Honors Program
Are you a high-achieving and intellectually curious student?
Do you value a well-rounded education focused on interrogating big ideas that shape the world in which we live?
Do you want to form lifelong friendships with your peers and close bonds with your professors?
Then the University Honors Program at Detroit Mercy is for you.
The Honors Program has provided me with coursework that encourages interdisciplinary thinking, which fosters critical analysis and highlights how interconnected different facets of our society truly are . . . Through the process of writing my Honors Thesis, I found a gateway into research that profoundly impacted my life. I can confidently say that without this program, I would not have done this work to understand myself, and I would not be the person I am today.
Cristal Guzmán ’25, Political Science, 2025 Valedictorian
What’s unique about the Honors Program?
Small class sizes
Our classes are capped at 20 students, so students can take part in intensive discussion with their classmates and work closely with their professors.
Exceptional faculty
The Honors Program faculty are selected for their outstanding commitment to student learning and for their exceptional record of research and achievement in their field.
Undergraduate research
Honors students complete an Honors Thesis focused on a topic of their choosing. Students complete the Thesis under the supervision of a Faculty Thesis Advisor, providing students an opportunity to deepen their knowledge through rigorous mentorship. This is an especially valuable opportunity for students who plan to apply to graduate school.
Gardella Honors House
Honors students are granted exclusive access to the recently remodeled Gardella Honors House, a space at the center of campus in which Honors students study, socialize and deliver their Honors Thesis Defense presentations.
Community engagement
Honors students stand out for their exceptional community engagement. All Honors students take part in the University’s Emerging Leaders Program. Students complete 100 or more hours of community-engaged service over the course of their college career and are invited to reflect on the meaning and purpose of community engagement.
More than an academic program
While the Honors Program is an academic program led by faculty, the Program also operates as a student organization in which students form lifelong bonds and gain valuable leadership experience. In addition to taking numerous classes together and congregating for events on and off campus, Honors students have the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the Program. Each year, the Program accepts nominations for students to join the Honors Executive Board. The Board serves to enrich the social and intellectual life of the Program by organizing service projects, student gatherings and academic events.
Adds no additional time to your degree
The Honors Program curriculum fits into each student’s major, so students are able to complete the Program without additional courses or extra costs.
The Honors program has stopped me from turning into an engineering robot. It's helped me become a well-rounded person, thinking not only about academics, but also about life outside of school and our purpose in this world. And I am very grateful for that.
Ahmad Chalhoub ‘22, Mechanical Engineering
Core values
Curiosity
During Honors coursework, students explore big questions across a wide range of fields in the humanities and social sciences, including English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, African American studies, Theatre and Women & Gender Studies.
Critical Thinking
Students in the UHP learn to think critically about themselves and their world, moving beyond common-sense understandings of fundamental issues such as justice, equality and success through intensive study across a wide range of disciplines.
Diversity
UHP students engage with diverse perspectives and cultures through coursework and service. UHP students come to understand themselves and their place in the world through a global framework steeped in questions of human difference.
Community
The UHP brings together students from across the University. Students form lifelong bonds with their peers in various majors and colleges. All UHP students are granted a key to the Gardella Honors House, a space reserved for studying, relaxing and socializing.
Reflection
UHP students regularly reflect on both their fields of study and themselves, making connections across their courses and identifying their own evolving values in pursuit of scholarly, professional and spiritual excellence. UHP students search for their "why."
Service
UHP students engage the larger University community and communities across Metro Detroit by completing 100+ hours of community-engaged service. UHP students reflect on the meaning of community engagement for themselves and their world.
-
How to apply
You will be invited to apply
Students who apply and are accepted to Detroit Mercy are invited to apply to the Honors Program based on the following criteria:
- High school or transfer GPA of 3.5 or higher
- Record of participation in extra-curricular activities
Submitting your application
Students who are invited to apply complete their application to the Honors Program by writing an admissions essay that addresses the following prompt:
The University Honors Program has a number of special features, including:
- Small class sizes, so that students can engage deeply with their professors and peers;
- The Honors Thesis, in which students develop an original research project in any field of their choice—from biochemistry to architecture and anything in between—with guidance from a faculty mentor; and
- Courses that emphasize reading, writing, and critical thinking across a range of fields, including literature, philosophy, history, political science, religious studies, theatre, African American studies, and women’s and gender studies.
In a 500–600-word personal statement, tell us how these features of the program would benefit your education and/or personal development.
Note on University Honors Program eligibility
The Honors Program welcomes applications from high school graduates and college transfer students who are new to Detroit Mercy. Students are only eligible to enter the Program during the same semester they enter the University.
Due to degree progress and credit requirements, some transfer students are ineligible for the Honors Program, including students who enter the university with the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA). Transfer eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis.
The following majors are also ineligible for the Honors Program:
- 5-Year Accounting
- 5-Year Health Services Administration
- 5-Year Physician Assistant
- 6-Year Law - Business Administration
- 6-Year Pharmacy
- 7-Year Pharmacy
- 7-Year Dental
- Healthcare Operations Management
- Pre-Dental Hygiene
- Social Work - Full-Time Accelerated
- 7-Year Optometry
-
Honors Symposium
Each April, the Honors Program hosts the annual Honors Symposium, in which a guest speaker (or two) delivers a presentation and leads a discussion of an important topic of their choosing. At the Symposium, the entire Honors community comes together to share in food, intellectual conversation, and camaraderie. At the end of the Symposium, graduating seniors receive their Honors stoles for commencement.
Recent Honors Symposia have focused on a wide range of topics, including biodiversity and sustainability, Plato’s allegory of the cave, theories of imagination rooted in the study of religions, the role of empathy in society, and the creation of “third spaces” in Detroit.
-
Study abroad opportunities
The Honors Program recognizes the value of study abroad and encourages students to participate when possible. Living and working with people from other cultures is an invaluable learning experience for any college student, particularly given the increasingly global nature of the professional and intellectual world that students will contribute to after college.
Members of the University Honors Program may take up to two accredited study abroad courses in lieu of required Honors courses. University of Detroit Mercy offers study abroad programs in numerous countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Cuba, China, El Salvador, England, Greece, Italy, Mexico and Poland.
Interested students should consult with the departments sponsoring these programs for more information and contact the University Honors Program co-directors to request a course substitution for an approved study abroad cours
-
Honors recognition at graduation
Honors students at Detroit Mercy enjoy special recognition at graduation. Members of the Program who graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and complete all of the graduation requirements for the Program will:
- Have their degree designated as an Honors degree with “Honors” printed on their diplomas
- Wear golden Honors stoles at Commencement
- Receive transcripts that bear the Honors designation
- Be announced as an Honors graduate at commencement
We learn in an intimate community consisting of peers who are similarly driven toward scholarship and achievement.
Our classroom environments allow for free, scholarly discussion that has not only helped me continue to focus on my love of learning, but has broadened my knowledge through the interaction with my peers and their unique perspectives.
—Sarah Buhay ‘20, Biology (Pre-Med)
The Honors Program gave me a chance to research what I'm passionate about and pushed me past what I thought I was capable of within both my majors. All of the professors I had within the program were so dedicated to making sure I succeeded, and their commitment to my growth solidified my experience at Detroit Mercy as a good one.
—Hannah Tillman ‘19, Psychology and English
Questions? Contact us!
If you have any questions regarding the University Honors Program, feel free to contact the Honors Program Co-Directors. See their contact information and bios at the links below.
Follow us on Instagram @detmercyhonors and see more at our LinkTree!
Honors Program Advisory Council
Shardé
Chapman
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
313-993-2007
chapmasn@udmercy.edu
Mary-Catherine
Harrison
Professor of English
*
Department Chair
313-993-1081
mc.harrison@udmercy.edu
J. Todd
Hibbard
Professor of Religious Studies
*
Chair of Religious Studies
313-993-1088
hibbarja@udmercy.edu
Andrew
Papa
*
Department Chair
Associate Professor of Theatre
University Honors Program Affiliate Faculty
313-993-3220
papaam@udmercy.edu
Evan
Peterson
*
Arnold Jarboe Chair of Business Administration & Director of Undergraduate Business Programs
313-993-1114
petersea@udmercy.edu
Thomas
Provost
Assistant Professor of Architecture and Community Development
Director, Visual Arts and the Built Environment (VABE) Program
provoste@udmercy.edu
Miao
Qian
Assistant Professor of Psychology
313-578-0455
qianmi@udmercy.edu
Honors Program Faculty
Kieran
Aarons
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
313-993-1138
aaronska@udmercy.edu
Shardé
Chapman
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
313-993-2007
chapmasn@udmercy.edu
Juan Carlos
Flores
Professor of Philosophy
313-993-3318
floresju@udmercy.edu
Felicia
Grey
Assistant Professor of Political Science
313-993-1087
greyfa@udmercy.edu
Mary-Catherine
Harrison
Professor of English
*
Department Chair
313-993-1081
mc.harrison@udmercy.edu
J. Todd
Hibbard
Professor of Religious Studies
*
Chair of Religious Studies
313-993-1088
hibbarja@udmercy.edu
Heather L.
Hill
Professor of English
313-993-1461
hillhl2@udmercy.edu
Hsiao-Lan
Hu
Professor of Religious Studies
Director of the Women's & Gender Studies Program
313-578-0351
hhu@udmercy.edu
Daniel
Kroupa
Lecturer II of History
Director of Museum Studies
313-993-1024
kroupadr@udmercy.edu
Martin
Leever
Professor of Philosophy
Director of the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Program
313-993-1135
leevermg@udmercy.edu
Andrew
Papa
*
Department Chair
Associate Professor of Theatre
University Honors Program Affiliate Faculty
313-993-3220
papaam@udmercy.edu
Evan
Peterson
*
Arnold Jarboe Chair of Business Administration & Director of Undergraduate Business Programs
313-993-1114
petersea@udmercy.edu
Gail
Presbey
Professor of Philosophy
Director of the Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive
*
Department Chair of Philosophy
313-993-1124
presbegm@udmercy.edu
Nick
Rombes
Professor of English
313-993-1085
rombesnd@udmercy.edu
Prasad
Venugopal
Professor of Physics
313-993-1481
venugoep@udmercy.edu
Justin
Williams
Associate Professor of History
*
Department Co-Chair
Director of the African American Studies Program
313-993-1099
williaj47@udmercy.edu
Honors Program Leadership
Stephen
Pasqualina
Assistant Professor of English
Co-Director, University Honors Program
313-993-2008
pasquasg@udmercy.edu
Mary Elizabeth
Valesano
Associate Professor of Theatre
Costume Designer for the Detroit Mercy Theatre Company
Co-Director, University Honors Program
313-993-3268
valesame@udmercy.edu
Molly
Barlow
Senior Adjunct Instructor
Program Coordinator, University Honors Program
mbarlow@udmercy.edu