Honors Program: The Scholar in the World

The Dominican Honors Program is one of the institution’s many paths to excellence. It incorporates the university’s Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) to offer a distinctive plan of study for academically and intellectually prepared students who wish to challenge themselves. It offers an interdisciplinary, compressed alternative to the university-wide general education program and emphasizes enriched learning experiences such as interdisciplinary team-taught courses, service learning and/or community-based research, and study abroad opportunities. In and out-of-classroom experiences offer students personalized attention and support students’ growth in a multitude of areas. Students are offered opportunities for self-actualization while the program emphasizes access and equity. The close-knit Honors learning community is rooted in the Dominican pillars of study, reflection, community, and service while upholding the values of this institution as shaped by its history and its Californian identity.

Admission

Incoming first-year students are granted entry based on high school grade point average (GPA), SAT, or ACT scores; an academic writing sample, and responses to Honors-specific questions. Transfer students are admitted to the program either on the basis of articulation agreements with honors programs at their former institutions or cumulative GPA and an academic writing sample. Current students interested in the program are invited to apply for entry into the Honors program based on academic performance at Dominican and an academic writing sample.

Benefits

There are many benefits to participation in the Honors Program:

Students may register during the first day of priority registration along with senior-year students.
Honors students may register for a total of 6 units of overload without an additional fee while enrolled at Dominican. This means a student may register for over 17 semester units (up to a maximum of 20 units) in one semester. To be eligible for this privilege, the Honors student should have a cumulative GPA of 3.5. It is also strongly recommended that first-year students not enroll in overload units.
The ceiling of six units of independent study is waived.
Juniors and seniors may take graduate courses (with instructor permission).
Honors students form a close-knit community through shared courses, the Honors Living Learning Community, and activities with leadership opportunities. All these support the integration of academics with the co-curricular and social aspects of university life.
The Honors Room in the Alemany Library provides additional quiet space for students to work on projects or study.
Students assume leadership roles representatives on the Honors Board or Student Honors Board to directly shape Honors programming.

Requirements

Honors students are required to maintain a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA in order to remain in the program. To graduate from the Honors Program, a student must have maintained a 3.5 cumulative GPA, completed 21 units of Honors, a Dominican Service Learning course, and a multicultural requirement. These requirements may be prorated appropriately for transfer students or students who join the program after their first semester at Dominican. See the Honors Handbook for more details.

Every student must fulfill these Honors requirements to graduate with Honors: (1) the prescribed number of Honors units; (2) the Honors Seminar—recommended for sophomore year; (3) the Honors Capstone—recommended for junior sophomore year; 4) the Honors e-portfolio—developed over the course of years at Dominican. Honors work may not be taken on a Pass/Fail basis.

Honors Courses

Honors courses at Dominican are taught as small, interdisciplinary seminars with most of them fulfilling the University’s General education requirements, some of them even fulfilling more than one General Education requirement. These courses include the Honors Seminar and Honors Capstone which are requirements for graduation from the Honors program. For a list of courses, see the Honors Handbook.

Honors Contracts

In rare cases, students may earn Honors units through the completion of Honors contracts. These are independent projects guided by faculty mentors and require the approval of the faculty mentor and the Honors Director. Honors contracts are available in two forms:

Honors Conversion: This contract allows the student to take a course from the regular curricular offerings and deepen their learning through working on an additional course-related project under the faculty’s mentorship. Upon successful completion of the course and project, the units will be converted to Honors units.
Honors Expansion: This contract allows the student to take a course from the regular curricular offerings and meaningfully expand the scope of the course through developing an additional project. This project needs to be of a scope that is worthy of an additional unit and the conversion of the total course units to Honors units.

For guidelines relating to Honors Contracts, see the Honors Handbook.

Honors e-Portfolio

The Honors e-portfolios help students reflect and integrate their thinking, learning, and performing across the curriculum and co-curriculum, while providing a tool for showcasing skills, accomplishments, and career-preparedness. For guidelines relating to Honors e-portfolio, see the Honors Handbook.

Learning In and Out of the Classroom

The Honors Program is committed to deep learning in and out of the traditional classroom. The informal learning spaces include co-curricular events, conferences, travel abroad, community service, living communities in residence halls, and much more. Examples are:

Conferences: The Honors Program has an institutional membership in the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) and the Western Regional Honors Council (WRHC). Honors students may be invited to attend and/or present at these conferences.
Living Learning Community: The Honors program offers an Honors Living Learning Community which is a group of first-year Honors students living together and enjoying Honors-related programming throughout the semester with faculty and staff.
Multi-Cultural Experience: The Honors Program offers faculty-led Honors trips so students have the opportunity to engage in global learning with a focus on the key outcomes of intercultural knowledge, global interconnectivity and social responsibility, and the application of knowledge and skills.