Program Director

William Thompson

The Honors Program was established at Northwest University to provide an interdisciplinary space for the development of students specifically gifted in the academic arena. The Honors Program will empower these students as scholars, servants, and citizens, holding them to exceptionally high standards both within the classroom and the community.

Admissions

Admissions into the Honors Program is dependent less on GPA or test scores and more on a desire to devote oneself to a deep educational experience. The Honors Program seeks students with a voracious appetite for learning—an innate curiosity that crosses disciplinary boundaries and that finds in all academic fields signposts pointing toward God’s goodness, beauty, and truth.

Recommended GPA and test scores are listed below, but all students are encouraged to apply.

• GPA: High School GPA of 3.5 or higher
• Test Scores: At least one of the following:
• SAT (new, beginning March 2016) – 1250 or higher
• ACT – 28 or higher
• To be considered for the Honors Program, students must complete the Honors Supplemental Application as part of their application to Northwest.

Activities 

Students accepted into the Honors Program will have opportunities as:

• Scholars, to achieve academic excellence through participation in research, production of an Honors Thesis, and publication in Harvest, NU’s journal of original student research.
• Servants, to embody spiritual vitality through student leadership, participation in service projects on campus, and local mission projects coordinated with Campus Ministries.
• Citizens, to engage with human need through Multicultural Life events, global and local mission trips, and culminating in a study trip to Washington D.C. 

Outcomes

Upon completion of the Honors Program, students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate a healthy understanding of their identity as regenerated people created in the image of God.
• Collaborate effectively with others to create high-quality products.
• Create intellectually robust Christian responses to significant, interdisciplinary problems in the world.
• Produce graduate-level work or presentations suitable for publication in a student’s respective field.

Honors Program Requirements

Students in the Honors Program must complete the following Thesis requirements to graduate “with Honors”:

• Pass ENGL 3xx2H Honors Thesis
• Complete two consecutive semesters of ENGL 3801H Honors Thesis Independent Study   
• Produce a satisfactory Honors Thesis

Students in the Honors Program must pass seven of the following Honors courses to graduate “with Honors”. Exceptions are available on a case-by-case basis:

COMM 1213H Honors Fundamentals of Speech Communication  

ENGL 1023H Honors Composition II: Rhetoric and Research Writing  

ENGL 2843H Honors Topics in Literature  

HIST 1543H Honors Western Civilization  

PSYC 1013H Honors General Psychology  

SCIE 1843H Honors Topics in Science  with SCIE 1841H Honors Topics in Science Laboratory  

THEO 1093H Honors: Foundations of Christian Faith  

XXXX 2xx3H Honors Special Topics   

To remain in the Honors Program, students must be enrolled for full-time study, maintain a 3.30 GPA (renewable with a 3.00 GPA for the first semester only), and participate in service projects and community events under the direction of the Honors Program director.