Petition for Additional Contracts

Petitions are only considered only in extreme circumstances, and you need to work with an advisor to determine if a petition is necessary. The Honors program staff will consider the following items when making a decision regarding petition approval:

• Honors courses taken: We expect students requesting additional flexibility to have taken all (or the majority) of their Gen Ed requirements in Honors, as well as any available Honors courses in their major and electives when possible
• Honors contracts used: We expect students to have already used or be in the process of using their 2 allotted contracts
• Academic history: We expect students to have demonstrated success in their coursework, and to have regularly taken 15 or more credits each semester
• Remaining semester(s) schedule: We expect students to have a firm idea of their remaining coursework required for graduation and to be able to show that in those remaining semesters there is no space for Honors courses (either as required courses or electives)
• Unique circumstances: Students should clearly explain reasons why they have not been able to accomplish the Honors course requirement through available Honors courses and contracts (e.g., extensive time studying abroad, extremely rigid major requirements, etc.).

Upon submission, the petition will be reviewed by the Honors staff and a decision will be emailed to the student. Please email us (honors@temple.edu) with any questions about the petition process. Our goal is to have petitions reviewed within two weeks of submission.

Petition for Co-curricular Experience

In place of one Honors upper level course requirement, students may propose and undertake a co-curricular (see: non-credit bearing) experience or project to complement their major or career plans. These experiences or projects should require students to intentionally explore and act upon a passion or interest, or to serve as a change agent in their community/organization. If these experiences or projects will be pursued as part of an existing role (e.g., student organization president, on-campus job) they should be demonstrably above and beyond the student's expected responsibilities for that role. Petitions will be accepted at any point in a student's academic career at Temple but must be submitted prior to undertaking the experience/project in question. Below are some examples of successful co-curricular experience petitions.

• Advanced Conducting Seminar—Student created a course consisting of 14 sessions: Seven sessions featured guest conducting lecturers focusing on topics ranging from rehearsal technique to podium etiquette to marketing yourself, and seven sessions focused on conducting technique, where students rotate conducting, the rest are stationed at pianos playing the music from full orchestral scores to develop this skill as well. 
• Establishing the Temple Update assignment manager role—The project involves many different responsibilities, including designing a document entitled the assignment board as a central location for organizational communication and information for story pitches. The role will also involve assigning stories to reporters and suggesting stories to producers. Students will organize and lead weekly production meetings with members of the organization. 
• Company rebrand—The project consists of three main stages: research, development and implementation. First, students would focus group to determine strengths and weaknesses in the current branding and to benchmark other peer companies. Students would then develop a new logo, including text, type and colors with research on photography and image aesthetic. This project will result in a brand book to demonstrate the logo on our website and materials.