College Scholars Program Courses

The College Scholars Program (CSP) is designed to both challenge participants and give them the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in research theory and practice. Here a summary of the curriculum.

Year 1

Fall Welcome Event: All incoming College Scholars are invited to participate in a welcome event at the beginning of Fall quarter. The event is hosted by the Faculty Honors Director and provides CSP students the opportunity to learn more about the program, to meet the faculty involved in the program, and to meet and mingle with their fellow CSP scholars. 

Fall Quarter 1st year—CORE Course: New for 2023-24!!! Students take a CSP CORE Course in their affiliated college. Beginning with the cohort of 2023-24, students are assigned to their affiliated college’s CSP core course. The required CSP course is a 5-unit class that follows the same curriculum as the regular college core course, in a section with other CSP students. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the CSP core requirement, please email us at honorscholars@ucsc.edu.  

Service Learning Course - Winter Quarter 1st year: CSP students enroll in the two-credit, asynchronous, online service-learning course (COWL 168). Students will learn about how a non-profit organization creates change in a community. They research an agency of their choice, focusing on who is served, how funding works, and how that organization serves the target community.

Faculty Research Colloquium - Spring Quarter 1st year: Students must enroll in a two-credit course (COWL 89) in which faculty guest lecturers from a variety of disciplines share their research motivations, challenges, processes, and successes, and students have the opportunity to ask questions. Following the lectures, students meet informally with the faculty members in smaller groups to learn about their professional trajectories and ask questions related to student career goals. Each student will have the opportunity to attend one of these networking events per term.

Year 2

Research Seminar - Fall (or Winter) Quarter 2nd year: The CSP culminates with a small, five-unit research seminar. Each seminar focuses on developing significant hands-on skills: whether it is a chance to engage in guided scientific research in the field or to address how literary and historical texts describe, represent, and shape the world, students receive training in research skills transferable to a variety of professions. All of the seminars bear general education (GE) credit and are taught by experienced UC Santa Cruz instructors. Some seminars will be offered in winter quarter; however, priority enrollment eligibility will only continue through Fall of the second year.

2024-2025 Research Seminar Offerings

Fall 2024

Winter 2025

Spring 2025