The Honors Program schedules a variety of introductory and advanced level
courses each semester. In addition to these regularly scheduled seminars, students are
encouraged to design more specialized independent study courses in which they can work
individually with a faculty mentor.
Senior Thesis
For Honors majors, the two-semester
Senior Thesis project
constitutes the capstone of their Honors experience.
Interdisciplinary
Humanities Seminar
The
Honors
Interdisciplinary Humanities Seminar is the single most visible manifestation of the
Program's commitment to the liberal arts tradition.
Students are selected in their first semester to
participate in this three- semester, multi-credit sequence of courses based on their
demonstrated academic strengths, and is only constrained by schedule
conflicts for students with declared majors in other academic disciplines.
Each component of "Interdisc" fulfills a core
or elective requirement and provides an exceptionally strong foundation for the remainder
of the students' undergraduate education.
The curriculum is further enhanced by a formal student
exchange agreement with Bryn Mawr College, in accordance with which Villanova
Honors students can take courses at Bryn Mawr with no additional tuition payment.
Introductory level seminars fulfill specific
core requirements in the humanities
(History, English, Philosophy, Theology), social sciences (Political Science,
Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Geography), Mathematics and Business.
In addition to scheduling courses that students can take to fulfill their majors in the
various academic disciplines, the Honors Program also supports the curriculum of
the Institute for Global Interdisciplinary Studies, which encompasses many of
Villanova's academic program concentrations, including
Africana Studies,
Arab
and Islamic Studies, East Asian
Studies, Irish Studies,
Latin American Studies,
Peace and Justice,
Russian Studies and
Women's Studies.
The Program also regularly offers courses in the
creative arts, diversity studies, the Augustine and Culture Program and college ethics.
The Seminars
All Honors courses are taught as seminars. Class size normally is restricted to 16 students, with
primary emphasis placed upon student initiative in discussion, research and presentations.
The academic challenge inherent in this seminar structure provides an ideal environment
for the development of effective communication and critical thinking skills, encouraging
independent thinking, clarity, focus, and sound critical judgment.
The small class size of the seminars encourages lively discussion in an informal
atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation. The intellectual dialogue that often
continues beyond the seminar room is a recurring stimulus for students and instructors
alike to explore anew the connections between the "merely academic" and the
"real world" of their own experience.
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