“Grading” Honors Projects
Technically, the honors project does not receive a grade. In terms of meriting honors credit, the project should be thought of as earning either a pass or a fail; that is to say, either the project is worthy of honors credit or it is not. When an instructor signs an honors contract indicating successful completion of the project, he/she affirms the following: “I certify that the above-named student has satisfactorily completed the Honors Contract in this course according to the standards of Honors.” The grade request on the contract form is for the final course grade. If this is not known at the time of project submission, please leave that blank.
If the faculty member deems that the submitted work is not honors level, then the contract should be regarded as not fulfilled and, therefore, not signed. The unsigned contract and the project should be submitted to the Honors College (MS #29) for filing. Pay/grade forms cannot be processed for unapproved projects unless the project is received in the Honors College.
Unfinished Honors Projects Contracts
About twenty to twenty-five percent of all signed Honors Projects Contracts are never completed. Understandably, there are various and predictable reasons for this. Instructors who know that an Honors Project Contract will, for whatever reason, not be finished should contact the Honors College Manager so that a note can be put in the database. Beyond this, instructors are urged not to hold the non-completion of an Honors Project Contract against a student in the calculation of the course grade. Honors work is superadded to regular course requirements. Thus, failure to complete Honors work should not be construed negatively.