Honors Program

 

Challenge Yourself to Excel

The mission of the Honors Program is to help students become inquisitive thinkers who possess the skills necessary to ask profound questions, to recognize and respect diverse perspectives, to solve complex problems, and to express their vision creatively and persuasively to others. Honors courses emphasize inquiry, interdisciplinary problem solving, and the effective expression of ideas. The program culminates in the honors thesis, a year-long research, service, or creative project on a question or problem chosen by the student. Every graduate of the Honors Program will have demonstrated the ability to work independently in their chosen field.

The Honors Program brings together a very special group of students – highly motivated, intellectually curious, and eager to talk about what they’re learning.  You’ll have plenty of stimulation in talking with your fellow Honors students, both in class and after class.  The Honors Program also sponsors events throughout the academic year, when you’ll go far afield and broaden your cultural horizons together.

First-year honors students can become even more immersed in the honors community because they are eligible to live in the Honors Living Learning Community, where they have their own floor in one of our on-campus residences.  Long talks into the night, help with homework just a few steps away, and shared trips and activities are just some of what you can look forward to.

Apply for the Honors Program

To learn more, please contact Myles Allan, Assistant Director of Enrollment Communications at MAllan@newhaven.edu

Honors Courses

Students will join in researching, writing, and producing the podcast “Crime Waves.” The work is focused on Henry C. Lee faculty, who have led some of the world’s top investigations, as well as prominent external guest speakers. Students will be responsible for researching two one-hour episodes. This work would consist of conducting preliminary interviews with the guests, professionally producing the podcast episode, packaging it, and promoting it. The Crime Waves podcast interviews people at the center of the biggest investigations in the world: prosecutors, criminals, professors, corruptors, journalists, undercover investigators, policemen, Olympic Gold Medalists, and mobsters — all experts with first-hand knowledge of the criminal world.
The first rule about Book Club is that you talk about Book Club. In this course, up to 18 faculty members each choose a book they love; students then select three of these reading groups to join. Each group is limited to three to five students to keep discussion intense, free-flowing, and fun. A final project helps students reflect on what they have learned during the course.
Through diffractive reading of literary, philosophical, and neuroscientific texts, students will examine the concept of self and how this concept is shaped (both materially and metaphorically) through intra-action with external agents. Consideration of the ethical impact of self-formation will further guide exploration. This critical foundation will develop into creative “design” of the future versions of self, with emphasis on the increase of agential power in environments (social and professional) students envision as important.
This course challenges students to critically examine games as interactive worlds to enable the creation of their own creative works. Over the course of the semester, students will study the cultural theories of gameplay, critique several games in depth, and discuss techniques of storytelling and world building in the medium. Students will implement these ideas in building a series of games — including board games, interactive text-based games, and video games. Students will work individually and in groups to create their games. They will take advantage of the resources of the new Schaub Makerspace to fabricate materials for board games and design digital games using tools such as Twine, Bitsy, GB Studio, and Unity3D.
This course offers a unique opportunity for students to unravel the intricate knots that bind music and identity. Through the careful study and analysis of popular music, we will explore the evolving historical, cultural, and social factors that both reflect and shape our understanding of gender and sexuality. From the cabaret and blues of the 1920s to the hyperpop of the 2020s, we will examine representations of queerness and feminism across the dynamic landscape of popular music, including discussions on activism, empowerment, equality, and backlash. Coursework will include creating a collaborative website to collect relevant student examples, critical analyses, and reflections.
Climate change has been defined as one of society’s greatest threats. These threats include extreme weather events, sea level rise, melting sea ice, ocean acidification, the intensification of hurricanes, and loss of biodiversity. An introduction to how the climate system works, oceanographic processes, and how these factors affect our society, economy, and policies will be discussed. Vulnerability research, behavior change theories, and both national and international policies to address these changes will be covered. This course will take a multidisciplinary approach to address these relevant and applicable issues.
Administrative evil has been and remains a central feature of public and private organizations in the modern era. In this course, we will explore notions of masked and unmasked evil and consider how the conditions of technical rationality, with its emphasis on the scientific-analytic mindset and the belief in technological progress, provide the conditions for the emergence of administrative evil. The foundations of our study will consider how ordinary people fulfilling ordinary organizational roles assisted in and supported unprecedented destruction in ways that were packaged as socially normal and appropriate. Topics will include the Holocaust, the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, and the Flint, Michigan water crisis. Finally, we will consider ways in which administrative evil can be unmasked and potentially expatiated.
This course explores the intersection of socioeconomic status and human health. By examining biological and sociological differences throughout the life course, students will explore topics such as the impact of poverty on expecting mothers, the predictive power of being born in a specific zip code on social and health outcomes, what gender is—biologically speaking— and how/why that matters in society, and biological and sociological predictors of illness and end-of-life outcomes. The course will place special emphasis on dispelling myths and understanding the facts and statistics surrounding these important issues, encouraging students to critically analyze the information presented.
We make introductions more exciting. The Honors Program routinely offers Honors sections of introductory core courses, such as General Chemistry, Thinking Historically, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Personal Finance, and Bioethics.

 

Student presentation

Honors Thesis

The University of New Haven has an enviable reputation as a leader in the field of experiential education, and the Honors Program contributes significantly to that reputation. The Program has established a long tradition of undergraduate research, with seniors required to complete an honors thesis by undertaking an in-depth project on a topic in their major/minor disciplines. The project is designed, researched, and written under the guidance of a faculty advisor. The finished theses are then bound and proudly displayed in the Marvin K. Peterson Library.

While the thought of doing a thesis may seem daunting at first, honors students have plenty of support to help them along in the process. The below three courses (each are 1 credit) are specifically geared to the research and writing of your thesis and will de-mystify how to go about it, provide feedback on how your work-in-progress is shaping up, and accompany you in the homestretch:

Group in art gallery

Co-Curricular Events

As interesting and stimulating as your honors classes will be, there’s a time to leave the four walls of the classroom behind and go out and have fun. Of course, even fun can be instructive, as our special Honors Program activities demonstrate. But it’s the kind of instruction you won’t need to work at — it’s just absorbed with the good time you’re having.

There’s always something new in the way of activities, but these are the ones you can count on every year:

  • Shakespeare In the Park. A picnic, a blanket, your fellow honors students, and The Bard all come together in New Haven’s Edgerton Park in star-spangled nights to remember.
  • Film Series. Our mix of classics, little-known indie films, and crowd pleasers always delights lovers of the Big Screen. A little talk before each film and more than a little pizza make for a great time at the movies.
  • New Haven Symphony. Thrill to the sound of a full orchestra in all its power every February — “great performances month” on our activities calendar.

 

Spotlights

Brendan StrautBRENDAN STRAUT '24

The Honors Program was a valuable experience because it gave me the opportunity to meet with my peers in many different environments.

Sarah MiddletonSARAH MIDDLETON '24

The Honors program has made me a better researcher, writer, and communicator.

Hannah ProvidenceHANNAH PROVIDENCE '22

Joining the Honors Program at the University of New Haven created an ideal situation for me.

All Spotlights

 

 

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Requirements

Students with exceptional academic qualifications will receive an application to the Honors Program after their admission to the university. Additionally, students may request an application to the program by contacting Myles Allan, Assistant Director of Enrollment Communications, at MAllan@newhaven.edu or the Honors Program at honors@newhaven.edu.

In addition, students who achieve a minimum GPA of 3.3 in their first semester at the University of New Haven may apply to the Honors Program. Transfer students who have 32 credit hours or less may also apply, provided they have a minimum GPA of 3.5 from their previous institution.

To graduate as an Honors Scholar, students must complete the following:

Scholarships

Every student who is selected to participate in the Honors Program will receive an annual $1,000 scholarship in addition to any other merit-based awards received. In their sophomore and junior years, honors students may also apply for one of six prestigious Hatfield Scholar Awards, which are granted on the basis of academic excellence, campus involvement, and community service. Hatfield scholars receive an additional $3,000 scholarship and a bronze medallion at graduation.

Honors Program Enhanced Learning Community

The Honors ELC is open to a small number of incoming first-year honors students. Residents in the ELC live in one of the University's on-campus residences and benefit from a rich array of activities and programs. All residents of the Honors Program ELC will have the opportunity to participate in special events. In the past, residents of the ELC have toured museums in downtown New Haven, gotten lost in the corn maze at Lyman Orchards, hiked up Sleeping Giant, visited the Museum of Tolerance in New York, and seen the musical Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway.