The Honors Program has three principal components.

1. A series of four team-taught interdisciplinary colloquia:
   
   • The classical civilizations of Europe and Asia;
   • The medieval cultures which succeeded them;
   • The early modern world in which these cultures entered into new relationships with each other; and
   • The contemporary world which has shaped the challenges facing us now.
2. Two upper-level seminars on a variety of topics in the humanities and social sciences, taught by some of the University’s finest professors.
3. Independent research leading to the production of a senior Honors Thesis on a topic of the student’s choice.
   

From time to time, the Honors Program also sponsors a study abroad trip in the summer.  The most recent of these was to southern Spain in 2007.  Other such trips have been to Italy and Greece.

During the first two years, students meet twice a week for three hours and complete the four Honors Colloquia. These courses substitute for core curriculum requirements such as English, oral communications, religion, philosophy, and history. The University’s Core Curriculum courses (CORE 1101 and CORE 2101) are integrated into the first and third colloquia; students in those two semesters take the three credit CORE course taught by one of the Honors faculty and a three credit Honors colloquium; the readings and discussions of the two courses complement each other.  During the third and fourth years, students complete two interdisciplinary honors seminars, choosing from a variety of topics that change from year to year. The honors thesis, completed in close collaboration with a member of the faculty, is written in the senior year.

In order to graduate with the Honors Certificate, a student must maintain a 3.0 average in the honors courses – the four colloquia, two 3-credit seminars and the senior thesis (3 credits), as well as an overall GPA of at least 3.0.

For more information and course descriptions, Click Here.