The Honors College at SCSU offers a unique, challenging, and rewarding educational experience to the intellectually inquisitive undergraduate. Honors College students are independent thinkers, captivated by courses dealing with cross-cultural and intellectual movements, and stimulated by creative debate and analytical dialogue. They thrive in an interdisciplinary setting, forming a close-knit community where professors and students embark on a shared educational journey toward individual excellence.

Frequently Asked questions:

What is the Honors College?

Are scholarships available?

How is the Honors program distinctive?

Who may qualify for admission to the Honors College?

What else is special about the Honors College?

What Honors courses are available?

What is the Honors College?

Founded in 1982, the Honors College is a four-year program designed for the academically superior student. Unlike most universities, which organize their curriculum into departments (for example, biology, literature, or communications), at SCSU, courses in the Honors College are interdisciplinary, organized around themes and questions common to many disciplines, and approached differently in each. Honors courses are also team-taught, with professors from different departments approaching the Honors class from the distinct perspectives of their own training and scholarship. Honors classes are small, limited to an enrollment of twenty students, which fosters a high level of student involvement in the classroom. Students do much writing, and they receive close individualized feedback on their papers and creative work. Through this technique of lively, interdisciplinary interchange, the free flow of ideas as well as their interpretation and analysis is encouraged in the Honors student, who learns to discover underlying structures of knowledge in all areas of study, whatever his/her major.
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Are scholarships available?

Yes! Each year, the majority of our Honors freshmen are awarded a Presidential Scholarship, which is guaranteed competitively renewable for a total of eight semesters, provided that the student remains in good standing in the Honors College. This scholarship, which covers full in-state tuition and fees, is not need-based and so does not require a financial aid application. (Other forms of aid may be available through the Financial Aid Office, so you should still file with FAFSA) The Presidential Scholarship, available only to Honors College members, acknowledges the student's accomplishments and encourages their potential. It is an honor which demonstrates the continuing commitment of SCSU to academic excellence.
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How is the Honors program distinctive?

During the first two years of college, our students normally enroll in two Honors courses each semester, along with three other courses selected from their major field or free electives. These eight Honors courses, when taken together, replace most of the all-university required courses and comprise roughly a third of the student's total academic program. Honors College students may choose a major in any field (provided that their major does not require them to take more than 24 semester hours in that area during the first two years). During their final two years, Honors students concentrate on their major fields. In addition, juniors take a research seminar in the Honors College, and seniors complete an Honors Thesis or independent project, working closely with a faculty advisor. Successful Honors College seniors are recognized at the annual Awards Convocation, where they receive university honors from their department(s) as well as from the Honors College.
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Who may qualify for admission to the Honors College?

• High school seniors with good academic records and solid SAT scores;
• Incoming freshmen recommended by faculty members;
• Incoming transfer students with outstanding records who have not yet met most of the all- university requirements;
• Qualified students with strong interest in our program.

All students who consider enrolling in our program College must have a strong academic background and be eager to make a commitment to the challenge of Honors courses. Most of our students were in the top quarter of their high school classes and earned high SAT scores. Because we are strongly committed to diversity, all serious students will be considered for admission to the Honors College.
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What else is special about the Honors College?

There is a bond among our students and faculty which both fosters individual achievement and also promotes group camaraderie. A key role in our program is played by faculty advisement, which begins before registration and continues throughout the Honors student's university career. Freshmen receive counsel from the Honors College director, from another specially-chosen Honors professor, and also from an advisor in their major area of study. In addition, Honors College students are a tightly-knit group. With faculty, they plan numerous outings and extracurricular activities, both social and intellectual. Honors students are often campus leaders, traditionally interesting themselves in local causes and looking outward to the larger world community.
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What Honors Courses are available?

The following is a list of courses students typically take during their four years in the Honors College. The program is individualized and flexible enough to allow members to work with their advisors to create programs addressing their special interests and needs.

Courses designed for first-semester freshmen:

HON 150: Introduction to Critical Inquiry
HON 280: The Research Act - Encounter of Theory and Fact

Courses for freshmen and sophomores:

HON 210: The Idea of Self: The Ancient World
HON 220: The Idea of Self: Middle Ages to Renaissance
HON 230: Music and Nationalism from 1750-1918
HON 231: Religion and Sexuality in America
HON 232: Reform and Its Nemesis: The American Experience
HON 240: The Non-Western World
HON 250: The Idea of the City
HON 251: Race and Ethnicity in the 20th Century
HON 252: Twentieth Century's Flower of Irony
HON 253: Society and Politics as Theatre
HON 254: The World of Utopias and Dystopias
HON 255: Ambiguity and Uncertainty in the Arts and Sciences
HON 260: The Idea of Nature I
HON 261: The Idea of Nature II
HON 270: Science and Technology: Triumph or Tragedy?
HON 290: The Language of Art
HON 298: Special Topics!

Course for juniors:
HON 350: Research Seminar

Courses for seniors:
HON 400: Honors Thesis Project Seminar I
HON 401: Honors Thesis Project Seminar II
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