The Honors Program at Marygrove College offers highly motivated and academically talented students opportunities for enhanced intellectual experiences and cultural and social exchanges. In and out of the classroom, the Honors Program challenges students to work at the highest standard of excellence. It rewards personal initiative, promotes creativity and generosity, and supports collaborative learning. It also provides exceptional preparation for graduate and professional study. With its range of academic benefits, the Honors Program enriches the College’s total learning environment, including teaching, research, and service.

The standard course of study at Marygrove resembles Honors Programs at many colleges: classes are small, and students work closely with faculty to identify and pursue their intellectual interests. Yet the Honors Program at Marygrove goes further. It is designed to stimulate students with distinctive academic talents through increased opportunities for extended inquiry, independent research, and creative challenges to established ways of thinking. Requirements for co-curricular activities help Honors Program participants to develop sophisticated perspectives on today’s most pressing social and cultural issues.

The Honors Program is not a specific academic discipline in the same way as, for example, English or biology. Participation in the program does, however, carry specific benefits that will help prepare Honors scholars for the global workplace and graduate school. These benefits include opportunities to:

Grow intellectually through accelerated coursework beyond the Honors Program standard curriculum.

1. Enlarge your horizons through special social and cultural activities outside the classroom.
2. Earn special Honors recognition on your transcripts and at graduation ceremonies.
3. Enjoy special privileges in the Marygrove Library.
4. Hone the critical thinking and writing skills, leadership abilities, and expertise in independent, creative approaches that prepare you for the increasingly complex world of the 21st century.
5. Have opportunities for membership in professional organizations and presentations at professional conferences.

Loretta Woodard, Ph.D.
Madame Cadillac, Room 287
Direct: (313) 927-1452
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Students may apply for admission to the Honors Program if they have:

1. 3.3 or higher GPA in high school college prep program, at the college level, or GED equivalent.
2. Demonstrated overall potential and commitment to succeed.
3. Completed Honors Program Applicant Data Form, including a short essay demonstrating advanced critical thinking and effective use of language.
4. Transfer students and current Marygrove College students may apply to the Honors Program if they have between 24 and 70 semester hours (not counting foundational courses), and a minimum GPA of 3.3.

Continuation in the Honors Program depends on earning at least 3.0 in courses taken for Honors credit, and maintaining a 3.3 grade point average overall, as well as successful completion of the program requirements. Students who do not meet these GPA requirements will receive a letter of probation from the Honors Program and will be allowed one term to make up the deficiency.

Honors students will complete all of the regular educational requirements and expectations of the College and their individual programs. Of the total credit hours taken at Marygrove College, at least 24 credit hours must be taken for Honors credit, distributed as follows:

1. An introductory, 100-level Honors Seminar (not required of transfer students).
2. A 300-level Honors Seminar.
3. At least 12 credits of coursework at the 300 or 400 level taken as Honors Options. Courses designed with an Honors Option component require Honors students to fulfill all the requirements and expectations of the standard syllabus of the course, and to perform specific additional work beyond the standard curriculum. Such work should:
   • Demonstrate initiative beyond syllabus expectations;
   • Display originality in handling subject matter;
   • Produce a tangible, demonstrable outcome beyond stated expectations;
   • Incorporate a process of extended inquiry and/or independent research.
   • Examples of the specific requirements to be completed by students to earn Honors credit include supplementary readings, reports, or projects; attendance at appropriate related educational activities; independent research or self- instruction; and classroom or professional presentations or performances. Each semester’s class schedule contains the courses offered for Honors Option credit; to register for these courses, students need an Honors Option Agreement Form, available from the course instructor.
4. A Senior Seminar taken for Honors Option credit.
5. A Study Abroad, Domestic Exchange, or Service Learning experience.
6. Each term, Honors students should take part in at least two co-curricular activities such as lectures, exhibits, concerts, demonstrations, panel discussions, conferences, workshops, in- service experiences, recitals, plays, readings, media events, hearings, legislative sessions, field observations, and discussion groups. These should meet one or more of the following criteria:
   • the activity enhances or deepens appreciation, learning, or understanding,
   • expands or develops a curricular subject,
   • updates progress in a field,
   • provides a forum for discourse and opinion,
   • broadens one’s cultural sensibilities,
   • promotes the cross-curricular emphases of Marygrove College,
   • provides access to innovators and leaders in a field, or
   • generates new connections or new ways of seeing things.
7. Students in the Honors Program must be full-time students.

By addressing the needs of Marygrove students for challenges appropriate to a spirit of advanced intellectual inquiry, the Honors Program is designed to increase the advantages and benefits inherent in a traditional liberal arts education.