The COLFA Honors Program runs collaboratively with the UT San Antonio Honors College to provide a unique educational experience for students with a commitment to excellence in the Liberal and Fine Arts. 

Admission to the program each year runs from March until July for the fall semester, until spaces are filled. COLFA Honors is open to: 

  • COLFA majors who have been invited into the Honors College as first-year students, transfer students, or continuing UT San Antonio students (3.5+ GPA);
  • Students graduating in the top 25% of their high school class; 
  • Current Honors College students in COLFA majors. 

The COLFA Honors Program is designed for a small cohort of 25 students to learn together in community. Students will meet and collaborate with faculty across COLFA departments during the program. The program is also designed to expose students to research and project-based learning at an early stage in their academic careers and mentor them closely to pursue additional experiential learning opportunities such as study abroad and service learning. Through COLFA Honors, students will find their place at UT San Antonio and be introduced to opportunities in San Antonio and beyond.  

 

COLFA Honors Program Structure

Requirements for COLFA Honors Program are listed in the table below. The COLFA Honors curriculum directly maps onto Honors College requirements, meaning that the student's work completing COLFA Honors Program also earns progress toward  the general Honors College Requirements. 

Upon joining COLFA Honors, students complete a cohort-based one-year experiential sequence (two courses, 6 credits total). This one-year sequence is based on a singular theme: 

  • Fall Semester: Seminar I - Inquiry and Discussion. Each week, your instructor will organize reading, discussion, or demonstration related to the course theme. Invited COLFA faculty and community members will visit the course throughout the semester to explore our theme from different disciplines and career perspectives. Course listing: COLFA Honors Seminar I (CSH1213H)  
  • Spring Semester: Seminar II - Applied knowledge. Spring semester is led by a COLFA faculty member who guides students on an applied research or creative approach related to the course theme.
  • Course listing: COLFA Honors Seminar II (CSH 3823H and crosslisted within hosting department)

COLFA Honors students complete at least one COLFA-related special program or COLFA-related experience as part of the Honors College upper division experience requirements.

List of Potential COLFA Experiences:

Students are required to present at the COLFA Research Conference and Showcase at least once during the program. Students are encouraged to present earlier than their final year and can present multiple times.

Each semeser, students participate in 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College and COLFA student Success Center 

  • Students participating in COLFA Honors also maintain membership in the Honors College
  • 3.0 GPA each semester to maintain good standing and a 3.3 overall GPA to graduate
  • Attend six honors events each academic year (COLFA Honors event count toward this requirement)
  • Completion of Honors 1000 — (0 credit hour)
  • Completion of HON 2301 Civic Ethos — (1 credit hour)
  • Completion of Honors CSH 1213 Topics in World Cultures — (3 credit hours). Satisfied by COLFA Honors Seminar I.
  • Completion of Honors WRC 1023 Freshman Composition II — (3 credit hours)
    • Entering students who have already completed Composition II through dual, transfer, or credit earned at UTSA have satisfied this requirement.
  • Completion of 3-6 Upper Division Honors Exereriences
    • COLFA Honors Seminar II counts as one Honors Experience
    • Completion of one additonal COLFA-related experience
    • 1 to 3 more Honors Experiences of student's choice*

*Students who join the COLFA Honors/Honors College with fewer than 60 credits complete 6 Honors Experiences. Students who join the Honors College with over 60 credits complete 3 experiences. Students can join the COLFA Honors Program as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Students must enroll in the 1-year sequence in their first year in the program and complete Honors experiences as necessary. 

2026-2027 Experiential Learning Sequence:

The Power of Story: how the tales we tell make our world


    • Fall: Guided seminar: "The Human Story: History, Politics, Philosophy, and More" features faculty across COLFA sharing how their disciplines analyze stories and storytelling.  (instructor: Nathan Richardson, Modern Languages. Course listing: CSH1213H - TR 4:00-5:15)
    • Spring: This experiential research seminar invites students to engage in an immersive, hands-on digital storytelling project centered on the course theme, “Community Memories and Digital Storytelling.” Designed as part of a course sequence, the seminar builds advanced research, collaboration, and digital skills while fostering meaningful connections with local and transnational communities. 

      Students will explore topics such as community memory, digital mapping, and archival storytelling, working with tools to digitized and edit photographs, newspapers, letters and other documents and create interactive digital visualization such as Timelines with Timeline JS, maps with StoryMaps ArcGIS, exhibits and archives with Omeka and CollectionBuilder. Drawing on materials from UTSA Special Collections as well as community-based archives in San Antonio and border regions, students will examine how histories are preserved, contextualized, and shared. (instructor: Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, Modern Languages and Interdisciplinary School of Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Principal investigator: Transborder Digital Humanities (TBDH) Initiative).

*Students can join the program as an entering first-year, second-year, or third-year student. Below is an example timeline for a student entering as a first-time in college student.

Fall 
  • Enroll in COLFA Honors Seminar I (CSH1213H), 3 credits
  • Enroll in Honors 101 (HON: 1000), 0 credits 
  • Students participate in at least 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College (2) and COLFA (1) 
Spring
  • Enroll in COLFA Honors Seminar 2 (CSH 3823), 3 credits; counts as 1 Honors Experience
  • Enroll in Civic Ethos (HON 2301), 1 credit 
  • Students participate in at least 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College (2) and COLFA (1)

  • Student completes two experiences
  • Students may enroll in honors courses specific to their major, personal, or professional goals. 
    • Students can engage in study abroad, internships, or service learning.
  • Students plan to take Civic Ethos, if not already completed.
  • Each semester, students participate in at least 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College (2) and COLFA (1)   

  • Student completes two experiences:
    • Students may enroll in honors courses specific to their major, personal, or professional goals. 
    • Students can engage in study abroad, internships, service learning or other outside of the classroom activities.
  • Each semester, students participate in at least 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College (2) and COLFA (1)   

  • Student completes one experience:
    • Students may enroll in honors courses specific to their major, personal, or professional goals
    • Students can engage in study abroad, internships, service learning or other outside of the classroom activities.
  • Each semester, students participate in at least 3 Honors community building events hosted by the Honors College (2) and COLFA (1)   

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is there a cost to join COLFA Honors? No, there is no cost. Students do pay Honors College fees each semester and enjoy all Honors College perks (priority registration, scholarship opportunities, Honors counseling).

I was previously not invited to the Honors College. Can I still join COLFA Honors? Yes. Participating in COLFA Honors Program is one of many pathways to also being invited to join the UT San Antonio Honors College.  

Do I need to live on campus?  No. COLFA Honors Program students do not need to meet Honors College residential requirements. 


Join

COLFA majors who are invited to join the Honors College as a first-year student, transfer student, or current student at UTSA will also receive an invite email to COLFA Honors with instructions on how to join.  Please note that students can only join the program and start at the beginning of Fall semesters. Admission to the program each year runs from March until July for the fall semester, until spaces are filled. 

Contacts