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Current and retired UMass Amherst faculty members and current librarians are invited to apply to teach a one-credit Honors Discovery Seminar in the Commonwealth Honors College (CHC) for Fall 2026. Online applications will be accepted through Saturday, Nov. 15.

The Honors Discovery Seminar, Honors 391AH, is intended to inspire a love of learning and to help prepare honors students with skills necessary for completion of senior theses and projects and the professional workplace. It is also designed to facilitate contact between CHC students and departmental faculty in a small, seminar-style setting of up to 15 students, and to provide an intellectually stimulating, cross-disciplinary experience for both the faculty and students involved.

Faculty and students meet once a week for 50 minutes and every section is open to honors students of any major. There is no restriction on the field or topic around which the course is centered, but all courses should be accessible to students from all majors and no advanced knowledge of the subject should be required. Preference will be given to courses that incorporate specific skills into the curriculum that will help prepare students for the honors thesis produced as a manuscript or portfolio.

The seminar allows faculty to create short, compelling courses in areas of personal interest to them and to teach courses they have always wanted to teach while helping students hone skills necessary for senior thesis or project work. Examples of courses that are available can be found on the Fall 2025 Honors Discovery Course Descriptions website.

Discovery seminar lecturers will receive faculty funds of $2,375 and will have options to receive compensation or research funds transferred to the faculty member’s departmental general operating fund or faculty retention fund. Faculty emeriti will be paid directly by Commonwealth Honors College throughout the semester. Both current and emeriti faculty will have the option of donating the stipend to the Commonwealth Honors College student research grant program.

For more information and to apply, visit the CHC website and the CHC PATHS 391H Honors Seminar Lecturer Application Form. For questions, email CHC Senior Assistant Dean Dominick Usher at [email protected].