Honors Program

The Long Island Campus of St. Joseph's University, New York offers eligible entering first year students** the opportunity to participate in a three-semester honors program as part of their bachelor’s degree.

The program provides an enriched and rigorous academic experience, meeting the special needs of those students who have demonstrated extraordinary academic accomplishment and ability and who are committed to achieving their full potential.

St. Joseph's University recognizes that some students have additional needs due to their superior achievements and intense desire for knowledge. The honors program offers these gifted academic students a community within our larger community. While these students do share some common classes within the honors program, they also take courses outside the program based on their personal choices each semester. This offers them the perfect balance of academic challenge, community, and flexibility to explore new areas and meet new people.

Angela Wibrew ’18

“Getting to know people with all different interests and even getting to travel to another country with some of them is something that most college students are not granted the opportunity to do. With the guidance of great professors and experiencing new courses with a close-knit group, the honors program made my St. Joseph's University experience an experience of a lifetime.”

A Learning Community of Scholars

Students selected to participate in the honors program form a learning community, taking several courses towards their core requirements that will provide an interdisciplinary perspective. Faculty teaching in the program collaborate as members of the learning community and seek and implement ways to challenge students in their intellectual development.

Honors program courses are taken in the first year, followed by a capstone course (LA 201, 1 credit) in the third semester, the fall of their sophomore year. In the spring of their sophomore year, participants will travel with their honors cohorts and some faculty as they broaden their understanding of the world from academics to cultural adventuring.

In recent years, the Honors Program students have visited:

Ireland
Paris, France
Prague, Czech Republic and Krakow, Poland
Rome and Florence
Greece

Successful completion of the program is noted on the student’s transcript, and becomes part of the student’s permanent academic record.

Engagement Beyond the Classroom

In addition to the travel component, honors students engage in other activities, guest lecturers and local visits which complement course content and provide students an enriched academic and social experience that foster personal and intellectual development.

Admissions Requirements

To be considered for the program, a student must have:

offered admission to SJNY.*
achieved a minimum 1270 SAT score or ACT score of 26. SJNY is test-optional for admission to the Honors Program, but we do recommend you submit test scores if you have them.
earned a 95 high school grade point average or higher
demonstrated above-average verbal and written communication skills

*Admission to this program is determined by committee review and in no way affects general admission status or financial aid.

Once admitted to the program, the students will receive notification from the University and are invited to contact Honors Program Committee Chair Wendy Turgeon with questions and for further information.

Three-Semester Course Sequence

Freshmen join together as a community of learners for a three-semester sequence of courses designed especially for the honors program for a total of 16 credits. Sample courses include:

Topical Freshman Seminar (required of all new freshmen)
Invitation to Philosophy or Ethics (philosophy)
Art and Communication (fine arts)
Short Story (English)
State and Local Government (political science)
Social Problems (Sociology)
One Interdisciplinary course such as Globalization of Food and The Ancient World
Capstone Seminar is a 1-credit flexible course that is built around the anticipated travel destination

Travel Venues

During the spring semester of sophomore year, students travel to a destination as part of experiential learning. Recent destinations include Paris, Ireland, Prague and Krakow. The fall capstone course (LA 201) focuses on the history and culture of the city/country of the trip destination. See our student-produced slide show of the 2015 honors trip to Krakow and Prague in the right column of this page.

Current Committe Members and Program Faculty

**While the current program is open only to new entering first year students, the University is developing courses as Honors options which will be available to all current students who meet the GPA requirement of a 3.5 in their college work and who apply for acceptance into the Honors courses.