Le Moyne College

If exploring new ideas intrigues you, if academic challenges excite you, and if intellectual discussion and debate energize you, then the Integral Honors Program is for you!   Honors students have wide-ranging interests, both inside and outside the classroom, but all enjoy the life of the mind; learning for the love of learning is a hallmark of the program.  So too is interdisciplinary study: courses are team-taught by experienced, deeply committed faculty from different disciplines, and each Honors course includes texts from, at the very minimum, four disciplines (English, history, religious studies, and philosophy) but usually many more.  Courses are taught as seminars, with comprehensive class discussions and active participation by students in all class activities.

Joining the Integral Honors Program allows you to earn the highest degree Le Moyne College awards.  Honors graduates gain a significant competitive advantage when applying to graduate or professional schools or applying for jobs.  More immediate benefits for students in the Honors program include broader library privileges, course overloads without tuition charges, and an increased printing allowance.  The greatest benefit, however, is the intellectual and personal growth that comes through challenging yourself to reach your full potential as a scholar a humanist, and a leader.

Honors courses do demand greater intellectual energy, analytical reading and writing skills, and to some extent preparation time than other courses.  Thoughtful reflection, openness to new and different viewpoints, and active participation in discussions are expected of all Honors students, so coming to class well prepared is a key to success in Honors courses.  Careful reading of assigned material is probably the most time-demanding activity; writing and revising papers are also important components of Honors courses that require time and thought.  In short, Honors courses, designed as they are to challenge Le Moyne’s brightest students, are certainly more difficult than regular courses, especially core courses, but they are by no means impossibly difficult.

Yes, absolutely.  Study abroad in the junior year is not only possible but encouraged.  If you plan to study abroad during the spring semester of your third year, however, you will need to make arrangements with the Director for completing HON 309, a third-year spring semester course in which you research and write the proposal for your senior Honors thesis project.

Again, yes, absolutely.  Earning both an Honors degree and teacher certification will demand extra diligence and focus on your part, however, because the certification program requirements are extensive.  You and the Honors Program director will need to plan your program of study very carefully, especially in your senior year, as you will need to meet special, early deadlines for your senior Honors thesis project and your thesis defense to accommodate the student teaching semester required by the teacher certification program. 

Yes, a few second-year students are admitted to the Honors Program, particularly transfer students and students who were wait-listed as first-year Honors Program applicants.  Second-year students might wish to confer with the Honors director before applying to see how their previous courses fit into the requirements for an Integral Honors degree.  Students seeking admission to the program must submit an application by the appropriate deadline: Nov. 3 or June 1.  However, after their second year, students are no longer eligible to join the Honors Program.

Students may withdraw from the Honors Program after discussing their decision with the Director and signing a withdrawal form.  Credits for Honors courses completed will be converted to regular core credit upon submission of a signed withdrawal form to the Registrar.

Twenty-one credits of the 27 credit-hour Honors curriculum fulfill College Core requirements.  The remaining 6 credit hours are primarily devoted to producing the Honors thesis; they fulfill free elective credit requirements,  or, with the permission of the student’s department chair, requirements for the major.  Core courses and courses in the major that not covered by the Honors Program must be completed by the student in appropriate or convenient semesters.  Download complete curriculum.

A variety of intellectual and social activities take place during the academic year.  The Honors House is available to Honors students for academic and social activities, such as pizza nights, the dinner for new students, holiday parties, and late-night paper-writing or study sessions.  The Honors Program sponsors a variety of lectures, films, and programs on campus, as well as off-campus trips to plays, operas, symphony concerts, museums, and scholarly conferences.  Overnight class trips have included visits to the Stratford (Canada) Shakespeare Festival; to art galleries, the Natural History Museum, and a Broadway play in New York City; to the United Nations and the NY Stock Exchange; and to the Holocaust Museum, Mount Vernon, and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Every other year (depending on staffing and funding availability), HON 402, The World of the Other, is offered to Honors students in May and June in Guatemala; this unique four-week, three credit intensive living/learning course is taught in English by Le Moyne professors also fluent in Spanish. 

Honors students are welcome to suggest and/or organize additional scholarly and social activities.

Students apply to join the Honors Program in October of their first semester at Le Moyne.  The deadline is usually October 31 (Halloween); no applications can be accepted before mid-semester grades are posted on October 15. 

An Honors Program application may be found on the Honors Program website at http://lemoyne.edu/UNDERGRADUATE/HONORSPROGRAM/tabid/521/Default.aspx   and on the door of 318 Reilly Hall, the office of the Honors Program Director, Dr. Elizabeth Hayes; or you may contact the Director at hayes@lemoyne.edu for an emailed copy.  Completed applications should  be emailed to Dr. Hayes (hayes@lemoyne.edu ), or, alternatively, a hard copy should be sent by mail to Dr. Elizabeth Hayes, Integral Honors Program Director, Le Moyne College, 1419 Salt Springs Rd., Syracuse, NY  13214; sent by campus mail  to Dr. Elizabeth Hayes, 318 RH; or delivered to 318 Reilly Hall and put through the door slot.  All applications, whether digital or hard copy, must be in Dr. Hayes's hand by the deadline.

Presidential Scholars are automatically accepted into the Integral Honors Program, but only if they apply.  They must complete sections I, II, and IV of the application form; they do not have to complete section III.  Their applications must reach Dr. Hayes by the deadline.

Click here to download the application

Please go online [http://lemoyne.edu/UNDERGRADUATE/HONORSPROGRAM/tabid/521/Default.aspx] or contact Dr. Elizabeth Hayes, Director [hayes@lemoyne.edu] for additional information.