Alumni Association

Honors Program Celebrates Sixth Year - UMD Selected for Mortar Board National Honor Society

Begun in 2003, the UMD Honors Program has now proudly moved into its 6th year. Since that time, hundreds of high-achieving students from all colleges and disciplines at UMD have received the benefits of small all-honors classes with some of the most energetic and exciting professors on campus---studying such topics as: "Paris in the Age of Impressionism," "Renewable Energy," "Advanced Logic, Public Speaking," "World War I in History and Poetry," and many more.

The UMD Honors students have also enjoyed comradeship with their peers on field experiences on the Iron Range; in Thunder Bay; Chicago; Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis/St. Paul. On such trips they studied urban and social history, local art and architecture, and sampled the cuisine while participating in haiku writing and photography contests. They tasted sushi for the first time, stood inside a giant tire in Hibbing, formed study groups and chess teams, and created friendships that may last a lifetime.

UMD Honors aims to recruit and retain high-achieving students who will make their mark on the UMD campus and then in the wide world beyond graduation. Just over 180 students are currently part of this evolving program.


An Honors Journal-

Two years ago UMD Honors established an Honors student journal, which solicited and received submissions from all across the country. Aisthesis: Honors Student Journal took its name from the ancient Greek word for ‘intelligent perception’, and contains work in all media from standard research papers to poems, photographs, and fiction. Honors students select and edit the contents, and thus experience the print production process first hand. UMD is excited about this prestigious journal which is providing a showcase for the best work honors students are doing nationwide.


UMD Chartered Chapter of Mortar Board-

Fostered by the Honors Program, UMD was selected as a chartered chapter of Mortar Board National Collegiate Honor Society in 2008-09, and the UMD Tau Delta Chapter inducted its first 22 members in April. Students were nominated on the basis of scholarship , leadership and service. Tau Delta Mortar Board members not only have very high grade point averages in demanding fields, they also give back to their campus and community in activities such as student government, Habitat housing projects, and the Union Gospel Mission. Philosophy Professor Eve Browning is the UMD Tau Delta Chapter advisor.


UMD Honors graduates have gone on to law school, medical school, and graduate programs of many types. They have joined the Peace Corps, joined the staffs of elected officials, and enrolled in divinity school. Their Honors Capstone projects, completed and presented in the senior year, provide a sample of their best work which can open doors for them in the application process, and stand as lasting testimony to the high quality of research and artistic creativity UMD Honors promotes.


This fall the Program welcomed the 7th incoming freshman cohort of Honors students, who have worked extremely hard to maintain good grades while holding down jobs and volunteering in their communities.

In the future UMD Honors hopes to secure funding for Honors Scholarships, so that UMD can continue to attract and retain these high-achieving and hard-working students who add so much to UMD and its high academic reputation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE http://www.d.umn.edu/honors