Honors Program

What is Honors at PNC?
As a freshman honors student at PNC, you’ll

• Take a special honors-only section of GS 191: First-Year Experience, an interdisciplinary freshman seminar that fulfills general education credit in all PNC majors

• Meet monthly with your Honors Faculty Mentor to plan your future at PNC and beyond

• Attend at least four Honors Events, where you’ll meet scholars, artists, intellectuals and accomplished citizens from NWI and around the country

• Meet your Honors Mentor and other Honors students and tour the campus at a welcome reception before classes start

• Start work toward the goal of graduating with University Honors from PNC!

A snapshot of the PNC Honors Program, 2011 September:lunch with Torie Clarke, former Assistant Secretary of Defense and Sinai Forum speaker October: reading and discussion of two plays by prize-winning contemporary playwright Yasmina Reza, in coordination with a PNC Players production of God of Carnage November: field trips to visit the Art Institute of Chicago and to attend the Chicago Humanities Festival, including lectures on cutting-edge anatomy technologies, the ethics of biotechnology, and the future of the electric car, as well as a special lecture-demonstration on the history of the electric guitar by King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew

Mission Statement
The Honors Program at Purdue University North Central is dedicated to enhancing the learning experiences of highly motivated and academically-exceptional students. Through these kinds of special learning opportunities, the Honors Program promotes the goals of general education and fosters academic excellence, critical and creative thinking, intellectual inquiry, social and civic responsibility, and other virtues required of outstanding citizens and leaders in Indiana, the nation, and the world.

How are honors courses different?
It’s not just that honors courses are “harder” than traditional courses; the difference is deeper than that.

• Honors courses stress active and collaborative learning, with lots of dialogue between professors and students. This might mean that students learn basic course material on their own and spend class time concentrating on the difficult problems. It might also mean reading and writing more complex materials or performing significant research to deepen their comprehension of a topic.
• In their content, honors courses stress open exploration, inquiry, and discovery over learning a closed set of facts. Students might explore course questions through primary sources rather than textbooks; apply course material to the “real world”; synthesize different bodies of knowledge to solve problems; and create individual, in-depth, inquiry-driven projects.

Is Honors for me?
If you thrive on intellectual challenges, enjoy going out of your way to learn new things, and have a high school GPA of 3.5 or above, the Honors Program might well be for you!

If your GPA is between a 3.5 and a 3.0, but you love learning and want not just to succeed but to challenge yourself academically in college, you are eligible to apply as well.

How do I apply?
For Fall 2012, applications are due by June 1, for priority consideration; the final deadline is July 15. Please submit applications by email hfieldin@pnc.edu.

Applications must include the following:
I. Basic information: your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address; the high school you attended, the year you graduated, and your cumulative high school GPA.

II. Two essays:
A. In 300 words, explain why you’d like to be a part of Honors at PNC.

B. In 500 words, answer one of the following questions:
Option 1: What work of art (novel, poem, play, painting, sculpture, dance, film, etc.) has been the most significant in your life and why?
Option 2: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve created?

III. Recommendation letter: If your high school GPA is between 3.0 and 3.5, you must also submit one letter of recommendation from a teacher who can speak to your intellectual curiosity and academic abilities. Please ask your teacher to submit the recommendation directly via email to hfieldin@pnc.edu.

What happens after the first year, and how can I graduate with University Honors?
You’ll be invited to continue in the Honors Program if you’ve maintained at least a 3.0, earned at least a B in your honors FYE course, and participated actively in the Honors Program by attending Honors Events and meeting with your Honors Mentor.

If you stay in the Honors Program, you will have made significant progress toward graduating from PNC with University Honors. To get there, you’ll need to earn Bs or higher in 12 credit hours worth of honors course work, maintain at least a 3.0 GPA, and participate actively in Honors Events. If you choose not to stay in the program, your transcript will still show that you completed an academic year of honors work.

Questions?
Contact Dr. Heather Fielding at hfieldin@pnc.edu.