LM University

Honors Program

The Honors Program at Saint Joseph College serves a community of students who share an excitement for learning. Through enhanced Honors level courses, students interact with others of similar intellectual curiosity in stimulating seminars involving in-depth reading and challenging assignments. In addition to their Honors Courses, students also participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities including trips, lectures, conventions, and cultural events.

Honors Program Curriculum
Honors students take six courses, including:

Four Honors Courses (12 credits) in arts and sciences that meet general education requirements. These classes follow a seminar format, focus on the reading of primary sources and involve challenging writing assignments.

A Junior Independent Study (3 credits) consists of a mentored project, experience or seminar approved by the Honors Director.

Options:

1. Independent Research (3 credits): Students work individually with a faculty mentor on a project of their own design. This is the perfect opportunity to follow an intellectual passion either within or beyond your major.
2. Service Learning Honors Seminar (3 credits) consists of a challenging service experience supplemented by class discussion, reflection and reading (may be substituted for one of the four Honors courses or Junior independent study).
3. Honors Study Abroad (3 Credits): Students who complete an Honors project within six weeks of their return from an approved Study Abroad program may receive Honors credit, which may be substituted for one of four Honors electives or the Junior Independent Study. Project involves research and critical analysis and must be approved by the Honors Director and Director of International Relations.

A Senior Capstone Seminar (3 Credits) that challenges students to explore complex issues with an interdisciplinary, team-taught approach. For example, students may examine Political Psychology from the perspective of both political theory and psychological findings. Writing Women’s Lives examines accounts of women's lives from both a psychological and literary point of view. Critical analysis and research skills are strongly emphasized.

Sample Honors Courses:

• Introduction to Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
• Discovering Philosophy
• Human Genetics and Birth Defects
• Greek Art
• Human Evolution
• Thematic Approaches to Literature
• Marine Biology
• Art of Egypt
• Political Psychology
• Writing Women's Lives