Benefits of Participating in Honors

The many benefits of participating in the Honors program include:

Academic distinction

The Honors designation on the student's transcript shows graduate schools and employers that he or she has achieved academic success in rigorous classes and worked with some of the college's finest teachers and students. The challenging curriculum also allows students to grow as thinkers, writers, and speakers.

Small class sizes

Restricted enrollment ensures classes have an intimate, seminar-style feel and allows for close student-professor interaction and mentoring.

Excellent faculty

Professors teach Honors classes by choice and are some of the college's most committed and energetic instructors. Team-taught core seminars ensure lively debates between students and professors in a vibrant, challenging learning environment.

Alternative Liberal Education Experience

The Honors curriculum offers a unique learning experience that goes beyond the standard L.E. classes in a series of specially designed seminars. Honors also offers students a more efficient method of satisfying L.E. requirements, thus freeing up time to fit in double majors, multiple minors, extracurricular activities, intensive research projects, and other enhanced academic experiences.

Interdisciplinary approaches

The interdisciplinary nature of Honors seminars brings students and professors from different departments together, ensuring an exciting class atmosphere and preparing students for the interdisciplinary approach of most top graduate programs and professional fields.

Sense of community

Because Honors students take core classes together, repeated interaction with Honors faculty and students in seminars, and in other academic and social settings, helps establish a sense of belonging to the college community.

Enhanced support, advising, and mentoring

Honors students attend an early, supplemental day of orientation activities to help ease the transition to college life. They also have the Honors director assigned to them as an advisor in addition to their major advisor. Finally, incoming Honors students are grouped with peer mentors—upper-class Honors students with extensive experience in the program—who can help guide them during their first year at college.

Research opportunities

The seminar-style approach to teaching, the emphasis on writing and research in classes, and the program support of outside research allow students to investigate their academic interests more fully and also help mentor students who wish to present or publish their research. The program also makes two annual $3,750 awards to support student research over the summer. These awards are administered by members of the Honors Council through a competitive application process.

Graduate school preparation

Seminar-style classes, interdisciplinary approaches to academic subjects, and close interaction with faculty that results in strong research mentoring and effective letters of support all help better prepare students who wish to attend graduate school. The Honors program is also a member of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors (NAFA), which advises colleges on the major national and international fellowship competitions like the Rhodes, Goldwater, and Truman fellowships, among others.

Special Study Abroad Opportunity

Westminster’s Honors program is a member of the Principia Consortium, which gives students access to a unique Honors educational experience at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Access to supplementary resources

Honors students have special access to the Honors program newsletter; the Honors program listserv; the "Pizza with Profs" lecture series; the Honors program resource library; "Profs Pick the Flick" film nights; enriched learning experiences such as attendance at cultural events and other field study; funding to attend and give papers at academic conferences; a supplemental orientation session and a peer mentoring program through the freshman year; leadership training opportunities like the student Honors Council; special recognition opportunities like the Honors seminar book awards; financial support to investigate graduate schools out of state; and opportunities to participate in special meetings with distinguished visiting scholars and lecturers.

Honors Building

The program is housed in historic Nunemaker Place, located on the banks of Emigration Creek by the residence halls. This three-story building gives Honors students a place to research graduate schools, write papers on networked computers, attend social events and meetings, or use Nunemaker porch for reading, relaxing, or just hanging out with other Honors students.  The building has its own wireless signal, which allows students to work on their laptops, and it has a large-screen projection system that is also connected to the campus network.