The George Center for Honors Studies
Where you are at the center!
The George Center for Honors Studies at Greensboro College. This is where you can learn about life in the Center from the people who know it better than anyone: the students. Read their stories. Ask a question.
Program Directors
Featured Stories
Jessica Quah, Class of 2015, Graduate Student, Rice University
Hailing from Malaysia, Jessica Quah is a pianist – a pretty phenomenal one at that.
She was looking at colleges and universities in the U.S. and the U.K. with both music performance and music education programs because she couldn’t choose between them. She found Greensboro College and emailed people she found listed on the website. Jon Brotherton, a professor of music, and Fox, an associate professor of music, responded and made her feel welcome.
“Other colleges were nice, but they didn’t seem as keen to have me in,” Jessica says. “The people at Greensboro College made me feel connected, and that’s important. And when you come from someplace far away like I did, that’s even more important.” She also looked at music programs at schools ranging in size from Heidelberg University in Ohio and Shepherd University in West Virginia to the University of South Florida.
“Greensboro was more personal. They made me feel they were interested in me as a person.”
In addition to her charisma on the keys, she has the brains to back it up. Jessica is one of the college’s first two recipients of the James S. Barrett Scholarship, the highest level of scholarship offered by Greensboro College including full tuition, room and board and fees. Applicants must exhibit exemplary academic achievement plus undergo an intense interview process to be considered. Jessica wowed Greensboro College from nearly 10,000 miles away.
As a finalist for the Barrett Scholarship, she was interviewed over the Internet.
A few months later, scholarship certificate in hand, Jessica arrived at Greensboro College. She was ready to explore her new home, her new school and a whole lot of new opportunities. Besides classes and piano rehearsal, she has taken part in opera and choral performances, music tutoring, English tutoring and, when she can, service with the college’s Village 401 service program.
She has a lot of demands on her time – and says yes to as many as she can because she sees each demand as an opportunity. At this fall’s Soup Bowl, she helped Village 401 collect canned goods for charity. During the recent trustees’ meeting, she played piano during lunch, slipping the hip-hop duo Outkast’s hit “Hey Ya” in between such standards as “Both Sides, Now” and “Over the Rainbow.”
One thing is clearer now for her: She intends to focus on music performance as a concentration and plans to seek a master’s degree in performance after she graduates. “I will do some education somewhere along the way, I know,” she says. “But I can’t teach (music) if I can’t do it.”
Admission & Retention
Smart and fun surroundings. Look to the Honors Studies curriculum to help you create meaning in your life and your community. Stretch your mind and your understanding of cultural environments to make ethical, intellectual and spiritual sense of the world. Discover your path – find your calling – and learn to make choices that make a difference.
Plus – AND THIS IS BIG! – Greensboro College waives the usual overload charge for enrolling in more than 18 credit hours per semester.
Admission
Is Honors for you? If your SAT score (New SAT) is 1240 and higher or your ACT Composite score is 26 and higher and your high school grade point average was 3.65 or higher, you will be invited to participate in the George Center for Honors Studies.
To be considered for the Honors program, a student must:
- Apply and be accepted to the college.
- Earn a weighted cumulative high-school GPA of 3.65 or greater.
- Achieve SAT score of 1240 (New SAT) or ACT Composite score of 26
- Attend Honors Day on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018
- Take part in an interview.
Barrett Scholarship recipients are required to participate in the Honors program.
Retention
To remain in good standing in the program, honors students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better. First-year students must complete the First-Year Honors Sequence; second-year students must complete the Second-Year Honors Sequence; and third-year students must complete HON 3010.
Honors students are expected to participate in extracurricular activities and are expected to conduct themselves in the spirit of the honors program, which is the pursuit of academic excellence. No honors work may be taken Pass/Fail.
Advanced Placement Credit
Your completed coursework will serve you well at Greensboro College, but because of the distinct serial nature of the program, some of your AP courses and/or completed college work may not apply to the program’s requirements.
AP Courses and the Honors College: Courses designated as HON may not be exempted through AP credit. Credit will instead be awarded in the following manner.
AP English: First-year honors students presenting an AP English examination score of 4 or 5 will receive 4 hours of elective credit for a 2000-level literature course.
AP History: First-year honors students presenting appropriate AP examination scores will receive credit and exemption according to normal College policy. (Please see the “Advanced Placement” section of the Academic Catalog for the complete College policy regarding Advanced Placement.)
If you are transferring from another college to Greensboro College with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher, you may participate in the program by contacting the program director. If you have missed the First-Year Honors Sequence, we will ask that you demonstrate writing proficiency.
Students who enter the program during their sophomore year must successfully complete 20 hours of honors work consisting of the Second-Year Honors Sequence (HON 2010 and 2020), HON 3010, HON 3030, and HON 4800.
Honors Thesis Information
Boundless options… within boundaries! While your Honor’s Thesis will ultimately be a book on a shelf, don’t let that hold you back. We are open to new ideas for your project; some students have done library and archival research, some have conducted scientific and social science experiments. And, we’ve seen fantastic art exhibitions and musical and dramatic performances. There are basically three parameters:
- Does the project fit with your major?
- Is it going to show that you have done some in-depth study?
- Is it going to be extraordinary, meaning above and beyond the requirements for graduation in your major?
Previous theses are bound and available for review in the George Center for Honors Studies.
Should an honors student major in an academic discipline requiring its own senior project, the student would not be required to complete both the senior project in the major and the honors thesis. Instead the student would be expected to craft a single project in such a way as to satisfy both requirements. Such a project would be crafted in consultation with, and would require the formal approval of, the student’s faculty mentor, the appropriate academic department chair, and the Honors Committee.
Credit, Deadlines, and Grades
Typically during the spring semester of the third year the student enrolls in HON 312, a one-credit hour course in which the student prepares the honors thesis prospectus. Then, during either the fall or the spring semester of the senior year, the student enrolls in HON 475, a three-credit hour course in which the student undertakes the project and writes the thesis. Note: If a student enrolled in HON 475 during the fall semester needs additional time to complete the project, the student may request a Carry Over grade and complete the project during the spring semester. If the request is approved, deadlines will be adjusted accordingly. In no case, however, may a student receive more than 3 credit hours for HON 475.
The thesis prospectus must be formally approved by the George Center for Honors Studies. Students enrolling in HON 475 during the fall semester must submit the prospectus for approval to the Director of the George Center for Honors Studies no later than Monday of the third week of classes that semester. Those enrolling in HON 475 during the spring semester must submit the prospectus no later than Monday of the 14th week of classes the preceding (fall) semester. Before its submission to the Director, the prospectus must be formally approved by the thesis advisor and formally reviewed by the Chair of the Department of English and Communication Studies, who will review the prospectus for grammar, style, and form. For details on preparing the prospectus, please consult the Honors Thesis Prospectus Checklist .
An abstract of the thesis must be submitted to the Director of the George Center for Honors Studies no later than Friday of the 12th week of classes during the semester the student is enrolled in HON 475. The thesis itself must be submitted to the Director no later than Reading Day of that semester. Please consult the Honors Thesis Style Guide .
In addition, during the 14th week of classes during that semester, the student must summarize the completed project in a 10-20 minute formal oral presentation. The presentation will be open to all faculty, staff, and students of the College. The exact day and time of the presentation will be arranged by the Director.
Program Requirements
Requirements for Graduation with an Honors Degree
Academic Excellence. You will find four years of special curricular and extracurricular opportunities and an emphasis on intellectual and personal development. Your coursework is exclusive to the Honors Program – housed in the George Center for Honors Studies in the Main Building – and team-taught by two professors (full-time!) in the classroom. Courses are interdisciplinary in nature, meaning you will study the human condition in all its dimensions: traditional studies in classical literature and philosophy will incorporate views of the social sciences and the arts. The Honors curriculum is dedicated to your intellectual development through pursuit of academic excellence in the dual traditions of the liberal arts and the Judeo-Christian faith.
Students entering the program as first year students must successfully complete 28 hours of honors work consisting of the First-Year Honors Sequence (HON 1010 and 1020), and subsequently the Second-Year Honors Sequence (HON 2010 and 2020), HON 3010, HON 3030, and HON 4800.
Students who enter the program during their sophomore year must successfully complete 20 hours of honors work consisting of the Second-Year Honors Sequence (HON 2010 and 2020), and subsequently HON 3010, HON 3030, and HON 4800.
Transcripts and diplomas will show that a student has successfully completed the honors degree program. In addition, honors program graduates are recognized at commencement, and their names are listed separately in the commencement program along with the titles of their theses. Students in the honors degree program also may qualify for Academic Honors based upon their cumulative grade point average.
Minor in Humanities
In addition, successful completion of the 28-hour Honors sequence constitutes a minor in Humanities.
Student Honors Committee
Make a difference and play along the way. The George Center for Honors Studies is more than an academic regimen. You can join the fun – even help plan it! – of extracurricular activities, such as attending theatre, publishing a website, blogging, community service (nearby and country-wide), white water rafting, travel to Washington, D.C., etc.
You can make it what you want it to be.
