Both engagement and service requirements are tracked from the beginning of Summer B/Early Fall, to the end of Spring. Specific dates and deadlines are provided via email to students every academic year. Please note that graduating students will receive a specific deadline in advance of the end of the semester to allow for processing time.

Volunteer hours and/or activities completed outside of the parameters of the current academic year (Summer B to Spring) will not count towards requirements.

Students must complete their engagement pathway every academic year and can track their engagement requirements progress and see upcoming events via Panther Connect, https://pantherconnect.fiu.edu. Additional events, activities and non-event opportunities can be found in our weekly Honors College email and Instagram @FIUHonors. Students can also submit other FIU activities not listed in the pathway for consideration to hcengage@fiu.edu Students can track engagement and service every academic year from the beginning of Summer B/Early Fall to the end of the Spring semester (11 activities per year). The 11 activities are split up into the following categories:

• Honors College Week (1 activity)
• Academics, Research & Scholarship (2 activities)
• Career & Professional Development (2 activities)
• Leadership (2 activities)
• Personal & Social Wellness (2 activities)
• World & Culture (2 activities)

All Honors College students will receive priority registration as a benefit of being in the Honors College. Priority registration will be divided into two groups:

1. Gold Priority Registration: Awarded to students who complete their annual engagement and service requirements. Students in this group will be among the first to register for classes.
2. Blue Priority Registration: Awarded to students who do not complete their annual engagement and service requirements. Students in this group will still register for classes before the general FIU student population but will do so after students who receive Gold Priority Registration.

In order to receive their Honors College transcript notation upon graduation, students must complete all Honors graduation requirements, including completing engagement and service during their final academic year at FIU.

Honors students graduating during a Fall semester still need to complete engagement and service requirements. These requirements can be cut in half (i.e. completing 6 engagement activities, one in each category, and 10 volunteer hours) provided that the student completed the previous year's engagement and service requirements. If the student did not complete the previous year's engagement and service requirements, their requirements must be completed in full (i.e. 11 engagement activities and 20 volunteer hours) between the start of Summer B and their Fall graduation date in order to receive their Honors transcript notation.

There are no additional engagement and service requirements over the Summer. Provided students completed their engagement and service requirements by the Spring deadline, Summer graduates will be in compliance and will receive the Honors transcript notation.

Students who do not complete their engagement and service requirements by the end of Spring may be eligible for a Summer A extension. This extension is application based and available to students who are missing no more than 2 out of 11 engagement activities and/or no more than 5 out of 20 verified volunteer hours. Upon application approval, students should submit documentation of missing requirements to hcengage@fiu.edu by the end of the Summer A semester.

Honors College Week occurs twice every academic year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring. All Honors students are expected to attend at least one HCW event to complete that category in the engagement pathway. If a student is unable to attend an HCW event due to extenuating circumstances, they may make up for that category by completing an extra activity in any other category of their choice. The HCW category in the pathway will still show up as incomplete, but having an extra activity in another category will make up for this.

Students who have completed their first year with the Honors College will be eligible to submit a "pathway completion selection" form that allows you to customize how you complete your engagement. If you prefer to focus on all six categories as usual, you do not need to complete the selection form. All students are still required to complete the Honors College Week category (1 activity), but your remaining 10 activities could be split across two categories (5 and 5) or across three categories (4, 3 and 3) of your choice instead. Pathway completion selection forms are sent via email to students at the beginning of Summer B.

As a general rule, there are no exemptions to completing engagement and service. However, you are not required to complete a particular year's engagement and service if you meet any of the following:

• If you are in an accelerated Master's program, you are not required to complete engagement and service as soon as you fully transition into graduate-level courses. Please note that taking even one undergraduate-level course during the academic year will negate this. You must have taken only graduate-level courses throughout the entire academic year in order to be considered a graduate student for engagement and service purposes. In order to receive your transcript notation, you should have completed engagement and service requirements during your final year of undergraduate-level courses. Failure to have completed this means you must make up for the requirements during your final year at FIU (even if you are enrolled in only graduate courses).
• If you are not enrolled in any courses during an academic year, you are not required to complete engagement and service requirements for that year. Please note that taking even one undergraduate-level course during the academic year will negate this.

In the Honors College we strive to build a sense of community, the kind you get at a small liberal arts college, but with all the resources of a major public university. Community begins with your engagement.

Engagement can take many shapes and forms, from building more intentional relationships with faculty and playing in a music ensemble, to seeking service opportunities and being more academically involved. The events, workshops, and activities that are part of the Pathway are curated with the purpose of enriching your life and giving you an experience that transcends mere classroom learning.

We also strive to be leaders in our community through volunteering. Giving back is an important value for our Honors College scholars.

Both engagement and volunteering can also have positive practical effects when it comes to gaining experience, networking, enhancing your resume and helping you build skills necessary to succeed beyond your time at FIU.

Non-graduating students will receive delayed priority registration (Blue Priority Registration). Graduating students will not receive their Honors College Transcript notation.

Please take a look at our engagement webpage for more information on how to track engagement on Panther Connect, including an informational video tutorial.

Please take a look at our service webpage for more information on how to track and verify you hours in GivePulse, including an informational video tutorial.

You can view your engagement progress by clicking on your HC Engagement Pathway on Panther Connect and monitoring the green progress bars. Make sure you are selecting the correct academic year in your Paths if you have been in the Honors College for more than one academic year. Clicking on "Print View" will also give you a more detailed view of what activities you have completed under each category.

In GivePulse, you can view your impacts and whether or not they have been verified my clicking on your Dashboard. You will also want to make sure that each impact is shared with FIU by editing the impact, scrolling down to the Sharing and Privacy Settings section, and in the field where you can type a group to share with including "Florida International University".

In addition to monitoring your own progress, we send progress report emails to let you know what you are missing every semester. Please make sure you check your student emails!

No. Volunteer hours should be unpaid and reflect actual time spent providing help or support.

If you are passionate about a specific cause and want to organize or contribute to a donation drive, you can track actual time spent organizing the drive and collecting/delivering the items. However, we do not accept donations in exchange of a set number of hours.

As a general rule, participating in any FIU event, activity or even utilizing most FIU resources can count towards the engagement pathway. The Pathway itself offers a variety of examples for both events and non-event activities. Our engagement webpage also offers a few different examples you can track under each category. Though we try to account for as much as possible in the pathway, you may find out about other FIU opportunities or activities through College emails, professors or even the FIU calendar. If you complete an activity that is not listed in the pathway, please submit information about the FIU activity along with proof of attendance to hcengage@fiu.edu. We will then evaluate your request and assign credit accordingly.

Please also note that your engagement activities must be completed within the parameters of the current academic year (Summer B to Spring).

Any unpaid activity where you are providing support or your time can count as volunteering. Volunteer hours do not need to be related to FIU and can be completed anywhere (even virtually or abroad!). This means that if you are an online student, studying abroad, or simply not a Miami local, you can still submit volunteer hours that you may complete in your community or other spaces. Volunteering can also be anything that you dedicated time to without getting paid, such as helping at a conference, spending time planning a fundraiser, or even mentoring other students. Though GivePulse provides volunteer activity suggestions, you are not limited to GivePulse to find volunteer opportunities.

Please also note that your volunteer hours must be completed within the parameters of the current academic year (Summer B to Spring).

Please email hcengage@fiu.edu with the name and date of the event you attended. We will follow up with the organizer or provide you with additional instructions to confirm your attendance.

If you have documentation of your attendance, such as a picture or screenshot, please include that in your email as well.

As a general rule, if the event organizer does not provide your with attendance check-in instructions, please collect evidence of attendance (e.g. a picture or screenshot showing timestamps) and email it to hcengage@fiu.edu. We will process your credit manually from there.

Yes. Engagement and service requirements should be completed every academic year to maintain Gold Priority registration and/or receive your Honors transcript notation upon graduation.