The English Honors Program, which is jointly sponsored by the Department of English and the University Honors Program, offers a valuable educational experience for qualified students who wish to enhance their undergraduate education. Students enrolled in the program have the opportunity to investigate a topic of genuine interest to them and to work closely with a Senior Honors Project adviser of their own choosing. The HonorsProgram also offers special Honors seminars and tutorials that allow students to work across disciplines and develop their research skills in intimate classroom settings. Through participating in these courses and the Senior Honors Project, students receive the benefits of a small liberal arts college experience combined with those offered by a large research university. After meeting the departmental and university Honors requirements, students may earn the B.A. degree with honors, high honors, or highest honors.

This program is ideal for students who: love to read and write, enjoy working independently, seek valuable preparation for graduate schol, wish to enhance their applications for jobs or graduate school, enjoy small classroom settings, and want to work closely with a faculty member who shares their intellectual interests.

The Program: Course Work

The Honors Program consists of two interdisciplinary colloquia (Honors 491 and 495) taken from the University Honors Program, as well as the option of a course in library research and methods (Honors 317). In addition to these, the English Department offers two of its own Honors Tutorials every semester, and students generally take one or more of them before graduation.

The junior-level tutorials, English 393 and English 394, serve as "bridge" courses for incoming honors students. Recent junior-level English Honors Tutorials include Introduction to Narrative and Film, Poetic Texts and Contexts, and Critical Approaches to Science Fiction.

Students are also encouraged to take one or more sections of English 491 and English 492 for their senior-level English Tutorials. Recent sections include Postmodernism and Postcolonialism, Women and Witchcraft, The Problem of Evil in Western Literature, Pastoral Literature & Class Consciousness, The American Prose Poem, and Women's Autobiographical Narratives. English

Honors Tutorials offered through the English Department are repeatable for credit and may be used to supplement or substitute for major course requirements. The Honors student still completes 33 credits in English for the English major.

During the senior year, honors students work on an extended research project in consultation with a Senior Honors Project adviser of their own choosing. The Project length varies (a poetry project is generally shorter than a research one), but is ordinarily 40-70 pages. The Senior Honors Project can be research-based or creative (fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, etc.). Students begin their research in Honors 495, in which they explore various approaches to their topics, engage in research, and outline their Project.

Students complete the Senior Honors Project in one or two semesters of Honors 496 and participate in a Senior Honors Project Discussion with their Project adviser, two other faculty members selected by the student and the Project adviser, and the departmental Honors director. The Project Discussion allows time for final revisions before the bound version is submitted to the University Honors Program. In addition, it creates the opportunity for students to articulate the challenges of the project, to receive thoughtful responses, and finally to recognize what they have accomplished over the course of a year's independent study.

Through individual advising, Honors students are encouraged to take advantage of a wide range of academic opportunities and programs. The director and faculty advisers work closely with each student to plan a program that best serves her or his particular interests and to offer pertinent information on professional and graduate school requirements, application procedures, and scholarships.

Students should apply to the program when they are second-semester sophomores or first-semester juniors or when they declare English their major. To learn more about the program and the brief application process, speak with the Director of the Honors Program in English, Caroline Sinavaiana, in Kuykendall 426 (956-3046, or 956-3078) or e-mail her at sinavaia@hawaii.edu. For more information about the University Honors Program, visit their homepage at www.honors.hawaii.edu or call 956-8391.