C. S. Lewis Honors Program

Description

The Honors Program at Louisiana Christian University is an interdisciplinary program that caters to students who perform at the highest academic standards. Its small, seminar-style courses focus on integrating faith and learning through writing, discussion, service learning, and travel. Students enter during their freshman year and complete the honors curriculum as a cohort.

Purpose

The purpose of the Honors Program is to further the vision of Louisiana Christian University of preparing graduates and transforming lives while supporting the mission of Louisiana Christian University “to be a Christ-centered community committed to Academic Excellence where students are equipped for Lives of Learning, Leading, and Serving.”

The Honors Program will fulfill this purpose by providing an honors experience integrated throughout the liberal arts curriculum, supplemented by honors colloquia, and one division-specific experience-based course that will be contracted with individual faculty culminating in a C. S. Lewis Honors Program Forum.

Program Participation

Admission

• Incoming freshmen with a 28 or higher on the ACT (or equivalent SAT or CLT) are automatically enrolled in the program. Should a student not wish to participate in the program he/she will need to fill out a withdraw form, which may be found in the office of the program director.
• Smith Scholars and STEM to STEAM Scholars must participate in the C.S. Lewis Honors Program.
• C.S. Lewis Honors Program participants must be enrolled in a traditional face-to-face academic program. Online students enrolled in 100% online programs are not eligible to participate.
• Louisiana Christian University students who do not meet the above criteria may petition the C. S. Lewis Honors Program Council for admittance into the program. To qualify, students must have completed at least one semester and no more than two semesters at LCU and have a local GPA of at least 3.70. To petition the Honors Program Council, students must fill out a C. S. Lewis Entrance Petition Form, attach an unofficial transcript, submit recommendation forms from all current and past LCU professors, the Dean of Students and the Coordinator of Academic Integrity, and submit an electronic writing sample of 1000-1500 words. All of this information is due to the Office of the Program Director by the last day to withdraw from courses with a ‘W’. Decisions will be delivered two weeks later. Please see the “Check-list for Students Petitioning for entrance into the C.S. Lewis Honors Program” in Appendix 1.
• Transfer students from other Honors programs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Transfer students will be required to fill out a C. S. Lewis Entrance Petition Form with attached unofficial transcript, submit recommendation forms from all the student’s  instructors from the previous institution, and submit an electronic writing sample of 1000-1500 words. All of this information is due to the office of the Program Director at least three weeks before coursework at Louisiana Christian University commences.

Continuance

To continue in the program students must maintain a 3.00 cumulative GPA and may not receive a grade below a “C” in any honors courses. The Registrar will verify students’ eligibility to remain in the honors program at the end of every semester. Students who earn less than a “C” in any honors course will receive a letter notifying them that they have been dropped from the program. Students whose cumulative GPA falls below 3.0, will receive a letter notifying them that they have been placed on probation in the program and have one semester to achieve the minimum GPA requirement. After one semester on probation, students who have failed to earn the 3.0 GPA requirement will receive a letter notifying them that they have been dismissed from the program.

Additional grounds for dismissal are as follows:

1. Student fails to participate satisfactorily in the Honor’s Colloquium Courses.
2. Student fails to comply with the Code of Student Conduct as stated in the LCU Student Handbook.
3. Student does not comply with the LCU statement on academic integrity
4. Student exhibits emotional or personal problems that interfere with interpersonal relationships in class or program activities. That student will be advised of such problems. After counseling with faculty and/or the Director of the Program and/or Provost/VPAA, the student may be referred for additional counseling. Unless the student follows through with counseling and improvement of behavior, the student will face dismissal from the program.

Note: Should students be removed from the program, their scholarships will be impacted.

Appeal

Upon receipt of the letter terminating participation in the program, students who believe that special circumstances warrant an exception to this policy may file a written appeal with the Honors Council. The appeal should be in the form of a letter submitted to the Honors Program Council through the Director of the Honors Program explaining the situation and providing documentation of extenuating circumstances. The letter must include the following: (1) an explanation of the circumstances that prevented the student from meeting the academic requirements outlined in this policy, (2) if applicable and available, documentation of the extenuating circumstances, and (3) an action plan for improved academic performance, meaning what the student plans to do differently to succeed in the Honors Program. The appeal must be filed at least seven calendar days prior to the beginning of the semester in which the student seeks readmittance to the Honors Program. Should the Honors Council deny the appeal, the student may appeal to the Provost/VPAA. The Provost/VPAA’s decision on such appeals is final.

Withdraw

Any student wishing to wirhdraw from the C. S. Lewis Honors Program must fill out a withdrawal form found in the office of the Program Director. Should students wish to re-enroll in the program after withdrawing, they must do so in writing at least fourteen calendar days before the start of the semester. Students may not sit out a semester (summer terms are not included) and seek readmittance.

Note: Should students withdraw from the program their scholarships will be impacted.

Curriculum

The C.S. Lewis Honors Scholars Program curriculum^1,2 includes the following course requirements:

Honors’ Colloquia - 3 hours total, taken from HN 100 , HN 101 ,  HN 200 , HN 201 , HN 300 , HN 301 , (½ hour colloquium credit each), HN 302 , HN 303 , HN 304  (1 hour colloquium credit each), and HN 305  (3 hours colloquium credit).

RL 103  The Biblical Story: Old Testament (3 hrs), RL 104  Survey of the New Testament - Honors (3 hrs), EN 205  Honors World Literature³ (3 hrs), HI 204  Honors World History³ (3 hrs), AR 370  or CH 370  The Science and Art of Light (4 hrs), PI 304  Christian Faith and Values, Honors. 

In their junior year, Honors Program students are required to present a proposal to the Director for, and then in the senior year enroll in a three-hour course (minimum) relating to their major. This course must have the following components: 1) be an internship, a project, or a thesis course; 2) be approved by a subcommittee of the Honor Council; 3) be interdisciplinary in nature; and 4) have a culminating written component that can be presented in the C. S. Lewis Honors Program Forum. Details relating to procedures may be found in section 5 of the C. S. Lewis Honors Handbook.

Relation of Honors Courses to the Central Curriculum

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¹All honors courses are for C. S. Lewis Honors students in good standing only, except for HN 302-304 where honors students are given priority. Non-honors students may participate in HN 302-304 to fill needed numbers at the discretion of the director and instructor.

²Should a student fail an honors course and be removed from the program they may NOT repeat the course. The grade stands on the transcript and the equivalent non-honors course(s) must be taken to fulfill the central curriculum requirement.

³EN 205 and HI 204 are intended to be taken together in the same semester.

⁴Should students fail HI 204 and be permanently removed from the program they must take both HI 104 and HI 105 to fulfill the central curriculum requirements.

⁵Should students fail AR 370 and be permanently removed from the program they must take a fine arts course to fulfill the central curriculum requirements.

⁶Should student fail CH 370 and be permanently removed from the program they must take a natural science and lab to fulfill the central curriculum requirements.

⁷The decision to take this course as CH or AR is left to the student and the student’s advisor. If taken as AR it will fulfill the central curriculum requirement for fine arts. If taken as CH it will fulfill the central curriculum requirement for a natural science lecture and lab.

With the approval of the student’s academic advisor, Honors students may take up to 21 hours per semester with no additional overload costs.