Who We Are
We’re more than a community of students with outstanding academic records. We’re a vibrant and diverse group of students with a shared passion for learning. With the help of Honors Program faculty and staff, you’ll be joining a supportive environment, developing knowledge, and stimulating critical thinking. You’ll find small and engaging classes, seminars that span multiple disciplines, and a variety of on-campus and off-campus cultural and social events.
Who is in the Honors Program?
More than 400 students from all five of Bradley’s colleges are part of the Honors Program community. We currently represent 90 majors from a wide range of programs.
What does it mean to graduate from the Honors Program?
When you complete the requirements of the program, you’ll receive special recognition on your academic transcript and a medallion to wear at graduation. But, you’ll also join our large network of Honors Program alumni. Leading up to graduation, you’ll receive guidance to ensure admission to graduate programs and successful job placement.
The Honors Advisory Council is a group of students, selected each August by the Director, Assistant Director, and current Council members. The Council meets regularly with the Directors of the Honors Program to discuss all aspects of the Program and to plan social, cultural, and intellectual events for Honors students. The Council consists of first-year students through seniors who participate in four or five meetings each semester and take an active—often leadership—role in Honors offerings. They are dedicated to giving their time to enhance Bradley’s Honors Program with fresh ideas and the implementation of them.
Students interested in applying to be on the Honors Program Advisory Council can apply each year in August. Please check the Honors Program Canvas site for more details. Please send any questions to [email protected].
Current Council Members:
- Payton Campbell
- Ryan Dodd
- Lauren Duell
- Emily Everett
- Autumn Haberkorn-Mendez
- Annabel Lomeli
- Heberto Martinez Acosta
- Maddie Norman
- Wardiyah Rammazy
- Robby Smith
- Jenna Zeise
Classes
As part of the Honors Program, you’ll complete five Honors classes that:
- Are dedicated Honors sections that allow you to engage meaningfully with other members of the community.
- Fulfill one of the eight areas of inquiry you’re required to complete for Bradley’s Core Curriculum.
- Can also be taken as electives if you complete your Core Curriculum early.
- Emphasize active learning and discussion, but don’t require additional work or a more demanding grading scale.
A wide range of Honors courses are available each semester, and while the exact offerings vary, the list below highlights some of the Honors courses you can expect to find. In addition to these classes, it’s common for a few upper-level Honors electives to be mixed in each semester. We designed the Honors Program to complement your major so you can easily complete the program and graduate on time.
CHM 110 – General Chemistry I (3 hours)
Core Curr. NS
Course designed to provide chemical concepts for students majoring in the physical or biological sciences, engineering, or related disciplines. Topics include: measurements; basic inorganic nomenclature; atomic structure; stoichiometry; types of reactions; thermochemistry; periodic properties; molecular structure and bonding; properties of gases, liquids, solids, and solutions; acids and bases.
COM 103 – The Oral Communication Process (3 hours)
Core Curr. CM OC
Theories and skills of oral communication. Emphasis on basic principles of thought, content, organization, style, delivery, and the interaction of communication and culture.
CIV 113 – Unified Fine Arts and Western Civilization I (3 hours)
Core Curr. FA, MI, HU
Combination of Western Civilization with Fine Arts. Study of characteristics of individual art forms and shared elements across a representative selection of the Fine Arts, in combination with a conceptual approach to intellectual, cultural, political, economic, social, and technological elements that have formed the spirit of the various ages from the ancient Near East to the Renaissance, with a geographical focus on the European continent. Students must take both semesters (113 and 114) to satisfy University Core Curriculum requirements in Fine Arts and either Multidisciplinary Integration or Humanities, and for one Writing Intensive requirement.
ENG 101 – English Composition (3 hours)
Core Curr. W1
Principles of clear and effective writing; analysis of essays as models for writing. Required for all freshmen.
ENG 125 – Literatures of Identity (3 hours)
Core Curr. HU MI
Literature about identity formation studied in a multidisciplinary context. The Honors section typically focuses on the topic of vulnerability.
ENG 305 – Advanced Writing–Technical Writing (3 hours)
Core Curr. W2
For engineering and science students: techniques of exposition and report writing. Prerequisite: ENG 101, or CIV 111 and 112; junior standing
ENG 306 – Advanced Writing–Business Communication (3 hours)
Core Curr. W2
Principal types of business letters and reports. Prerequisite: ENG 101, or CIV 111 and 112; junior standing
ENS 110 – Environmental Science (3 hours)
Core Curr. MI, NS
This course examines the science and social implications of environment. Emphasis will be on basic science, social, economic and political implications of human interactions with natural systems and understanding environmental issues and sustainable resource use. Prerequisite: Students with credit for BIO 300 may not enroll in ENS 110.
MUS 109 – Music Appreciation (3 hours)
Core Curr. FA
Detailed study of elements of music, and music notation; general survey of music and composers. How music expresses and communicates feelings and ideas: listening to compositions from various periods. Performance by faculty artists in class, and outside listening experiences. Satisfies fine arts general education requirement. Prerequisite: Non-music majors only.
PHL 103 – An Inquiry Into Values (3 hours)
Core Curr. HU
Major value issues addressed by the world’s most influential philosophers.
PLS 105 – Introduction to American Government (3 hours)
Core Curr. SB
The American political system: constitutional principles, political processes, and governmental policy making.
PSY 201 – Brain and Behavior
Core Curr. NS
An introduction to the scientific study of the nervous system and its relation to behavior. The underlying biology of learning, memory, language, sensation, emotion, reproductive behavior, psychopathology, and other topics.
Seminars are 1-credit courses that meet for one hour per week for the 15-week semester or two hours per week for just the first seven weeks of the semester.
You need to take at least three seminars to complete the program, but because these are so popular, many students take more than what’s required.
You can take up to one seminar per semester, and you won’t be charged additional tuition for seminars when you have more than 16 hours.
We offer at least 10 seminars each semester that span a wide range of topics. We encourage you to take seminars on topics outside of your major. The list below represents some of the recent seminar offerings.
Bodacious Babes, Magical Women, and Final Girls: Representations of Femininity and Feminism in Horror Media
With Prof. Leslie Russell, English Department
This seminar will provide an intersectional examination of some of the archetypal representations of feminine gender identity in horror media, including literature, film, and television, as well as the influence of the four waves of feminism on the horror genre. The seminar will involve the reading/viewing of a culturally diverse selection of films/texts that exemplify some of the common feminine archetypes in horror, as well as the reading of critical theory to facilitate analysis. Some of the archetypes to be examined will include final girls, witches/magical women, mean girls, bimbos, and vengeance-seekers.
Conspiracy Theories
With Dr. Sara Netzley, Communication Department
Today’s conspiracy theories are bigger, faster, and more influential than ever. This seminar will examine the media practices and psychological motivations that make people susceptible to these beliefs, along with the social and political consequences such theories can create.
Do you really know what you think you know?
With Prof. Wendy Beanblossom, Biology Department
This seminar focuses on using practices of science to evaluate conventional wisdom and potential myths and misconceptions. As students leave home and start to live independently, this course will focus on practical science that will help them make decisions about everyday life. The class is built around collaborative projects that extend from the classroom into the dorm. Projects will be used to generate discussion about how we choose to live, which practices we grew up with are scientifically accurate, which are just tradition, and which we want to continue practicing. This interdisciplinary approach branches both physical and life sciences. Is it really ok for your dog to lick your face? What is the purpose of adding salt to boiling water? The class will work together to determine which questions will be explored.
Exploring the Fourth Dimension
With Dr. Tony Bedenikovic, Mathematics Department
The idea of a fourth dimension–of reality beyond what can be seen–has attracted thinkers from various fields throughout history. In this seminar, we will study references to the fourth dimension in the work of artists, mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, and others. In general, a different aspect of the fourth dimension will be explored at each meeting. While most studies will include a mathematical perspective, the goal of this seminar is to investigate diverse perspectives. All majors are welcome. To help further convey the nature of this seminar, a list of sample questions follows: Can we learn to visualize the fourth dimension? How is a 4-dimensional universe different from a 3-dimensional universe? Is the fourth dimension just time? How has the idea of higher dimensions influenced the work of visual artists and writers? How has it influenced current scientific theories?
Ghosts of Climate Change Past, Present, and Future
With Dr. Anant Deshwal, Biology Department
Climate change is a phenomenon that is going to affect us all irrespective of our majors or disciplines. In this seminar, we will aim at understanding what is climate change. We will also be visited by the ghosts of Climate Change Past, Climate Change Present, and Climate Change Future. In addition to understanding the science behind climate change and its impact, we will also explore climate change from indigenous knowledge perspectives. We will explore how the indigenous knowledge of farmers, hunters, and fishermen in Illinois can help in mitigating climate change. Through this seminar, I hope to empower you in understanding how climate change will impact your field and how you can be equipped to tackle the challenges thrown your way by climate change.
The Joy of Cooking
With Dr. Jennifer Jost, Biology Department
Why do we love to eat? How do we find joy in cooking? Why does a particular food taste great to you but terrible to someone else? This course will examine cooking from a variety of perspectives including personal experience with food, the culture of food preparation, and the underlying science of farming and cooking. Topics will include the various flavor profiles and how they vary between geographical regions, the scientific processes behind cooking and baking, and the future of agriculture in the face of climate change. Discussions will include the Peoria community and both the challenges and successes that exist locally. There will be opportunities to prepare and consume food during class in addition to class readings, discussions, and assignments.
The Life You Want: Confucius Speaks
With Dr. Dan Getz, Philosophy and Religious Studies Department
Bradley University has announced in its 2021 Strategic Plan that your education at Bradley is an “investment in the life you want.” This declaration bears the weight of all of your aspirations, hopes and dreams for the future, promising that your Bradley education will lead to a life of success. As satisfying that promise might be, it leaves a sense that something is missing. The question of what kind of life one might want is reframed in this class, suggesting that a more fundamental question must first be pondered: What should one want? Focusing on this prior question of how one should lead one’s life, the seminar will examine the issue through a lens created twenty-five hundred years ago by Confucius. Participants will read The Analects of Confucius, a text that has had an outsized influence in shaping Chinese civilization. While one of the goals of the seminar is to challenge participants to understand this text in its original Chinese cultural and linguistic context, this classic will at the same time be explored for its manifest wisdom in offering universal insights into the human condition. You’ll be pondering these questions in an intergenerational community of learners, half of whom are undergraduates, with the other half drawn from retirees participating in the Bradley OLLI Program. As an undergraduate, you will, in witnessing the dedication of your older classmates, be rewarded with the realization that learning is a life-long pursuit. They in turn will derive benefit from the excitement, energy, and fresh ideas that you will be bringing to our conversations.
Oral Communication for Real-Life Situations
With Dr. Dakota Horn, Communication Department
This course is designed as an opportunity to research, organize, practice and present your ideas for several different types of speech situations in which you may find yourself throughout your professional and personal life. It is not designed to teach you the skills gained in COM 103, but rather a chance to use those basic skills to further create, practice, hone, personalize, and professionalize your own way as a speaker.
The Place of Work in the Life You Want
With Dr. Andrew Kelley, Philosophy and Religious Studies Department
This class will look at the issue of the role of work in the life that a person wants by focusing on two texts: The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us & How to Build Better Lives by Jonathan Malesic, a scholar of religion, and also Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, by the philosopher Matthew Crawford. Several other short readings and videos will also be assigned. This course is part of a three-seminar sequence that includes “The Life that You Want: Confucius Speaks” [Dr. Dan Getz] and a third class that involves a study abroad trip to Copenhagen over Spring Break.
Post-feminist Princesses and Princes: An examination of popular Disney characters and stories through Critical Theory
Prof. Shannon Sandoval, Communication Department
Love Disney? So do I! Arguably, Disney has had a tremendous influence on my life and likely on yours too. It is often said that “art imitates life” and in this seminar we’ll put that theory to the test as we re-examine stories and characters from Disney films through the various lenses of Critical Theory. We’ll focus on Disney animated feature-length films but will also interweave Walt Disney company history, culture and history, and literature review to give us a broader understanding of the impact they’ve had. The goal of our seminar isn’t to condemn or praise but rather to examine this form of media with a more critical eye and a more nuanced understanding of the messages and representations that influence us throughout our stages of life. Weekly meetings will be discussion-centered and you’ll need access to the Disney+ streaming service for assigned viewings. There will also be assigned short readings, which will be provided to you. The seminar will conclude with a research oral presentation on a topic of your choice.
The Power of Song
With Dr. Robert Prescott, English Department
All of us have our own music–not simply the songs on our playlists, but those songs that mean so much to us that they express at some level who we are. This seminar will examine a wide array of songs through the lenses of many disciplines: literature, music history and performance, history, cultural anthropology, world languages, and religious studies. We will analyze lyrics together, consider how songs have changed through the ages, and share with one another those songs that are most important to us personally. We will also study what goes into writing an original song.
Practical Legal & Accounting Concepts
With Dr. William Bailey, Accounting Department
This seminar is open to all students interested in understanding key practical legal and accounting concepts including (1) the United States legal structure, (2) capital markets (e.g., stocks and bonds), (3) personal finance, and (4) the impact of taxation on individuals and businesses—including individual tax issues, the entrepreneur’s choice of business entity, and estate planning issues. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate and no prerequisites are required.
The Psychology of Social Media
Prof. Heidi Rottier, Marketing Department
Why do we use social media? What about social media keeps us coming back again and again? Around the globe, nearly half the world’s population turns to social media for information, social interaction, shopping advice, and so much more. Although you may use social media every day (2+ hours/day!), you may not be aware of the psychology behind it. This seminar will explore the reasons why social media keeps us coming back for more. We will also discuss the impact social media has on our mental health, relationships, and perception of the world around us.
Stem Cells and Regenerating Tissue–Ethics
With Dr. Craig Cady, Biology Department
The first two class periods will focus on clarifying the field of regenerative medicine, particularly the general biology, function, and vocabulary. After establishing a basic level of understanding, we will have the tools to discuss the many ethical topics that exist in this field. Students who attend will understand general stem cell biology and therefore have the tools to rationally consider the many ethical problems/questions in the media and literature.
Why are we here?
With Dr. Seth Katz, English Department
Through reading, writing, and conversation, we will approach different answers to this question, and a number of others, including but not limited to
- “Why have you come to college?”
- “What should be the relationship of college to career?”
- “What does it mean to learn?”
- “What happens when we die?”
- “How do we know what’s true?”
- “What do non-scientists need to understand about science?”
- “Why do the arts matter?”
- “What is happiness?”
Assigned readings will include classic and contemporary texts, all available online.
Housing
If you plan to live on campus, you can choose to live in special Honors housing. While it’s not required, many program students opt for Honors housing.
Learn more about housing at Bradley.
During your first year, you can select the first, second, or third floor of Williams Hall, which are reserved for Honors students. The first floor is designated gender inclusive housing. These floors are part of the Honor Living Learning Community: as a first-year student, you’ll select one of the Honors Seminars dedicated to the Living Learning Community, which means you’ll have at least one course with someone you know from your housing. In many cases, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in optional floor events outside of class time with your classmates and faculty members in the Living Learning Community. Living on an Honors floor means you’ll build a strong connection with other students in the program as soon as you get to campus.
You can also take advantage of the other perks of Honors Housing in Williams Hall:
- Move in one day early to avoid the rush on Saturday morning when the residence halls open.
- Attend special floor programming and extra social events coordinated by your Residential Advisors, who are also members of the Honors Program.
- Have an assigned Honors Program roommate or if you have a preferred roommate who isn’t an Honors student, they can still join you in Honors housing.
- Stay in Honors Housing as a returning student, where many of our second-year students are mixed in on these floors.
Honors Housing in Williams Hall is available on a first-come, first-served basis. There are approximately 165 students living on the Honors floor. If you’re interested, please visit the Bradley Bound site to access the housing application to indicate your preference for Honors Housing and the Honors Living Learning Community.
To reserve your spot as a new student:
- The link for the Housing application will appear at your Bradley Bound site after submitting your enrollment fee
- Select Honors Housing
- Complete the Honors Housing application
- Rank Honors Housing as your first choice in the Housing Application.
If you are a returning student, you’ll receive instructions to sign up for Honors Housing in your Bradley email.
As a junior or senior, you can also choose to live in the St. James apartments where we have one building reserved for Honors Program students. These are apartment-style buildings owned by Bradley University. Each unit houses four students with a kitchen, living room, four single-bedrooms, and two bathrooms.
Unlike the other St. James apartments, the Honors building has a community space. One of the units has been renovated to create a space you’ll share with the other Honors students in St. James. It includes a kitchen, living room, study rooms, and a game room. We’ll host special events such as game nights and potluck dinners in this space throughout the year. Similar to Williams Hall, you’re welcome to include roommates who aren’t part of the Honors Program.
Honors Student Opportunities
Social and Cultural Activities
Our students say one of the best parts of Bradley’s Honors program is the access to a variety of social and cultural events each semester. We strive to plan activities that span a wide range of interests, so you can be sure there’ll be something for you. While some are designed to be purely social and others are more academic in nature, all of our events share the same goal — to give you more opportunities to spend time with your peers in the Honors community.
Peer Mentoring
In your first year as a Bradley Honors student, we’ll match you with a peer mentor in your major. The mentors will reach out to you and be a source of support throughout the semester to help you navigate the Honors Program and Bradley in general. Having a peer mentor is a great way to help you learn about all things Bradley and will help you make lifelong connections right from the start.
Special Honors Sections of Core Curriculum Courses
Regardless of your major, you can easily complete the Honors Program requirements. Each semester, you’ll choose from a range of classes that are Honors-only sections. Not only will these sections let you engage with your peers, they’re often in a smaller class setting. Most of these courses are part of Bradley’s Core Curriculum, which means you’ll make progress on your general education courses while fulfilling your Honors Program requirements. Learn more by clicking on the Classes tab.
Priority Registration
Once you meet the eligibility requirements, you’ll be able to take advantage of Priority Registration, meaning you can select your courses early in the morning on the first day of registration. This is often several days ahead of your peers, so there’s no need to worry about fitting your Honors courses and seminars into your schedule, or the required courses for your major.
Honors First Year Research Experience
If you’re majoring in one of our Biology, Chemistry or Biochemistry programs, you’ll learn how to conduct high-level research in your first year – possibly joining a team of researchers led by one of your professor.
Research or Creative Project
As you get closer to graduation, you’ll choose a professor from your major who’ll guide you through your own capstone project. These junior/senior projects allow you to showcase your research or creative skills, along with what you’ve learned in both the Honors Program and your major.
