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 selected honors courses 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 eligible to apply for admission into the honors program. Applications may be found here.
• Smith Scholars, Presidential 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.
• 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 includes the following course requirements:

Honors students are required to take five of the eight available honors courses, of which two (HI/ES/RL 110 Creation and RL 313 Christian Thought)* are required. Honors students may take more courses if desired to fulfill central curriculum requirements or to earn general elective credit. Non-honors students are permitted to take these courses with permission of the instructor and director of the honors program for either Junior-Senior credit where appropriate or general elective hours. Non-honors students may not take these courses for central curriculum credit. Should 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.

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). Colloquia count toward general elective hours.

In their junior year, Honors Program students are required to present a proposal to the Director, 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

Relation of New Honors Courses to Original Honors Courses¹

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¹These courses may be substituted in either direction.

²Any of these associated courses still fulfill the 6 hour central curriculum history requirement for all honors students graduating uner 2023-2024 academic year’s catalog or before.

³Students needing a central curriculum lab will also need to ad BI 101 or ES 104 to make up for the loss of the lab component of the AR/CH 370 course. Other lab courses will be accepted on a case by case basis.

Honors Students Privileges

Overload

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

Registration

C.S. Lewis Honors Program students are afforded priority registration status and they preregister with seniors.

Housing

C.S. Lewis Honors students will be given priority access to WSA and CDA.

Course Size

All honors courses, except for colloquium, have a course cap of 21 students. The cap may only be increased in extraordinary circumstances by permission of the honors program director. This cap is in place to protect the interactive-intensive discussion-based nature of the honors courses.

Honors Council Representation

Two non-voting members (one selected by the faculty and one selected by the honors program students) will be invited to participate in select honor council meetings.