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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 special curricular and extracurricular opportunities.

Honors Program students distinguish themselves by their commitment to the College's mission and its approach to education. As individuals, they demand more of themselves, of each other and their instructors, and of their respective disciplines.

The academic portion of the Honors Program consists of at least five Honors Courses that all Honors students take, including the 2-credit course (Honors Colloquium) and the Senior Capstone in one major, usually tied to that major's senior capstone course.

Honors Program Courses

Every Honors Program student takes at least three Honors Courses. In these courses, students sharpen their skills of close and critical engagement with the subject matter and articulation of questions and ideas, both in writing and in speaking. Enrollment in these courses is limited to fifteen students, and they generally fulfill Core Curriculum requirements. They may be used to satisfy major and minor requirements where applicable. Some Honors course offerings come in the form of a pre-approved enhancements, where the faculty member designs a module of Honors experiences for Honors students in the course approved by the faculty Honors committee. In a pre-approved enhancement course, the overall enrollment may exceed 15 students, with a small subset of seats (generally 3-7) set aside for Honors students.

Honors classes can be chosen from the designated Honors course offerings, which vary from semester to semester. In addition, Honors students may, with the agreement of the instructor and the Honors Program Director, individually enhance a standard course to make it an Honors Course. The Honors project for the course must be academically more rigorous, both in quantity and quality, than the work expected of the other students on the course. The proposed projects will be reviewed and approved by the faculty Honors Committee in conjunction with the Program Director.

Honors Colloquium

course, the 2-credit Honors Colloquium, is the only course required exclusively of students in the Honors Program. The Honors Colloquium is designed to challenge students to move beyond the classroom by making use of the full variety of academic, cultural and artistic opportunities available to the wider community. These include lectures, demonstrations, presentations, and performances. In keeping with the goals of a liberal arts education, the Colloquium provides a forum in which students will explore, analyze, and discuss topics in a variety of disciplines. The students themselves are responsible for the majority of the course content, reading assignments, and leading of discussions.

The purpose of courseis not to produce mastery of any particular branch of knowledge. The course instead seeks to develop students' broader cultural, social, and political awareness, and to expand their capacity to express their ideas and to interact with individuals who hold differing views.

The Honors Colloquium syllabus is based on the following guidelines: 

  1. Students will attend a specified number of on-campus and off-campus academic, cultural, and artistic events during the semester. The events selected will be based on students’ own intellectual, cultural, and artistic interests; students can attend events individually, in groups, or as part of a whole class experience. The events will be generally representative of the range of disciplines in the college’s arts and sciences curriculum.

  2. Students will read essays or other texts, and watch videos selected by members of the class in consultation with the instructor.  This material will serve as preparation for weekly discussions.

  3. Students will write brief analytical or reflective reports on the academic, cultural, and artistic events that they attend, in addition to composing weekly pre- and/or post-discussion responses to the materials provided by their fellow students. Each student will serve as a discussion leader or co-leader at least once during the semester.

Senior Honors Project in the Major

All students at Saint Michael’s College complete a capstone project in their major(s) during the senior year: a thesis, a research project, or another appropriate experience, usually completed within the context of a senior seminar.  Specific guidelines are stipulated by each academic program and may be found on the Honors Program webpage.

Students in the Honors Program undertake projects of greater substance and academic significance than normally expected, developed in collaboration with a faculty mentor.  Proposals for these projects will be reviewed and approved by the faculty Honors Committee in conjunction with the Program Director. Upon completion, the teacher of record for the capstone (not the faculty Honors Committee) is responsible for determining whether the project was completed in a manner worthy of Honors designation. Students undertaking an Honors capstone register for the one-credit course in the semester of the project. If it's a two-semester capstone, students normally register for course in the second semester. The one credit serves to acknowledge the extra work and effort taken on by Honors students, and it also enables the Honors director and Registrar to track each student's progress. course does not meet. If a student does not successfully complete course, the student is withdrawn from the course with a grade of WD.

Honors Housing

Students in the Honors Program may decide to live in Honors Housing.

Honors Housing develops a strong sense of academic community among its participants, and it encourages students to transfer exciting academic discussions from the classroom into their living spaces. Honors Housing provides a community living experience that is supportive of students’ academic success and interests. It also promotes students’ academic and co-curricular leadership.

For First Year Honors Housing, priority is given to those incoming first year students who have been invited to join the Honors Program.  Additional space within Honors Housing in the first-year areas may be filled by those students who have/are predicted to have a grade point average of 3.6 or higher.  Designated floors and/or wings are reserved within the first-year buildings for incoming first-year students.

Honors Housing for upper-class students are comprised of single and double rooms, as well as suites of single rooms, located in Halls and Townhouses across the campus. Students must have a 3.6 or higher GPA or be approved by the Faculty Honors Program Committee in order to live in Honors Housing.

Eligibility for the Honors Program

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. Non-Honors Program Students who earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher in their first semester are invited to join in December of the first year. Another round of invitations takes place in May after the first year. High achieving transfer students who have enough time left in their college careers may also be invited to join. If an Honors student falls below 3.6 GPA, they receive a warning and monitoring from the director, but they may continue to enroll in Honors courses and Honors housing until such time as it becomes mathematically impossible to achieve a 3.6 cumulative GPA by graduation.

To graduate in the Honors Program, students must have a final cumulative grade point average of 3.6 or higher. Those who complete all the requirements receive special recognition at graduation and a special designation on their transcripts.

Saint Michael’s is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The College is a member of the College Board, Vermont Higher Education Council, Association of Vermont Independent Colleges, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Vermont Campus Compact, and Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Saint Michael’s College is committed to equal opportunity. It does not discriminate against students, employees, or applicants for admission or employment, on the basis of race, color, gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical characteristics.

The provisions of this catalog are not to be regarded as an irrevocable contract between the student and the College. The College reserves the right to change its policies without prior notice.

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