Web Page: http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/honors/honors.html
The Pierre Laclede Honors College mission is to enrich significantly the educational experience of a select group of highly motivated and intelligent undergraduates. With this in mind, it enrolls promising students who give clear indication that they are ready to accept academic challenges and become creatively involved in the learning process.
Given this special mission, the college has a unique structure and identity. Unlike the university's other schools and colleges, it has no academic departments or areas of its own, and it grants no degrees. Instead, it brings together a cross section of the university's students and teachers in a special curriculum in which courses are designed to meet students' general education and other breadth of study requirements.
- A four-year program open to entering freshmen and extending over a student's entire undergraduate career;
- A two-year program open to a select group of third-year students who are either continuing at or have transferred to the university and are engaged in work on a major.
The Honors College Writing Portfolio
Both programs include participation in the Honors College writing program, Writing through the Curriculum, which involves formal courses in composition (including at least two of Honors 10(1200), 210(3100), and 310(4100) ) and informal consultations with the director of the writing program. In the final year, this culminates in the compilation of a personal Honors College writing portfolio.
Undergraduate Research
All Honors College students must fulfill a 6-credit-hour independent study requirement (see below under Curriculum). Many students meet all or part of this requirement by undertaking a research project supervised by faculty in their major department. Additional financial support is available for supervised undergraduate research projects in all majors.
Honors Scholars
Honors College scholars are our students, highly qualified and motivated individuals from a broad range of public and private secondary schools and colleges. They enter the college with diverse backgrounds and interests and remain part of it while simultaneously enrolling in classes and pursuing bachelor's degrees in other academic divisions of the university.
Most honors students major in the traditional liberal arts disciplines spanning the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences, but about a third focus on using their undergraduate education to prepare for careers in business, education, nursing, or engineering. Whatever their undergraduate majors, most Honors College students plan to go on to graduate study or professional schools, although a significant number successfully seek employment immediately after graduation. Honors faculty and staff provide advice and guidance in both course choice and career plans .