HONORS COLLEGE COMMUNIQUE: June 2025
Hello from Honors College!
In partnership with Academic Advising, we are sending a monthly Honors College Communique
on the Advising listserv, in which we will send updates about:
1. Honors news, updates, and advising information
2. Honors opportunities open to all students
2. A highlighted benefit of being an Honors College member
3. A student highlight from your advising areas
4. Contacts within Honors for more information
Honors News:
New College Honors Program - Honors has been working with various department honors
programs and the newest one to join is COLFA Honors. The program is set up for 25
students, and students are part of both the Honors College and COLFA Honors program. The
invite is open to first-year, transfer, and current UTSA students. Visit the website to
learn more about the requirements for COLFA Honors and the contact information:
https://colfa.utsa.edu/student/colfa-honors-program.html.
Honors Academics:
Honors Counseling – is available over the summer! We are busy working on summer graduation
audits and onboarding a record number of new Honors students (nearly 800 new students!).
Students can join Honors as a first-time freshman, as a transfer, as a current UTSA
student, and via the many pathways (college honors programs, ROTC, Athletics, etc).
Students can meet with any available Honors Counselor, either by dropping into the Honors
office (GSR 2.210), attending a group counseling session, or requesting an appointment.
Group counseling and information sessions are available:
Zoom link:
https://utsa.zoom.us/j/99317591886
Upcoming meeting dates, all at 3:00pm:
· Friday, 7/11
· Friday, 7/25
· Friday, 8/8
To request an appointment with an Honors Counselor, students will need to contact us at
honors.advising@utsa.edu<mailto:honors.advising@utsa.edu>.
Honors College and CPOS: What You Need to Know
Students can pursue Honors without affecting CPOS or delaying graduation. In fact, the
entire Honors curriculum can be completed with just 1 additional credit hour—and the HON
seminars are not required.
· Only 4 required Honors courses:
o HON 1000 (0 credit, 8-week, online)
o HON 2301 (1 credit, 8-week, online)
o Honors CSH 1213 (core curriculum course)
o Honors WRC 1023 (core curriculum course; waived with ENGL 1302 credit)
· The rest of the curriculum is experience-based, allowing flexibility through
courses or co-curricular activities.
· Flexibility in the curriculum includes approved substitution options for HON 2301
and Honors CSH 1213.
Special Notes:
· Honors courses can count as free electives (if applicable to the degree)
· Could be used as substitutions for upper-division electives (if applicable)
· If taking 12 CPOS-eligible hours, Honors courses beyond that are still counted
Bottom line: Honors works with your degree plan—not against it! Examples of CPOS scenarios
can be found
here<https://onestop.utsa.edu/financialaid/paying/enrollment/>.
Honors Course Highlights:
* Now Open: 2 New Sections of HONORS 101 – 300+ Seats Available! All new and incoming
students, and current UTSA students admitted to the Honors College, must take HON 1000 in
their first semester.
* Current students - we have some great Honors seminar courses that are still open
(note: some may require instructor permission). Check out our course descriptions:
honors.utsa.edu/academics/courses.html<https://honors.utsa.edu/academi...
Honors Opportunities for All Students:
Gilman Scholarship – UTSA has a record number of students receiving the Gilman
Scholarship! The Gilman is open to all eligible UTSA students, who are Pell Grant
recipients. It awards them up to $5000 to study abroad. Check out the article, featured
in UTSA Today:
https://www.utsa.edu/today/2025/06/story/roadrunners-receive-gilman-schol...
. Learn more about the Gilman Scholarship here:
https://honors.utsa.edu/onca/awards/gilman.html
Honors Course Requests - Did you know that after priority registration, any student with a
UTSA GPA of 3.3 or higher can enroll in available Honors courses? It’s just a simple
matter of filling out this
form.<https://utsa.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyVNEREGlU2ddRQ> We have some
exciting fall courses, so check out the course descriptions on our
website<https://honors.utsa.edu/academics/courses.html>. Please share these with any
students you think will be interested. Link to the website where the form is housed:
https://honors.utsa.edu/academics/forms-documents.html.
UK Postgraduate Information Session - The Honors College hosted UK representatives from
Cambridge, Newcastle, and Durham University to speak with our students about postgraduate
degrees abroad. We had a fantastic turnout and an engaging, interactive crowd of
students!
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Highlighted Benefit for Honors College Members:
Study Abroad in Costa Rica - This month, Honors students traveled to Costa Rica as part of
our Intentional and Sustainable Living in Costa Rica study abroad program. Students
learned and practiced intentional and sustainable living on a working agro-ecological
ranch on Lake Arenal, Costa Rica. Read more about the program here: Intentional and
Sustainable Living in Costa Rica | Honors College | UTSA | University of Texas at San
Antonio<https://honors.utsa.edu/programs/costa-rica.html>
Student Highlights:
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Special shout-out to our Honors student, Efrain Garza, for presenting at the 2025 National
Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)! Efrain is a junior majoring in Actuarial
Science and Business Analytics. He presented his research on mathematical modeling to
improve mentorship pairings for business students. Click the link to learn more about his
journey: Efrain Garza Research | Alvarez College of Business | UTSA | University of Texas
at San
Antonio<https://business.utsa.edu/news/2025/06/efrain-garza-student-re...
Best Regards,
Alegra Lozano, Director of Counseling, Honors College,
alegra.lozano@utsa.edu<mailto:alegra.lozano@utsa.edu>
Hector Aguilar, Associate Dean, Honors College,
hector.aguilar@utsa.edu<mailto:hector.aguilar@utsa.edu>
Honors email: honors@utsa.edu<mailto:honors@utsa.edu>
Honors advising email: honors.advising@utsa.edu<mailto:honors.advising@utsa.edu>
Honors website:
https://honors.utsa.edu/
Honors Experiential Learning Lab:
https://honors.utsa.edu/academics/experiential-learning-lab.html