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Honors Community Engagement and Service Diploma

Honors Community Engagement and Service

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

The Honors Community Engagement and Service (HCES) diploma approach offers an intensive experience for students who are deeply committed to Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) and want to learn by meaningfully engaging with communities.  Pursuing the HCES diploma will also simultaneously earn students the School of Public & International Affairs (SPIA) Community Engagement and Service pathways minor.

The HCES diploma emphasizes gaining the skills to engage with communities. Students will learn about community contexts and priorities, communities’ ongoing work to address their priorities, the broader societal challenges informing those priorities, and best practices for supporting and joining communities in this work. HCES culminates in a capstone course, in which students collaborate on real-world projects driven by community partners’ priorities and needs.

By learning via real-world experiences, students will also build professional capacities. Students will participate in ongoing reflection to develop their approach to and capacity for community engagement.

This Honors approach is an intensive experience. While HCES is an 18-credit diploma (compared to the Honors Laureate Diploma and Minor in Collaborative Discovery, which are 24 credits), it is a limited opportunity for students who are committed to, ready to actively participate in, and have a passion for community engagement.

HONORS ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

Virginia Tech Honors College students must satisfy the Honors academic requirements below to earn the Honors Community Engagement and Service diploma.

A graphic representing the steps for completing the HLD, Honors Minor, and HCES

Every prospective Honors College student must complete the Honors Gateway, a virtual orientation module in Canvas, in order to be admitted to Honors. Students who have not already completed the Gateway as part of their admission to Honors will complete it in UH/SPIA 1024: Community Service Learning.

Students pursuing the HCES diploma must complete the required introductory course, UH/SPIA 1024.  If a student has already completed UH 1404, that course will count as a Community Topics elective course toward the HCES diploma. Non-Honors students who enter through the SPIA pathways minor and opt to pursue the HCES diploma will be added automatically the Honors College upon successful completion of UH/SPIA 1024.

To be eligible to enter the Honors College and pursue the HCES diploma, students must complete UH/SPIA 1024 with a grade of B or above. Students must maintain a 3.0 in the courses that count toward the minor.

The HCES diploma requires the completion of 18 credits designated within the SPIA pathways minor, comprising two 3-credit required courses and 12 credits of electives. Students pursuing this diploma must achieve at least a 3.4 final cumulative GPA.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE MINOR CREDIT REQUIREMENTS

A graphic describing the steps to complete the HCES diploma.

Required Courses (6 credit hours)

  • SPIA/UH 1024: Community Service Learning (3 credits) (Pathways Concept 3 - Reasoning in the Social Sciences)
  • SPIA/UH 4784: Community Engagement Capstone (3 credits) (Pathways Concept 1 - Discourse)

3 elective categories (12 credit hours)

  • Community Topics* (select at least one; 3 credits)
  • Community Methods (select at least one; 3 credits)
  • Community Experiences (select at least one; 3 credits)

*UH 1404 counts in this elective category.