Submit Your Honors Program Application Today
Incoming Fall 2024 First Year Students
The application for Bellarmine's Honors Program is available to admitted students for the fall of 2024 through March 1st.
Incoming Transfer Students
To be considered for admission into the Honors Program in the fall, please submit your application by August 1. To be considered in the spring, please submit your application by December 1.
Current Bellarmine Students
Bellarmine students currently enrolled and interested in joining the Honors Program are welcome to apply. To be eligible you must be a first year or sophomore student.
The Bellarmine University Honors Program provides qualified, motivated students of all majors and backgrounds with the opportunity to achieve at the highest possible level while forming lifelong friendships with others who share their love for learning. The program offers a range of practical, social, cultural, and intellectual benefits, including the following:
- small, discussion-oriented seminars that enable students to develop higher-order skills in self-expression, critical thinking, information fluency, and problem-solving.
- the in-depth process of researching and writing the Senior Honors Thesis, a scholarly, creative, or applied project that provides invaluable preparation for graduate and professional school, and that is a useful credential for any career path a student might choose to pursue.
- cultivation of greater intercultural growth and community engagement through foreign language and intercultural study courses, travel abroad opportunities, community engagement courses and experiences, and/or relevant field work.
-
social, cultural, and service activities and events both on and off campus through which students form strong connections with each other, with Bellarmine, and with the larger community.
- the chance to interact with distinguished visiting lecturers, scholars, and professionals in small group settings.
- specialty housing in a study-friendly environment.
- priority course registration.
The Bellarmine University Honors Program is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, the Southern Regional Honors Council, and the Kentucky Honors Roundtable and can be found in Peterson’s Guide to Honors Programs and Colleges.
Inclusive Excellence
The Bellarmine Honors Program is committed to the value of inclusive excellence. As articulated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, this value reminds us that there can be no true excellence without inclusion, and that we must strive for equity, access, and justice in everything we do. In practical terms, this means that our Honors Program is a community for all high-achieving students, and that we embrace a definition of diversity that includes but is not limited to race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, and veteran status. It also means that we are called to serve others from diverse backgrounds, building bridges between our community and other communities as part of a larger effort to build a more just society.