About the Saint Francis University Honor Program
The Saint Francis University Honors Program is designed to challenge highly motivated students by making them part of a community of learners, while at the same time affording them the opportunity to devise a personal program of study. Founded in 1984, the program currently enrolls 100 students.
Program details
Students are introduced to the Honors Program through a year-long learning community experience consisting of a four-course sequence with intense critical thinking, writing and speaking components. Successful completion of this sequence waives the university speech requirement for the Honors student. Based upon the Franciscan ideal of concern for others above self, service learning activities are built into all upper-level Honors seminars. An original research project is the program’s capstone requirement.
Student Requirements
All other Honors requirements are fulfilled at the student’s own pace and with the student’s personal academic interests in mind. For example, Honors students develop individual Directed Readings Tutorials with faculty mentors. The discipline and scope of the tutorial is left up to the student, but must be outside his or her major field of study.
Features
Those participating in the Honors Program are the only students granted priority registration at the university. The program also offers innovative coursework, extensive faculty-student interaction, individualized honors advising and opportunities for independent study.
Facilities
The Bach Family Honors House opened in January 2006. The 6,000+ square-foot facility includes a conference room—with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment—for seminars and Honors core courses; a residence for eight Honors students per year; a 24-hour study space for all Honors students; and meeting, lecture and movie space.