University Honors Program
Marquette’s University Honors Program is designed for intellectually curious, academically engaged students who want to learn in a close-knit community of their peers at the heart of a vibrant research university. Its broadly based, interdisciplinary curriculum addresses our most pressing contemporary challenges with cutting-edge knowledge and research and the wisdom of centuries of Jesuit values and pedagogy. Our Honors values and learning outcomes emphasize curiosity and open-mindedness, active listening and dialogue, breadth of learning and experience, and a commitment to equity, justice, and human rights.
The UHP offers two ways to participate in Honors: Core Honors, in which students follow an Honors version of the Marquette Core Curriculum throughout their undergraduate career; and Disciplinary Honors, in which students do Honors work in their majors. Students may participate in either program or both. Core Honors is open to incoming first-year students, who apply after being accepted to Marquette; students apply to Disciplinary Honors programs in their sophomore year. For more information on both programs, view our values and learning outcomes, browse our website, or contact us!
News and Events
- Congratulations to the 2022 Honors Undergraduate Summer Research Followship Awardees!
Student awardees receive $3500 each for research or creative projects to be carried out June-August 2022. Awardees will present their research findings at the Honors Undergraduate Research Fair in Fall 2022!
- Elizabeth Andrzejewski
Zach Bukowski
David Chrisbaum
Macnessa Fidlin
Lizzy Ibitoye
Max Mantych
Maryn Schaefbauer
Divyank Sharma
Dhruvaa Shroff
Noah Smith
Tommy Treacy
Blake Trembath
Stephanie Waldschmidt
Will Wightkin
Liz Wiltgen
John Zeman
Congratulations to the Honors Study Abroad Award Winners for Summer and Fall 2022 programs!
Fiona Kelly-Miller, The American College of Greece, Fall 2022
Zoey Laipple, The American College of Greece, Fall 2022
Emma Strick, Literature, History, and Culture of Ireland, Summer 2022
Honors Undergraduate Research Symposium
November 11, 2021 | 4:30 - 6:00 PM
Sensenbrenner Hall
Drop in between 4:30 and 6pm to learn about the research conducted by the 2021 Honors Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship awardees and MU4Gold Research Scholars! Find out more about the researchers and their projects on the Honors Research Symposium webpage.
Honors Action Research Team presents at the 2021 Assessment Insitute
The Honors Action Research Team offered a workshop at the international Assessment Institute, on Oct. 26, 2021, called "The Value of Student Partnership in Designing Program Outcomes and an Assessment Plan," following two years of work by the team. Kudos to honors students Kate Gustafson (PSYC 2021), Andrew Hirsh (EDUC 2021), Biluge Ntabala (POSC 2022), and Ashley Sanchez (BISC 2023)!
Spring 2022 Honors Courses
Spring 2022 courses in honors are now available on the website. Take a look at the course offerings in preperation for registration!
Ex Fabula X CORE 4929H X St. Joan Antida Workshop
Honors CORE 4929H hosted Saint Joan Antida high school students on Saturday, October 16 for a workshop with Ex Fabula. The workshop focused on vocational story telling.
HOPR 2956H Classes Explore Milwaukee
Honors Engaging the City classes take tours of Milwaukee with community-based historian Adam Carr focusing on civil rights, immigration, the history of its indigenous peoples, and other topics. Here, Bryan Rindfleisch's class explores indigenous Milwaukee.
Honors Freshmen Visit the Near West Side Neighborhood
Honors freshmen went on a trip to Marquette’s Near West side on Saturday, October 2 to learn about MU’s community collaboration with the Near West Side Partners Group. Stops included Kilbourn Reservoir Park (pictures 1 and 2), Merrill Park, Swing Park, The New State, and Pete’s Pops. They also had an opportunity to chat with Keith Stanley, Executive Director of the NWSP and artist Fred Kaems while viewing his new mural in Merrill Park (picture 3).
THEO 1001H Classes Visit the Haggerty Museum
All Honors Foundations of Theology classes visited the Haggerty Museum at the beginning of the Fall 21 semester to see and discuss a new exhibit, Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections. The visit to the exhibit was part of an initial unit on Ignatius of Loyola and the Society of Jesus.The Honors Program THEO 1001 classes include focus a on the visual arts; classes will take another trip, in late September, to see the Chagall prints. Learn more about the exhibit here.
Marquette Honor's MU4Gold Scholars program graduates its first cohort of undergraduate researchers Spring 2021. Read about our first graduates of the program here.
Spreading Positivity through Authentic Art
December 9, 2020
Inspired by the short documentary film "The Guerilla Bunny" which showcases a public art project in Massachusetts, Dr. Melissa Shew's HOPR 3957 class created painted rocks to spread positivity around campus. Read more about the project here.
Student News & Accomplishments
Congratulations to Honors students Erin Nugent, Amanda Pastrick, and Laryn Zvokel on winning the Spring 2022 Honors Study Abroad Awards. Amanda and Laryn will both be attending King’s College in London, England and Erin will be attending the University of Antwerp in Belgium. Congratulations also go to Maddie Clark and Selah Alft who were also awarded study abroad funds, but their study abroad programs have been cancelled.
Honors Sophomore Leen Mortada was featured in the November 29, 2021 episode of the “Our Roots Say That We’re Sisters” podcast series, a platform that gives BIPOC women of Marquette a space to be heard. Listen to the podcast on the Our Roots Say That We're Sisters webpage.
Congratulations to Honors Freshman Marshall Kopacki on winning the Rare Artist Competition, an art contest for people with rare chronic conditions organized by the Every Life Foundation. Marshall's artwork, Boys are Girls are Bugs, will be displayed at Capitol Hill, and a donation will be made in his name to the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation. Find out more about the contest and read Marshall's artist statement on the Rare Artist Competition webpage.
Honors Senior Lexi Harwick presented at the MU Center for Peacemaking's Soup with Substance event on October 27 to share her summer research "Domestic Violence Shelters and Outreach in Non-Urban Locations" as a summer peacemaking fellowship recipient. A recording of the event can be watched on Youtube.
Honors Sophomore Litzy Ponce was included as a guest in the Center for Peacemaking's Soup with Substance series on September 22, 2021 to reflect on her peacemaking internship with the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America. A recording of the event can be viewed on the Center for Peacemaking's Youtube channel.
Congratulations to the 2021 Honors Summer Research Fellowship Award Winners! Each student was awarded $3500 for their research projects to be carried out June - August 2021. Browse the winner's projects here.
Congratulations to the 2021 Summer and Fall Study Abroad Award winners!
Congratulations to Honors Senior Kate Gustafson who has been recognized as the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior! This honor is given on the basis of academic record, service, leadership integrity, and evidence of commitment to the ideals of a liberal arts education. Kate will record a message to the Class of 2021 that will be shared with College students, faculty and staff through our social media accounts and college website.
Congratulations to the many Honors students who have been named as 2020-2021 Student Affairs award winners!
Emerging Leader Awards:
Katie Darragh, Freshman, COMM
Sebastián La Rosa, Freshman, HESC
Michael Mastri, Sophomore, ARSC
Claire Schomogyi, Freshman, ARSC
Bryanna Spietz, Sophomore, ARSC
Noah Smith, Sophomore, ARSC
Melissa Variny, Sophomore, BUAD
Liz Wiltgen, Sophomore, NURS
Contemplative in Action Leadership Awards
Ryan Anselment, Junior, BUAD
Katie Breck, Junior, ARSC
Carissa Burnes, Senior, EDUC
Savannah Charles, Senior, ARSC
Claire Conger, Senior, HESC
Jacquelyn Gerhardson, Senior, ENGI
Evelia Guerrero, Senior, NURS
Brandon Harisis, Senior, ARSC
Nick Howard, Junior, ARSC
Kajal Khatri, Senior, ARSC
Ellie Marino, Senior, ARSC
Joey O’Connor, Senior, BUAD
Jennifer Pennypacker, Junior, ARSC
Adam Romanski, Senior, HESC
Congratulations to two Honors seniors on award wins in the Philosophy department: Noelle Douglass was awarded the Francis X. Boden Award for Excellence in the Study of Philosophy and Eric Miller was awarded the Rev. John Naus, S.J. Award for Excellence in the Study of Ethics and Values.
Congratulations to Honors Freshman Ari Manta on winning the English department’s 6-word short story contest out of 113 submissions from students, staff, and faculty with the story: “I’m always thinking about forgetting you.”
Additional compliments go to Honors Freshman Stephanie Waldschmidt, named runner-up for her two stories “Aquarium for sale, not cat proof” and “Missing goldfish, last seen in tank.”
Congratulations to Honors Senior Abigail Kuborn on receiving two Undergraduate Awards from the Department of Biological Sciences for the 20/21 academic year - an Academic Achievement Award and Catherine Welsh Smith Award for Research.
Congratulations to Honors Junior Katie Breck and Freshman Cameron Heiser on their election as Marquette University Student Government's (MUSG) 2021-2022 President and Vice President, respectively!
Honors Sophomore Noah Smith (German and Literature Major), has been accepted to attend the Newberry Center for Renaissance Studies’ inaugural undergraduate seminar, “The World in the Book: 1300-1800,” in Fall 2021. The 10 week seminar will use the multidisciplinary field of book history to explore how medieval and early modern people used different media—theological texts, maps, travel narratives, reference works, literature, and more—to make sense of a changing world.
Kate Gustafson, Honors senior and Psychology major and a member of the inaugural MU4Gold class, was accepted to present her research “Empathy Building: Assessing the Effectiveness of a Virtual Reality Intervention to Improve Community-Police Relationships” at the Council on Undergraduate Research’s Posters on the Hill 2021, which will take place as a virtual event on April 27-28, 2021. Kate is one of only sixty students chosen to present research from hundreds of applications.
Honors Senior Lily Regan (Secondary Education in English Language Arts Major) has been accepted to present her research, “Building Relationships and Breaking Barriers: Culturally Relevant Professional Development for Secondary Educators," at the 2021 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). The CCCC Research initiative sponsors research that produces knowledge about language, literacy, communication, rhetoric, and the teaching, assessment, and technologies of writing. The Conference will be in a virtual format April 7-10, 2021.
Two Honors students have been selected as McBeath Interns for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Annie Mattea (Senior majoring in Journalism) will intern in the summer of 2021 and Alexa Jurado (Senior double majoring in Journalism and Digital Media) will intern in the fall of 2021!
Honors Senior Noelle Douglass (Double major in Communication Studies and Philosophy) is working towards a senior thesis, the first communication studies department undergraduate thesis in over a decade. Her project researches the terms used for female attractiveness, how these terms are valued, and how social media platforms mediate these valuations. Noelle is seeking individuals of all ages, genders, races, sexualities, and backgrounds to participate in her research by taking an online, 15-minutes-or-less survey. You can find out more about Noelle’s project here and follow the results of her research on the project's instagram page, @whatkindofpretty.
Kaitlyn Hill, an Honors Junior double majoring in Political Science and Spanish, has accepted an internship to work with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin in Washington DC during the 2021 summer. As an intern, Kaitlyn will work on a wide range of projects and assist staff in an administrative capacity to address constituent requests and concerns.
Through her work with the MU Center for Peacemaking, Honors Junior Katherine Walsh (Economics & International Affairs Major) has collaborated on creating the Relational Learning Project. In conjunction with the Afghan Peace Volunteers and other international nonviolence organizations, the project aims to connect people from around the world to learn more about one another’s views on nonviolence. Find out more on the Relational Learning Project webpage.
Honors Freshman Macnessa Fidlin (Double major in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Philosophy) has joined Dr. Chelsea Cook’s research lab to study the social behaviors of bees and how social environments influence group behavior. This summer, the lab will continue research studying the thermodynamic behavior of social fanning, among other experiments. Find out more about the Cook Lab at MU.
Tess Murphy, an Honors Junior double majoring in Political Science and Writing-Intensive English, is the Spring 2021 intern at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington D.C. this summer. As an intern, Tess works on various research and writing projects, specifically in areas of social policy, congressional outreach, education, and women in economics/technology.
