Designed for highly motivated and passionate students, the CUC Honors Program aims to increase a student’s knowledge throughout their undergraduate career based on national standards for educating the best and brightest students at the university level.
The Honors Program
- Pushes students to employ critical thinking skills in their personal and professional lives
- Encourages collaboration in and outside of the classroom
- Promotes student community involvement
- Exposes students to interdisciplinary analysis
As a student participating in the Honors Program, you will have the opportunity to supplement your bachelor’s degree with an exhilarating immersion into an enduring conversation with the greatest minds, both ancient and modern. Designated a Great Books program—one that focusses on reading literature penned by our civilization’s most influential thinkers and authors—the honors curriculum will train you in the use of critical thinking to engage the perennial questions and the seminal texts in the pursuit of wisdom that stretches from the philosophers of antiquity to contemporary thinkers. Your learning will also be shaped by the University’s pillars of truth, freedom and vocation, as you engage in conversation with the great tradition that we have inherited.
Eligibility Requirements
While oriented primarily toward students who have achieved a certain level of academic success (as demonstrated by a 3.5 GPA and a 27 ACT/1200 SAT score), application to the honors program is open to any student interested in committing to this challenging, but rewarding, experience. Students who wish to apply should complete the Concordia University Chicago application materials and include a letter expressing their interest in applying to the honors program. This letter, approximately 250-300 words in length, should explain both why they are interested in this text-based general education curriculum and how they believe their participation in this program will benefit them. Each application is then reviewed by the program’s director.
Honors Program Tracks
In order to better meet the needs of our student body, students may select from the following two Honors Program Tracks.
The Honors Scholar Track is the intended path for Concordia-Chicago’s Honors Program, as it affords students the opportunity to fully participate in the comprehensive honors curriculum. Students who complete the Honors Scholar Track will also receive a Great Books Certificate of Completion.
The Honors Scholar Track consists of the following courses:
- CHP 1000: Logic & Rhetoric (3 hours)
- CHP 1250: Mathematics Through the Age (3 hours)[1]*
- CHP 1300: The Experience of Beauty (3 hours)
- CHP 1400: Understanding Self and Society: A Survey of the Sociological Tradition (3 hours)
- CHP 1500, 1600, 1700: Seminar on the Great Texts of Literature: (3 x 1-hour seminars—3 hours total)
- CHP 1500 Seminar on Great Texts of Literature: Prudence and Folly; Justice and Selfishness
- CHP 1600: Seminar on Great Texts of Literature: Courage and Cowardice; Temperance and Licentiousness
- CHP 1700: Seminar on Great Texts of Literature: Faith, Hope, and Love; Unbelief, Despair, and Hate
- CHP 1800: The History of Economic Thought (3 hours)
- CHP 1900: Classical Literature (3 hours)
- CHP 2000: History and Theology of the New Testament (3 hours)
- CHP 2050: Ethics (3 hours)
- CHP 2100: History of Political Thought (3 hours)
- CHP 2150: Philosophy: Metaphysics (3 hours)
- CHP 2200: Foundations in Christian Theology (3 hours)
- Foreign Language: (6–8 hours)
- Physical and Life Sciences (7–8 hours)
Total: 49–52 Hours
*Students in programs that require specific math courses can substitute this course.
The Honors Associate Track is designed for transfer students and students whose programs may not afford the flexibility to participate in the more rigorous Honors Scholars Track. This option consists of the following courses:
- CHP 1300: The Experience of Beauty (3 hours)
- CHP 2050: Ethics (3 hours)
- CHP 2150: Philosophy: Metaphysics (3 hours)
- CHP 2200: Foundations in Christian Theology (3 hours)
- Select 6 hours from any of the honors courses.
- Seminar on Great Texts of Literature: 1 hour
Total: 19 Hours
Transfer students who have completed an Associate Degree only need to complete the following courses:
- CHP 1300: The Experience of Beauty (3 hours)
- CHP 2050: Ethics (3 hours)
- CHP 2150: Philosophy: Metaphysics (3 hours)
- CHP 2200: Foundations in Christian Theology (3 hours)
Total: 12 Hours
