Ad Hoc General Overview

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Overview

Ad hoc Honors provides students the opportunity to work with an instructor to create a plan of additional study in order to pursue a course or study abroad program with more depth. Completion of this ad hoc project may earn the student Honors credit that can be applied towards the additional any Interdisciplinary Honors Requirement. 

Any Honors student who exercises this option must show significant initiative and pursue a serious amount of supplementary work in his or her exploration of the subject. Instructors should not accept this contract if they are unable to also give the time and effort necessary to supervise the Honors student’s project. Ad hoc must be a partnership between the instructor and student and both must commit to extended effort and be available, aware, and engaged in the project. Unless both are prepared to make this commitment, the ad hoc option should not be undertaken.

Ad Hoc projects are an additional project that you create in additional to normal coursework within a class with the help and guidance of the faculty member teaching the regular course. 

The medium that the project is delivered in is completely up to the student to choose, some examples are videos, papers, speeches, plays, apps, websites, infographics, a collection of photos/ poems with annotations, etc. This can be an opportunity to practice a medium you might not get to practice a lot within your major but are curious about, for example, a student studying plant biology taking a lab based plant class regularly takes tests and writes research papers, they might decide to make an illustration of the plant anatomy and life cycles they are studying in the lab using watercolors, who knew science could be so pretty? 

The topic must relate to the course you are doing the ad hoc project for in some way, but doesn’t need to be explicitly related. For example, if you were in a class about creating videos, you could make a video about any topic of your choosing because your faculty supervisor will be able to give you strong feedback on your video regardless of the topic. On the other hand, if you were in a biology course and always wanted to make a video, you could make an educational biology video and while your faculty supervisor might not be an expert on creating videos, they will be able to give you strong feedback in regards to the content in the video. 

Interdisciplinary Honors Ad Hoc Policy

• No more than 15 credits of a student’s Interdisciplinary Honors requirements may be satisfied via “Honors by contract” courses which include ad hoc (either on-campus or via study  abroad), graduate courses, and HONORS 499.
• A course must be 4 or 5 credits to be considered for ad hoc Honors and must be decimal graded.
• Ad hoc Honors cannot be awarded retroactively. Applications must be received before the due date posted on the Honors website. Students are encouraged to submit applications as early as possible. 
• Coursework taken to fulfill an Interdisciplinary Honors Core requirement may overlap with a student’s major but cannot also be used to satisfy a Departmental Honors requirement.
• We will only allow late submissions for emergencies and extraordinary circumstances. Please take some time to consider whether applying this quarter is right for you given your circumstances.

Studying Abroad with a Different Department or Program?

Ad hoc can be a great way to get Honors credit on a study abroad trip with a different department or program. We encourage you to consider how you can deepen your experience abroad through ad hoc. For example, we would not want your ad hoc project to require that you be inside studying while abroad in another country, but instead taking advantage of the opportunity you uniquely have abroad. 

• When you submit your ad hoc application you will be prompted to let us know whether this ad hoc project is for a course happening at UW or abroad
• If you are participating in a study abroad program for which you do not yet know your exact instructor(s) or course title(s), please request to meet with an adviser to discuss by the end of the first week of the quarter in which you are pursuing ad hoc. 

*Studying abroad with Honors? Honors study abroad trips are not eligible for ad hoc because you are already receiving Honors credit for the course(s).

Ready to apply for an ad hoc project? Use our quick checklist below: 

Please use the quick checklist below to check that your project/ course is eligible for ad hoc before applying. 

• The course is 4 or more credits
• The course is decimal graded
• I have not already satisfied 3 out of 5 of my additional any Honors courses with Honors by Contract Courses (i.e graduate level coursework, ad hoc, and/or Honors 499)
• I have connected with the professor about this project already and they have agreed to supervise it
• I have read through the key deadlines and dates above
• I have read through the ad hoc timeline and policies below

Departmental Honors Ad Hoc Information? 

Departmental Honors ad hoc policies vary major to major, because of this, you will need to contact your Departmental Honors Adviser directly after reviewing their Departmental Honors webpage for information and guidelines about what courses may be appropriate for Departmental Honors credit. If your departmental policies refer you to our ad hoc policies, please see the Interdisciplinary Honors Ad Hoc policies above.

Examples

Students interested in pursuing ad hoc Honors should brainstorm potential projects and are encouraged to think creatively as to how they will more deeply explore the subject material. Some possible projects include:

• Making an interactive Google Map embedded with text, photos, and videos;
• Conducting primary research, such as in-person interviews, and integrating that research with theory and analysis;
• Deeply researching a particular aspect of the course and teaching that subject to the rest of the class;
• Making a podcast of interviews and analysis related to a course theme.

As shown by these examples, ad hoc work should be in-depth and not merely an extension of a pre-existing assignment. Please feel free to meet with both an adviser and your instructor to discuss potential ideas.

See examples of past applications