English Honors

Honors Program Director: Dr. Matthew Rowney

Honors Program Assistant Director: Dr. Juan Meneses

Mission Statement

The English Honors Program provides a structured and supportive environment for highly motivated students from a range of backgrounds, experiences, and interests to pursue accelerated academic work within a fostering intellectual community. Working closely with Honors faculty, students complete rigorous and original projects of their own design that prepare them to excel in their future academic, artistic, and career-oriented endeavors.

Overview

The English Honors program offers its outstanding undergraduate students the opportunity to conclude their degree with advanced coursework in a research-seminar setting; it also provides venues for the completion of a capstone project of their choosing under the direction of a faculty member. English Honors students are strongly encouraged to attend departmental talks and events in order to gain an appreciation of the discipline’s professional culture, and they are invited to optional English Honors outings at least once a year.

Recruitment

The Director and Assistant Director recruit students from among current English Majors. They use a variety of criteria in the recruitment process, including student GPA, credit hours completed, and feedback from instructors. Students with an interest in Honors should contact either the Director or Assistant Director at the email addresses above.

Structure

The English Honors Program has two required courses:

ENGL 4750 – English Honors Seminar (3) _(compulsory)

and ONE of the following two courses:

ENGL 4751 – English Honors Thesis Seminar (3)

ENGL 4752 – English Honors Thesis (3): Independent Study

To graduate with Honors in English, undergraduate students are required to take one English Honors Seminar (ENGL 4750) and to complete an Honors capstone thesis (as part of either ENGL 4751 or ENGL 4752) while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in Honors courses. In the semester before graduation, candidates must either present their capstone thesis at an undergraduate colloquium or submit the thesis to an undergraduate journal.

English Honor Student, Amber Rae Hightower, is the 2024 Commencement Speaker Runner-Up at the Dean’s Celebration of commencement event!

With support from the Department of English and the Honors College, English Honors took eight students to the Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC for a three day writing retreat. Students and faculty (Bryn Chancellor, Juan Meneses, and Matt Rowney) worked on writing projects, enjoyed the mountain scenery, sang and told stories around a campfire and had a productive and enjoyable time. 

Honors Retreat, March 2023 in Boone.
With Professors Chancellor, Meneses, and Rowney.

English Honors outing to see Charlotte Symphony, November 2022.