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High Point University > Honors Scholar Program > About Our Program

About Our Program
In Honors Scholar Program
Back to Honors Scholar Program

Established in 1985, the Honors Scholar Program at High Point University is now home to 300+ student scholars dedicated to pursuing intellectual curiosity and educational excellence. Honors students engage in multidisciplinary, collaborative project-based learning experiences throughout their courses and co-curriculum, and they reside for their first two years in a living-learning community in Finch Hall, forging meaningful relationships with one another both inside and outside the classroom.

Program Mission

With a commitment to the rich traditions of the liberal arts, the High Point University Honors Scholar Program takes a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to higher education, empowering students to cultivate contemplative selves and to build meaningful public lives.

Program Vision

To be recognized as a leader in interdisciplinary, project-based learning, as evidenced by our students’ post-undergraduate successes and our program’s role in the national dialogue on honors education.

Program Principles

The Honors Scholar Program has five principles that inform its scope, structure, and delivery.

  • That a university should value diversity and inclusion while creating a climate conducive to the intellectual and emotional development of all;
  • That a liberal arts education should empower students to be agents of their own learning, in school and throughout life;
  • That a core curriculum should teach the habits of mind indicative of a liberal arts education: critical thinking, inquiry, synthesis, contextualization, and reflection;
  • That core courses should invite multidisciplinary and multicultural perspectives so as to teach students to recognize preconceptions and biases, tolerate ambiguity, consider ethical concerns, and cultivate compassion;
  • That the value of a liberal arts education should be continually, rigorously, and publicly analyzed by students and faculty.

Students who complete the program’s core curriculum will demonstrate high levels of competency in the areas described below. They will showcase these competencies through personalized online portfolios.

  • Traditions: Investigate questions of enduring and contemporary importance by engaging the intellectual traditions and research methods that shape studies in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts;
  • Contexts: Interpret human endeavors within the contexts of time and space and through a critical self-awareness of their own positions;
  • Synthesis: Synthesize information and resources to solve complex problems that have personal significance and public relevance;
  • Ethics: Recognize and analyze ethical issues within real-world challenges and make sound judgments when engaging in research, creative works, co-curricular experiences, interpersonal relationships, civic activities, and professional duties;
  • Awareness: Describe and analyze their roles as global citizens, demonstrating deep awareness of the differences – often invisible – between cultures and individuals, as well as knowledge of the processes of global interconnectedness and subsequent opportunities and tensions;
  • Communication: Communicate effectively, often publicly – in writing, speech, and visual media – employing careful analyses of rhetorical purposes, audiences, messages, and modes of delivery;
  • Collaboration: Collaborate productively in diverse groups to complete multifaceted projects that affect real communities;
  • Development: Articulate the values, needs, and goals that contribute to the cultivation of their private selves and that influence the crafting of their public lives;
  • Reflection: Attend to their own intellectual, personal, and professional development by curating, reflecting on, and publicly presenting embodiments of their learning and scholarship.

The Honors Scholar Program outcomes are informed greatly by the AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes for liberal education.

Distinct Honors Curriculum

Honors students complete their own core curriculum, one that provides discussion-based courses, hands-on projects, and cross-disciplinary research. At 39 credits, the core curriculum gives honors students more space to explore their academic interests and the opportunity to start their major courses sooner.

Living-Learning Community

Honors students form an immediate community in Finch Hall, which is centrally located on campus. Finch Hall contains multi-use common rooms to promote collaboration, creative expression, and even meditation and mindfulness. Students are required to reside in Finch Hall for their first two academic years.

Faculty in Residence

Honors Scholars at High Point University have access to a dedicated Faculty-in-Residence (FIR) in Finch Hall as part of the Honors living community. The FIR is available to discuss academic and professional topics, provide research and career development support, and lead a blend of experiential, community-focused academic, social, cultural, and networking opportunities.

Priority Registration

Honor Scholars register for courses at the start of every registration period. This enables honors students to build schedules that best fit their co- and extra-curricular activities.

Research Assistantships

Every year, many honors students work closely with faculty across the disciplines on projects that lead to presentations and publications.

Conference Travel

The Honors Scholar Program will offer financial support to cover conference travel to local, regional, and national academic events.

Visiting Scholars & Artists

The Honors Scholar Program regularly invites and sponsors renowned scholars and artists to speak at High Point University on a variety of topics. Honors students receive priority access to these events, as well as to other on- and off-campus cultural events.

Extended Library Borrowing Privileges

Honor Scholars can access non-circulated DVDs and receive extended check-out time for books with High Point University Libraries.

Additional Merit Scholarship

Students in the Honors Scholars Program receive a $3,000 scholarship in addition to any High Point University Presidential Scholarship. The award is automatically renewable for all four years as long as students remain in good standing in the Honors Scholars Program.

Scholarship for Rising Seniors

The Honors Scholar Program awards one annual scholarship to the rising senior with a high GPA, evidence of student leadership, and active membership in the Odyssey Club.