Honors Program Overview

The program
Each honors student begins by participating in a special seminar designed specifically for students in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies honors program. The program then helps students arrange two individualized tutorials with faculty members who guide and mentor them as they undertake ambitious work in pursuit of their own intellectual and artistic interests.

Admission to the honors program
Students become eligible for nomination to the Honors Program after the completion of at least 30 credits toward the bachelor’s degree and at least four Core Curriculum courses at Fordham with a cumulative grade point average of 3.6. Nominations from among this eligible group are made annually by faculty members and advisors, and are then reviewed by the Honors Program Committee.  The honors program director then issues invitations to the selected students.

The Honors Seminar
These challenging interdisciplinary courses have a strictly limited enrollment and are designed specifically for honors students. Students here discover similarly capable and motivated peers and begin to work closely with the faculty member leading the seminar. Advanced research projects required in these seminars are intended to introduce honors students to the research skills they will need for the independent study tutorials they will undertake upon completion of the seminar. Honors seminars have included such diverse topics as Myths and Storytelling; Computers and Society; Democracy; Healthcare in America; The European Union; and Terrorism. The current seminar, “Narratives of Mind, Brain, and Self,” focuses on points where literature and the cognitive sciences meet.

Independent tutorials
After completing the seminar, the program helps students arrange two tutorials with faculty mentors who guide students as they undertake ambitious work in pursuit of their own intellectual and artistic interests. Tutorials undertaken by PCS Honors students have focused on such topics as the death penalty, constitutional law, paths to professional journalism, money and religion in a secular democracy; soap operas and feminism: women in faith traditions; the future of private equity; and Shakespeare’s comedies, as well as creative writing and other artistic projects.