1st Year

At the onset, you will be part of the First-Years Honors Sequence. There is no Pass/Fail option here; every Honors Course is graded and you will need to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to stay. All in all, to graduate with Honors, you will need to complete 28 hours of work consisting of the First-Years Honor Sequence (HON 1010 and 1020), the Second-Year Honors Sequence (HON 2010 and 2020), plus HON 3010, HON 3030 and HON 4800. (See below and other pages of the Honors section to understand what all these letters and numbers really mean.)

From Homer to Hemingway

"I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another.

-Homer

"There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges."

-Ernest Hemingway

First-Year Honors Sequence:  Homer to Hemingway

In two team-taught interdisciplinary seminars, led by faculty in English, Religion, and other areas, first-year honors students will trace the history of Western thought by engaging central texts that have informed and constituted the Western tradition. Through careful and intensive reading, writing, and discussion, students will explore the historical, literary, philosophical, political, religious, and social foundations of Western thought from the ancient world to the mid-twentieth century, from Homer, an epic poet from ancient Greece, to Ernest Hemingway, a writer of modernist fiction from Oak Park, Illinois.

HON 1010   Western Ideas I (4)
This course focuses on the historical, literary, philosophical, political, religious, and social foundations of Western thought from the beginning to 1500.  Satisfies 4 hours of the English General Education requirement.  Offered every fall semester.

HON 1020  Western Ideas II (4)
The course focuses on the historical, literary, philosophical, political, religious, and social foundations of Western thought from 1500 to the mid-twentieth century. Satisfies 4 hours of the English General Education requirement.  Offered every spring semester. 

In order to enroll in either HON 1010 or HON 1020, a student must first be admitted to the Honors Program. Successful completion of HON 1010 satisfies the College’s General Education requirement for ENG 1100; successful completion of HON 1020 satisfies the General Education requirement for ENG 1120; successful completion of both HON 1010 and HON 1020 satisfies, in addition, a third General Education requirement, the second component of the General Education requirement for Religion if students have met the prerequisite by successfully completing either REL 1110 or REL 1120.