Fitchburg State University Honors Program

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Director

Catherine Buell

Assistant Director

Emma Downs

Objectives for the Honors Program

The Honors Program provides an enriched, stimulating set of courses for the best-prepared and most qualified students. Students will be admitted to the program in the freshman year. Students may also apply for admission into an Honors minor in the freshman or sophomore years.

The Honors Program emphasizes the following skills and areas of expertise: conceptual and applied knowledge; communication, collaboration, and organization; problem solving and synthesizing; initiative and creativity; ethical reasoning, and citizenship and service. Students are expected to apply their learning in both the college and the larger community.

Students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.2 to remain in the Honors Program.

If a student’s GPA falls below 3.2, then the student will be given a probationary period of one semester to raise their GPA; however, if a student has an overall GPA below 2.0 they will automatically be dropped from the Honors Program. During the probationary period, if the student’s overall GPA improves but is still under 3.2, they can have an additional semester to get their GPA to 3.2 or above; otherwise they will be dropped from the Honors Program. Students must have a GPA of at least a 3.2 in order to register for their Honors Thesis/Project. Appeals will be possible on a case-by-case basis. Students who are dropped from the Honors Program who later improve their GPA to 3.2 or above can request to be reconsidered for the Honors minor.

Criteria of Invitation to the Honors Program

Freshmen students are invited to join the Honors Program based on their high school preparation, SAT scores, or documented evidence of leadership potential.

Students may also apply for entrance into the Honors Minor. Students applying for the minor must have completed at least one semester at Fitchburg State University with a GPA of at least 3.3 and must apply for admission to the Honors Director.

Curriculum for the Honors Program

Students in the Honors Program satisfy a portion of their General Education curriculum by taking at least six Honors courses (non-thesis courses), two semesters of a language, and two semesters of an Honors Thesis for a total of 30-31 credits.

Students must take at least six courses from the list below to satisfy a portion of the general education requirements.

HON 1005 - Human Behavior: Introduction to Personal and Social Contexts 3 cr.
HON 1600 - Honors Biological Issues and Inquiry 4 cr.
HON 1151 - Wellness in Today’s World 3 cr.
HON 1200 - Honors English II 3 cr.
HON 1020 - Current Events and Service Learning 3 cr.
HON 1070 - Mozart to Modernism 3 cr.
HON 1700 - Honors Applied Statistics 3 cr.
HON 2100 - Honors Seminar Literature 3 cr.
HON 2225 - Honors Seminar History 3 cr.
HON 2150 - Honors Seminar Contemporary Issues in Humanities 3 cr.
HON 2250 - Honors Seminar in Environmental Science 3 cr.
or an HON Topics Course

Note

Additonally, Honors students take two semesters of a world language and complete a two-semester Honors Thesis.

World Language 1 3 cr.
World Language 2 3 cr.
HON 4990 - Honors Thesis/Project I 3 cr. and
HON 4991 - Honors Thesis/Project II 3 cr.

Honors Minor

The minor consists of four Honors courses (1000 or 2000 level, at least two of these classes must be at the 2000 level), HON 4990 - Honors Thesis/Project I, and HON 4991 - Honors Thesis/Project II.

Honors Transfer Students

Honors students at Massachusetts public community colleges, colleges, or universities may substitute honors courses that they have taken when joining the Honors Minor.