Call for proposals for new honors courses

Kevin Knudson, Director, University Honors Program

Please distribute the enclosed call for proposals to your faculty. Note that this call is restricted to regular tenure-track faculty; lecturers, adjuncts, and graduate students are not eligible.

Call for Proposals
The University Honors Program solicits proposals for new courses for the 2010-11 academic year. Honors courses are typically capped at 25 students and are usually (though not always) taught in a seminar format. We seek challenging, innovative, provocative classes that will pique the interest of the students and engage them in serious, thoughtful dialogue about the topics. Interdisciplinary and team-taught proposals are especially encouraged. We are also interested in classes that take advantage of experiential or service learning opportunities.

Tenure-track faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to submit proposals. We seek a broad spectrum of topics from all colleges of the university. No area is off-limits; we invite you to push the boundaries for our students. Of particular interest are courses that cut across disciplines that are usually considered to be unrelated; for example, a class integrating a science with fine art or a humanities area.

Please note that the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere will issue a similar call for proposals for team- taught courses in the humanities and related disciplines in the coming weeks. The UF Honors Program will also participate in that competition, but in a supporting role. This call is separate and not limited to the humanities, although faculty from those disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Compensation
Successful applicants will receive a one-time professional development allowance of $2000 to be used for travel, books, etc. In addition, the faculty member’s department will have the option either to house the course, thereby receiving the associated SCH, or to run the course as a section of IDH 3931 (housed in the Honors Program) and receive a payment of $5000 to compensate for the release of the faculty member. In the case of team-taught courses, one department must house the course while the other takes the monetary payment; the chairs involved must negotiate this up front. Courses may be renewed in subsequent years, but in those cases the department must then take ownership of the class (that is, there will be no monetary payment from Honors).

Proposal Format
Please submit a detailed course description, including course goals, delivery style, and evaluation methods. This narrative should be no more than two pages in length. Proposals must include a letter of endorsement from the department chair(s), indicating a commitment to allow the faculty member(s) to teach the course as part of regular duties (not as an overload); the letter must also specify which compensation option the department prefers. Also indicate which semester (fall or spring) the course is to be offered. We seek a balance across the terms.

Send completed proposals to:
Dr. Kevin Knudson, Director
University Honors Program
118 Hume Hall
PO Box 113260
Proposals may also be sent electronically to
kknudson@honors.ufl.edu
Proposals must be received by Monday, November 30, 2009. Decisions will be made by early January.