Academic Honors

Messiah University Honors Program

The Honors Program exemplifies Messiah University’s commitment to promoting academic excellence and fostering an intellectually rigorous Christian worldview, with the goal of equipping young men and women for lives of leadership and service.

The Honors Program is designed for students who demonstrate high scholarly ability early in their academic career. The program curriculum is composed of three general education honors courses and a senior honors capstone. In addition to the credit-bearing curriculum, students meet outside of the classroom at Honors Program activities to discuss timely issues and to interact with guest speakers. Throughout the academic year, students also have opportunities to participate in on- and off-campus academic and cultural activities. Upon graduating from the program, students receive special recognition at Commencement, on their diploma, and on their transcript.

Students from all of the University’s applied and liberal arts majors are eligible to participate. Moreover, in keeping with the University’s commitment to educating the whole person, students in the Honors Program are encouraged to participate in the University’s many cocurricular opportunities.

The Honors Program is open to first-year students. Minimum qualifications generally include a minimum score of 1360 on the SAT, 29 on the ACT, or 91 on the CLT, as well as a high school GPA of 3.9 or above. No special application is required. As part of the regular admission process, students who meet the eligibility requirements are evaluated for the program. From the eligible pool of candidates, students are selected to attend a Scholarship Day when they learn about the Honors Program, interview with a faculty member, and write a short essay. Afterwards, the interview, short essay, and other applications materials are evaluated and offers extended to approximately 100 students to enter to enter the program in the fall. Most students selected for the Honors Program receive either full or partial tuition scholarships. See our website for more information.

Honors Program Curricular Requirements

Honors Program Activities. Each semester, the Honors Program sponsors a number of enrichment events, including lectures, panel discussions, presentations, cultural events, and day trips. All students in the Honors Program will attend at least two of these events each semester they are enrolled for courses at the Grantham campus. The additional curricular requirements are specific to academic year.

First year:

Fall semester: IDFY 102H First Year Seminar, honors section
Spring semester: IDCR 151H Created and Called for Community, honors section

Sophomore or Junior year:

One honors interdisciplinary QuEST course in one of the following interdisciplinary (or ID) categories: Ethics/Pluralism/World Views; Non-Western Studies; or Science, Technology, and the World (sophomore or junior year)
A second ID QuEST course from a different category which does not need to be an honors section. Depending on the major, this second requirement may be waived. If the student’s major has one or two waivers for ID categories, the student must take their honors section from a non-waived category. If the student has waivers for all three ID categories, the student can choose the ID category in which they take their honors section. Honors ID course credit requirements can only be met at the Mechanicsburg campus or through a Messiah HONORS May-term study abroad course.

Junior or Senior year: Senior Honors Capstone, which can be met in one of the following two ways:

Senior Honors Seminar (HONR 497) for 3 credit hours. An interdisciplinary capstone seminar for students in the Honors Program. The thematic focus of each seminar will be defined by the professor and will include intensive reading, discussion, and a written research paper.
Senior Honors Project, which can be taken either within the student’s department or within the Honors Program HONR 498/499 for 4-6 credit hours. This is a two-semester project that can take a variety of forms. All projects must fulfill the parameters for the Senior Honors Project.

Eligibility Requirements for the Honors Program

Participation in the Honors Program requires that all participants meet the grade point average (GPA) requirement for either the Trustees’, President’s or Faculty Scholarship. For President’s and Faculty Scholarship recipients, renewal of these scholarships is contingent on maintaining a 3.2 GPA as a first year student and a 3.4 GPA each subsequent year. For Trustees’ Scholarship recipients, renewal is contingent on maintaining a 3.3 GPA as a first year student and a 3.6 GPA each subsequent year. Participation in the Honors Program is also required for scholarship renewal. If a student is removed from the Honors Program, he or she cannot be readmitted. All Honors Program participants must meet the preceding GPA requirements upon completion of all course work in order to be certified, at the time of graduation, as a Honors Program graduate.

Dean’s List

Students achieving a semester grade point average of 3.60 or higher for 12 or more graded credits are placed on the Dean’s List at the end of each semester.

Department Honors

To encourage scholarly initiative and in-depth investigation within a limited area of study, Messiah University provides able students with an opportunity to pursue honors courses within their major. Students may qualify for an honors course by (1) earning a GPA of 3.50 for all courses completed at the University to the middle of their junior year and (2) meeting all other requirements as prescribed by the department (e.g. GPA for major courses).

Each department offering an honors course prescribes the nature of the work, the point at which it shall begin, and whether the credit in whole or in part may be counted toward fulfillment of a student’s major requirements. The department must also approve a student’s work for a given semester before permission can be given to proceed with the next semester’s work.

Department Honors consists of four to six credits completed over two semesters, at the rate of one to four credits per semester. Only the grades A and B will carry credit. If the honors work is of such high quality as to merit the grade A, the student will graduate with honors in his/her major field. Students participating in the University Honors Program may meet their senior honors project requirement through an approved Department Honors course.

Graduation with honors in a discipline is recognized at Commencement and is noted on the student’s diploma. Only senior students may participate in Department Honors courses.

Graduation Honors

The University awards three levels of honors according to a graduating senior’s cumulative grade point average (GPA): summa cum laude (3.90 GPA or above), magna cum laude (3.60–3.89 GPA), cum laude (3.30–3.59 GPA).

The following guidelines are used in determining the eligibility and level of honors granted:

Only credit for courses taken at Messiah University and approved off-campus study programs are calculated in the grade point average.
A minimum of 60 graded credit hours must be taken at Messiah University.
Honors published in the Commencement bulletin will be based on the student’s cumulative grade point average at the conclusion of the preceding fall semester.
Final honors as noted on the student’s diploma and transcript will be based on all credits earned at Messiah University.

Honor Societies

The University is affiliated with several national honor societies in selected academic disciplines. Students who excel in their academic major may be invited to join the respective society. Nominations are made during the junior and senior years.

Honors Smith Scholar Interns

The Smith Scholar Intern Program allows highly qualified upper-class students to work in apprentice relationships with faculty members and to participate in a significant research project. Junior and senior students may participate. Additional information is available from the Office of Faculty Development.