The Cormier Honors College

Dr. Christopher L. Kukk, Dean
Sarina Holder, Senior Director
Jacob Farmer-Rylands, Honors Fellow

Honors Faculty

Adam Blincoe, PhD, Senior Lecturer
Hannah Dudley Shotwell, PhD, Lecturer
Kevin Schattenkirk, PhD, Lecturer

The Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars offers attractive and challenging opportunities for intellectual growth to well-prepared and highly-motivated students. Students demonstrate their commitment to the honors and broader Longwood University communities through their engagement with the Cormier Honors College’s three pillars: cognition, compassion and community. In Honors courses, the emphasis is on teaching students to articulate an understanding of a given field, to relate that field of knowledge to others, to think independently, and to write and speak clearly and concisely. Honors classes are generally small in size and provide opportunities for intensive class discussion and innovative teaching.

Some honors classes are specially designated sections of courses required for the Civitae Core Curriculum; others are created for honors students specifically and may be team-taught and interdisciplinary in nature. Many upper-level courses that do not have prohibitive prerequisites may be designated as honors courses. Moreover, students formally enrolled in the Cormier Honors College can arrange for up to three advanced courses in the major field to be enhanced for honors credit. Honors students who also elect to undertake the Longwood Senior Thesis Project may count six credit hours of that work in place of two of the three required upper-level courses.

Entering students are invited to join the Cormier Honors College based on a screening of their high school records and standardized test scores (if applicable). The Cormier Honors College welcomes applications from students at the second-semester level who attain a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and from incoming transfer students who are in good standing at their former institution. Any Longwood student who meets the qualifications for admission to the Cormier Honors College, but who does not wish to take a full range of honors work, may register for one or more classes on a space-available basis.

Honors scholarships are available for those entering the program, and they may be retained as long as the recipient makes satisfactory progress toward completing honors requirements and maintains honors grades. To remain in the Cormier Honors College a student must maintain a grade point average of 3.25 in honors courses and an overall average of 3.25, computed at the end of each year. Honors graduates are recognized at graduation (cum honore) and their honors standing is permanently recorded on their transcripts. Requirements for successful completion of the program are as follows:

Maintenance of a minimum grade point average of 3.25, both overall and for all honors courses.
Successful completion of at least eight honors courses, including Honors Citizen 110 (or appropriate alternative for students who do not enroll as incoming freshmen) and Honors Citizen 410. Three of the eight courses must be numbered 300 and above.
Completion of a credit-bearing study away program (international or Brock experiences).
Completion of a senior-level, honors project.

In their first year, honors students have available to them housing in the honors residence in the Cox-Wheeler community; upper-level students may elect to live there as well.

All honors students are eligible to apply to make presentations at state, regional, and national honors conferences and to participate in a national honors semester or winterim program through the National Collegiate Honors Council.