English and World Languages Distinction

Requirements for Fulfillment of College Distinction in English and World Languages

College Distinction provides exceptional current Arkansas Tech students an opportunity to challenge themselves academically and gain recognition for their outstanding work in the college classroom. Students with at least sixty hours of college credit and thirty hours of course work at Arkansas Tech with a minimum 3.5 GPA are invited to participate in the program. Students who accept the invitation to pursue College Distinction will have the opportunity to take two courses designated as distinction courses. The first is an enrichment course. This course provides an extra educational experience related to the student’s field of study and could include, among other experiences, study abroad, internship, service learning, or mentor-guided research. The second is an enhanced capstone course. This course demonstrates a student’s ability to work at an exceptional level in a given field and is enhanced by an advanced or accelerated curriculum.

Students’ successful completion of the course requirements and a graduating GPA of 3.5 or better will allow for graduation “with distinction.” This will be noted on student transcripts and diplomas.

Each department will identify distinction courses for each major.

Once a student has completed a College Distinction Letter of Intention in English, English Education, Creative Writing,  or Spanish the student, his or her advisor, and the EWL department head will designate two classes to fulfill College Distinction course requirements: an enrichment course and an enhanced capstone course.  Any course offering study abroad, internship, service learning or advanced research may be used for the three hour enrichment course requirement.  Courses typically designated for enrichment credit include, SEED 4909 Teaching in the Secondary School, SPAN/JPN/GER/FR 3143 Study Abroad, SPAN/JPN/GER/FR 3163 Community Internship, ENGL 4083 Seminar in English Language, ENGL 4173 Seminar in Film Studies, ENGL 4283 Seminar in World Literature, ENGL 4383 Seminar in American Literature, ENGL 4483 Seminar in British Literature, ENGL 4683 Seminar in Gender Studies, and ENGL/SPAN 4993 Special Problems.  Regular capstone courses that are modified by the professor to contain special assignments for college distinction can be used to fulfill the enhanced capstone requirement (for example: to meet college distinction requirements, students taking a capstone course may have the additional assignment of presenting their research at a student or professional conference).  ENGL 4813 serves as the capstone for Creative Writing majors.  ENGL 4733 serves as the capstone courses for English Education majors and SPAN 4703 serves as thecapstone course for Spanish Education majors.  Any upper level course with a significant research/writing component may serve as the capstone for English majors.  Other courses may fulfill the enrichment and capstone requirements with the permission of the department head.  Courses meeting college distinction requirements will be designated on the student’s degree audit.