Honors Program

The Honors Program provides an atmosphere where our best and brightest scholars challenge themselves academically and maximize their college experience.

Do you want to follow their intellectual curiosities and acquire a broad understanding of the world? Then you should apply to this scholarship program as it will set the stage for success in graduate school or in a distinguished career.

The Honors Program offers a generous four-year scholarship package that fully covers tuition, fees, and books as well as on-campus housing with an approved meal plan minus any other federal, state, and/or private grants and scholarships. Scholarships and awards from other sources may affect the total scholarship package. All actual amounts are determined in conjunction with a student’s federal aid package.

Honors Program students will receive:

• priority enrollment in classes
• faculty/student joint research opportunities and involvement
• classes specifically geared for program students
• engagement with a community of scholars
• special recognition at graduation upon completing the program

Program Eligibility & Application Process

Selection for the Honors Program is competitive and open to incoming freshmen who meet the following qualifications and admissions requirements:

• Minimum High School GPA of 3.5
• Minimum ACT Composite of 26
• On-campus interview with the Honors Committee

Service Learning

The Honors Program requires that students engage in at least 25 hours of service per semester with government agencies, social service agencies, or non-commercial entities. Service learning projects will be “real world” experience directly relating to your area of academic or professional interests. All projects will be approved in advance by the faculty advisor and Director of the Honors Program.

Program Mission

The Rogers State University Honors Program supports the larger vision and mission of the University. The goal of the program is to cultivate excellence – excellence in academics, excellence in character, and excellence in service. The program challenges talented students to develop intellectual curiosity, intellectual rigor, independent reasoning, creative thinking, superior communication skills, strong leadership abilities, a system for ethical decision making, and a desire for life-long learning.

Students with strong academic records and motivation to excel personally and academically join with select faculty to form a University community that supports outstanding scholarship, personal growth, and service. The Honors Program educates in a collaborative, experiential, learning-based environment of faculty and students.

Graduates of the program act as agents of change in their academic, professional, and personal lives, cultivate the community approach to life and learning, hold lasting commitments to academic and social responsibility, integrate creative and critical thinking in diverse approaches to problem solving, embrace the principles and practices of the life-long learner, value pluralism and informed civic discourse, and explore technology and information literacy as critical resources for life in the twenty-first century.

Program Requirements

Honors courses at Rogers State University are specifically designed to challenge students, as well as provide a supportive learning environment for this community of scholars. The honors courses are designed to integrate curriculum, develop and integrate learning communities, and assist in the integration and oversight of service-learning opportunities.

Every student is required to take one Honors Seminar each year. Additionally, Honors students are required to take Honors sections of specified general education courses unless academic credit for these courses was completed prior to enrolling in the Honors Program. Every student must take at least 30 hours of Honors General Education courses. Honors students are required to take HONS 1213–Honors Literature and Rhetoric I in place of ENGL 1113–Composition I and HONS 1313–Literature and Rhetoric II in place of ENGL 1213–Composition II in their chosen degree plan of study.

The Honors Program scholarship package fully covers tuition, fees, books, designated on–campus housing, and meal plan. Scholarships and awards from other sources may affect the total package.Students who select other housing or meal plan options will be fiscally responsible for any difference in cost from pre–determined program options.

In order to remain in the Honors Program, students must be enrolled full–time, taking 12 hours or more and maintain a 3.25 overall grade point average for each semester. If a student at the end of any regular semester has a cumulative GPA of less than 3.25, that student will be placed on academic probation. The student will remain on academic probation until his/her GPA hasrisen above3.25. If while on academic probation, the student has a semester GPA that is below 3.25, that will be considered grounds for termination from the Honors Program.

In addition to those who fail to meet the minimum retention requirements, students may be withdrawn or dismissed from the Honors Program for the reasons stated in the Student Code, failure to successfully complete the required number of hours in honors classes, or failure to successfully complete the cohort honors colloquia.

Honors students are expected to participate in intellectual, cultural, and social extracurricular activities and Honors Program meetings as directed by the Honors Council. Lack of participation will be considered justification for probation or dismissal from the Honors Program.

Students are required to engage in at least 20 hours of service per year with government agencies,social service agencies, or non–commercial entities. This “service learning” component allows students to enrich their educational experiences via interaction with organizations that serve local, regional, national, or international communities. Service learning projects will be “real world” work that directly relates to the students’ areas of academic or professional interests. All projects will be approved in advance by the Director of the Honors Program.

In addition to successfully completing graduation requirements for the selected baccalaureate degree, in order to graduate and qualify for recognition in the Honors Program, honors students must attain:

• Total Hours in Honors: 42
• Overall Grade Point Average: 3.25
• Grade Point Average in Honors Courses: 3.25