Honors Program

The Mount Aloysius College Honors Program provides highly motivated students with an opportunity for shared intellectual experiences as well as individual academic development within a close-knit community of leaders. The MAC Honors Program prepares students academically for graduate and professional schools while giving them valuable skills for their career and personal life.  With an emphasis on personal development, academic challenges, and a diverse and rich variety of cultural activities, MAC honors courses broaden students' academic and personal perspectives while at the same time providing a supportive and stimulating atmosphere for learning.

Faculty teaching within the MAC Honors Program are chosen for their excellence as teaching-scholars and provide students with a challenging interactive classroom format with an emphasis on primary texts and sources.  MAC honors classes are generally smaller than other college classes, allowing students to engage in thoughtful discussion with their professors and each other. Students are encouraged to hone their critical thinking and writing skills, develop their leadership skills, engage in activities that serve their community, and enhance each other's understanding of human living in our world. Honors classes fulfill some of the core requirements for the college and do not, in most cases, require any additional courses during the student's undergraduate years.

Mount Aloysius College Honors Program is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council. The goal of this Council is the promotion and advancement of honors and similar education programs in American colleges and universities. NCHC offers opportunities for undergraduates to publish papers and participate in national conferences.

Students who meet the admissions criteria but are not participants in the Honors Program may select to take honors courses; these courses will be designated as honors on the students' transcripts. Honors courses provide an in-depth, creative investigation of subject matter in a seminar format. The Honors courses, to date, include:

Freshman Year:

Cultural Literacy Seminar: Honors (3 credits)
Rhetoric II: Honors (3 credits)

Sophomore Year:

The Self and Beyond: Psychology/Spirituality: Honors (6 credits)

Junior Year:

Human Search for Meaning: The Epic Quest: Honors (3 credits)

Senior Year:

Senior Honors Seminar (3 credits)

Program Requirements

Students in the Honors Program must meet the following requirements:

1. Maintain an overall 3.25 GPA. A student falling below the 3.25 GPA will be placed on one (1) semester of Honors Program probation during which he/she may attempt to raise the GPA in order to remain in good standing.
2. Attend the required convocations. Freshman honors students will attend required convocations as specified in the Cultural Literacy Seminar. Following the first semester, generally one (1) convocation each semester is required, with additional convocation opportunities offered. Convocations have included trips to theatre
   productions, visits to national historic sites and to art and history museums as well as various religious communities. Students should plan to attend on-campus events sponsored by the Honors Program during their years at the College.
3. Successfully complete a minimum of twelve (12) credits of honors work (or nine credits of honors work and an Honors Thesis) and attend four honors-designated convocations with appropriate written work in order to graduate with Honors Program status in the associate degree program.
4. Successfully complete a minimum of sixteen (16) credits of honors work (or thirteen credits of honors work and an Honors Thesis) and attend eight honors-designated convocations with appropriate written work to graduate with Honors Program status in the bachelors degree program.

National Membership

Mount Aloysius College is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council. The main objective of this Council is the promotion and advancement of honors and similar educational programs in American colleges and universities.