THE HONORS PROGRAM AT ALVERNIA COLLEGE

Excellence, Interaction, Enthusiasm

Dr. Victoria Williams and Emily O'Leary 2005 Graduate

Curriculum and Graduation Requirements

First Year Honors Seminar
All entering Honors students are registered in the first year Honors Seminar, which is the honors version of the college-wide requirement of College Success Skills. This course is linked with an academic course. This requirement may be waived for students who enter the program after their first semester or who transfer in to the college.

Honors Courses

Every semester Alvernia offers a number of honors courses. To graduate from the Honors Program, a student must take three of these courses. Honors courses differ from non-honors coursework by devoting less time to elementary skills and information, stressing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and requiring significant levels of reading, writing, and speaking. Most honors courses are interdisciplinary and conducted as seminars. Students in honors courses benefit from small class size, freedom of exploration, exceptional intellectual stimulation, credit toward graduation with honors, and the opportunity to build relationships with other honors students and some of Alvernia’s best teachers. Examples of recent Honors Courses include: “Stigma: Living with Mental Illness,” “Sacred and Secular Art and Literature,” “Leadership and Ethics,” “Religion, War and Politics,” and “Utopian Societies.”

Thesis Requirement

To graduate from the Program, students must complete a six-credit Honors Thesis. This project is typically done over the course of two semesters. The Director of the Program serves as a supervisor, while the student works with an advisor in his or her discipline. Senior thesis contracts and forms are available in the Director’s office or online at http://www.alvernia.edu/honors/Thesisguidelines/contract.html.

Examples of recent theses are: “Current Treatments of Social Anxiety Disorder: Are They Effective?”, and, “Cameras in Courtrooms: Do They Affect Trial Proceedings?” You can find more abstracts online at http://www.alvernia.edu/honors/Thesisguidelines/abstracts.html.

Expectations of Honors Students

Classes in Alvernia’s Honors Program encourage greater initiative and independence, deeper learning, and closer collaboration among honors students and faculty than in regular courses. This does not necessarily mean more work for honors students than for others, but it does mean a different kind of work, and may call for more individual attention from the professor than in a typical class. Students and professors alike will notice a difference in the quality of work required and produced than in the quantity.

For More Information, Contact:
Dr. Victoria Williams, Director of the Honors Program
Francis Hall 406
Office Phone (610) 796-5511
Victoria.williams@alvernia.edu

Updated: December 15, 2005

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