Honors Program

Purpose
The Honors Program offers academically advanced and intellectually ambitious students the opportunity to advance their liberal education to new levels by embracing challenges and experiences beyond those of our standard curriculum.
 
Honors Courses and Advanced Tracks
Honors students may participate in special courses or advanced tracks within standard courses. With some variation from year to year, these may include Geometry, Latin, and English composition.
 
Honors Colloquium
Each semester, as part of the Honors Colloquium, honors students explore selected texts, themes, authors, or media that complement our larger Program of Studies. Following our philosophical examination of cinema in last year’s inaugural Honors Colloquium, this year’s Colloquium will take up Dante’s Divine Comedy. Meeting weekly, students will follow Dante (as he follows Vergil, Beatrice, and St. Bernard) in his journey from the dark wood, through the garden of Eden, to his vision of the Holy Trinity. Through a sustained, close reading of this epic, students from each of the four years will immerse themselves in Dante’s poetic summa and the philosophical, theological, and literary sources upon which it is based.
 
Advanced Language Study
Honors students who have already achieved the required level of proficiency in Latin may pursue a course in independent, advanced language study under the guidance of a faculty member.
 
Honors Thesis and Comprehensive Exams
As the culmination of their undergraduate studies, honors students will research and write an honors thesis and take comprehensive exams. The topics and questions for these exams will be available by October 1 of each year.
 
Eligibility Requirements
Incoming freshmen must have a SAT score of 1,700 or higher (or a 24 on the ACT). Incoming freshmen with lower test scores may apply for the Honors Program. Their continued participation will depend upon their grade point average at the end of their first semester at the College
 
Degree with Honors
In order to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, the student must (1) have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher, (2) complete an honors thesis, (3) complete six honors colloquia, (4) earn sixteen credit hours of honors-track courses and (5) pass their comprehensive exams.
 
Academic Forum
Each semester the College will invite speakers who will, through their presence and presentations, enrich the life and culture of the College. Following the speaker’s presentation to the larger student body, students in the Honors Program will convene for further conversation and refreshments with our guest.