Belmont Abbey College

"Thanks to the Honors Program's emphasis on critical thinking and analysis, I was selected for a fully funded program to go to law school at William and Mary and become a military attorney in the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGS). Thanks to the tutorial and thesis, while in law school I wrote a student research note that was published in a law journal. In brief, the Honors Program's rigorous training was a fabulous preparation for life." -- Mark Matthews, '93

The Honors Program is a series of specially designed courses intended to provide special enrichment for those students who are open to invigorating academic challenges. These courses feature lectures on vitally important issues and class discussions enlivened by probing questions and exchanges. For the most part, the texts considered in Honors classes are those of the greatest thinkers in a wide range of academic disciplines.

Who can participate in the Honors Program?

There are two ways in which a student can come to enroll in the Honors Program. One way is by being invited into the Program by the Honors Program Director. Such invitations are issued prior to the first year on the basis of a student's outstanding academic performance while in high school or during the course of a student's freshman year at Belmont Abbey College on the basis of outstanding performance over the first semester. The other way in which a student can come to enroll in the program is by contacting the Director in order to convey special interest  as well as a clear resolve to take on the program's special challenges.

What are some benefits of the Honors Program?

• Students who complete all Honors Program requirements receive a special Honors Diploma and the Honors Degree.
• Honors courses are so noted on a student's college transcript in order that graduate school admissions committees or prospective employers can know that a student has taken on and met the rigorous challenges of Honors courses.
• Honors students take a number of courses with the same students and thereby have unique opportunities to experience friendships bred by working together in the pursuit of deeper understanding.
• The authors studied in most Honors courses are the greatest in the history of humankind. Their impacts on religion, science, politics, art, and human behavior are profound and wide-ranging. To frequent the company of such persons through their writings enables one to come into contact with the roots of contemporary thought and attitudes. To witness the agreements and disagreements of the great makes possible an entry into a conversation and debate of unparalleled importance and consequence.
• Independent study along with experience in sound research methodology are made available in the Honors Tutorial and in the writing of an Honors Thesis. The latter and Honors courses generally seek to foster close reading, careful analysis, independent-minded reflection, and a growing ability to write with clarity and depth.
• Opportunities to attend plays, ballets, symphonies, jazz concerts, operas are provided to Honors students who wish to expand the range of their cultural experience. At little or no cost, these Honors Program Special Events have enabled Honors students to take in performances like the following:
  - Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
  - A violin concerto by Itzhak Perlman
  - The trumpet wizardry of Wynton Marsalis
  - Bizet's Carmen
  - Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado
  - Les Miz
  - The North Carolina Dance Theater
  - The Duke Ellington Orchestra

What are graduates of the Honors Program doing now?

Former Honors Program students have gone on to a variety of careers in business, law, medicine, education, journalism, government. Some of the graduate schools they have attended include Chicago, Notre Dame, Notre Dame Law School, the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, and William and Mary School of Law.

What does the Program require?

Students must enroll in the following courses to receive an Honors degree. It is important to note that most of these courses also fulfill core curriculum requirements or requirements in a student's major. Therefore, they do not add to the usual college requirements for graduation.

Freshman year
HO252 Honors Intro. to Psychology or HO254 Honors Intro. to Sociology
HO280 Honors Writing on Contemporary Issues
HO288 Honors World Civilization I
HO289 Honors World Civilization II
Sophomore year
HO260 Honors Economics or HO263 Honors American Polity
HO270 Honors Literature or HO275 Honors Intro. to Philosophy
Junior year
HO370 Honors Theology or HO373 Honors Physical Science
HO399 Honors Tutorial
Senior year
HO490 Honors Thesis

Who teaches in the Honors Program?

The Director is Dr. Eugene Thuot, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Social Sciences Division (B.A. Assumption College, B.Th. University of Ottawa, M.A. University of Chicago, Ph.D. University of Chicago). His honors courses place special emphasis on the dramatic clash of ideas between ancients and moderns, a clash which helps students to understand better some of the principal tensions within the soul of modern man. Dr. Thuot is presently working on a book dealing with the Christian dimensions of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. He is a recipient of the Adrian Award for Teaching Excellence, stresses the importance of being prepared for every class, and attempts to provoke independent-minded reflection in his students. He is also an avid Red Sox fan as well as an avid tennis player whose backhand is in perpetual need of improvement.

Several other faculty teach in the Honors Program. In general, they have attained a variety of distinctions: awards for teaching excellence, degrees from outstanding graduate institutions, noteworthy publications, and extraordinary dedication to the general well-being of their students.