Undergraduate Admissions

Academics: Honors

At Western, the Honors Program emphasizes a commitment to inter- and multi-disciplinary learning and intellectual risk-taking.  We are looking for students who love learning for the sake of learning; who are intellectually curious and are willing to cross boundaries of academic disciplines; who understand that the process of learning is often more important than the products of learning. 

What Will You Learn? What Skills Will You Acquire?

Honors coursework and educational experiences at WSCU are focused on developing multiple intelligences and not solely on academic achievement.  Most Honors students are well on their way to mastering traditional academic expectations of strong reading, writing and analytical skills.

Our Honors students are encouraged to push themselves further than simply earning A’s.  Our courses seek to help students develop both interpersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand the motivations, desires and intentions of others) and intrapersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand oneself, where one’s own feelings, motivations and fears come from).  These skills are sometimes referred to as emotional intelligence.

Honors students at Western are encouraged to seek understanding of multiple points of view, to reflect thoughtfully on their own values and ideas to become autonomous learners – to be become comfortable with complexity and ambiguity and to develop intellectual resiliency. This kind of social intelligence, the human capacity to navigate and negotiate complex social relationships and environments, is at the core of Honors at Western State Colorado University.

Beyond the Classroom


Honors offers a number of opportunities for students to step outside the classroom and indeed their comfort zones though experiential learning opportunities and as members of a larger national Honors community, the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). 

Western’s Honors Program is part of the NCHC’s Partners in the Parks program which puts Honors students into national parks across the country for a behind the scenes experience working with academics and rangers in multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary settings.  We host the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Partners in the Parks program which focuses on western water issues, invasive species and park management but our Honors students can participate in any of the Partners in the Parks programs for credit.

We encourage our Honors students to undertake Study Abroad programs and work with them to develop unique research projects so they can more deeply engage with the places and people they interact with abroad.

Our Place as Text course expands the notion of analysis from one and two dimensions into the three-dimensional worlds of some of North America’s most vibrant cities. Students develop their own research projects and travel to the selected site for a four day intensive exploration.  Cities we have explored include Charleston, NYC, New Orleans and Santa Fe.

Honors also offers students opportunities for independent research and the ability to develop their own unique projects for regular courses at Western.  Honors students can work with faculty one on one in a graduate school model which allows for deeper and more meaningful engagement with the subject matter as well as opportunities for developing creative inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary intellectual experiences.

After Graduation

For high-achieving students, Honors is a critical program when it comes to life after graduation.  The reality is that graduate schools, law and medical schools, MBA programs and employers have the pick of high-achieving students.  There is a plethora of applicants with 4.0 GPAs and strong letters of recommendation so what is going to set you apart from all those other talented and qualified candidates? 

Western’s Honors program can because we are not just interested in traditional academic achievement – we provide you with unique opportunities that allow you to show not just your academic achievements within a few disciplines but evidence of multiple intelligences.  

Our graduates have pursued graduate degrees, professional degrees, and careers in the fine arts.  Alumni often comment that graduating from the Honors Program at Western made them stand out; become more of an intellectual risk-taker; not just “see outside of the box”, but to re-invent it.   Honors graduates are not limited to careers their major traditionally prepares them for; Honors graduates reject strict categorization and as a result no career is beyond their grasp.