What Makes a Medaille College Honors Scholar?

Medaille University honors scholars have strong academic credentials and a high school record of active extracurricular participation. Upon acceptance to the program, you will engage with like-minded individuals to address challenging issues in an environment of vigorous intellectual inquiry, which develops leadership skills and solid social and moral commitment. Honors scholars have the opportunity to register for special honors sections of eight interdisciplinary liberal arts and sciences courses, which link together to reinforce fundamental skills and concepts. Medaille University is proud of its reputation for having small classes and a low student-to-faculty ratio. As Medaille students, therefore, it is natural for students participating in the University Honors Program to maintain close contact with their professors. The honors curriculum is fully integrated into each major and requires no additional coursework.

Mentoring

Mentoring opportunities include a variety of co-curricular activities which bring honors faculty, administrators, staff and students together outside of the classroom.  For instance, the University honors students are encouraged to participate in receptions, presentations and other co-curricular activities throughout the academic year.

Every honors student is assigned a mentor who will provide academic and personal guidance.

Honors Program Benefits

Benefits to students participating in the Honors Program include:

A challenging and richly integrated honors curriculum in which courses are carefully designed to interconnect, reinforcing important critical thinking tools, communication skills and scholarly ideas.

Unique opportunities for mentoring from honors faculty, administrators and staff.

Special honors receptions, presentations and other social events.

Flexible advisement and registration procedures to ensure enrollment in honors courses on schedule and in sequence. Including priority registration for classes at the beginning of each semester.

Official recognition at commencement.

A unique housing grant for all Honors students choosing to live on campus!

More detailed descriptions of the aims, structure, and policies of the Medaille University Honors Program can be found in the honors student handbook.

Honors Program Eligibility Guidelines

Eligibility will be determined by the Admissions Office at the same time as an acceptance decision. Eligible students' application materials will then be forwarded to the provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, as well as Honors Program directors, for candidacy review. A student will be offered acceptance into the Honors Program if the student exhibits strong leadership and scholarship, both inside and outside the classroom. Furthermore, because the University Honors Program is built around honors-level sections of Medaille's general education core courses, talented and committed full-time day students pursuing any of the University's baccalaureate degree programs are eligible to participate.

Those students accepted into the Honors Program will be expected to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2, as well as a B- or above in all honors courses.

Required Courses

INT 110_H Honors Introduction to Critical Thinking
INT 130_H Honors Fundamentals of Public Speaking
ENG 200_H Honors Advanced College Writing   
Honors American Dialogues
Honors Creative and Reflective Dialogues
Honors Sustainability Dialogues
Honors 410 Junior Capstone
INT 450_H Honors Capstone in Citizenship  

For questions or further information about the program, please contact:

Dr. Gautam Sarkar
Co-Director, Honors Program
(716) 880-2301
gs685@medaille.edu

Dr. Bridgette Slavin
Co-Director, Honors Program
(716) 880-2156
bks49@medaille.edu

Please note, space in this program is limited and participation is always voluntary.

Apply for Honors Program 2023 Enrollment

Honors Program Events Recap

Honors Students have the opportunity to have their senior research papers published in the annual Honors Capstone Collection. View the 2014 Honors Capstone Collection.

During the Fall 2019 semester, Freshman Honors students (class of ’23) focused on setting long term academic goals through Career Services’ program: “Begin with the End in Mind.”

In November 2019, the Honors Program hosted a Faculty Research, Scholarship and Creativity Panel to mentor students on the scholarship process and promote academic excellence on campus.

In February 2020, Honors students attended a lecture by Yusef Salaam, social activist and member of the “Exonerated Five,” as part of the University of Buffalo’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

During the 2016-2017 Scholarship, Research, and Creativity Day, honor students were encouraged to participate in a variety of ways, such as making a piece of artwork or presenting a poster on their research.

An honor’s art class working hard on their buffalo project.

Medaille College welcomed Rodney C. Haring as the keynote speaker for the day.

Students and faculty both were present to enjoy the keynote speech and poster presentations.

Medaille College Honors Scholars

Honors 410 Student Research Showcase

View Honors Student Research

Honors 450 Capstone Showcase