Honors Program COVID-19 Updates

Honors Program Office

Going forward, the Honors Program office will be open only for limited hours. Please call ahead at (402) 472-5425 to confirm that we are open before making a special trip to Knoll. We will continue to be respond to questions at honors@unl.edu.

Honors Advising

For your safety, we are moving to exclusively remote advising for the foreseeable future. Tamy Burnett and Jacob Schlange will still be available to take appointments, but they will do so remotely. As always, you may schedule an appointment with either of them via Student Success Hub, and when doing so you will indicate whether you would prefer a phone call or Zoom meeting. If you select phone call, please share the best phone number to reach you. If you select Zoom, you will receive a link to your Zoom meeting on the morning of the advising appointment.

Workshops

The workshop requirement for this semester has been waived, and we will not be offering any additional workshops this year. If you had previously registered for a workshop coming later in the semester, it has now been cancelled. For second year students, this means you will not be expected to complete additional workshops. For first year students, you will still be expected to complete a workshop during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters as previously communicated.

Contracts

We expect that most of the work proposed for Honors course contracts can be completed as planned, though perhaps with some adjustments or accommodations. In general, we will leave decisions about modifications to contract expectations up to the discretion of the professor of the course. We have emailed faculty who are overseeing a contract with this information.

Please be patient with your faculty, as they have a lot of details to work through right now about how the rest of the semester will go. Rightly, they will need to make decisions about the overall class before they think about your Honors contract. If your faculty member requests to cancel the contract, we will work with you to ensure you remain in good standing with Honors – but your faculty member needs to make the request to honors@unl.edu. We have removed the option for students to request cancellations from MyRed for this term. You may schedule a Student Success Hub appointment with Tamy Burnett if you have a concern about completing a contract.

Honors Experiences/UHON 99H

In some cases, you may be able to continue with the course, if your specific experience is nearly or entirely completed already. However, if your experience is no longer taking place, or if you have returned home and will no longer be able to complete the semester, please reach out to the instructor for your specific section (Education Abroad, Research, Teaching & Mentoring: Jacob Schlange; Internships and Afterschool Clubs: Emily Sutherland). We will work with you on an individual basis to identify a path forward.

Thesis/Senior Project

Honors Senior Project/Thesis Submission Adjustments:

1. Regular Thesis submission deadline extended to Thursday, March 19, 2020. Please email Tamy Burnett (tburnett2@unl.edu) if this deadline poses a challenge, and we will work with you.
   1. As a reminder, you do not need to submit a hard copy of your thesis to Honors. The thesis itself needs to be uploaded to the Digital Commons using directions found in the Thesis Formatting and Submission Guidelines, and you submit a Thesis Completion Form signed by you and your faculty mentor(s).
2. We have set up an online submission for your thesis completion form (details below).
   1. Note: YOU NEED TO UPLOAD THE THESIS TO THE DIGITAL COMMONS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR COMPLETION FORM ONLINE.
   2. Exception: If you are completing the thesis through Raikes Design Studio or MNGT 475H, please see exceptions below.
3. We will accept Thesis Completion Forms – in person or electronically – with only ONE faculty mentor signature (if you have multiple mentors).
4. We will also accept an email from your faculty mentor confirming their approval instead of a signature. The faculty member should email Tamy Burnett (tburnett2@unl.edu) directly. In such cases, you still need to submit the Thesis Completion Form with your signature to Honors.

Exceptions:

1. If you are completing the thesis through Raikes Design Studio or MNGT 475H, you still should submit the form at this time, but please skip the faculty signature (do include the professor’s name).
2. We understand that you will not yet have uploaded the thesis to the digital commons when you submit the completion form. You will upload at the end of the semester.

Online Submission of Thesis Completion Form

1. Go to http://go.unl.edu/hpThesisDone
2. Fill in your information, and upload a pdf scan or a picture file of your thesis completion form. Make sure you have signed it.
3. If your faculty mentor has not yet signed it, instruct them to email Tamy Burnett and provide their info on the web form.
4. Celebrate this milestone as you can now. The gong will be waiting for you next time you’re in the Honors office.

Thesis Prospectus/Senior Project Proposal

In light of the current situation, the deadline to submit a Senior Project Proposal (thesis prospectus) has been extended until April 15 for students who are planning to graduate in May 2021. At the time of submission, you are expected to provide a description of your project, an intended timeline, and the name and contact information of a faculty mentor who has agreed to advise you. All of this information should be submitted here.

Events

All Honors-sponsored social events for the remainder of the semester have been cancelled.