Benefits

• Experiential learning and collaborative leadership skills built into Honors Scholars courses develops skills that are directly transferable to careers in any field.
• Collaboration with peers, faculty, and community partners toward a common goal develops skills in problem-solving and communication in real world contexts.
• Development of a foundation for a lifetime of knowledge-based action and service. Projects undertaken as part of students’ course work teach them to apply their learning and talents to serve the common good.

• Priority course registration.
• Membership in a supportive, encouraging, and close-knit community of peers and faculty scholars
• Smaller class sizes and opportunities to work closely with individual faculty members and peers.
• Take courses only available to Honors Scholars with experiential learning built in.
• Opportunities to conduct community-based, interdisciplinary research with students and faculty from across campus.
• A brand-new Honors Hub opening in 2023.
• Acknowledgement of the completion of All College Honors on your transcript.
• Special recognition at graduation along with a distinctive cord.

Honors Scholars at CSB/SJU is different from honors in high school. High school honors courses typically focus on individual achievement and accomplishment.

Honors Scholars is a supportive learning community of highly-motivated students and faculty scholars who come from all academic majors and have a wide range of interests. Intimate classroom settings promote social interaction, trust, collaboration, and concern for the common good. Honors Scholars are eager to explore a wide-range of intellectual interests, enjoy collaborating with others, and apply their learning in course projects.

You will take 1 or 2 classes per year for a total of 5 courses (20 credits). These aren’t extra courses–they all fulfill graduation requirements. For each course, you will have a variety of topics to choose from, many of which are only offered in Honors. All first-year Honors Scholars take Honors 1 in the fall semester and Honors 2 in the spring semester. Typically, sophomores take Honors 3; juniors take Honors 4; and seniors take Honors 5.

We expect you to live balanced lives and pursue your diverse interests. Honors Scholars play competitive sports, participate in music ensembles, study abroad, have campus jobs, engage in various campus clubs and organizations, and so much more.

No, you won’t take extra courses because all Honors Scholars courses fulfill general education requirements that all students need for graduation. And there are advantages such as our Honors Scholars team-taught course that fulfills three graduation requirements and courses and topics that are only available through Honors.

Honors Scholars courses aren’t structured to require more work than non-Honors courses. Honors Scholars courses are designed to enrich your academic experience, not to make it harder. Smaller, interdisciplinary courses allow for in-depth exploration of course topics through in-class discussions and high impact learning practices (e.g., service learning, research, project-based learning, etc.). The connection among the five Honors Scholars courses and cohort-based learning encourages growth and sustained conversations. The Honors faculty challenge students to dig deeply and wrestle with universal questions about the human experience and to put their learning into action through projects that create positive change in the community.

All first year Honors Scholars receive guidance, advising, mentoring, and support from Honors Faculty Fellows to assist students during their transition to college life and to help ensure their academic success.