Elizabethtown College Honors Program

The Elizabethtown College Honors Program, established in 1999 and sponsored by The Hershey Company, reflects the College’s commitment to providing hand-crafted learning opportunities for its students. In the case of the Honors Program, the focus of this hand-crafting is on students with excellent academic records, superior academic abilities, intellectual promise, and demonstrated initiative. Consistent with the mission of the College, the Honors Program seeks to promote high standards of scholarship, leadership, and service among those students selected for the program. Class size is deliberately kept small; no more than 15 students are enrolled in each course.

The opportunity to work closely with faculty mentors from the first year to the senior year is an explicit goal of everyone associated with the program. In order to foster even greater involvement between faculty scholars and honors students, co-curricular activities are an integral part of the program. Events such as field trips to nearby cultural sites (Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and Washington) are routine. In addition, international travel is both encouraged and facilitated. Semester-long study abroad opportunities are expected, but there are also opportunities for students to visit a foreign country in an annual inter-session trip (e.g., Austria, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, Iceland, and Ireland).

To facilitate such experiences, the Elizabethtown College Honors Program allows each qualified student to apply for an Academic Research Grant that can be used in support of these trips or to support senior thesis research. In order to help foster a deeper sense of community, study rooms, a reserved lounge, and a computer lab are located in the Honors Center (Wenger building) for Honors student use.

Participation Requirements

Students entering the Elizabethtown College Honors Program in their first academic year take a two-course sequence of an Honors First Year Seminar and an Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar focusing primarily on critical thinking and foundational skills. In the sophomore/junior years, honors students take two additional honors courses from the College’s Core Program or in majors, minors, or electives. In the junior year, students complete the Honors Leadership course. The final capstone honors experience is the completion of a Senior Honors Thesis. A total of 24 credits must be acquired in honors courses in order to fulfill the requirements and graduate as a recognized Elizabethtown College Honors Scholar. In order to remain in good standing within the program, students must maintain a grade point average of 3.5 overall.

HON 301 Honors Thesis Preparation (1 credit; P/NP registration)

HON 302 Honors Seminar (1 credit; P/NP registration)

HON 370 Honors Leadership Development (4 credits; Letter graded)

Other honors courses are listed within the specific departmental course listings and are noted on course schedules with an “H” at the beginning of the course code and “HNR” at the beginning of the title.

Admissions Process

See the Admissions section of this Catalog for the admissions process or contact Dr. Dana G. Mead, Director of the Elizabethtown College Honors Program.