William O. Douglas Honors College

Faculty

In choosing William O. Douglas Honors College, you're aligning yourself with a faculty that prioritizes your success and sees education as more than a mere transfer of knowledge; it's a shared journey of discovery.

You become part of the William O. Douglas Honors College community, and one of the standout features that immediately draws your attention is the exceptional faculty. These accomplished educators and researchers are not only experts in their respective fields but also deeply committed to mentoring and engaging with you on a personal level. In the classroom, they challenge you with stimulating discussions, innovative coursework, and hands-on experiences that bridge theory and practice. Outside of lectures, they're approachable and open to collaboration, fostering an environment where your ideas are nurtured and your intellectual curiosity thrives.

Their guidance and support extend beyond academics, often becoming a vital part of your personal and professional growth. 

Why teach for the DHC?

DHC courses appeal to faculty who enjoy working with motivated students from various disciplines in an interactive environment. Honors students come to us from every major on campus, and bring individual insights, backgrounds, and motivations, but are committed to the interdisciplinary, dynamic discussion, and deep exploration of content.

Classes are size restricted, with the goal of maintaining a 24-student limit to encourage discussion amongst faculty and students alike. Honors classes provide faculty a place to explore course content, design and pedagogy that can be of benefit to other departments.

Professional development is highly valued and fostered in the DHC. Faculty are mentored by the DHC Executive Director and have access to peer review by the DHC Advisory Committee.

What creates an honors environment?

DHC classes pursue the subject matter in greater depth using interdisciplinary approaches and with more intensity than a regular university class. However, DHC classes are writing intensive only when appropriate.

Students are expected to fully participate in the class through discussion, group work, and presentations. We encourage the inclusion of research components and other experiential instruction as well.

Experimentation with a variety of collaborative and cooperative instructional styles is encouraged. DHC students expect active student/instructor interaction within the classroom setting.

We attempt to create a problem-solving environment, allowing students to experience complexity of both content and discussion.

Who teaches for the DHC?

Faculty from across the university’s colleges and departments teach in the DHC, providing a great range of disciplinary approaches. But they do all share certain characteristics. They are:

• Enthusiastic and eager to challenge motivated and engaged students
• Comfortable in small class settings
• Skilled in facilitating discussion
• Employing innovative teaching styles and ideas, including problem and project-based learning
• Committed to interdisciplinary teaching and collaboration
• Skilled at writing and promoting writing in the classroom
• Interested in challenging students to think globally and discover international connections

Who learns with the DHC?

Students in all majors on campus participate in the Honors College as a way to deepen their distribution/general education requirements. We seek students who are interested in how their disciplinary interests and background can be applied to a variety of topics, and how they can benefit from colleagues with very different disciplinary inclinations.

DHC students respond well to in-class discussion and will foster spontaneous student-to-student discussions. The median GPA of DHC students is 3.6.