Creating Community, Connections, and Lifelong Relationships
Arcadia University’s Honors Program is a close-knit, values-driven community where students are encouraged to show up authentically and grow alongside one another. Rather than focusing solely on traditional academics, the program emphasizes collaboration, teamwork, and shared experiences that help students build confidence, leadership, and meaningful connections.
Within this supportive environment, Honors students learn from each other, explore their interests, and develop the skills and self-awareness to make an impact both during their time at Arcadia and beyond.
*2023–24 academic year
Honors Program Benefits
Arcadia University Honors Program includes many academic privileges, including:
- Priority registration for classes
- Permission to take up to 20 credits per semester after your first semester at Arcadia
- Internship Opportunities through The Compass and mentoring programs
- Specialized leadership development and mentorship opportunities
Additionally, Honors students enjoy other benefits outside of the classroom, such as:
- Access to The Hive, the Honors Program’s dedicated community space.
- Off-campus excursions to enriching venues, premier museums, and restaurants.
- Camaraderie through social get-togethers as you plan for future events, share overseas experiences, and celebrate special occasions.
- Organize campus and community service events.
- Network with leaders from the wider community.
- Act as campus leaders on the Honors Executive Board (Council).
- Participate in student-led service learning projects, including civic engagement initiatives, community partnerships with local nursing homes, college-readiness programs for at-risk youth, and resource-building efforts for homeless shelters.
Mission, Values, and Goals
Mission
Arcadia Honors is a place where students with many talents and passions are encouraged to feed their strengths, refine them, and then own them. The program grows in the direction of our values, passions, and talents. Students are encouraged to take the best of themselves to make positive impacts on innovative, strategic, and empathetic teams and also recognize the pathway to their own happiness.
Values
- Empathy: Make understanding others a priority.
- Collaboration: Play well with others; there is strength in teams.
- Innovation: Problems are just opportunities waiting to be explored.
- Integrity: Be who you say you are.
- Passions: Follow them.
- Communication: Voices heard and understood create a difference.
- Connection: Every connection is an opportunity for greater happiness.
- Inclusivity: Everyone has a special place within the community; explore yours and use it to change the community for the better.
- Diversity: Living lives where differences are celebrated as a valued asset.
- Shared vulnerability: Being willing to take risks, learn from setbacks and most of all, ask for and give help. In shared vulnerability real connections occur and trust is built.
Goals
- Establish a community of Honors Students that fosters scholarly pursuits and leadership.
- Provide Honors courses that are academically inviting and challenging while encouraging students’ talents and broadening their knowledge base.
- Provide specialized opportunities to be mentored and be a mentor.
- Provide a curriculum that requires deep introspection of individual talents, values, and means of contributing to a team to create positive change.
- Provide opportunities beyond normal campus activities to expand and encourage cultural, scientific and artistic appreciation.
- Encourage Honors Students to actively participate in campus activities, assume leadership roles, and create new campus programs and events.
- Involve Honors Students actively in the Honors Program through the Honors Council and by initiating Honors projects.
- Provide access to and mentorship through scholarship applications.
I have felt nothing but community in Honors! I've made so many friends, learned so much, and done so much I have wanted to do or never thought I would be doing. I can't imagine my time at Arcadia without Honors being a part of it because it's guided so much of my journey here.
Certificate in Teamwork and Leadership Development
The Certificate in Teamwork and Leadership Development is awarded to students who complete the Honors Program requirements, including HN201 The Study of Self and Teams, the Honors Project, and three upper-level seminars with at least one focused on leadership, or an approved equivalent with high-impact practices. Students also complete experiential components such as team-based service, an internship, conference presentation, or professional development hours, earning at least a B in each course. A required workshop helps students showcase the credential on resumes.
Honors PROJECTions
Honors PROJECTions replace the traditional thesis with a semester-long, passion-driven project completed outside a student’s major. With mentorship, resources, and institutional support, Honors students turn ideas into ambitious, meaningful work that reflects their talents, curiosity, and vision—demonstrating what’s possible when exploration is encouraged and potential is fully supported.
Honors in the News
Abby Stephens’ Leadership On and Off the Field Leads to Four Medical School Acceptances and Counting
