Undergraduate Bulletin - Loyola Marymount University

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
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Academic Programs and Services
Programs
University Honors
Director: Kelly Younger
As a means of creatively challenging the potential of the
outstanding student and thereby contributing to the
intellectual life of the entire academic community, the
University adopted the Honors Program in 1958. By
constant experimentation and periodic revision, the
program attempts to keep true to its original intent of
providing intellectual adventure.
The program is interdepartmental and does not involve a
separate faculty. It relies on the interest and generosity of
the entire University faculty and on the enthusiasm of the
truly exceptional students to become mutually involved in
an intellectual experience. Not being a separate unit apart
from the rest of the University community, the University
Honors faculty and students thus share with the rest of
the school the stimulation of their special academic
experience.
Taking advantage of its freedom from some of the
restrictions involved in the structure of regular courses,
the University Honors Program attempts to challenge as
well as to inform, to ask hard questions as well as to
examine tested solutions. Its goal is to provide a carefully
integrated and demanding curriculum for the exceptional
student.
The University Honors Program is open to students from
all the undergraduate Colleges and the undergraduate
School of Loyola Marymount. The Program is
administered by the Honors Director with the assistance
of the Assistant Director and the Honors Advisory Council.
Faculty members from all disciplines at Loyola
Marymount are invited to participate.
The University Honors core curriculum begins with an
intensive undergraduate experience combining four
interdisciplinary courses in the humanities and sciences
with an individualized sequence in writing, critical
thinking, and cultural studies. A second-year sequence in
historiography, theology, and natural philosophy prepares
the Honors student for the third-year seminars in ethics,
interdisciplinary study, and thesis preparation. The fourth
year results in the publication of the capstone thesis
project: the culmination of independent research under
the individual guidance of a professor and the
participation in the Senior Thesis Forum.
University Honors students must maintain an average
GPA of 3.50 and display proficiency in a foreign language.
Successful completion of the University Honors Program
is announced at the annual Commencement ceremonies
and noted on the student’s permanent transcript. This
recognition is of lasting personal, professional, and
academic value.
The University Honors Program is open to incoming and
current first year students. First semester sophomores and
transfer students may also apply. More is expected of
students in the Honors Program; not everyone is qualified
to join. We are interested in: a sense of academic
adventure, highly motivated individuals, rigorous
educational experience, social awareness, personal
responsibility, interesting personal background, a first-rate
cumulative GPA (4.0 scale), highly competitive test
scores (SAT and/or ACT), the constant pursuit of
excellence. Interested students should complete an
application; schedule an interview with the Director,
Assistant Director, or member of the Honors Advisory
Council; provide a critical writing sample; and submit a
letter of reference.
Each Fall, the University Honors Program carefully selects
a limited number of incoming students to join the
Program. Application materials are available at
http://www.lmu.edu/honors.
Further details on requirements and course descriptions
are continued under University Honors Program in the
Bulletin.
Individualized Study Program
Director: College or School Dean
The Individualized Study Program involves a select
number of creative and highly motivated students within
all colleges and schools of the University whose
educational needs and goals cannot fully be met by
individual departments or majors. The program is thus
designed to offer each participant greater responsibility in
determining the content of his or her major program,
based upon the goals to which that major is directed.
Students may wish to construct their programs or areas of
concentration from interdisciplinary, independent study,
field work alternatives, or a combination thereof.
The program is open to freshmen and sophomores who
have completed at least one semester in the participating
colleges or schools. Once accepted into the program by
the Dean of the student’s college or school, the student
selects a counselor who assists in designing the specific
content of the major in line with the student’s objectives.