Honors Program

The core of the Honors Program is a group of four courses addressing a wide range of philosophical, political, religious, literary and artistic texts to debate problems the world has been facing over the past three thousand years. These courses have been designed to help prepare students for thinking creatively and critically about some of the key problems and challenges that confront us today as human beings, making use of authors and texts whose ideas have made a difference in our world. Issues of moral values, social justice, and human diversity are woven throughout the program.

Since the courses are taught by professors from different academic fields such as philosophy, political science, history, and art history students come to understand how various strands of geopolitical and cultural world history are linked with one another.

The Honors curriculum follows a historical progression from antiquity to the present, leading from discussion classes in the freshman year to independent research in the junior year. Students in the program develop academic abilities that gradually build on one another and create increasing competence, awareness, and self-reflection. The skills and values fostered by the Honors Program prepare students to engage with the contemporary world in a critical and meaningful way.

All courses in the program fulfill Dearborn Discovery Core Requirements.

Written and Verbal Communications:

• Communicate clearly in writing and public speaking.
• Compose analyses of challenging texts in thesis-driven academic essays.
• Compose advanced, inquiry-oriented papers, demonstrating comprehension of relevant primary and secondary sources and academic genres.

Critical Thinking:

• Raise good questions.
• Evaluate relevant texts in terms of authors’ theses, assumptions, evidence, and inferences.
• Consider counter evidence in response to ongoing reading.
• Draw well-reasoned conclusions that address implications of findings.

Integrative, Comparative and Creative Thinking:  

• Compare different historical contexts and ideas.
• Assess one’s own assumptions.
• Create ways of integrating contrasting information on contexts and theories.

Problem Solving:  

• Recognize problems that inhibit use of intellectual standards in thinking.
• Identify and discuss reasonable solutions.
• Work and communicate with others in solving problems.

In their first semester of the freshmen year, students take a unique gateway course, HONS 300 “Four Trials”, in which they study several trials of great world-historical significance. The course introduces students to key developments in philosophy, history, science, and modern secular politics, while also providing an introduction to methods of textual analysis, critical thinking, theoretical reflection, and cogent writing that are the very fundamentals that the program seeks to develop.

In their first and second semesters, students also take two composition courses specially designed for the program. These are small classes, capped at 15 students per section.

Curriculum

• COMP 110: Honors Composition I
• COMP 220: Honors Composition II

Between their the second and fifth semesters, students complete a sequence of four courses that together cover nearly three millennia of cultural history and thought:

• HONS 301: Classical and Religious Traditions
• HONS 302: Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation
• HONS 303: Age of Enlightenment
• HONS 304: Modern Era

In the junior or senior year, Honors students enroll in HONS 400: Honors Seminar. This is a small class, usually with ten to fifteen students. They pursue intensive study of a given topic with a faculty member who is an expert in the field. The course introduces students to timely and important areas of research and it usually requires a major writing assignment.

How Does the Honors Program Fit into the College Curriculum?

The Honors Program provides an alternate route for completing basic required courses. Honors classes satisfy Dearborn Discovery Core requirements for the various units on campus. If a student leaves the program, the classes easily translate into a normal college program with no loss of time or credit. Honors courses are demanding, yet the atmosphere is supportive and honors students generally maintain the same GPA in the program as they would taking ordinary courses.

Apart from their Honors requirements, Honors students follow a normal course of study in their own area of concentration, together with the other students in their unit. They are required to maintain a cumulative grade point average of no less than 3.2 to remain in the Honors program. Any student falling below an overall average of 3.2 at the end of any given semester will be assigned probationary status in the Honors program for the succeeding semester. Failure to improve the overall average to 3.2 or above during that probationary semester will result in dismissal from the Program.

The program accepts students from all units on campus: College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters; College of Engineering and Computer Science; College of Education, Health, and Human Services; and College of Business.

There are no special charges or fees for participation in the program.

The Honors Program is open to all entering freshmen with a high school GPA of at least 3.5 or other evidence of superior academic ability. The program accepts students from all units on campus, including CASL, Engineering, Education, Health, and Business students. Admission to the program is competitive and is based on the student's interests and experience as well as the high school record.

Students who are eligible to apply for the Honors Program will be invited via email to participate in the selection process for the program.

Admission is competitive, and participating in the program provides a chance for additional scholarship opportunities, including a chance to compete for our top Chancellor’s Scholarship, which meets 100% full tuition and fees.  The following must be completed to be considered:

• Attend one of the “Exploring our Honors Program” evening information sessions in February to learn more about this program to be considered for the program. (Invitation to register are sent to eligible applicants.)

Upon successfully completing the above steps, applicants then will be notified in March if they have been selected for the Honors Program, including if they are being invited to compete for our elite Chancellor’s Scholarship.