The Dominican Honors Program is one of Dominican’s many paths to excellence. It incorporates the University’s Institutional Learning Outcomes to offer a distinctive plan of study for students who are dedicated to achieving exceptional academic and personal standards.
The close-knit Honors learning community is rooted in the Dominican pillars of study, reflection, community, and service while upholding the values of the University as shaped by its history and Californian identity.
There are many benefits to participation in the Honors Program:
- Students assume leadership roles as representatives on the Honors Board or Student Honors Board to directly shape Honors programming.
- Students may register during the first day of priority registration along with senior-year students.
- Juniors and seniors may take graduate courses (with instructor permission).
- Students have exclusive access to the Honors Room in the Alemany Library, providing additional quiet space to work on projects or study.
Curriculum
Honors courses are taught as experiential learning seminars where students have considerable control regarding the issues they address and the ways to address them, providing an alternative to the University-wide core-curriculum requirements.
Courses are designed to be both curricular and co-curricular, offering students authentic, hands-on opportunities to fine tune their skills, put their ideas into practice, and gain the skills and knowledge to become engaged global citizens.
With an emphasis on civic learning and community engagement, the Honors curriculum creates an environment where the student can be an active and thoughtful learner. The Honors co-curriculum requirements focus on global learning and leadership opportunities such as faculty-led Honors trips and place-based projects that aim to foster intercultural knowledge, cultural humility, social responsibility, and global interconnectivity.
The Honors Program is administered by the Honors Director and the Honors Board. The Honors Board is tasked with forming policies for Honors admissions, curriculum and co-curriculum, academic standards, assessment, awarding Honors scholarships, and program branding and communications.
- Honors Director (Chair), Lynn Sondag
- 1 LAE Faculty, Zoe Bartholomew
- 1 BSB Faculty, Apollo Demirel
- 1 HNS Faculty, Patricia Harris
- 1 Library Faculty, Aaron Richardson
- 1 Sophomore Class Representative, Joanne Nguyen
- 1 Junior Class Representative, Mikaela Pescasio
- 1 Senior Class Representative, Abby Mae Dalman
- 1 Registrar’s Office Representative, Sabina Hansia
- 1 Admissions Office representative, Maryann Saggese
- 1 Residence Life representative, TBD
- Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs (ex officio), Mojgan Behmand
The Student Honors Board (SHB) represents the Honors Students of Dominican University of California. There are eight members on the SHB, each with a specific title and duty. Class representatives and Member-At-Large serve on the Honors Board as well.
- Freshman Class Representative: Caitlyn Perales, Nursing
- Sophomore Class Representative: Joanne Nguyen, Nursing
- Junior Class Representative: Mikaela Pescasio, Nursing
- Senior Class Representative: Abby Mae Dalman, Nursing
- School of Liberal Arts and Education Representative: Jacquelyn Torres, International Studies
- Barowsky School of Business Representative: Julia Rydel, Business Administration
- School of Health and Natural Sciences Representative: Jasmyn Jansen, Nursing
- Member-At-Large: Sachie Ohara, Nursing
To graduate from the Honors Program a student must complete the following:
- 20 units of Honors Core courses
- A Global Learning Experience
- A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5
Honors unit requirements may be prorated for transfer students or students who join the program after their first semester at Dominican.
