The University College’s Honors Dialogue Events is a series of discussion events about new ideas, concepts, and important issues found in the world for incoming and first year students, initiated by the Honors Program. The dialogue conversations take place five to six times a semester in multiple locations across campus.
Some of the requirements for incoming students to be accepted into the honors program include: score in the ninetieth percentile on the ACT, maintain a 3.25 GPA or higher in high school, or rank in top tenth of their graduating class. Students must meet two out of the three requirements.
If students do not meet these criteria, they can reapply during their first year as a freshman, according to Susan B. Carrafiello, director of the University Honors Program.
First year and incoming honors students must attend at least one mandatory dialogue event to fulfill their honors program requirement. “We’ve always tried to have faculty lead events that cover a wide variety of topics,” Carrafiello said.
The main significance of the Honors Dialogue Events is to grant first year students an opportunity to learn more about social issues in the world. Students are also exposed to new concepts that are centered around their major including nursing, engineering, math and science, and many more. It provides learning experiences in and out of the classrooms.
“I just think there's a lot of learning at the university which takes place outside of the classroom. Every undergraduate college is sponsoring all these wonderful opportunities, and they are a way to help guide students to those opportunities. We encourage any student, honor student or not, to go out and find these events and attend them because you can learn so much,” Carrafiello stated.
