Penn State University DuBois Campus: Honors Program

Photos from previous Honors Program Trips
(Fall and Spring)

Honors courses offered (added each semester)

Fall 2002

Spring 2003 (tba)

Honors Education at Penn State DuBois

Academically superior students attending Penn State DuBois can participate in several honors programs designed to enrich and broaden their education. Honors study involves less review, more in-depth attention to theory and application, broader coverage, and more independent research and presentation (as through oral reports to seminar groups).

An honors student, being already better trained and disciplined, is expected to produce not so much more work but work of a more sophisticated and challenging nature. Honors Program participants are offered extra-curricular activities, principally trips, intended to enrich their education, as through international experiences. The Program sponsors and subsidizes a fall overnight trip to cities (most recently to Washington) and a spring-break trip out of the country (as to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in 2001 and to London, England, in 2000 and 2002).

Types of Honors Study
The DuBois Campus typically offers six to eight honors courses each semester. Some are specialized courses for students in such majors as Business, Human Development and Family Studies, and Wildlife. Others are general electives, as English 30 (Honors Freshman English) offered every fall, Library Studies 100H, and diverse humanities courses.

Honors courses have low enrollments, restrict admission to our best students, and are taught by dedicated and distinguished faculty. Students in honors courses receive more individualized instruction from professors, either in one-on-one tutorials or in small groups where they interact with fellow honors students.

Besides taking honors courses, honors students may also pursue honors study in "Honors Options" to regular courses, setting up with the instructor a contract to perform one or more different tasks than do students regularly enrolled. An honors option typically adds theory or practical application to a regular course, deepening or broadening the coverage so that it requires more independent work on the student's part. Often honors options involve a different set of lab assignments, research papers, or homework problem sets.

Honors independent study under the direction of a professor is also available to students. In the past students have received independent study credits for building computers, performing wetlands reclamation projects, investigating the administration of justice procedures off campus, or studying habitats visited during honors trips outside Pennsylvania.

Requirements for Program Admission
Students can enter honors programs through several windows. Applicants for first-year admission can apply to the Schreyer Honors College for application materials, and those with SAT scores over 1350 and "A" averages in high school are encouraged to undertake the application as over 250 half-tuition scholarships are awarded to first-year students admitted to the program.

First-year students with SAT scores over 1150 and/or high school GPAs over 3.2 are encouraged to participate in campus honors. Students who have taken 12 Penn State credits with GPAs over 3.4 are invited to take honors study at the DuBois campus.

Campus and College Honors students need to maintain a 3.2 overall GPA, a 3.0 GPA in honors courses, complete the registration form each semester, and take more than 3 credits. Baccalaureate-degree students who complete 30 credits with a 3.75 may apply for admission to the Schreyer Honors College during June. Those who have completed 60 credits with a 3.7 overall GPA and a 3.8 GPA in their major fields and who are changing assignment to Behrend College or the University Park campus may apply for admission as juniors.

Schreyer Scholars are required to take seven honors credits a year and, in their senior year, to research and to write an honors thesis. They receive course credits for both researching and writing their thesis. These scholars receive access to scholarships for international study, pre-registration priority, extended library hours, and other incentives and benefits.

Recognition for Participation
All honors study is indicated on one's transcript by a special designation, usually an "H" suffix to the course number. Participation is also recognized by honors certificates awarded during the annual honors convocation and graduation. Those students who take a prescribed number of upper-level honors courses while completing baccalaureate degrees from the Commonwealth College (as in Business) will be recognized at the campus commencement ceremony. In addition, scholars in the Schreyer Honors College, upon completing their thesis, receive a medal awarded by the University President at graduation.

For More Information
If you have any questions about honors study at Penn State, contact the campus Admissions Office at 1-800-346-ROAR, (814) 375-4720, or via e-mail at duboisinfo@psu.edu. Or you may contact Dr. James May, honors coordinator, at (814) 375-4804, via e-mail at jem4@psu.edu, or by post at: Penn State DuBois, College Place, DuBois, PA 15801-3199.