Pennoni Honors College

Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College deepens and enriches the University experience for students from all majors. The Honors College is comprised of seven departments: the Honors Program, Office of Undergraduate Research (includes STAR Program), Drexel Fellowships Office, Center for Civic Engagement, Great Works Symposium, Custom-Designed Major, and The Smart Set. The College also directs two programs: Visiting Scholars and the Cultural Passport.  With the exception of the Honors Program, whose members are selected, all Pennoni Honors College departments are open to the entire University student population.

The Pennoni Honors College is named after Annette and Drexel graduate C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni, CEO of Pennoni Associates, and two-time interim president of the University. Honors students endeavor to emulate his qualities of strong leadership, integrity, and commitment to Drexel.

Honors Program
Students selective for admission to the Honors Program have shown demonstrated academic achievement and varied intellectual interests based on multiple indicators of intellectual strength, accomplishment, and motivation. Selection is based on a written statement, high school and perhaps college GPA, activities, awards and honors, and SAT/ACT scores. Honors students must maintain a GPA of 3.2 or higher once accepted, make satisfactory progress toward their degree, participate in Honors courses, and demonstrate conduct befitting an Honors student. Entering freshmen not directly invited to the Program may apply between March 1st and June 1st of their senior year of high school.

Current Drexel students may apply through the end of their sophomore year (4 year programs) or pre-junior year (5 year programs). Applications must be submitted to the Program by the last day of the term to be considered for admission the following term. Honors students are drawn from all majors.

The Honors Program offers a number of academic options for its students. These opportunities are designed to be intensive, and are taught by faculty members who understand and accommodate Honors students’ abilities and aspirations.

These options include:

• Honors Colloquia: These interdisciplinary courses introduce students to topics not typically covered elsewhere. These courses are small, discussion-based, seminar style classes. Past Honors Colloquia topics include: The Hidden God in Cinema; Theory of Special Relativity; The Graphic Novel; Torture and Terrorism, and many others.
• Honors-Section Courses: These courses fulfill traditional major requirements but offer Honors credit. While the subject remains the same, the classes are taught to smaller groups, consisting entirely of Honors students, and on an advanced level that encourages discussion and practical application. Honors-section courses include, among other subjects, physics, English, business, general psychology, chemistry, and biology.
• Honors Options:  With permission from their instructors and approval from the Honors Program, Honors students may elect to enhance non-honors courses to yield honors credit. The student and faculty member conducting may agree on the specific terms before the course begins and jointly submit a proposal to the Honors Program.
• Independent Study: Honors students frequently come across topics in their general coursework that they would like to investigate in greater detail. To accommodate this, the Honors College encourages students to study and research a topic of their choosing with guidance from a faculty member.

The Great Works Symposium
The Great Works Symposium is a series of team-taught, interdisciplinary courses, each one focused upon a great human achievement or important global problem. Each course typically has at least three instructors, representing three different academic disciplines, and typically there is a series of about ten guest lecturers, recognized experts on the topic, also representing a wide variety of disciplines and points of view. Each course is broader in its content than what could be covered by any one academic discipline or any single textbook, but each has a concrete center of focus. Each topic is broad and important enough that it is relevant to the education of any student. Topics are selected which have aspects of relevance to contemporary social, political, and economic concerns. Topics of past Great Works Symposia include, among others, Globalization; The Atomic Bomb; The Internet; The Bhagavad-Gita; The Brooklyn Bridge; and Energy.

Custom-Designed Major
The Custom-Designed Major, which will accept its first students for academic year 2011-12, enables students to pursue an individualized course of study at Drexel University not readily available through an existing major, or a combination of existing majors and/or minors.  The program is designed for highly motivated students whose interdisciplinary curiosity and career ambitions cannot be satisfied by a traditional major.

Center for Civic Engagement 
The Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) helps Drexel students learn about citizenship through community engagement and service learning. The CCE encourages students both to learn about the city in which they are living and studying and to engage in activities that address needs and problems. The CCE also aims to help Drexel and its surrounding community to forge positive relationships, benefitting both. In addition to placing every Drexel freshmen in a service learning opportunity, the CCE manages the Philip B. Lindy Scholars Program, the Drexel Community Scholars, and other major service initiatives.

Cultural Passport Program
The City of Philadelphia is steeped in culture and history, all the while offering a thriving environment for commerce. Because Drexel is located only minutes from Center City, the University is able to use Philadelphia as an extended classroom in which to deepen students' understanding of the world, their environment and themselves. Drexel University's Cultural Passport program provides one free admission to more than 30 of Philadelphia's best cultural, historical, and performing arts institutions during a student’s first year. Students are provided a Cultural Passport early in the fall and may use it for one calendar year. Passports are provided to all freshmen, 1st year graduate students, law students and medical students as well as to all transfer students. Once a student has been given one free admission to a particular institution, the hope is that they will choose to return using the discounted rates for college students that are posted in the Passport.

The Office of Undergraduate Research
Drexel University’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) provides the opportunity for undergraduate students in good standing to integrate a faculty-mentored research, scholarship or creative opportunity into their undergraduate education. The Office of Undergraduate Research is housed within and managed by the Pennoni Honors College, but is a resource for all Drexel students, enrolled in all colleges and schools and virtually every academic discipline.

Services available through the Office of Undergraduate Research include:

• STAR: for first year students (see below)
• The DISCOVER database of faculty-sponsored research and creative opportunities
• Support for students to present their work at professional conferences

Other services include the provision of research-related information, development and management of undergraduate research opportunities, the support of courses to prepare students for research, and support for undergraduate conference attendance including the Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Conference and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). We encourage Drexel students to explore DISCOVER to find listings of work-study opportunities, research placements, and other opportunities to work with Drexel faculty.

STAR Scholars
Managed by the Office of Undergraduate Research, STAR is a special program for academically talented first-year students enabling them to incorporate a faculty-mentored research, scholarship, or creative project within their undergraduate curriculum. STAR matches 100 entering freshmen with faculty mentors and provides them with the opportunity to complete a funded ten-week summer internship in their intended field of study.

Approximately half of each year’s cadre of STAR Scholars is selected prior to their entrance to college; the remainder are nominated by faculty following their first term in college. Students enrolled in any department within the university are eligible to participate. In order to be considered for participation, students must achieve a 3.5 cumulative GPA and meet eligibility requirements for admission to the Pennoni Honors College.

During freshman year, STAR Scholars may participate in a series of seminar programs to prepare them for their summer of research. In spring term, STAR Scholars and their mentors sign an agreement outlining their respective responsibilities for the summer internship. STAR projects may take place within any college or school, department, or interdisciplinary laboratory. A limited number of international opportunities are available for work outside of the United States. While students are completing their summer research internship, they are provided a $4,000 stipend and receive university housing.

The STAR program proves a means for students to explore a major course of study, gain valuable research or creative experience as well as practical skills for career and graduate school and benefit from a close mentoring relationship with faculty.

Fellowships
The Drexel Fellowships Office fosters students’ broad vision and intellectual ambition by encouraging their application to a wide range of nationally competitive, highly prestigious awards such as Fulbright, Gates-Cambridge, Rhodes, Goldwater, Truman, and others.  Through intensive one-on-one advising and writing support, as well as outreach and education, the office supports students across the University, at all degree levels and in all fields of study, throughout these rigorous application processes.

The Smart Set
The Smart Set is Drexel University's online arts & culture journal, which has won national and international acclaim for its essays, reporting, and criticism. The journal is regularly linked by such high-profile publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, and Arts & Letters Daily. Reaching readers all over the world, The Smart Set logged around two million page-views in 2009. Besides a stable of award-winning professional writers and some of Drexel's top faculty as contributors, The Smart Set also hires talented students to help with editing, writing, photography, and design.

The Drexel InterView
The Drexel InterView is a lively and award-winning television series hosted by Drexel Distinguished Professor of English, Paula Marantz Cohen. The show features conversations with nationally known talents in the arts, culture, science, and society. Now in its eight season, the show currently airs on Public Broadcasting Stations, American Public Television, public and community access stations and university and college stations across the United States.

Visiting Scholars Program
The Visiting Scholars program is a highly selective program that allows high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors to register for college courses—on a space-available basis—at Drexel University’s University City Campus, while completing high school. Students attend regular University courses with upper-class Drexel students, and must meet the same requirements as other Drexel students in the class. Visiting Scholars receive full college credit and a Drexel University transcript for all work completed with a passing grade. Applicants must demonstrate the responsibility and maturity expected of university students, and have the approval of their high-school principal or guidance counselor to participate. It is important to note that this is not a dual-enrollment program; the Visiting Scholars program does not offer high-school credit through college courses.

Visiting Scholars may register for one course per term (up to four courses per year). Students may choose from day or evening courses offered through the College of Arts & Sciences, the Goodwin College, or the LeBow College of Business. Because Visiting Scholars are placed in University courses with college students, registration takes place after all current Drexel students have been registered for courses. Therefore, Visiting Scholars cannot be guaranteed enrollment into any course, and no exceptions can be made for closed courses. Enrollment into a particular course is dependent upon available space and the approval of the instructor. Additionally, in order to be enrolled in any course, Visiting Scholars must meet all stated course pre-requisites.

For additional information, visit Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College web site.