Honors Program

The Honors Program at UM-Dearborn is designed for qualified, highly-motivated students who want an extra level of challenge and stimulus in their college experience.

The University of Michigan - Dearborn Honors Program offers students a suite of interdisciplinary seminars. First-year honors students take Honors Writing and Rhetoric I (COMP 110) and The Four Trials (HONS 300) in the Fall and Honors Writing and Rhetoric I (COMP 220) in the Winter. After that, you and your colleagues can choose when to complete the next courses in the Honors curriculum:  Ways of Knowing (HONS 311), Ways of Seeing (HONS 312) and your capstone seminar (HONS 400). The Honors Program is open and welcoming to transfer students. For more information, please contact Anna Muller

You think it’s a lot of extra classes? Honors Program Seal - UMich text with torch, dearborn, 1983

But our six core classes are worthy. 

These core courses are six worthy opportunities to read, write, and think in sophisticated ways. These core classes will build your capacity to solve difficult, 21st-century problems. 

To help students build this capacity, we offer a suite of interdisciplinary courses that challenge students to read and analyze difficult texts, to write with both clarity and nuance about these texts and their broader contexts, and to think through how the study of fields including history, philosophy, political science, and rhetoric speak to our personal lives, our professional aspirations, and our civic obligations. 

Advanced placement classes, exams, and dual-enrollment courses can be indicators of preparedness and ambition but don't exempt students from these core courses we ask our students to take. Our six core classes are worthy. These core classes build on previous academic work and are premiere opportunities to take reading, writing, and thinking skills to higher levels while learning with like-minded students.

Honors students develop a special set of relationships with each other and with the faculty. They get to know each other and build close friendships because they take many of the same courses together. The program regularly sponsors social hours and organizes group outings to concerts, plays, and museums. Students and faculty in the program get to share valuable experiences outside the classroom.

Learning from top-notch faculty about engaging topics - like writings of Socrates and restorative justice has helped me to analyze and think more critically.

Learn More

Digital Storytelling with our Honors Program Students

Over the course of the previous semesters, our students created a series of powerful digital stories that captured their unique experiences in life, school, work, and beyond. These personal narratives reflect their journeys, challenges, and growth—and offer a window into the diverse realities that shape our campus community.

In "Never Fully There, Never Fully Here", Honors Program student Haneen Yahfoufi catalogs her journey from Lebanon to America and how her life was changed in just one day. What started as a temporary trip, quickly turned into getting a job, enrolling in school, and house-hunting with her family here in Michigan. Haneen talks about juggling many things while trying to find her place in a society that felt both familiar and foreign.

I am a product of two worlds, shaped by two homes - and I don't have to choose between them.

Haneen Yahfoufi

Honors Program Student Spotlight

March 2026 Spotlight 

Meet Honors student Olivia Carzon, a triple major in Mathematics, Applied Statistics, and French Studies. A smiling person with dark hair stands in front of a pine tree on the left and flowering/colorful leaves tree on the right with a navy blue background and text overlay in maize bubbles that reads "Honors Student Spotlight" "Olivia Carson"

She says, “From reading Socrates in my Honors classes to Emile Zola in my French classes, my love for elegant and clever writings as well as their ability to argue clearly and effectively led me to major in those three areas. Each of these fields has contributed greatly to who I am today, challenging me to better develop my own arguments and perspectives as well as to understand those of others.”

Olivia notes that the Honors Program gave her the opportunity to grow as a thinker and person by encouraging critical thinking while providing the chance to be a part of an academically diverse community. 

She says, “While learning and tutoring French, my understanding and appreciation of linguistic and cultural diversity have been strengthened, and they inspire me to take on new and unexpected challenges. Through taking courses such as Number Theory, working on research in Fourier Analysis, or tutoring students in Calculus, I have found the rigor and logic of mathematics strikingly beautiful, and I plan to pursue a PhD in this field after graduation. I am very grateful to the faculty of the Honors Program for their incredible instruction and investment in the courses and students as well as my fellow students who have made this journey a joy."

Honors Program Alumni Spotlight

Our Honors Program is proud to feature alumni who are making their mark in a variety of fields. These spotlights highlight where their paths have taken them and how the critical thinking, mentorship, and academic rigor of the Honors experience helped shape their journeys beyond UM-Dearborn.

Meet Susie Gassel, who graduated in 2005 with a BA in French Studies and International Studies, with a minor in History. 

Susie grew up in southeast Michigan. After graduating from UM-Dearborn, she went to UM-Ann Arbor for an MA in higherHeadshot of brunette woman smiling with glasses, wearing a blue top with grey jacket in front of yellow and green trees and a brick background education and then returned to UM-Dearborn as an intern in CASL Advising, then was lucky enough to graduate just as they had an open position. Except for a brief time in START, Susie has worked in CASL Advising for her entire career. 

How has the Honors Program influenced your academic and personal journey?

“The Honors Program was part of what attracted me to UM-Dearborn; I liked the idea of the challenge and the subject matter. Like many Honors students, I did not go into a field directly related to the courses; however, the rigor of the program served me well in grad school, preparing me for copious amounts of reading and writing.”

What was your favorite course and/or project from the Honors Program?

“I took the Honors Program math course, ‘The Nature of Mathematics’ for my required math course. We learned about math in art, nature, and history. My favorite project from any Honors Program course was learning how to draw Celtic knots for math. As a person who did not appreciate math at the time, it was a real privilege to be able to take a course that kept my attention and inspired me to learn more outside of the classroom.”

Previous Alumni Spotlights

Honors Faculty

Anna Muller
Anna Muller

Honors Program Director

Anna Muller, Ph.D.

Professor, History

The Frank and Mary Padzieski Endowed Professor in Polish/Polish American/Eastern European Studies

Director, Women in Learning and Leadership Program

Director, Honors Program

 

 

Full-time Honors Program faculty:

Imran Aijaz

Professor of Philosophy

Camron Michael Amin

Professor of Middle East and Iranian Diaspora Studies

William DeGenaro

Professor of Composition and Rhetoric

Anna Muller

Professor of History; The Frank and Mary Padzieski Endowed Professor in Polish/Polish American/Eastern European Studies; Director, Honors Program

Kristin Poling

Associate Professor of History

P.F. Potvin

Teaching Professor, Composition and Rhetoric

Liz Rohan

Professor of Composition and Rhetoric

Michael Rosano

Associate Professor of Political Science

Nadja Rottner

Professor of Art History

Velimir Stojkovski

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Honors Advisory Board

Amanda Esquivel

Amanda Esquivel, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

College of Engineering and Computer Science

 

Terri Laws

Terri Laws, Associate Professor of African & African American Studies

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

 

Lisa Martin

Lisa Martin, Department Chair of Health and Human Services

College of Education, Health, and Human Services

 

FengXu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feng XU, Assistant Professor of Information Systems

College of Business

Contact Us

Honors Program

2002 College of Arts Science and Letters (CASL) Building
313-593-5490