Northern Arizona University - Honors Program Requirements

Honors Scholar

Office Hours
Mountain Standard Time
(year-round)
September-May:
8:00am-5:00pm
Monday-Friday

June-August
9:00am-4:00pm

Honors Program Requirements

Program Admission
Incoming (both new and transfer) as well as students currently attending NAU are eligible to join the Honors Program, upon meeting certain minimum criteria. Those criteria and other admissions procedures are detailed at Program Admission Requirements

Liberal Studies Honors

Through the Liberal Studies Honors Program, we offer academically motivated students an enhanced education that includes a rigorous and diverse curriculum, close intellectual dialogue among students and faculty, and experiential learning opportunities within a supportive community of scholars.

The educational objective of our honors program is to prepare you for citizenship and leadership in the twenty-first century. We designed our program to ensure that you are challenged to achieve at your highest potential while preparing for your responsibilities to the broader community.

Upon graduation, you will be able to reflect critically on and integrate knowledge and issues within the broader societal and human context, recognize your individual and collective responsibilities as a citizen and leader in the twenty-first century, and commit to a position, know that it may change, and tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity. In addition, you will demonstrate superior capabilities in essential lifelong skills, including the abilities to read critically; express yourself effectively in speech and writing; reason ethically; engage in quantitative analysis; and use the logic of scientific inquiry. That is, the honors curriculum prepares you to excel in a competitive world and to contribute to the improvement of that world; you will become creative problem solvers.

Liberal Studies Honors Program Requirements

A minimum of 35 units is required in the following categories:

Foundation Requirements

9-10 Hours Minimum

Honors Core (6 units): HON 190 and HON 191 -- Seminar in Critical Reading and Writing I & II
Mathematics Foundation (3 - 4 units): MAT 125 -- Precalculus, MAT 131 -- Topics in Calculus or MAT 136 -- Calculus I
Additional Math or Second Language Requirement: Two semester proficiency in a second language or Math proficiency through Calculus II (MAT 137). May be fulfilled through college credit, credit by exam, or appropriate placement. Earned units may be counted in appropriate Distribution Area below.

Distribution Requirements

25 Hours Minimum

Lab Science (4 units)
Aesthetic and Humanistic Inquiry (3-6 units)
Cultural Understanding (3-6 units)
Science/Applied Science (3-6 units)
Social and Political Worlds (3-6 units)

To graduate "with Honors," students must earn at least 21 units of Honors designated coursework and have a 3.50 NAU cumulative GPA.

University Honors Program Requirements

To receive the designation "with University Honors" at graduation, you must successfully complete the Liberal Studies Honors Program, plus a two-semester, six credit-hour honors thesis. The thesis must be approved by the Honors Program and completed under the supervision of a faculty advisor. University Honors is an optional distinction beyond the "Liberal Studies Honors" distinction.