Faculty Resources

Honors Faculty Resources

Who are your honors students? President's Honors Scholarship
Incoming Freshmen: Honors students coming straight out of high school are recipients of the President's Honors Scholarship which means they graduated with a minimum 3.0 GPA and met placement testing requirements. Their scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship for 4 consecutive semesters. They are full-time students that take at least one honors course each semester and keep a MCCCD cumulative GPA of 3.25. Learn more about the President's Honors Scholarship.
Who are your honors students? Honors Achievement Award
Continuing Students: Most honors students are Honors Achievement Award (HAA) recipients. That means they are continuing students at MCC that have completed at least 12 credit hours and have a GPA 3.25 or higher. They can be part or full-time students and they take at least one honors course each semester. HAA students must meet eligibility requirements at the beginning of each semester and they are awarded up to $500 (depending on number of credit hours they are taking) when they complete the requirements at the end of the semester. Learn more about the Honors Achievement Award.
Can anyone take an honors course?
Yes! Any student can enroll in an honors class and receive honors credit. The class will be designated as honors on their transcript. The student may not be “officially” part of the honors program and will not receive the scholarship, but they will receive honors credit for their class. To take honors courses without a scholarship, students must fill out an honors program application and then request a permission number from the honors office to enroll in the honors course.
Who are Honors Faculty?
We have over 200 honors faculty at MCC! Honors faculty teach honors-only courses or work with individual honors students in regular courses by allowing them to take the course as an honors course. This requires that students create an honors contractwith their professor wherein they complete an honors project that includes research, writing and a presentation.
What is an honors-only course? Interested in teaching one?
In consultation with the honors faculty directors, any faculty can teach an honors-only class. The directors create the honors-only class schedule in coordination with department chairs. Honors classes, taught by dedicated faculty, are smaller in size, allowing for extensive classroom interaction. The goal is to provide a variety of courses that satisfy general education values and meet throughout the day. We work with our honors-only faculty to provide information on expectations, but how the class is designed is up to the faculty teaching the class. Learn more.
What is an Honors Contract?
The Honors Contract allows a student to work with their professor to make one of their regular courses an honors course. It is up to the professor whether or not they want to allow a student to take their course as an honors course. Learn more.
Syllabus Statement about the Honors Program
Learn and Earn! The Honors Achievement Award is open to students who have completed 12 college-level credits within the Maricopa Colleges and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25. If this is you, apply to the Honors Program at Mesa Community College, enroll in at least 6-graded credits, including one 3-credit honors course for the semester. To be awarded funds, you must complete the honors course with at least a “C” grade and participate in one co-curricular activity during the semester. More information can be found at: https://www.mesacc.edu/honors/honors-achievement-award-scholarship
Want to promote your honors-only course?
Generate interest and encourage enrollment in your honors course by sharing a course description that we can share with honors students looking for honors courses. It should be less formal than the one that appears in the course catalog... and definitely more interesting and fun! These descriptions will be displayed the Honors website. Check out other honors-only course descriptions here.
Tell Me About the Honors Scholarships

We have 2 Scholarships: The President's Honors Scholarship covers in-state/in-county tuition up to 15 credit hours (plus the $15 registration fee) for four consecutive semesters (must meet eligibility at the conclusion of each semester), excluding summer sessions. The award does not cover additional class fees, books, private instruction, or music lessons. Learn more here. The Honors Achievement Award is up to $500 (depending on number of credits student is taking). By applying for an Honors Scholarship, the student also applies for the Honors Program. Learn more here.

Find out more here: https://www.mesacc.edu/honors/honors-achievement-award-scholarship

What is a Co-curricular Activity?

Honors students are required to attend 1 or 2 co-curricular activities each semester, provide proof of attendance and submit a 250-word reflection. Co-curricular activities are designed to enrich and enhance the student’s academic experience. While the events that are attended may or may not be related to individual classes, they should not be part of student course work. Co-curricular activities are outside and in addition to course work. There are six different categories for co-curriculars: academic lectures, cultural experiences, campus involvement, academic involvement, volunteering and "other." To see what types of co-curricular activities your students attended last year, check out our annual report. If you have an activity you'd like to appear on the pre-approved list of co-curricular activities, send an email to one of the honors directors. Find out more about the co-curricular activities and requirement here: https://www.mesacc.edu/honors/co-curricular-requirement.

Find out more here: https://www.mesacc.edu/honors/honors-achievement-award-scholarship

Graduating from the Honors Program
We continue to emphasize the opportunity for students to graduate from the Honors Program. To graduate, students need a 3.5 GPA, completion of 15 honors credits and the co-curricular requirement. Fewer than 50 students graduate from the honors program each year. If you have a student interested in Graduating from the Honors Program, they should apply by early spring (end of February) the semester they are graduating. Find the application here.