Membership in the University Honors Program offers many unique opportunities and rewards; it also carries unique responsibilities and expectations. Maintaining the community that makes Honors worthwhile requires an understanding of our shared prosperity and active contribution to our common mission.
The Honors Program is not an honor roll. Your academic achievements will continue to be recognized by honor societies, the Dean’s list, and cum laude graduation honors; the University Honors Program, however, is about much more than academic outcomes.
Specific Requirements
Along with completion of the Honors Core Curriculum (link here) There are several specific requirements for Honors students during their time at LMU:
- Developing and demonstrating proficiency in a second language
- Maintaining good academic standing with Honors
- Attending Honors intellectual and social ("Passport") events and completing a service project as a part of Contemplation in Action
- Completing an original research or creative thesis under faculty mentorship
Honors students are also expected to play an active role in shaping and sustaining our community, and to use the distinctive opportunities of Honors in service of creating a better, more equitable and sustainable world. For more information on these specific requirements please see below.
Second Language Proficiency
Honors requires that our students demonstrate or develop proficiency in a second language. The reasons for this are many: to facilitate global citizenship, to expand our ways of thinking, to increase our well of words, concepts, and ideas from which insights may ignite, and to further develop our critical thinking and reasoning skills. Honors students have several paths to fulfilling the second language requirement:
- Taking two semesters of a language at a college level (at LMU, the 2101 and 2102 level language courses)
- Testing into the 2103-level language course at LMU (based on the placement exam upon admission to LMU)
- Earning a 4 or 5 on an AP language exam
- Individual proficiency demonstration for languages not tested by LMU (when possible; consult with the Honors office)
- For international students, a passing score on the TOEFL
Good Academic Standing
Honors expects that our students maintain academic excellence. In the language of the LMU Bulletin, we expect consistently "superior" and not merely "good" academic work. In determining good standing status, we employ a holistic assessment process that takes into account the totality of a student's Honors engagement and experience, as well as self-reflection on the effort and circumstances of a semester in which academic work may have fallen short of expectations. The good standing policy is regularly revised and is available to current Honors students on the Brightspace Honors Community Center.
Passport Requirements
One of the shared values of our Honors students is the understanding that the pursuit of knowledge does not end at the classroom door — the value of knowledge does not end with its acquisition. As a community, we are united through our curiosity and our desire to transform knowledge into practical solutions to our world’s many problems. Here in the University Honors Program we call it “extracurricular intellectual engagement,” one aspect of which is participation in intellectual events and meaningful service.
This translates to our Passport Requirement, where we expect members of the Program to consistently attend Honors-sponsored events, participate in other community events that we highlight as being closely tied to our mission and values, and engage with meaningful service opportunities.
The Passport requirement to remain in good standing calls for students to attend/participate in four Passport events in total for each semester, of which:
- at least one is an Honors Passport
- only one is a Contemplation in Action (CIA)
- and the remaining two can either be Spotlight Passports or Honors Passports
This means (1) Honors Passport + (1) Contemplation in Action + (2) other Passport events = 4 total events!
Honors Passports are signature events that the University Honors Program hosts each year – things like 60 Second Lectures, Honors Summit, This is Honors, Food for Thought, and the Honors Lecture Series. Spotlight Passports include Non-Honors events around campus that we (Honors Faculty Leadership and SHAC) believe the community should and would benefit from attending.
A Contemplation in Action (CIA) is made up of two parts: an action, and a contemplation about said action. CIAs require participation in a meaningful service event that directly helps the community at or around LMU. After the event, students must submit a brief reflection on the service event to the Honors Community Brightspace. Further instructions are included with the assignment on Brightspace.
Possible CIA events include but are not limited to: beach cleanups, community gardening, tutoring with El Espejo, volunteering at Fright Night, harm reduction work, or any service event held by one of LMU’s 10 service orgs. If you get paid for participating, or receive class credit for whatever your event is, it cannot count as a CIA.
Thesis Requirements
Each and every Honors Student is required to complete an Honors Thesis as part of their Honors Curriculum. The Honors Thesis is the culmination of a University Honors Program student’s time at LMU and it stands as one of the concrete representations of all that you have accomplished throughout your time in the Honors Program. In addition, the thesis stands as part of your legacy, to LMU in general and to the University Honors Program in particular.
Your Honors Thesis is fulfilled by completing original scholarly work through either an individualized Honors section, or a thesis-equivalent project or course within your major. In either case, you are expected to produce an artifact that reports on or represents the work performed for the option that applies to you. Examples include a scholarly paper, a screenplay, a recital or other live performance, a work of art, or an open source hardware/software project.
This work is mentored and graded by a faculty advisor who is formally identified prior to starting your project. For your own individualized Honors Section, this faculty member serves as the instructor for your individualized section of that course. For thesis-equivalent projects within your major, this faculty member served as the instructor for that course. In either case, your faculty advisor is asked to grade and sign off on the final version of your thesis.