Honors

Director: Dr. Michael Boler, honors@stthom.edu 

The Honors Program at the University of St. Thomas provides a framework within which outstanding men and women can pursue excellence, leadership, and what the ancients called magnanimitas or “greatness of the soul.” The program’s unique design centers around a community of students and professors committed to the intellectual life. Placed in small classes that emphasize dialogue and conversation, Honors students enjoy the special interdisciplinary benefit of team– lead seminars that focus on original, classical texts.

Admissions and Scholarships

Members of the Honors Program are usually selected from students entering the University of St. Thomas as freshmen. Because admission is limited and competitive, candidates are advised to apply during the fall semester of the senior year of high school. To be considered for admission, a student must complete the Honors application, the University’s general scholarship application and participate in the Honors interviews held in the spring of the senior year of high school. The recommended standards for admission are: 

1. GPA of 3.500 on a 4.000 scale; 
2. SAT 1200 (verbal and math combined) or ACT 27.

Students Who Complete the Honors Program 

Upon completion of the four–course honors sequence (HNRS 1391, 1392, 2391, 2392) and the Contemporary Problems Seminar (HNRS 4395), the student will be credited with fulfilling 15 credit hours in the core curriculum in the following way: 

• English (ENGL 1341); History (any core course); 
• Social science (any core course). 
• Either of the third courses in theology or philosophy the Synthesis course. 

No course may be applied to the mathematics, natural science, language, oral communication, or fine arts block of the core curriculum. 

Upon completion of the Independent Research Project (HNRS 4394), students will receive 3 credit hours in their major field. Students must consult their department chair to determine what course in their major is eligible for credit. 
The Honors Program adds only 3 credit hours to any major program already in place at the University: Community Service Project (HNRS 3391). 

Students Who Withdraw from the Honors Program 

A student who leaves the Honors Program after completing one course will receive credit for the honors course as an elective. It cannot fulfill any core curriculum requirements. 
A student who leaves the Honors Program after completing two or more courses may designate the appropriate blocks in the core curriculum requirements to which to apply the honors credits. 

Classes Overview

The Honors Program begins with four such interdisciplinary seminars, one taken each semester, which draw on the canon of Great Books and the “great conversation” which forms the basis of society. From Greek and Roman antiquity, continuing through the Medieval period and culminating in the modern era, students confront the “big questions” that all thoughtful persons must consider sooner or later in their lives. These provide the student with an historical foundation for the proper judgement and critique of contemporary society.