The TU Honors Program engages students who possess a spirit of intellectual curiosity in a lively and sustained conversation about the great ideas of the past and how they influence the present.
The TU Honors Program engages students in reading and discussing some of the great thinkers who’ve come before us. We read these great books not so much for the answers they give us, but for the questions they provoke. Indeed, the point is not just to study, but to join the centuries-old conversation about what makes for a meaningful and well-lived life.
Through the lively and sustained discussions in class and through their portfolio reflections, students cultivate their curiosity about the ideas we’ve inherited, the habits we’ve adopted, and the conventions and institutions that shape our lives, so that they may live deliberately rather than habitually. And students hone skills so that they may investigate their intellectual interests well. Among those skills are: the ability to engage others (be it in writing or conversation) thoughtfully and generously; the ability to judge for oneself the merits and liabilities of one’s own best thinking; and the ability to imagine the consequences of that thinking.
Because Honors seminars can be used to fulfill both general curriculum and elective requirements, the Honors Program is compatible with any major offered at TU.
Opportunities and Benefits
By participating in the Honors Program, Honors Scholars will:
- Cultivate the ability to think across disciplines and to make connections between them
- Develop intellectual camaraderie with students and faculty
- Find their own voices by investigating pressing questions
- Shift from strategic learning to deep learning
- Take ownership of their education
- Benefit from the guidance of an Honors Mentor
- Graduate with a bibliography and an intellectual autobiography of their college studies
Honors Scholars who complete both the Honors Core Curriculum and an Honors Plan earn the “Honors Scholar” designation on their transcript and wear an Honors medallion at graduation.