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The Honors Program

Founded to provide a wider range of learning opportunities for highly motivated students, the Honors Program at MCLA offers a steady stream of courses with the depth and scope sought by those students.

The Honors curriculum is constantly evolving, for the developing interests of Honors students help determine the courses that are offered each semester. Some of the courses that have been offered recently are:

  • The Nature of Human Nature
  • The Aesthetics of Bad Taste
  • Constructing Reality
  • Art and Society
  • The Holocaust and the Nature of Prejudice
  • Classic Non-European Film
  • Evolution and Values
  • Atheism
  • The Romantic Movement

Program Details

Any MCLA student may apply at any time to be a member of the honors program, by meeting with the director.  To remain a member of the program in good standing and receive its benefits and prerogatives students must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2, and take at least one honors course each academic year.

Completion of the honors program, and graduation with All College Honors, requires completion of at least six honors courses (18 credit hours, at least half at or above 300-level) with a grade of B or better in each of them, and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.4.

By researching, writing, and defending an approved honors thesis and fulfilling the above requirements, honors students may graduate as Commonwealth Scholars.  Departmental senior theses within an honors student's major program may be suitable as Commonwealth Scholar projects.

The Community Beyond the Campus

The Honors Program is a wonderful way to meet other talented students from other colleges in the region and from across the country, to participate in colloquia with speakers and visitors from other colleges and universities, and to present papers on one's own research at national and regional conferences.

The Honors Program and Your Future

Graduating with All-College Honors is a distinction that follows you for the rest of your life. Inscribed on your transcript, it can help open doors to graduate or professional schools and enhance employment possibilities after college. But a serious Honors Program always offers more than a bright future; its chief focus is the quality and rigor of your experience as a student. As an Honors student you quickly gain the confidence of not only knowing something, but of knowing that you know it, of knowing how to communicate it, -- of knowing how to learn on your own and work with others so that projects can be brought to successful conclusion. Gaining the wisdom to know yourself: to know your powers in both their reach and their limitation is your present -- and your future. Make the most of it.

For questions or correspondence, email Professor Matt Silliman at m.silliman@mcla.edu Director of the Honors Program.