University Honors non-course experiences are designed to provide an intensive experience engaging actively in work outside of the classroom. Also, our non-course experiences are designed to give you some flexibility depending on your interests and career goals. The only specific non-course experience requirement is that at some point during your four years at UMD you will have to engage in a community/civic engagement experience.
Non-Course Experience Opportunities:
University Honors non-course requirement can be fulfilled with any of the following types of experiences. Click each to view more details:
- Community/civic engagement*
- Creative expression project
- Faculty-guided research
- Internship
- Leadership role
- Study abroad
- Publication in referred journal or presentation of work at a scholarly conference
*At least one non-course experience must be a community/civic engagement non-course experience. Exceptions to this rule must be approved by the director. Note: UH students are not required to participate in civic engagement non-course experiences during the 2020-2021 academic year given the uncertain environment created by COVID-19.
Submission and Approval Processes
NCE Proposal Submission
- Save your signed Non-Course Experience Proposal Form (pdf)
- Log in to your UH Record
- Click on the “Add New Experience”
- Fill out the form fields (all fields required)
- Upload your saved “NCE Proposal form”
- Add any comments you would like to pass to the approver.
- Click “submit” to submit the new NCE
Students will receive an email notifying whether or not their NCE Proposal has been approved.
NCE Completion Submission
- Log in to your UH Record
- Click on My UH Requirements
- Click “edit” on your current NCE proposal
- Fill out the “Actual End date” and “Actual Avg. Hours Per Week” fields
- In the “Supporting Documentation” section, upload your “NCE Completion Approval Document” and “Reflection Paper”
- Add any comments
*All 45 hours of the non-course experience must be completed before the end of spring semester. Non-course experiences may not be done outside of fall or spring semesters.
Submission
Each year you will engage in a least one University Honors non-course experience and submit a reflection paper. This reflection paper should detail how the non-course experience contributed to your advancement as a student or person. In addition, the paper should describe how the experience fits in the University Honors mission. Reflection papers should be at least 500 words and should be uploaded via the UH database.