This story was updated 11:20 a.m., Oct. 23 to update information about the Honors’ course listing and program size.
Established in fall 2022, the University’s Honors Program now has 80 members and is accepting applications for fall 2024.
The program, which began with 30 students, consists of interdisciplinary courses taken over two years. First-year students can take HONR 1300 to replace the first-year seminar requirement, along with HONR 4000, a capstone course that correlates with their academic major, William Bush, director of the university honors program said.
The class is not a standard academic course but introduces students to college studies and uses academic resources. The course topic rotates each year: this year is “Sculpting Ecology” (a mix of visual art and biology), and “Smart Living with Quantitative Reasoning” (a mix of math and computer science), Bush said.
All new freshmen, transfer, and continuing students who enroll at Texas A&M University-San Antonio in the fall 2024 semester are eligible to join the Honors Program.
Students who are interested must apply with a short essay, a resume and references.
Last year the first-year honors seminar class won first place at the Great Plains Regional Conference.
“Seeing the success in this little baby program and grow into something bigger… it really is an accomplishment,” Honors President Clara Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is a criminology junior and has participated in the program since the beginning.
The program meets once a month to develop leadership skills and hold workshops on how to apply for scholarships, how to develop a good research project and other topics.
Any major is eligible to join, and currently accepting applications from incoming first-year, transfers to current students. The Honors Program is looking to implement a referral program that will allow a faculty member to refer students who have two years left in their degree plan.
With the recommendation of a current Honors student, teacher member, or staff member, any continuing A&M-San Antonio students may submit an application.
“It helps give a voice to our members and making sure they are heard and recognized,” Rodriguez said .
In order to be considered for admission to the Honors program, continuing and transfer students must have at least 48 credits left in their first semester.
Applications for fall 2024 were scheduled to open on Oct. 1 and close in June 2024; applications will be reviewed in January 2024.
For more information visit https://www.tamusa.edu/honors/.
