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The Judy Genshaft Honors College is very different than traditional Honors programs you may be familiar with or may have experienced in high school or other colleges. Traditional programs offer you the opportunity to explore disciplines or topics in more depth (i.e. "Honors" Calculus or "Honors" Psychology, AP/IB courses, etc). The USF Honors College is fundamentally different because it does not aim to challenge you in individual subjects. Our philosophy is centered around the idea of creating interdisciplinary scholars and global citizens. Everything that we do and the opportunities we provide are intended to bring students closer to this goal. However, you may be wondering what these terms mean...

Interdisciplinary Study- The idea behind disciplinary study is similar to your major. You learn skills and knowledge centered around a particular field of study so that you can attain expertise in that area. INTERdiscplinary study is focused on the idea that in order to really be an effective professional, you must not only understand your discipline but how it interacts with other disciplines. The Honors College courses and curriculum give students the opportunity to further explore their individual disciplines in our topic based courses and interact with students from different majors and backgrounds.

Global Citizenship- This is really a two part word. First we want to encourage students to be good and active citizens in the many communities that they belong to. That means being aware of current events and actively engaging in some form or another. Second, we want students to understand that they are a part of a global community as well as their local ones. Through the digital age and modern transportation, events and people across the global have a much greater impact on each other and the more students realize the power they have, the more good they can do.