Wesley’s Hon­ors Pro­gram
BY TOMMI BARRETT-GREENLY ’09

Ash­ley Peard, Maddi Von­ada, Devon Reynolds and Mandie Buet Hang out in the Bellmeyer Hon­ors House.

NOW IN ITS fifth year, Wesley’s Hon­ors Pro­gram has grown into a well estab­lished and impor­tant ele­ment of the College’s aca­d­e­mic life. It began under the guid­ance of Dr. Anthony Arm­strong, chair of Wesley’s Polit­i­cal Sci­ence Depart­ment, who envi­sioned an inno­v­a­tive cur­ricu­lum cen­tered on the “big ques­tions of life.” Arm­strong directed the Hon­ors Pro­gram dur­ing its first two years. Now it is under the lead­er­ship of Dr. Alban Urbanas, pro­fes­sor of phi­los­o­phy and French whose diverse teach­ing and research inter­ests include com­par­a­tive cul­ture, man­age­ment the­ory and applied ethics.

As direc­tor, Urbanas main­tains the cur­ricu­lum, which includes four semi­nars: The Nature of Real­ity, The Nature of Knowl­edge, The Good Life and The Social Good. The sem­i­nars are struc­tured to sharpen crit­i­cal and ana­lyt­i­cal skills. “Stu­dents are encour­aged to think cre­atively, artic­u­late ideas and appre­ci­ate dif­ferent per­spec­tives,” explained Urbanas. After tak­ing a required course in research meth­ods, stu­dents in the Hon­ors Pro­gram also com­plete and defend a the­sis in their major course of study.

While the sem­i­nars are intel­lec­tu­ally enlight­en­ing, the learn­ing is not lim­ited to what is taught within the class­room walls. For exam­ple, the stu­dents vis­ited Wash­ing­ton D.C. to see the Dalai Lama speak. They also went to the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Museum of Art in New York City, the Oneida Com­mu­nity Man­sion House in Oneida, New York, Franklin & Mar­shall Col­lege in Penn­syl­va­nia and, most recently, Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity. These trips broad­ened the per­spec­tives and expe­ri­ences of the students.

Admit­tance to Wesley’s Hon­ors Pro­gram is selec­tive. Incom­ing fresh­men that meet min­i­mum require­ments based on their high school GPA and SAT scores are invited to inter­view for the pro­gram. Let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion are also con­sidered in the selec­tion process. “One’s entry depends on the proper fit of the pro­gram with regards to the student’s over­all aca­d­e­mic goals,” explained Urbanas. Stu­dents must then main­tain a GPA of at least 3.3 through­out the course of their four years in order to remain in the program.

Once accepted in the Hon­ors Pro­gram, stu­dents are eli­gi­ble for var­i­ous ben­e­fits, such as a pres­i­den­tial schol­ar­ship each semes­ter, other schol­ar­ships based on merit and need, travel sup­port for profes­sional con­fer­ences, and spe­cial recog­ni­tion on tran­scripts, at grad­u­a­tion and on their diploma. Another advan­tage to being an hon­ors stu­dent is the eli­gi­bil­ity to reside at the Joseph S. Bellmeyer Hon­ors House, a beau­ti­ful Victorian-style home cen­trally located on cam­pus. The Bellmeyer Hon­ors House offers an enrich­ing atmos­phere for its res­i­dents and is also the site for peri­odic guest lec­tures and spe­cial events designed to fur­ther enhance the Hon­ors Pro­gram experience.

Con­sid­er­ing all the ben­e­fits offered by the Hon­ors Pro­gram, it is not sur­pris­ing that it has such a pos­i­tive impact on the lives of its stu­dents. Bran­don Gross­man, a his­tory major, is just one of the many stu­dents who appre­ci­ates all he has expe­ri­enced so far. “The Hon­ors Pro­gram makes me want to do bet­ter in school and keep up with my stud­ies,” Gross­man said. “It intro­duces you to a whole new world and friend­ships that will last for years to come.”

Amanda Beodeker, an ele­men­tary edu­ca­tion major, added, “I’ve learned to think beyond the bound­aries of the class­room, into the world and to every­thing that relates.”

Past mem­bers of the Hon­ors Pro­gram also have pos­i­tive remarks about their expe­ri­ences. Kevin Shu­man ’09, now a first year bio­log­i­cal sci­ences PhD candi­date at the Uni­ver­sity of Delaware, shared his thoughts about par­tic­i­pat­ing in the pro­gram. “It opened my mind to dif­fer­ent view­points of peo­ple around the world. This will help me to think dif­ferently about my future work and how it may affect others.”

Wesley’s Hon­ors Pro­gram greatly enriches the lives of its stu­dents. It also has been a source of pride for the Col­lege and a poten­tial sell­ing point to attract more aca­d­e­m­i­cally gifted stu­dents to cam­pus. The rig­or­ous cur­ricu­lum and unique pro­gram­ming oppor­tu­ni­ties of the Hon­ors Pro­gram are effec­tively prepar­ing the stu­dent par­tic­i­pants for a bright future beyond Wesley.