skills, and require text and web-based original research, written essays and oral presentations.

Honors Seminars

The Honors Seminars are unique courses, created specifically for the Honors Program. Students may experience courses such as these:

• Colonialism and Globalization
• Nationalism in the Middle East and Africa
• The Culture of Computing
• The Nature of Creativity
• Chaos and Design
• Vietnam in World History
• The Arts of Persuasion
• From Humanism to Transhumanism
• American War Drums and Persistent Echoes
• Ancient and Modern Conceptions of the Hero
• The Cold War
• The Control of Nature/The Nature of Control
• Experiences of the “Other” in American Culture
• U.S. Diplomacy in a Troubled World
• Structure and Expression of American Government: Current Issues
• Politics and the Fear of Science
• Globalization and Fundamentalism
• Climate Change
• Good Government

In lieu of the third Honors seminar, students may select an independent study or travel abroad option, the specifics of which are subject to approval by the Honors director.

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  Honors Within the Major

  Individual degree programs establish, in coordination with Honors Program administration, the appropriate honors experience in the major. A degree program may designate sections of particular upper-level (300-400 level) courses within the majors as “Honors” when there is a sufficient number of Honors students within the major to support them. Programs which enroll only a small number of Honors students identify specific courses or individual projects undertaken with a faculty mentor, in order to satisfy the Honors experience. The Honors experience within the major may involve completion of an Honors senior thesis, senior project or senior portfolio.

  Individualized Honors Contracting

  Honors Program students often arrange individualized projects with faculty, in order to add depth to or to go somewhat outside the required curriculum. A few examples of some actual Honors contract experiences:

  • Nicole Kufa, with Dr. Richard Snow: WX 299, WX 399
    Research about lightning patterns as indicators of potential tornado development within thunderstorm cells. Research led to co-presentation of “Lightning: Meteorology’s New Tool” at American Meteorological Society meeting.
  • Christopher Noth, with Dr. Notis Pagiavlis: BA 399
    Research into New Service Development applied to Small Aircraft Transportation System. Co-authored “New-to-the-World Service Development in Business Markets,” submitted to the Journal of Marketing.
  • Judy Chui, with Dr. Yi Zhao: AE 418
    Finite element analysis of trusses and frames using various computer programming languages: idealized beams using C programming and simulated and analyzed trusses using Matlab.
  • Jeremy Sotzen, Greg Lewis, Amy Sauer, Ben Schreib, David Agee, Jonathan Ruel, with Dr. Tony Hagar: ES 204, Dynamics
    Designed a trebuchet (medieval catapult), achieving a complicated “floating arm” design, using advanced tools such as Catia software.