Honors College

Director: Lee Ann Westman, Ph.D.

The Honors College at Rutgers University-Camden provides unique opportunities and support to its students. Honors College students will find their academic careers enhanced by personal access to professors, as well as intellectual and social contact with other outstanding students. They also will benefit from extensive, individualized advising about academic programs at Rutgers, graduate or professional school plans, and major undergraduate and graduate fellowships and scholarships (e.g., Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Mellon, Goldwater, National Science Foundation). The honors seminars, which form the core of the program during the first two years, offer small classes taught by internationally known faculty who offer an interdisciplinary approach to subject matter. These seminars help to sharpen the intellectual skills necessary for personalized honors experiences during the junior and senior years; these projects provide a significant advantage when students apply to the nation's most prestigious and competitive graduate schools.

To graduate with "General Honors" in the Honors College, a student must achieve a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 at the time of graduation, complete two honors experiences in the junior and senior year, and satisfy the requirements of the Honors College. (Full requirements are explained in the Honors College section in the Programs, Faculty, and Courses chapter.)

The Honors College at Rutgers-Camden also supports activities outside the classroom. Films, guest lecturers, tickets to museum exhibits and cultural events, and field trips often are included in a course curriculum. Many of our educational activities also have a social component. Trips to cultural centers, such as Philadelphia and New York City, include visits to art museums and historical centers, or perhaps an architectural tour, followed by a meal at a special restaurant. Tickets to many Rutgers music, theater, and dance performances also are available to Honors College students on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, the Susquehanna Bank Center on the Camden waterfront also has provided tickets for concert events.

Honors students also have an honors wing within the residence hall where they can share their ideas and studies with students who have similar interests. The floors have special study rooms with computer and network access, as well as a modern seminar room for guest lectures and discussions. Each year, approximately one-third of the entering honors students take advantage of this unique opportunity. Honors students also have exclusive study and meeting rooms in the Paul Robeson Library on the Rutgers-Camden campus.

While most enter this program as first-year students, limited numbers of sophomores and transfer students, who have outstanding academic records, may be admitted to the program as well.