The Sweet Briar College Honors Program

The Sweet Briar College Honors Program is dedicated to enriching the intellectual life of the entire College academic community and to providing integrated and interdisciplinary experiences that enhance students' creative and critical thinking abilities. It offers recognition to those students who perform academically on an Honors level, but also encourages all students to participate in Honors activities. The Honors Program seeks to synthesize activities inside and outside the classroom, to create a sense of community in academic endeavors, and to emphasize the connections between disciplines and departments. The Honors Program, through Honors seminars, Honors sections and variants, Honors Colloquia and other activities and events, provides a space in which academically excellent students can meet, share ideas, interact with faculty, and contribute to the intellectual life of the College.

Program Membership: First-year students holding the top merit awards offered by Sweet Briar to incoming students are invited to join the Program: Commonwealth, Founders, Prothro, Betty Bean Black and selected Sweet Briar Scholars. Other entering students showing academic promise based on their high school record also may be invited into the program. Matriculating students will be evaluated at the end of each term. Those with a GPA of 3.3 are considered Honors students and are invited to participate fully in the Honors Program, although all students are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Honors Program.

General Guidelines: An Honors student should complete at least one Honors course (seminar, variant, or section) each year that she is in the Honors Program.  In order for the course to count as an Honors course, the student must receive a B, or better, in the course.

An Honors student should participate in at least one of the co-curricular activities sponsored by the Honors Program including the Honors Colloquia, the weekly lunch table, the MARCUS Conference, the Summer Research Program, and other events scheduled throughout the year.

Honors Courses:
Honors Seminars - Each year faculty design new courses for the Honors Program.  These courses are often interdisciplinary and may be team-taught.  In Honors seminars, students examine a topic from a wide range of perspectives and take responsibility for presentations and discussions in class.  Honors seminars emphasize the development of critical thinking abilities.  The seminars are offered most often at the 200-level and are designed to allow all Honors students, regardless of class year, to participate.  Seminars carry three hours of credit and almost always satisfy one of the College’s general education requirements.  Seminars may also fulfill requirements for a departmental major or minor at the discretion of individual departments. Students must make a B, or better, in the course in order to receive Honors credit.

Honors Variants - Honors variants challenge students by encouraging greater rigor, depth, and breadth in their studies.  Students may request that an Honors variant be added to a regularly offered course. Honors variants allow a student to undertake different kinds of work in a tutorial setting, giving students the opportunity to relate more fully the material of the course to their own intellectual interests.  Honors variants do not carry additional credit, nor do they simply involve a larger workload.  Assignments do, however, demand a deeper understanding of the course material. Students who wish to take an Honors variant should contact the professor teaching the course prior to registration, or at the very start of the semester, to ask about converting the course. To register for an Honors variant, students submit a Registration Special Approval form to the registrar signed by the instructor, with an "H" added to the course ID number. Students must make a B, or better, in the course in order to receive Honors credit for the variant. 

Honors Sections - Departments with multiple sections of regularly offered introductory courses may offer one of the sections as an Honors section.  During the 2007-2008 academic year the departments of philosophy and environmental studies will offer Honors sections. Students must make a B, or better, in the course in order to receive Honors credit.

Honors Degree: The requirements for an Honors Degree are:
1. Successful completion of the Senior Honors Thesis Project
2. Successful completion of at least six Honors courses, at least three of which must be Honors seminars, or the approved equivalent. The other three courses may be Honors variants or Honors sections. At least one Honors course must be at the 300 level. Successful completion of Junior Honors Research is considered equivalent to an Honors seminar. Students completing a Sweet Briar College approved course abroad may petition the Honors Committee to grant Honors seminar credit to appropriate work done abroad.

Beginning with the class of 2009 the following requirements must also be met for the Honors Degree:
3. A GPA of 3.3 or higher in the major department at graduation
4. A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher at graduation

Departmental Honors: In order to receive departmental honors at graduation, a student must successfully complete nine credits of Honors thesis research work in her major department (3 hours completed in her junior year and 6 hours in her senior year) and produce an appropriate thesis or project as approved by the major department and the Honors Committee. Departmental Honors at one of three levels (Honors, High Honors, Highest Honors) will be indicated on the transcript of those students who have successfully completed the Senior Honors Thesis Project and will be announced at graduation.

Activities and Opportunities:
The online Honors Journal publishes the research papers produced by the Honors Summer Research Fellows, as well as other academic papers submitted by students.  The student editors are responsible for recruiting and supervising editorial staff, for soliciting contributions, for working with students on contribution revisions, and for working with Honors staff to produce the journal. 

Honors-on-the-Road (HOTR) organizes off-campus day trips to plays, festivals, nearby cultural events and an annual bus trip to Washington, DC.

Honors Colloquia, scheduled throughout the fall and spring semesters, feature faculty and occasionally students presenting on topics of current interest and discussing their research interests and findings. Noted scholars and speakers are also invited to campus throughout the year to participate in the colloquia. These events, open to the entire College community, provide an opportunity for students to engage faculty beyond the classroom. Topics range from global political, social, and cultural issues, to campus academic and co-curricular issues.  All students are encouraged to attend and to participate in the discussions.

The Honors Lunch Table meets once a week. Honors students and faculty meet for lunch in the dining hall to discuss current topics of interest, academic issues, and to plan for upcoming Honors events. 

MARCUS Conference - The Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference of Undergraduate Scholarship (MARCUS) is held in October at the Sweet Briar College Conference Center.  Sponsored by the Honors Program, the conference focuses on the scholarship and research activities of undergraduate students. Sweet Briar students and college students from Virginia and surrounding states are invited to submit scholarly research papers from all academic disciplines. Approximately eighty to one hundred students participate every year in oral and poster sessions, presenting their research at the day long conference.

Honors Summer Research Program - Each year, the Honors Program awards fellowships to enable undergraduates to conduct independent research projects under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Each Fellow receives a stipend to cover her living expenses during the period of her research; her faculty sponsor receives an honorarium for his/her participation. The program is competitive. Each student should have completed at least one 200-level course relevant to the project and have an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher. Each applicant must submit a 500-word description of her project and two faculty recommendations, one from her chosen faculty sponsor.

Projects are undertaken and completed during the summer and after completing her research, each Fellow must submit a research paper or narrative report suitable for publication in the online Honors Journal. Each Fellow is asked to make a presentation to the Sweet Briar community summarizing her research. This presentation is most often made at the annual MARCUS Conference held each fall at Sweet Briar and sponsored by the Honors Program.

Honors Student Travel Grants - The Honors Program has funds available for students for academic travel and research expenses. Grant proposals are reviewed by the Honors Committee during the fall and spring semesters. Students have been awarded travel grants to supplement expenses for travel to present their research at national conferences, to participate in student leadership forums in the U.S. and overseas, and to participate in academic events related to a course of study.

Honors Scholarships, unlike merit awards given to incoming students, recognize excellence in academic work while at Sweet Briar. Recipients are selected each spring from the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. A student may receive up to $7000 towards tuition and a Book Shop credit. Eligible students will be notified and invited to apply. Selection is made based on academic performance, breadth of study, student essays, and faculty recommendations.

Honors Program Staff:
Dr. Jill Granger, Director
Julie Hemstreet, Honors Program Associate Administrator
Dr. Alice McLean, Honors Fellow
Dr. Rebecca Ambers, Director, Honors Summer Research Program