Appalachian State’s Honors College supports approximately 550 students from diverse majors in their holistic development, encouraging engagement beyond themselves, across disciplinary boundaries, and in collaboration with others.
We strive to empower students to collaborate across differences, lead with integrity, and collectively address complex challenges. Participating in the Honors community equips students for advanced academic pursuits, career success, leadership responsibilities, community involvement, and overall personal growth.
Honors at App State is …
The Honors College at Appalachian State is defined by a shared commitment to exploration, collaboration, and academic excellence. In the Honors College you will:
engage in a cooperative, globally-minded, encouraging community where students, faculty and staff discover, create, learn, and grow together.
build relationships with fellow students, with faculty members, and with staff members.
receive unconditional support of intellectual, personal, and professional development at the highest possible levels.
apply a student-centered, integrated approach to your educational, residential, and community experience.
Honors at App State offers…
In Honors, students ask big questions, connect ideas across subjects, and explore how to live and lead in a global world. To support that, we offer:
The required first, second, and third-year Honors seminars (see examples) are taught in a discussion-based, student-focused style (12-18 students) and fulfill general education requirements. You will learn in an engaging environment with motivated students from diverse majors and a passionate professor who designed and applied to teach this specific course.
Honors students’ initial academic advisors, which we call academic mentors, are based in the Honors College. After declaring your major, you will keep your Honors mentors and add a major advisor to your mentoring team. Honors mentors are established and well-connected in their areas. They prioritize understanding your goals to connect you with relevant opportunities.
Students frequently cite our community as their favorite part of Honors. As part of the Brad and Carole Wilson Honors and Engagement Community, First-year Honors students live together in Cone Hall and continuing students can live in Summit Hall. Living and learning together fosters strong bonds within a supportive community of peers, faculty, and mentors. Our student-run Appalachian Honors Association (AHA!) organizes monthly community activities in our Honors College living/learning space.
Our international education requirement can be fulfilled on campus, but most students choose to study abroad through faculty-led trips (see examples including some Honors seminars ) or semester-long programs. Studying abroad allows you to immerse yourself in the unfamiliar, which in turn provides opportunities to examine the importance of understanding, respecting, and valuing difference in building strong communities.
Your Honors thesis is a 3-credit, often year-long, project conducted in collaboration with your thesis director. Academic mentors can share strategies for finding directors for research/creative projects aligned with your goals. Working closely with you in a shared exploration, your thesis director will help you develop teamwork, critical thinking, research, and communication skills. They will also make an amazing professional reference.
