Honors Program
The Dean College Honors Program is quite distinctive. While most college honors programs only allow students who meet certain designated criteria to participate in honors classes or activities, Dean’s honors classes and activities are open to any student interested in stepping up to the increased rigor and academic expectations of these honors opportunities. For example, students can opt to take one honors class during their entire degree program, or as many as possible, depending on their academic interests and goals. Honors scholar status will be awarded each semester and upon graduation to students who have participated at a designated minimal level in program courses and activities (see below for these specific requirements).
Honors Courses and Activities
Through the honors courses, students will explore subject matter more deeply, and will develop their critical thinking and writing skills on a more accelerated level, thereby enhancing their intellectual capacity. The program offers 3 distinct course types: stand-alone courses, such as Composition, Critical Thinking, Composition and Literature, Public Speaking, History, Psychology; honors groups seminars linked to non-honors courses, such as American Government, Anatomy for Dancers, and Microeconomics; and the interdisciplinary honors colloquium, such as African-American History and Literature, Global Warming, the Great Depression, The American Dream, and Race, Class and Power. Each honors course is listed as such on the student’s transcript.
The cultural and co-curricular component of the Honors Program enriches the educational experience of the honors scholars by exposing them to a wide variety of cultural and co-curricular offerings, contributing to their well-rounded liberal arts education. In past years, cultural and co-curricular offerings have included: honors receptions with campus speakers, including All Souls author Michael Patrick MacDonald and Breach of Faith author Jed Horne; trips to museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; assorted on- and off-campus theatre productions; an honors book club; an honors debate club; and many lecture series. Honors students also have the opportunity to participate in travel/study abroad programs. Examples include spring break trips to London, Ireland, and, most recently, a cultural and historical study trip to Prague.
Earning Honors Scholar Status
Students will be recognized as honors scholars at the end of a given semester and/or upon graduation when they achieve a designated Grade Point Average, and accumulate the minimum number of required honors points. Honors stand-alone courses are worth 50 points; group seminars are worth 50 points; the honors colloquium is worth 100 points; and honors activities range from 10 to 25 points.
To earn honors scholar status at the end of a given semester, a student must accumulate at least 100 points from honors classes and 50 points from honors activities, and be on the Dean’s List. To earn honors scholar status at graduation, an associate degree student must accumulate at least 200 points from honors classes, with at least a B- in each honors class taken, and 100 points from honors activities; a bachelor degree student must accumulate at least 400 points from honors classes, also with at least a B- in each honors class taken and 200 points from honors activities. All honors scholar graduates must also earn the designated Grade Point Average to graduate with “Honors”.
For More Information
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Rob Lawson, Director of the Honors Program
Associate Professor of History
Phone: 508.541.1752
E-mail: rlawson@dean.edu
