Director

Dr. Glenn Jonas, 

Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Christian Studies

*** Special note: On January 1, 2018, Dr. Sherry Truffin, Associate Professor of English, became the Honors Program Director. ***

The Honors Program Statement of Purpose

The Honors Program at Campbell University is an interdisciplinary academic minor consisting of courses, cultural/social events, and service learning activities organized under the Honors Interdisciplinary Studies Minor Program. It exists to enrich the educational experience of students whose academic successes and demonstrated character indicate that they are likely to benefit from the additional challenges of an enhanced course of study. The Honors Program builds on the standard curriculum in two related ways. First, it fosters the intellectual growth of honors students by expecting that they demonstrate both broad knowledge and deep understanding. Honors students demonstrate breadth of knowledge in a general way by maintaining a high level of success in all of their classes. In addition, they participate in academically challenging classes designed especially for the Honors Program  which emphasize, by means of interdisciplinary presentation, the integral relatedness of all knowledge. Students finish these classes more fully aware that the abstractions of philosophy may have very practical historical consequences, for example, or that literary works may influence developments in the natural sciences. Because they develop particular topics in greater detail than similar courses in the standard curriculum do, these classes also require that honors students gain depth of understanding. To put it another way, they ask students to grapple with the complexity that characterizes much of human experience.

Because wholeness of life involves more than intellect, however, the Honors Program fosters a second area of growth in students, growth towards the maturity of character that serves others. This area of growth involves awareness that human beings, in addition to being intellectual, are also social and cultural beings. The Honors Program enriches the social experience of students by encouraging honors students to recognize themselves as members of a community through making it possible for them to get to know one another through attending social events. In addition to such informal mixers, discussion groups, and study sessions, there are also more formal cultural opportunities, such as together attending theatre or other cultural happenings together. These events are meant to help students become more aware that they are participants in a society, a culture, and a community involving others.

Integrity of living further requires gratitude and service. The Honors Program expects honors students to recognize and act on the awareness that their natural gifts and their practiced skills have not been developed in isolation, but through community involvement. When students are able to see that they are part of a community, they are more likely to take seriously the claims of that community on their lives. Family, friends, faith communities, and teachers have all contributed in their various ways to the successes of most students. Honors students recognize, in other words, that their intellectual and personal gifts come with responsibilities; they work to fulfill these responsibilities by serving as leaders among their peers and by giving personal time to others (in missions, tutoring or other service learning). Through their participation in service activities, honors students practice their commitment to the good of others and express gratitude for the good they have received. These service activities round out the learning experience of honors students; through working for others, being exposed to new situations, and interacting with people they might not otherwise meet, students will learn about themselves and their world in ways that build on and balance classroom learning.

While the honors program exists primarily as a means of enhancing the learning and service opportunities of motivated and gifted students, it also benefits the broader University community.

Because the program actively invites faculty to design creative and challenging courses for the honors student, it encourages every faculty member to think about his or her teaching subject in fresh ways. Professors who teach in the program benefit opportunities chance to develop and teach their courses to a select group of motivated learners. The interdisciplinary emphasis of the program promotes faculty dialogue as professors look beyond their own specialties and departments for support in developing honors courses.

These benefits for faculty will ultimately enrich the learning of the student body at large; ideally, professors who have taught in the honors program will bring to their other classes the fresh insights they have developed as well as new perspectives that may be suggested to them by the honors students. The honors students also, as they interact with other students, are likely to challenge and encourage them, both academically and with respect to service opportunities, making their own contribution to the general student population. Ideally, honors students will continue to interact positively with the communities of which they are a part of after leaving campus, in their churches, home towns, graduate programs, and professional lives—making them, exemplary ambassadors for Campbell University.

The Honors Program Requirements

For Admission into the Program*** See special note below. ***:

• As an incoming freshman:
  • High school GPA=3.5 or higher
  • SAT=1650 or higher
• As a second-semester freshman or transfer student:
  • College GPA=3.25 or higher
  • Letter of recommendation from faculty

For Continuance in the Program:

• Maintain a college GPA=3.25 or higher
• Successful completion of courses in the Honors Curriculum
• Strongly recommended participation in community service:
  • At least one group service activity per semester (or an equivalent acceptable to the committee)
  • Individual and group service hours on the following per-semester schedule:
    2 group activities (8-12 hours) + 12 hours individual service= Approximately 20-24 hours/semester
    OR 1 group activity (4-6 hours) + 20 hours individual service= Approximately 24-30 hours/semester
• Participation in social events (one of two or more scheduled each semester)

*** Special note: The admission procedure for the Honors Program has changed.  For students entering Campbell University in the Fall 2018,  admission to Honors Program is competitive and “by invitation only” from the Honor Program Director, Dr. Sherry Truffin. ***