2024-2025 Academic Catalog

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University Honors and Leadership Program

Introduction

The University Honors and Leadership Program (UHL) provides students with unique learning experiences, scholarship support, and a sense of community unlike anything else at the university. Students who come from myriad majors complete coursework together in small, discussion-based seminars taught by exceptional faculty. UHL courses have an interdisciplinary focus and explore a range of important topics. With a focus on developing skills to analyze, understand, and solve complex social problems from multiple perspectives, UHL students learn to be leaders through discussion-based classes, personal goal-setting, and community engagement.

Students who enter in their first year of college complete 24-27 credit hours together, which includes completion of the majority of the CU core requirements (you will still need math and lab science) and a minor in Multidisciplinary Honors and Leadership upon graduation.

Students who enter UHL as an upper division student will complete 15 credit hours together and will earn a minor in Honors and Leadership Studies upon graduation.

The Academic Program

For first-time freshmen, UHL is a multidisciplinary cohort program consisting of 24-27 semester hours of coursework to be completed over three or four years. The UHL courses substitute for most of the CU Denver core curriculum requirements and leads to a minor in Multidisciplinary Honors and Leadership. Students have a shared year-long first-year experience, taking a core of coursework. The second and third years of the UHL program offer electives designed for the minor. In the final year, students complete a two-course capstone senior seminar. UHL students who successfully satisfy the course and credit-hour requirements and maintain a GPA of 3.25 or higher in their UHL courses will graduate with “University Honors.” 

For transfer students and upper division students, UHL is a multidisciplinary cohort program consisting of 15 semester hours of coursework to be completed over two years. The program leads to a minor in Honors and Leadership Studies. Students have a shared seminar in their first year in the program, nine credits of UHL electives, and a two-course senior seminar in their final year.