Honors Program Honor Code
We, the members of the Iona University Honors Program, value and strive to achieve academic excellence in our courses. We embrace “the bubble” as we grow as a community. We are dedicated to our unique extracurricular pursuits and support our peers in their endeavors. We show great interest in studying broad topics so as to learn in the liberal arts tradition. Our studies go above and beyond the classroom as we are active members on our campus community and the wider world. We hold ourselves to a high standard and eagerly pursue our passions. We refuse to compromise our academic integrity and understand that we as a whole must commit to this. We hold each other accountable when necessary and always seek to find honest solutions to problems. We are always prepared to Fight the Good Fight as we dare to know. Go Gaels!
We accomplish these objectives through a combination of the following:
- Participating in the Mentor System
- Contributing to Honors Publications
- Organizing and Attending Evening Lectures
- Attending and Presenting at Scholars’ Day
- Attending Thesis Day
- Taking a Leadership Role on Campus
- Academic Support and Peer Accountability
Mentor System
Every Honors freshman is paired with a volunteer peer mentor. The mentor makes a commitment to speak regularly with their mentee(s) over the course of the semesters, to offer advice and support. Particularly freshmen mentees should meet with their mentors a minimum of two or three times throughout each semester. This mentoring relationship lasts the duration of the students’ time on campus, though after freshman year it is less formalized.
Contributing to Honors Publications
Our program has a number of publication opportunities. We have the student journal, Bullitus, which is Latin for bubble, in recognition of our name for our program. This is a compilation of high-quality student work, in any class. There are many editors within various fields who read the submissions to suggest edits before publication. We also have the newsletter, called The Pinnacle, which is published regularly. This newsletter contains information about alumni, current programs and events, and highlights members of our Honors community.
Organizing and Attending Evening Lectures
Currently, we have a series of evening lectures organized by the Honors Director or other faculty who believe these lectures supplement in-class work. Speakers from other colleges and universities present on a topic of their expertise and allow for discussion afterward. These lectures are on various weekday evenings and often have snacks!
Attending and Presenting at Scholars Day
Iona Scholars Day is open to the entire student body. It is a presentation of a wide spectrum of projects. There are posters, performances, paper panels, and more, to showcase some of the best work done on campus. It’s a great opportunity to show off your work to a larger audience of your peers and professors. Even if you aren’t presenting, go to see what other people have studied and support your fellow Gaels in their hard work. There is always something new to learn and you can probably find something that is interesting to you!
Attending Thesis Day
Thesis Day is a more exclusive kind of Scholars Day. Thesis day is when all of the seniors in the Honors Program present their theses, which they’ve worked on for over a year. This is an opportunity for underclassmen to support the seniors (go see your mentor’s thesis!) and see what goes into a successful thesis presentation. One day, it’ll be you presenting up there.
Taking a Leadership Role on Campus
There are leadership roles of all sorts on campus. You could be a resident assistant, be a campus minister, be a commuter assistant, hold an e-board position, be a team captain for a sport, and more. If there’s something else you want to do, do it! Our engagement in college life is not limited to our academics. While we can appreciate our bubble for the community it gives us, we can all break out and follow our unique interests and passions. The involvement fair is a great chance to get more information about all of these opportunities.
Academic Support and Peer Accountability
A key element of the Honors Program is that we support each other in positive ways and hold each other accountable if we notice someone being dishonest. We take a strong stance against plagiarism, sabotage, and all the other forms of academic dishonesty. We try to identify when someone is in a time crunch, or feeling like they need to cheat to succeed, and try to intervene to find a better solution.