Honors Program
The Mazzuchelli Scholars Honors Program at Dominican University is designed for highly motivated students who seek the very best college has to offer. You’ll enjoy stimulating conversations, opportunities to work alongside faculty on original research, intellectual adventures on campus and beyond—and much more.
A True Community
Students in our Honors Program form an exceptionally tight-knit community within a community. They are bright, curious, committed students who hold a wide range of opinions, attitudes and experiences. They share everything from coffee to concerts, from pizza to poetry slams. Most of all, they share intellectual curiosity and an openness to creative challenges.
Small Classes, Big Ideas
Have you ever taken a course that changed the way that you see the world? For many students, our Honors seminars do just that. In small classes, you will test theories, seek answers and challenge beliefs—face to face with talented professors. You will work to understand some really big ideas, like the nature of evil or the politics of gender. You will enjoy the kind of intellectual and personal mentorships that are available to relatively few college students.
Adventures in Research
Why wait until graduate school to do research or signature work with an inspiring scholar? As an Honors student, you’ll have the chance to spend two years teaming up with an experienced professor to conduct advanced research in your major. You also will get a unique chance to present your work at our annual student research expo. You will master research methods and develop your problem-solving and presentation skills. It is great preparation for graduate school and professional life.
Lund-Gill Chair Scholars
Our Lund-Gill Chair brings some of the world’s most accomplished thinkers to campus for a semester of teaching and meeting with students. Recent chair holders include Leon Lederman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and Christopher Kennedy, a business executive and philanthropist. The chair for 2023–2024 is Ada Cheng, a facilitator of storytelling workshops. Cheng creates spaces to help ordinary people—often from marginalized groups—dig deep and tell their truths. As an Honors student, you will enjoy unusual access to these thought leaders as you swap ideas in informal conversations. You may even come out of the experience with a great job offer (two recent Honors students did just that).
Study Abroad
As an Honors student, you’ll have the rare opportunity to apply to study at the University of Oxford, one of the world’s great centers of higher learning. Dominican students win admittance to this prestigious program and go on to study at historic Blackfriars Hall, founded in 1221. Other Dominican students study in Latin America, Asia, Africa and throughout Europe. A term or two spent abroad can make a world of difference to you. You’ll expand your language skills, challenge your cultural assumptions and grow as a person.
Living and learning
A section of our newest residence hall, Murray Hall, is reserved for Honors students. The space is home to a diverse, tight-knit group that has much in common—including academic drive, a strong work ethic and a range of intellectual and professional interests. Murray Hall residents enjoy plenty of opportunities for campus involvement and positions of leadership. They also enjoy the benefits of membership in a community of individuals who engage, support and challenge one another every day.
Success Stories
See how doing scientific research as an Honors student helped recent graduate Madison Fette gain acceptance to a prestigious PhD program. Find out more about our Honors alumni.