About the Honors College

Dean: William Monroe, Ph.D., University of Chicago

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Research: Stuart Long, Ph.D., Harvard University

Assistant Dean for Student Success: Andrew Hamilton, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

Assistant Dean for Academic Programs: Christine LeVeaux-Haley, Ph.D., Louisiana State University

Teaching Faculty: Richard Armstrong, Jeremy Bailey, Michelle Bleco, Simon Bott, Hayan Charara, Ann Cheek, Orson Cook, Robert Cremins, Douglas Erwing, Ted L. Estess, Jamie Ferguson, Cynthia Freeland, Everette Gardner, Richard Garner, Joshua Gonzalez, Irene Guenther, Terry Hallmark, Andrew Hamilton, John Harvey, Shasta Jones, Alison Leland, Robert Liddell, Larry Lyke, Christine LeVeaux-Haley, Andy Little, Stuart Long, Gabriela Maya, Kimberly Meyer, Olivia Miljaniç, Jacob Mills, William Monroe, Iain Morrisson, Anna Newman, Matthew Nicol, Ricardo Nuila, Dan Price, Jesse Rainbow, Brenda Rhoden, David Shattuck, Tamler Sommers, Sarah Spring, Helen Valier, Karen Weber, Robert Zaretsky, Jonathan Zecher

Originally created in 1958, the University Honors Program became The Honors College at the University of Houston in 1993. Created to serve the intellectual needs of gifted students in over 100 fields of study, the Honors College provides the careful guidance, flexibility, and personal instruction that nurture individual excellence.

Benefits of Honors College membership include priority enrollment (registration) for courses, competitive scholarships, special academic advising by faculty, opportunities for individual study, and the chance to live in the Honors residence halls.

The curriculum of the Honors College is both flexible and varied. The College draws on the talents of the finest faculty members across the university to teach smaller honors sections of courses in various disciplines. These courses take the place of regular required courses and fulfill the university’s baccalaureate degree requirements. One key sequence of courses, “The Human Situation,” is team-taught by the core Honors faculty and designed to ensure that Honors students are introduced to the philosophical, literary, and historical foundations of Western civilization, from classical Greece to modern America.

Honors students can take advantage of a wide range of challenging programs, including the Honors Program in the Health Professions, Bauer Business Honors Program, Honors Engineering Program, Speech and Debate Program, and the Bonner Leaders Program. Students can also choose from several minors including, Medicine and Society, Phronesis Program in Politics and Ethics, Creative Work and the new minors in Leadership Studies and Energy & Sustainability.

Students make significant contributions to the life of the Honors College. The Student Governing Board conducts evaluations of all honors courses each semester and maintains the results in the Honors College for students to consult when selecting courses and instructors. In addition to their participation in the College’s academic affairs, students help plan and attend special events throughout the school year. Designed especially for beginning students, the fall Honors Retreat is the first event of each academic year.  Students new to the College join upper-level advisors and Honors faculty at a wooded retreat center for two days of recreation and interaction.

Students also have many exciting possibilities for studying abroad and away, and engaging in undergraduate research with dedicated faculty mentors. On any given day, the Honors College is a hub of learning and co-curricular activity, with many award-winning writers, thinkers, and entrepreneurs visiting the Honors Commons, our marketplace of ideas.