Advisor: Mark Sawin
Semester Hours: 18
EMU Honors is designed to provide academically motivated students with greater opportunities for challenge and growth. It helps students:
Develop the ability to examine ideas as human constructs made to bring order to chaos and sense to life and the ability to respectfully and systematically discuss ideas, even those fundamental to core beliefs
Develop the ability to read and use the wide variety of “texts” (written, visual, relational, scientific, cultural, etc.) that both derive from and then drive the ideas formed by human experience
Develop tools to remain healthy and balanced amidst the process of exploring the big ideas that guide society and culture, and the ability to contextualize one’s own story amidst an understanding of EMU’s Anabaptist and Christian traditions
Develop the ability to formulate, critique, and begin to implement ideas in a leadership capacity
EMU Honors seeks to attract academically motivated students via scholarships and a challenging curriculum for integrated learning. Students who qualify for the Presidential Scholarship are automatically eligible for the Honors program and to compete for the full-tuition Yoder and Webb scholarships. The application process is spelled out at Honors Program. The Honors minor is available to all EMU students who participate and successfully complete the requirements.
EMU Honors Components:
Scholarships: Students awarded the Presidential scholarship when applying to EMU as first year-students are recognized as Honors students and are eligible to compete for the full-tuition Honors Yoder/Webb Scholarships. Students must maintain an annual cumulative GPA of 3.0 to maintain these scholarships.
Honors Cohort Expectations: Students who receive the Presidential scholarship and enter EMU as part of an Honors Cohort are given major financial support, and with this support comes several expectations:
Completion of the Core Honors Courses:
HONRS 111 “Ruling Ideas” (3SH)
HONRS 310+ “Honors Colloquium” (topic changes each semester)(3SH)
HONORS 401 “Worldview Seminar” (2SH)
Holding a leadership position in a club, organization, publication, performance, or athletic team; or, actively participating in at least three.
Finishing EMU with a cumulative 3.5 or greater GPA.
Students who complete these expectations will be recognized upon graduation as Honors students.
Honors Minor: This is the academic portion of EMU Honors and any student may choose to add the minor and join the Honors cohort during their time at EMU. To be eligible, students must demonstrate strong academic performance and a dedication to being an active member of the EMU community. This academic minor includes the following:
Completion of Honors Core Courses (8SH)
HONRS 111 “Ruling Ideas” (3SH)
HONRS 310+ “Honors Colloquium” (topic changes each semester) (3SH)
HONORS 401 “Worldview Seminar” (2SH–fulfills “Senior Seminar” requirement for Core)
Completion of an Honors Project (9 SH)
An Honors project proposal, ideally completed and defended during the second semester of second year
Six (6) semester hours of preparatory course work related to the project that may include upper-level or advanced courses related to the project and outside the requirements of the student’s primary major; major involvement in an EMU organization, committee, or club that contributes to the project; or, internship, project or Honors directed study hours (HONRS 499).
HONRS 351 “Honors Capstone” (3SH) A capstone course (it is currently a 1SH course) directed by the project director chosen by the student and the Honors Project coordinator, and resulting in a public presentation of the project to the EMU community during their senior year.
Cumulative GPA of 3.6 or greater at the time of graduation.
Serving in a leadership role in at least one EMU club, organization, publication, performance, or athletic team; or, having been an active participating in at least three.
NOTE: Completion of the Honors minor is a requirement for all Yoder/Webb scholarship recipients.
The EMU Honors is an academic minor designed to provide academically gifted students with greater opportunities for challenge and growth. The program is designed to help students:
- Develop the ability to examine ideas as human constructs made to bring order to chaos and sense to life and the ability to respectfully and systematically wrestle with ideas, even those fundamental to core beliefs.
- Develop the ability to read and use the wide variety of "texts" (written, visual, relational, scientific, cultural, etc.) that drive and derive from the ideas formed by human experience.
- Develop tools to bring balance to the destabilizing impact of challenging core ideas and the ability to contextualize one's own story amidst the biblical understandings of the wider Anabaptist and Christian traditions.
- Develop the ability to formulate, critique and begin to implement ideas in a leadership capacity.
The EMU Honors Program seeks to attract bright and motivated students to participate in a challenging curriculum and is highly recommended to students who entered EMU with an honors scholarship. It is also enthusiastically recommended to any EMU student who academically excels and wishes to join the program. It is important to note that the Honors Program is an academic minor and functions as an academic program. It is connected to the larger EMU Honors system, which includes scholarship packages for incoming first year students (details about this are at www.emu.edu/honors), but the Honors Program itself does not include a scholarship, nor is it limited to students who entered EMU with an honors scholarship. All EMU students who are excelling academically are eligible to join the program.
Each fall semester, students awarded an EMU honors scholarship will be invited to take HONRS 111 Ruling Ideas, which serves as an introduction to the program and the curriculum. Students may elect to participate in the Honors Program at the conclusion of this course or at any time thereafter.
Yoder & Webb Scholars (the students awarded full-tuition scholarships) are required to participate in the Honors Program, but for all other students it is purely optional and available to all students who would like to join a program designed to enhance the normal EMU curriculum, providing increased rigor and more in-depth and alternative forms of study.
Honors courses are assessed via an alternative grading system, Qualify-Fail-A, to encourage students to take academic risks by exploring courses outside their comfort zone. Students who do their work diligently and well will earn a "Q" or "Qualify" which does not impact their GPA. Students can still earn an A if they excel or an F if they do not do the work.
Eligibility
Students (regardless of whether they received an EMU honors scholarship) who have excelled academically at EMU may choose to join the Honors Program. To complete the program, all the requirements below must be met, including a 3.6 or higher GPA at the time of graduation.
Honors Program Requirements
- HONRS 111 Ruling Ideas - 3
Students entering EMU with an honors scholarship are eligible to take this course during their first semester. Other students may also take it with permission of the Honors director. Students entering the Honors Program later may elect to take this course. If they do not, they will need to take an additional Exploration Unit. - HONRS Colloquium - 3
- Exploration Units: (3 units, typically equivalent to 9 SH) - These include challenging courses and experiences from outside a student's primary major. When possible, students should include a unit from each major area of study outside their primary area of study (sciences/math, social sciences, humanities, and fine arts). These units can be fulfilled via:
- A second major from a different school - 3 units
- A second major within the same school - 2 units
- Minor outside of school of major - 2 units
- Minor within same school as major - I unit
- Advanced class outside majors/minors and the EMU Core - 1 unit
- Additional HONRS Colloquium courses - 1 unit
- HONRS 431 Teaching and Leadership - 1 unit
- Music lessons/ensembles (two semesters) - 1 unit
- Major theater production (if not required for major) - 1 unit
- Editing the Weather Vane - 1 unit
- Additional cross-cultural experience (summer) - 1 unit
- Additional cross-cultural experience (semester or summer WCSC) - 2 units
- Self-directed project (120 hours/unit) - 1-3 units
- Student teaching - 3 units
- Nursing clinical - 3 units
- HONRS 401 Worldview Seminar - 2
- HONRS 451 Honors Capstone - 1 Completed in conjunction with the capstone project of the student's major or by arrangement with a cooperating professor
- Foreign language proficiency through the Intermediate II level - Currently only Spanish is available at EMU, but the Honors Director will work with students who wish to pursue other languages. This requirement may also be filled by students taking a semester of language study followed by a related cross-cultural experience.
- Cumulative 3.6 GPA at time of graduation