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What is an Honors Contract?
The contract involves an agreement among the honors student, a UB faculty member, and the University Honors College. All the terms stated in the contract proposal must be successfully completed by the agreed upon due date for the student to receive honors credit.

What should you expect from a student completing an Honors Contract?

The contract work or project should add an academic dimension by introducing new material or by allowing the student to go into greater depth than normally required in some aspect of the course. Contracts may be service-learning focused through student engagement in a service project and reflection related to the course content. Students may come to you with a well thought out contract proposal or may need some additional guidance from you as they consider a project or research proposal.  Students must be clear in how their proposal exceeds regular course requirements and include this information on their Honors Contract form.

Examples of Honors Contracts:

• An independent research project with lab work and demonstrable results.
• Service hours related to the course topic along with meaningful reflection (service-learning).
• A major research paper (in addition to any course requirement).
• A translation of a literary work written in a foreign language.
• A lecture or recital about a musician the student admires or is curious about.
• Any other exploratory, creative, wide-ranging or experimental learning experience related to the content of the contracted course

How does an Honors Contract affect course grading?

The Honors Contract does not impact the student’s grade in the course. To receive honors credit for the course, Honors students must satisfactorily complete the terms of the contract during the semester that credit is earned. Students receiving an “I” in a course that they have contracted will not receive honors credit upon completion. Instructors will not penalize students who do not complete the terms of their honors contracts; these students will simply receive the grade earned in the class.

Faculty Considerations:
Faculty should expect to add individual student supervision meetings and any necessary lab time to their current semester workload. While students are expected to commit 30 hours to their project, faculty members generally commit a few hours to the experience, possibly including a few brief meetings during the semester (if needed) and reviewing drafts of their student’s work, depending on the agreed upon project.

Honors College students are generally motivated and independent learners and do not typically require much faculty oversight.  

If you agree to work with a student:

Once a student submits an Honors Contract proposal form, faculty are sent an email with details of the proposed Honors Contract that also includes a link to a brief form confirming your acceptance of their proposal. 

The student should be in communication with you throughout the semester and submit their assignment(s) or project by the agreed upon deadline.

Faculty are asked to complete the Honors Contract Evaluation at the same time they report grades for their course. A link to the evaluation form will be emailed to the instructor for this purpose near the end of the semester. If a student fails to complete the work agreed upon in the Honors Contract proposal form, faculty are asked to indicate this on the final evaluation. A student cannot earn Honors credits if the Honors College does not receive a faculty evaluation form.

On behalf of the Honors College, we would like to thank you for your consideration of working with this student and allowing them to explore an area of this course’s subject material more deeply with the help of your mentorship.