Honors Program

Where curious minds reach higher.

Science. Humanities. Fine arts. Social sciences. Our curriculum immerses you in these four fields of intellectual inquiry, then connects and expands your thinking through a senior Honors thesis.

From our home base inside the campus' historic Observatory building, students in the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program have access to a number of challenging and rewarding experiences. We explore. We create. And we go places (like the Art Institute of Chicago and to Broadway shows around Michigan).

It’s a balance of rigorous academics and social support that works—our students have recently won a National Science Foundation research award, two Morris Udall awards, and a number of Fulbright fellowships.

We're glad you're thinking about Albion's Honors Program. We encourage you to explore our site, and to contact us with any questions.

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Year by Year Academic Requirements for Honors Students

To be a student in good standing with the Honors Program you must:

after the first year, have a college GPA of at least 3.2 and have completed two of the required four Great Issues seminars.  Students whose college GPA is below 3.0 will be dropped from the Program, while those with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.2 will be placed on probation.

after the second year, have a college GPA of at least 3.35 and have completed at least three of the required four Great Issues seminars.  Students whose college GPA is below 3.2 will be dropped from the Program, while those with GPAs between 3.2 and 3.35 or who have not completed at least three of the required seminars will be placed on probation.

 after the third year, have a college GPA of at least 3.45, have completed all four of the required Great Issues seminars, and have submitted a Thesis Registry form (see Appendix B) to the Honors Director.  To complete the Thesis Registry form, students must previously have decided the subject and tentative title of their thesis, and have assembled a Thesis Committee consisting of an Albion faculty member to serve as Thesis Director and at least two other faculty members to serve as additional readers.  Students whose college GPA is below 3.4 will be dropped from the Program, while those with GPAs between 3.4 and 3.45 or who have not completed all four of the required seminars or  have not submitted a Thesis Registry form will be placed on probation.

To graduate with Albion College Honors you must have a college GPA of at least 3.5, have completed all four Honors seminars, and have completed an acceptable Honors thesis and submitted it to the Honors Committee by the required deadline.

HONORS OVERVIEW

• Designed for students interested in challenges and opportunities that go beyond those offered by traditional lecture and laboratory courses.

• Small, distinctive, interdisciplinary classes that emphasize discussion, writing and encourage independent thinking.

• Independent research and individualized faculty mentoring, all PMB Honors Program graduates culminate their academic experience with an extensive research or creative project.

• Participation in the Program may be combined with any major and with any of Albion’s career preparation programs. Every major and Institute on campus is represented in the Honors Program.

• All Honors classes fulfill regular core requirements— no extra requirements, no extra classes. The requirement is to take 4 Honors courses in your first two years.

• Field trips to popular cultural events, 1^st year retreat, guest lecturers, many student initiated social events.

• 24 hour access to the Honors Center is just one of the perks that Honors students will enjoy
  
  Our Honors Students:
• Have broad interests
• Are ready and eager to think for themselves
• Have good academic skills and discipline
• Enjoy being in classes with other students who share their excitement for learning
• 80% of all Honors Students go on to Graduate / Professional Schools after graduation

Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program Student Learning Objectives    <sub>^{(Revised, 11/11/2020)}
1. Written and Oral Communication Skills
     • students will be able to demonstrate effective written and oral communication          skills.
2. Analytic Skills
     • Students will be able to analyze and respond to scholarly arguments.
3. Creative Thinking
     • Students will be able to synthesize ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries in            creative or novel ways.
4. Critical Thinking
     • Students will be able to design analytic arguments based on relevant evidence.
5. Interdisciplinary Thinking
     • Students will be able to evaluate complex issues using an interdisciplinary                  perspective.</sub>

SLO for Thesis Work
_{1. Students will be able to construct an original research project based on methods of inquiry within their specific field}