Honors Program
Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator: Joseph Friedrich
Coordinator of Student Research: John
Olson
The Honors Program gives students
opportunities to enroll in honors versions of core courses and to
engage in independent thinking, research and writing within their own
major. Select and invitational, the Honors Program is open to entering
first-year students upon the recommendation of the admission committee
and the coordinator of Honors and Undergraduate Research.
Well-qualified students may also enter the Honors Program at the
sophomore level by submitting a completed application to the Honors
Program in the spring semester of their first year.
Each semester honors courses are offered which
fulfill a variety of core requirements which may include honors
symposium, mathematics, lower-division fine arts, social science,
natural science, theology and humanities as well as upper-division
humanities, social science, Judeo-Christian heritage and senior
seminar. These courses are specially designed to develop students'
writing and discussion skills beyond the norm, as well as their
ability to think critically and to use primary sources. In addition to
regular honors courses, honors reading groups (under Honors 270 and
370) provide honors students with an opportunity to discuss great
books of mutual interest with a professor and small group of
classmates outside of the usual classroom.
Students in honors may also earn up to four
honors option credits by contracting with instructors of core or
departmental courses to supplement normal course work with an
additional reading, research or writing project. Students interested
in such an honors option should contact the program director. Students
are encouraged to plan honors core courses and the senior project into
their four-year plan of study carefully, especially if they intend to
spend one or more semesters abroad.
To graduate with "All-College
Honors" students must earn 28 credits or more in honors courses,
including 8 credits in 300-level courses; achieve at least a 3.4
cumulative GPA; and complete a senior honors thesis, research or
creative project in their major field of study. For students who enter
the program in their sophomore year or who spend a semester abroad,
the 28 credit requirement is reduced to 24 credits.
First-year honors students need to achieve a
cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 by the end of their first year to
remain in the program. Sophomores must achieve a cumulative GPA of at
least 3.2 each semester to remain in good standing. Juniors and
seniors must maintain a 3.4 cumulative GPA to remain in good standing.
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