Honors Program

The Honors Program at Saint Michael’s College provides additional challenges and opportunities to outstanding students, with the aim of enhancing the liberal education offered by the College through engagement in small group discussion, research, and extraordinary curricular and extracurricular opportunities.

The mission of the College, “to contribute through higher education to the enhancement of the human person and to the advancement of human culture in the light of the Catholic faith,” serves as the Honors Program’s guiding principle.

As a group, Honors students distinguish themselves by their commitment to this mission and its concomitant approach to education; as individuals, they demand more of themselves, of each other and of their instructors.

The components of the Honors Program, all serving these ends, are the Honors Core Courses, the Honors Colloquium, the Honors Service Project, and the Senior Honors Project.

Honors Core Courses

Preferably during the first two years, every student in the Honors Program takes honors sections of two or three of the following five courses. In these courses, students sharpen their skills in close textual engagement and in the articulation of questions and ideas, both in writing and in speaking. Enrollment in these courses is limited to seventeen students, and they all fulfill college Liberal Studies requirements.

First Year Seminar
Philosophy 103: Introduction to Philosophical Problems
Philosophy 201: The Philosophy of Human Nature
Humanities 101: Ancient and Medieval Civilization
Humanities 102: Modern Civilization

Students who take honors sections of only two of these courses must perform additional substantive work in one course in their major, as approved by the Honors Committee and the course instructor. Students entering the Honors Program after their first semester who have already taken non-honors sections of two or more of the honors core courses also follow this plan.

Honors Colloquium

In a semester after the first year, every student in the Honors Program takes the Honors Colloquium. This course challenges students to move beyond the normal expectations of classroom participation and the confines of the standard college curriculum. It is a forum in which students explore and analyze topics in disciplines that they are not otherwise studying, in order to develop broader cultural, social, and political awareness and to expand their capacity to express their ideas and interact with individuals holding different views.

Students in the Honors Colloquium attend lectures and presentations taking place on campus and read essays and books in a variety of subjects. They attend weekly discussion meetings in which they further engage with the ideas suggested by these events and readings, each student serving as discussion leader at least once during the semester. They also write response papers on the lectures and readings and a final essay that draws together content from several of them.

The Honors Colloquium is the only course specifically required of students in the Honors Program.

Senior Honors Project in the Major

All students at Saint Michael’s College complete a “capstone” project in their majors during the senior year, either a thesis, a research project or some other appropriate task, usually completed within the context of a senior seminar.

Students in the Honors Program undertake projects of greater substance and academic significance, developed with and approved by a faculty mentor. Research support funds are available to students in the Honors Program to help cover the costs of travel, research materials, and equipment connected with these senior honors projects.

Honors Housing

Students in the Honors Program have the option to choose specially designated honors housing.

Eligibility

Some students are invited to join the Honors Program at the beginning of their first year on the basis of a promising high school record. Students who earn a grade point average of 3.5 or above in their first semester become eligible and enter during the first semester of their sophomore year. To remain in the Honors Program, students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Those who complete the requirements receive special recognition at graduation.

For more information, contact Professor F. Nicholas Clary, Honors Program Coordinator, by e-mail: nclary@smcvt.edu.