National Collegiate Honors Council
Date of this Version
Fall 2003
Abstract
In 2001, Oral Roberts University launched an honors program. Unlike most honors programs, the ORU program is two-tiered, meaning that the top sixteen to eighteen students in every class are considered fellows and the rest of the students who meet the academic requirements are scholars. ORU requires both fellows and scholars to complete twenty-four hours of honors coursework through designated sections of general education classes. One unique aspect of the program is that the fellows are required to complete five of six special interdisciplinary honors seminars as part of their required twenty-four hours. These classes replace traditional general education courses like introductory English, humanities, and social sciences. Two departmental teachers work together to integrate their areas of specialty to create a cohesive synthesis. Disciplinary combinations include: art and English, mathematics and history, science and philosophy, and drama and English. Students find that these seminars provide a more challenging, interesting, and comprehensive educational experience as opposed to the ordinary introductory level courses.
Comments
Published in Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council 4:2, Fall/Winter 2003. Copyright © 2003 by the National Collegiate Honors Council.