Welcome!

"The splendid achievements of the intellect, like the soul, are everlasting."
Sallust, 41 BC

The Honors Program at Sweet Briar College is dedicated to enriching the intellectual life of the entire College academic community.

The Honors Program encourages all students on campus to participate fully in all aspects of the program through Honors Seminars, Honors Colloquia, the annual MARCUS Conference, the Honors Summer Research Program, the Senior Honors Thesis project, and other activities and events planned throughout the year. The interests and energy of our Honors students determine what the program does, and the ways in which it enlivens the shared intellectual life of our campus.

For the past several years, the Honors Program has selected a theme for thinking across the disciplines. Many words and concepts that we use appear across the disciplines at Sweet Briar College. They may seem to have distinct, specialized, disciplinary meanings, and the idea of taking the same concept out of a math equation, for example, and into the realm of art history takes a leap of imagination.

This year, the Sweet Briar Honors Program invites the college community to think about the concept of Alien. In lectures, informal presentations and discussions, and in Honors seminars, we will explore ideas of what is “Alien” - in literary works, in the natural world, and across cultural and geopolitical boundaries. We will invite Sweet Briar faculty and other visiting scholars to lead colloquia on the concept of Alien, viewed through the different lenses of the arts, the sciences, and the humanities. Join us in the coming months as we contemplate this idea from a variety of perspectives spanning the liberal arts spectrum.

Questions about the Honors Program may be directed to
Professor Jill Granger (granger@sbc.edu), Honors Program Director and
Julie Hemstreet (jhemstreet@sbc.edu), Honors Program Associate Administrator.