The Regis University Honors Program is a community of students and faculty united by a shared love of learning and the courage to ask deeper questions. The Honors Program is available to self-motivated, conscientious Regis students who wish to complete an alternate pathway through the core curriculum and be distinguished as an honors graduate.
The Honors Program welcomes learners with diverse interests who want to ask deeper questions, connect their studies with their values and join a community that shares a love of discovery. You don’t need perfect grades or test scores to thrive in honors but you do need curiosity and commitment. Honors students are natural leaders across the campus community. They tend to thrive on challenges and they enjoy working together to realize their full intellectual potential. What’s more, honors students are eager to integrate their intellectual lives into their personal, community and world experiences.
The Honors Program is competitive and normally limited to 30 students per year. Priority admission and scholarship consideration will be given to candidates who submit their applications by Feb. 9, 2026. The final deadline for full consideration to the Honors Program will be given to candidates who submit their applications by March 16, 2026.
Honors Program students enjoy an integrated sequence of seminars designed especially for them by faculty from across Regis. This team-taught curriculum stresses interdisciplinary study, big picture thinking, and connections across fields. We also offer a variety of "honors-only" sections of standard core courses which invite students to explore material in greater breadth or depth, probing connections within and among disciplines. By taking an alternative pathway through the core curriculum, the Honors Program provides an exciting way to integrate the broader education of a liberal arts college.
Up to five $2,000 Honors Scholarships will be awarded to select incoming honors students with exceptional high school records on a competitive basis. Scholarships are renewable and stackable, up to full tuition, and span over four academic years pending maintenance of good standing in the honors program. Applications must be submitted by Feb. 9, 2026, for scholarship consideration.
In the honors curriculum, there is a four-course sequence that fulfills the first-year writing course and the Integrative Core requirements. Each seminar is organized under a broad theme that invites interdisciplinary conversation from multiple perspectives, and thus is taught by faculty members from different disciplines.
Course requirements for the honors program may change, please see the Course Catalog for the most updated list.
All departments have an opportunity to offer an honors section of their core courses. In a typical semester, students have a handful of potential courses to choose between, thereby allowing honors students to enroll in courses of particular interest them that are compatible with their schedule. Each of these honors offerings meets certain protocols — such as expectations for greater depth or student involvement — and is approved by the Honors Advisory Committee. These sections are open primarily to honors students, however instructors have the option to grant permission to students from their major to join the seminar. Honors students must enroll in at least four dedicated honors courses in addition to the four Core seminars, although many students opt for more.
FYE 250H: Honors Writing Seminar - The Idea of a University: Balancing Heart and Mind
Opens the dialogue about what constitutes a university education. It is the first in a series of interdisciplinary seminars designed to increase critical thinking and develop writing and communication skills.
ICC 420H: Honors Seminar - Diversity and Justice for All
Examines the implications of “justice for all” in a global context. This course examines historical and contemporary notions of diversity and justice through an integrative blend of literature, philosophy, history, science, and the arts.
ICC 430H: Honors Seminar - Magis and the Search for Meaning
This course explores the Jesuit concept of magis in relation to the fundamental human quest for meaning. Drawing on a variety of personal and literary narratives that seek to come to terms with the central question "How ought we to live?", this interdisciplinary course will end with a profound reflection on what it means to be human in our time.
ICC 410H: Honors Seminar - Environment and Society
Taken during sophomore year, this course invites students to consider the human person in relation to both society and the natural world. Uses scientific methods as modes of understanding our place and impact on the natural world.
HO 493A-B: Honors Thesis Research Seminars
These courses focus on the application of research methods appropriate to the student’s thesis topic.
HO 499: Honors Thesis
Students prepare the honors thesis produced in HO 493A and B for presentation in a defense or symposium.
