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"The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact,
University Honors Program The UMass Dartmouth Honors Program provides an umbrella for a variety of honors activities based in departments, colleges, and the university as a whole. Only students who have been admittted to the Honors Program may take honors courses. These activities include the annual Margaret Mullany Panos Honors Essay Contest, a colloquium series, an annual honors convocation, and a curriculum of honors courses leading to graduation as a Commonwealth Scholar. UMass Dartmouth also collaborates with the honors programs at other state institutions of higher learning on a variety of honors projects. Students may also earn credits through a variety of internship programs, independent study, or study abroad. Students in the Honors Program are not required to take any set number of honors courses, but most choose to take a six-course program to graduate as Commonwealth Scholars—a recognition of exceptional academic achievement across the entire University of Massachusetts system as well as the 24 other Massachusetts colleges and universities participating in the Commonwealth Scholars Program. To graduate as a Commonwealth Honors Program Scholar, a student needs at a minimum:
Honors students are encouraged to participate in study opportunities beyond the campus. They have earned honors credits through study abroad in England, Wales, France, Ecuador, Spain, Australia, China, Germany, Egypt, and Austria, as well as in Northern New Mexico and Arizona. Honors students from UMass Dartmouth have also participated in such programs as the Washington Center Internships. We particularly recommend that students hoping to extend their education beyond a bachelor’s degree consider undertaking an honors thesis, which not only offers a valuable research and writing experience, but can also provide you with a most impressive writing sample for your graduate school applications. The program also includes numerous opportunities for field trips, community service, and travel to academic and professional conferences, including the state-wide Annual Massachusetts Conference on Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, Creative, and Public Service Activities.
Honors students also have the option of a common residence experience, beginning in their first year. The Chestnut Hall residence hall is reserved for highly motivated students enrolled in the Honors Program and the School of Engineering’s prestigious IMPULSE Program. Just let the Housing Offiice or the Honors Program secretaries know your preference.
The Honors Program encourages research at all levels, from first-year English sections through senior theses. Seniors have fulfilled their capstone requirement with a variety of theses and independent projects: revitalizing the campus observatory; devising a health education program for a local middle school, or an intergenerational arts program for school children and senior citizens; designing a Rotary website or an arts magazine; designing a remote control home climate system; writing, directing, and producing a play; and studying quality assurance in the software industry. Honors students have recently presented their research on topics including
Entering freshmen with test scores (SAT combined scores of 1150 and above) and high school records (GPA of 3.2 and above) that predict honors-level performance receive invitations to join the program in their first semester. Any student who participated in the Spotlight Program in high school is automatically admitted to the Honors Program upon admission to UMass Dartmouth. Transfer students with GPAs of at least 3.2 are also eligible for the Honors Program.
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Last Updated On: 11/10/07
