Honors Program

Critical thinking is instrumental to both intellectual and personal development. In the first part of this course, we read an engaging text on critical thinking and discuss the content and examples in small groups. Our focus is simultaneously on sound argument development, and analysis of arguments presented to us, to facilitate decision making and problem solving. We supplement the reading with exercises in argument diagramming, to enhance comprehension, leading to well-developed written and oral communication of arguments. In the second part of the course, we engage with a variety of classic dilemmas through readings and films. We use our newly learned analysis techniques to deeply understand them, then explore our personal positions on each issue, through written and oral exercises. Two themes underlie all these explorations; first, how our positions may change during the analysis process and second, how we reconcile any apparent conflicts between conclusions arrived at logically with the Christian faith.
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

This course will focus on two classic Greek texts with special attention to an understanding of the aesthetics that helped shape Western views of beauty and art. Discussions will center around key themes that run throughout each text. An example of texts would be Plato's "Republic," Aristotle's "Poetics" and Longinus' "On the Sublime."
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

The focus of this course will be two classic Roman texts with special attention given to a discussion of leadership and how it is defined within the context of the chosen texts and Roman culture. This will lend itself to broader discussions about what makes an effective leader. Sample companion texts would be Virgil's "The Aeneid" and one or more of Plutarch's "Lives" such as his "Caesar."
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

This course will focus on Christendom with special attention given to classic Christian texts. Engaging in the individual text's portrayal of the Christian worldview will be emphasized, with particular attention given to themes like the notion of sin or other relevant issues raised in the texts. Texts that could be paired would be Augustine's "Confessions" and Dante's "Inferno."
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

The focus of this course will be the notion of power and corruption that often follows the precepts of the sort of leader Machiavelli describes. Two texts that could be paired would be Machiavelli's "The Prince" and Shakespeare's "Richard III."
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

This course will focus on the tension between being an individual and living in community with special attention on the role an individual plays in developing community as well as the role the community plays in serving the common good. A pair of texts which could be paired for this exploration could be "The Communist Manifesto" by Marx and Engels and "The Second Treatise of Government" by John Locke.
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

The focus of this course will be centered on a key question relating to what makes us human. This might include an exploration of human physiology, the mind and our emotions or the soul, ultimately considering what separates us from other animals. Texts that could be explored together might be Darwin's "Origin of Species" and Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" and the influence that these theories have had on an understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

The course begins with a session on the origins of the essay as a literary form. This will be followed with reading and class discussion of essays from two to three Christian writers who have excelled in the form. Potential writers may include G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Wendell Berry, and Marilynne Robinson. The course concludes with each student's short essaying in response to the readings.
Prerequisite: Admittance into the Honors Program

Students in the Honors Program complete this independent project during their seventh semester of study. Students will work closely with a faculty mentor, meeting several times during the semester, to develop and prepare for the final Honors project. This would include any preliminary work such as research, design, development, and any other work that needs to be done prior to completing the project. The final project will be publicly disseminated, either by submission to a journal, juried exhibition, competition or other relevant venue. If such an opportunity is not available, then students can present their project at the Academic Research Forum at the end of spring semester. The final assessment of the quality of work will be determined by the Directors of the Honors program under the advisement of the faculty mentor.
A form describing the project is completed and submitted before a student can be registered.
Prerequisites: Admittance into the Honors Program and completion of three of the four Honors Colloquium courses

Students in the Honors Program complete this independent project during their eighth semester of study. Students will meet with their faculty mentor a few times during the semester to discuss the progression and completion of the project with the expectation that the project will be publicly disseminated, either by submission to a journal, juried exhibition, competition or other relevant venue. If such an opportunity is not available, then students can present their project at the Academic Research Forum at the end of the semester. It is the student's responsibility to have the project completed in a timely manner with this goal in mind.
Admittance into the Honors Program and satisfactory completion of HN401

A study of various aspects of the liberal arts, the subject area of which will be determined by the instructor according to student interest.
Prerequisite: Consent