About University Honors
The mission of the Loyola University Honors Program is to provide an enriching academic environment that fosters a strong sense of community and challenges our students to utilize their gifts to become men and women for and with others.
Drawing students from all of Loyola’s undergraduate colleges, the University Honors Program (UHP) offers a diverse and engaging curriculum imparted by outstanding faculty. Our small, interdisciplinary seminars encourage discussion, collaboration and critical thinking, while our co-curricular community engagement and social activities are designed to build and develop relationships among our students, and with faculty and staff, as well. Throughout their four years, Honors students can take advantage of a range of experiential learning opportunities, including collaborative research and scholarship with faculty, study abroad, and internships in New Orleans and beyond.
The UHP is open to qualified students of all majors. Honors courses replace required Loyola Core requirements throughout the four undergraduate years. Consequently, the Honors’ curriculum does not add to the number of requirements for graduation.
The UHP challenges you to think, and to discern how to transform your thoughts into action. Given the challenges facing our community, locally and globally, our program is based on the premise that Honors students have an obligation to use their intellectual, emotional and other gifts to develop an understanding of the world in its complexities. Our graduates emerge from the UHP with the ability to listen to and engage with divergent opinions, the critical thinking skills to effect workable compromises and find solutions to challenges, and a moral compass tuned to the ethical implications of actions.
At the heart of our academic curriculum is the Honors core sequence, capped by a senior thesis in the student’s major area of study. The four courses include:
1. The first year interdisciplinary humanities writing intensive seminar;
2. The 1-credit “Ignatian Colloquium;”
3. The social science community-engaged “Social Justice” research seminar;
4. The Honors ethics seminar.
In combination with the additional Honors disciplinary seminar requirements, this curriculum is designed to form in Honors students, over several years, a greater understanding of justice and of their personal agency in effecting transformation, as well as to enhance their academic skills and leadership abilities. It also results in the success experienced by Loyola Honors graduates, who routinely complete prestigious graduate and professional programs, are awarded national scholarships such as the Fulbright, and gain prominent positions in the public and private sector.
Students newly admitted to Loyola with a 3.5 or higher high school GPA and test scores of at least 1300 (SAT) or 29 (ACT) are encouraged to apply for admission to the University Honors Program. Students who do not meet those standards but believe they will benefit from and contribute to the program should complete the application, including the required essay.
Students currently enrolled at Loyola who wish to join the UHP should have a 3.6 or higher university GPA and should schedule an appointment with the UHP director.
Once accepted into the University Honors Program, students are required to maintain a 3.3 grade point average.
For more information about how the University Honors Program at Loyola University New Orleans lives out the Ignatian mission of the university, you may read the “Essential Characteristics of a Jesuit Honors Program.”
Curriculum
Implemented in Fall 2013, the new University Honors Program Curriculum consists of a writing-intensive and Ignatian-focused core curriculum, including a First-Year Seminar, a one credit hour Ignatian Colloquium (taken in the first semester), a Social Justice Seminar (taken in the second or third year), and Ethics; Honors seminars in literature, philosophy, religious studies, history, natural science, mathematics, and creative arts and cultures. Each student is also required to complete a senior thesis.
Most Honors courses are small, thematic seminars with an emphasis on writing and discussion. As part of our Jesuit tradition, the courses are value-centered and aim at establishing interdisciplinary connections. View our current course descriptions »
Co-Curricular Activities
Honors students can be found pursuing majors in each of Loyola University New Orleans' colleges, engaging in a wide variety of extracurricular activities and participating in many student organizations. Many Honors students are active and have leadership positions in university clubs, intercollegiate and intramural sports, fraternities and sororities, and student government activities.
For more information, view our co-curricular programming.