Quincy University establishes president’s honors college

QUINCY — Quincy University is enhancing its undergraduate honors program by establishing a president’s honors college that will provide a distinctive academic experience for students who are accepted into the program.

​Honors participation represents the university’s highest expression of intellectual curiosity and academic rigor. The president’s honors college provides an academically challenging course of study that adds an interdisciplinary and enriched dimension to a student’s major field and experience in the Bonaventure Program. The president’s honors college will be jointly led by Brian McGee, the president of the nniversity, and Daniel Strudwick, the honors dean.

The president’s honors college will retain the best elements of the current honors program but will provide new experiences, opportunities and challenges, Strudwick said. Students will be invited to advance on the intellectual, aesthetic, moral and leadership fronts.

McGee said the honors college will directly connect honors students to him and to all future presidents of the university. McGee will personally lead each fall honors colloquium, host events for honors students and their guests, and interact with honors students.

The expanded commitment to QU honors is a match for the Success by Design Program, which puts every student on the path to academic excellence, McGee said.

The president’s honors college promotes academic excellence through sustained critical thinking, original research, exceptional writing and public presentation of scholarly work. Its members attend academic colloquia and participate in aesthetic and cultural activities as part of their enhanced university life. 

Entering freshmen, current students in their first year of study and transfer students are eligible for honors membership. The honors college invites entering freshmen with a composite ACT of at least 26 and a high school grade point average of at least 3.4.

The university is constructing a designated honors office suite to be known as the Honors Lyceum in the university’s Francis Hall.

The honors program at Quincy College was founded in 1989 and has been a popular academic option for QU students, with about 200 declared honors students in the typical academic year. Many QU faculty work with one or more honors students during each academic year.

For more information about the president’s honors college at Quincy University, see www.quincy.edu/honors.