Academic Honors at Bluffton
Explore opportunities to deepen your learning, pursue your passions and be recognized for academic achievement at Bluffton.
The honors program at Bluffton is a four-year program designed to challenge intellectually ambitious, highly motivated students in all disciplines. In keeping with the mission of Bluffton University, the honors program has a special emphasis on integrating academics, spiritual growth, individual growth and service. Finally, in addition to coursework, the program sponsors special cultural, social and professional events for honors students.
Requirements:
- 18 credit hours
- Including a specially-designed section of Becoming a Scholar in your first semester on campus
- Remaining hours may be taken from specially-designed Enduring Values General Education courses, a semester abroad (3 hours) or completion of a departmental honors project (6 hours).
What are the benefits of the Bluffton University honors program?
- Extensive faculty-student interaction
- Cultural, fine arts and social events available only to honors students
- Opportunities to explore relationships between academic study, religious faith and vocation
- Workshops and seminars for professional development
- Completion of honors program noted on official transcript
- Special advising for graduate and professional school admission and applications
- Qualified new students will be invited into the C. Henry Smith Honors Program.
Qualified high school seniors will be invited to enter the honors program.
Requirements for program eligibility include:
- Acceptance into Bluffton University
- Minimum 3.5 GPA and minimum 24 ACT or 1160 SAT
- Or 3.75 GPA on a 4.0 scale with no test score required
The program thrives on the uniqueness of its students. Diverse life experiences, academic interests and extracurricular activities all add to the classroom and social environment of the program and are highly valued. Membership in the honors program will be limited to 22 new students each year. The first 22 invited students to deposit will be accepted into the program.
To remain a member of the honors program, students must maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA and remain in good standing at Bluffton.
Current/transfer students
Bluffton first-year students and sophomores who were not invited into the honors program
as new students, and transfer students, may apply to join the honors program. They
must be in good standing and have a minimum cumulative college GPA or 3.5 or higher.
If you have questions about the honors program at Bluffton, please contac the Bluffton University Admissions Office, admissions@bluffton.edu or 419-358-3257
A departmental honors project gives you the opportunity to explore your interests. Students have written research papers, developed art shows and created children’s books and novels. You will earn between 5-7 semester hours of credit spread over at least two semesters.
To begin, develop a proposal with the help of a sponsoring faculty member. Your proposal will be taken to a faculty committee. When your project is approved, you may begin work and meet periodically with your faculty sponsor.
Past Student Projects:
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The Pi Delta Society was established by faculty vote in 1922 to recognize Bluffton
students who demonstrate high academic success. The Greek letters pi and delta are the first letters of each word in the Society's motto, πάντα δοκιμάζετε, which
translates to, "put everything to the test."
These words appear in the apostle Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, in chapter 5, verse 21. Paul is advising the Thessalonians that they should not dismiss proclamations and activities inspired by the Holy Spirit, nor should they take them as a given. They should test everything, keep what is good, and steer clear of everything that looks evil. Records of who might have suggested this motto are lost to history, but the motto aligns with how Bluffton inspires its students to pursue living in the global community.
Today, Pi Delta is an honorary scholastic society established to promote high standards of scholarship. Admission is by vote of the faculty from those seniors who, at the time of their graduation have met the following academic success criteria:
- Students who have completed 30 or more but less than 62 semester hours at Bluffton University at the time of graduation and have a GPA of 3.90 or better.
- Students who have completed 62 or more but less than 93 semester hours at Bluffton university at the time of graduation and have a GPA of 3.80 or better.
- Students who have completed 93 or more semester hours at Bluffton University at the time of graduation and have a GPA of 3.75 or better.
New inductees to the society are announced each spring during Bluffton University's academic awards forum and are presented with a pin bearing the society's logo.
Academic Awards are given to graduates named as best scholar in each major. In addition, special awards are presented to the international student and student-athlete with "highest scholastic record," and to individuals who excel in oratory, business, music, visual art and education.
All undergraduate degree-seeking students with at least a half-time load of graded courses whose GPA for the period is no lower than 3.6 are named to the Dean’s List. Students on the dean's list whose cumulative GPA, as based on at least 20 semester hours, is no lower than 3.75 will be indicated as receiving distinction for continued high achievement. Students with incompletes are disqualified.
Departmental Honors Proposal Guidelines
A successful proposal for a departmental honors project should include a clear statement of the research question, a description of how the student became interested in the project, a research plan, the names of the project director and two faculty readers and a bibliography.
The proposal should be two-three pages, single-spaced, and the bibliography one. The number of pages will depend somewhat on the discipline and the nature of the proposed project. The proposal should demonstrate work commensurate with 1 or 2 semester hours of credit, depending on how many credits the student registered for. Each of these components is described more fully below.
- Title Page.The form includes places for the title of the project, the name of the author, the
term(s) in which the study will take place, and three signature lines to indicate
that each of the student's committee members have read and approved the proposal.
The statement indicating that the student's committee members have read and approved
the proposal must be included.
- Statement of Research Question. Specifically what question are you trying to answer as you research your project? Is the question one you can answer in 3-6 semester hours of independent study? (e.g., "What caused World War II?" might be too big a question for a departmental honors project.) If you are proposing a creative writing project, what kind of text do you imagine? What will the subject matter and the form be, and how will your work be both related to and different from similar texts already in existence?
- Description of Student Interest. In evaluating an honors proposal, it helps the committee to know how you got involved in the question and how the project fits into your interests or life.
- Research Plan. How will you get your hands on the resources you need to complete the project? What library or archive collections, survey populations or other sources or information or study will be accessed? If you are doing a creative writing project, what kinds of models and sources of information will you need to consult? For how many terms do you plan to register, for how many hours do you plan to register, and what do you plan to accomplish in each term? Include a timetable stating deadlines for the completion of various stages of the project including rough drafts and the final draft, insuring that the final draft is ready for submission to the UAPC by its spring deadline.
- Committee. In the proposal you should list the names of the faculty member who will supervise the project, and two faculty members who will review the student's work and the final project. These three people make up the student's committee. Include a brief explanation of the role each member will play.
- Bibliography. A one-page preliminary bibliography helps us know that you are familiar with what has been written on your topic and that there is enough material out there to justify your proposed project. The bibliography should include sources from a variety of media.
- Special Permission Checklist. Some projects will require permission from additional faculty members and/or administrative bodies. To increase the chances that the student will have a successful project, students are to complete the attached checklist to the best of their ability and turn it in with their proposal.
Note: Although this document focuses on written projects, other types of projects are
also encouraged.
Revised October 13, 2003