Academics

Beginning in the fall semester 2003 the Stetson University Honors Program introduced an entirely new curriculum that streamlines and significantly enhances the general education experience for Honors students.

The specific university requirements for any given student will depend on the college and major or certification program he or she has selected. Essentially, however, the Honors curriculum will replace university requirements in English, social science, natural science, communications, civilization, contemporary culture, ethics, religious studies, and cultural activities. Math and foreign language requirements will not be affected.

Faculty
Faculty from across the disciplines in the University apply annually to teach in the Honors Program. All faculty hold the doctorate, and all have demonstrated an energetic commitment to teaching and learning with undergraduate students. Most of the courses are co-taught by professors from different departments, providing an exciting, interdisciplinary learning opportunity.

Special Features
In addition to active involvement with an engaged and diverse academic community, students in the Program can choose to reside in honors housing, participate in governance of the program, develop honors independent study courses, and seek academic and financial support for undergraduate research, including summer research.

Courses build upon one another, focusing on a series of questions every educated person should consider: How have we come to understand who we are? How do we understand ourselves in relation to others? What is our ethical relationship to others? How might an understanding of human knowledge across the disciplines help us think more clearly about the most challenging issues of our time?

1. FIRST YEAR
   Foundations of Knowledge and Understanding (10 credit hours)
   A two-semester sequence examining contemporary modes of inquiry, conceptual paradigms, and approaches to knowledge. These seminars situate knowledge historically and contextually, using texts and ideas that have had significant impact across disciplines.

2. SECOND YEAR
   First Semester: Self and Society in Western Thought (5 credit hours)
   A seminar examining the concept of the “self” in Western societies. Students and faculty consider the impact of institutions, practices, and traditions on the formation of collective and individual identity and examine the impact of cultural heritage, ideology, and social categories on experience, perspective, and values.

   Second Semester: Justice and Ethics in Global Perspective (5 credit hours)
   A seminar considering cross-cultural perspectives on justice and ethics and focusing on how different historical, political, and cultural traditions give rise to divergent ideas about freedom, rights, responsibilities, individualism, and community.

3. THIRD YEAR
   Study Abroad Experience (Certification of successful completion of approved program required)
   Students may choose from a variety of short-term and long-term study abroad experiences to increase cross-cultural understanding, and, when possible, enrich modern language proficiency.

   Service Learning Experience (3 credit hours and pass/fail grade)
   With the support of the University’s Community Service Office and in consultation with the instructor of this class, students will develop service projects that address local community needs. Prior to going into the field, students will spend a portion of the first part of the semester in classroom preparation for these experiences.

4. FOURTH YEAR
   Senior Colloquium (2 credit hour each semester and pass/fail grade)
   In the senior year, students participate in a senior colloquium emphasizing contemporary problems. This colloquium will involve attending public lectures, reading pertinent texts, meeting to discuss these texts before the public lecture, and gathering after the lecture for further discussion and analysis.

Recent graduates have attended, for a few examples, Boston University (financial mathematics), University of Minnesota (educational psychology), University of Virginia (law), University of Texas (English), and Yale University (applied physics). Among alumni of the Program are a volunteer in Teach for America, a Washington consultant on employment discrimination law, a journalist in “new media,” a pioneering neuro-biologist at Stanford, a dean at Penn State University, a federal judge, and the director of the Western Humanities Center.

All have made good on the objectives of the Program - `to think with independence, discipline and imagination; to see the implications of what they read, see, and hear; and to lead lives of meaning and fulfillment.