Honors Program

Joseph E. Kraus, Ph.D., Director

Overview

The Honors Program supports The University of Scranton’s tradition of excellence and its dedication to freedom of inquiry and personal development. It challenges outstanding students with a rigorous education that stresses independent work and intense engagement with faculty and other Honors students both in and out of the classroom. The individualized attention and freedom to explore provided by the program aim to increase students’ intellectual skills, self-reliance and personal accountability.

The Honors curriculum conforms with and enriches existing University course requirements. It also supports students as they move into increasingly sophisticated work. Writing-intensive, discussion-based Honors courses, which vary from year to year, satisfy general education requirements. Honors tutorials both in and out of a student’s major intensely engage students with texts on an individually directed basis. The junior seminar provides opportunities for students to lead and participate in discussions of books on a wide range of contemporary issues. A student’s work in the Honors Program culminates in a year-long senior project. The student may propose either a research or a creative project for this significant piece of independent work. Students present the plans for this project to their peers in a senior seminar and defend the completed project before their mentor and two other faculty members. The final version of the project is catalogued in the Weinberg Library.

Requirements

Honors Students must take one course, three tutorials and two seminars; they must also complete a year-long, 6-credit project. Honors courses count toward general education requirements. Honors tutorials count toward major, minor, cognate or general education requirements. Students may take up to five tutorials. Those who participate in all three programs of excellence (Honors, SJLA, Business Leadership Program) or who spend a full year abroad have the option of completing only two tutorials, one in the student’s major and one out of the major or in a second major. There is no extra charge for Honors work. Honors courses, tutorials and projects carry only ordinary tuition. Honors seminars, the only Honors work that does not satisfy ordinary graduation requirements, carry no tuition charge. Honors students may take between 12 and 21 credits in their third and fourth years at the flat rate.

Admission to the Honors Program

Applications are accepted every fall from those students who have at least 18 hours of college credit and who expect to graduate after three more years of work at the University. Applicants must ordinarily have at least a 3.3 GPA; a minimum of a 3.5 GPA (cum laude) is required for graduation in the program. The number of spaces in the program is limited, and admission is based on the applicant’s high school and college records, SAT scores, application, recommendations, and interviews. For further information contact Dr. Joseph Kraus, Director of the Honors Program.

Honors Program Schedule

Course Descriptions

No Honors Program courses may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis.

DEPT 385H-389H — Honors Tutorial — 3 credits each

An exploration of a topic on an individually directed basis.

DEPT 487H-489H —Honors Project — 6 credits total

An independent project of academic or professional nature culminating in an oral defense before a board of three faculty members.

HONR 387H — Junior Honors Seminar — 2 credits

Student-led discussions of contemporary nonfictional works chosen for their variety and their importance.

HONR 489H — Senior Honors Seminar — 1 credit

Student-led discussions of the content, rationale, and methodology of Senior Honors Projects.

HUM 286H — (C, W) Victorian Studies — 3 credits

This course uses literature to explore 19thcentury British social and intellectual history. Focusing on the period from 1832-1901, it examines Victorian attitudes toward industrialization, religion, art and gender.

NSCI 208H — (E,W) Science of the Day — 3 credits

An in-depth review and analysis of current developments in science and technology. Topics will be selected from various current periodical and media sources. The scientific, social and political context of each will be discussed.

T/RS 242H — Christian Ethics and Public Health — 3 credits

This course will explore one contemporary social and medical issue – the need for a functioning public health apparatus – and the ethical implications of an adequate public health system. The framework of the ethical analysis is Christian social ethics, especially Catholic Social Teaching as it understands “Common Good.”