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Your Gateway to Exploration 

The Mazzuchelli Scholars Honors Program at Dominican University is designed for highly motivated students who seek the very best college has to offer. You’ll enjoy stimulating conversations, opportunities to work alongside faculty on original research, intellectual adventures on campus and beyond and much more. You’ll also search for solutions to address society’s toughest challenges—from climate changes to social inequality and beyond. 

Now more than ever, the world needs your ideas and your determination. No matter what you do next, as an honors graduate, you’ll be ready for anything. 

Change the Way You See the World

Students in FishDNA lab

Think Critically. Question Everything.

As an honors student, you’ll have the higher-level critical thinking, analytical, research and communication skills to pursue a life and career of tremendous meaning.

Adventures in the Lab and the Field

Students traveled to Chichen Itza, an ancient Mayan city in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, to explore one of the world’s wonders in a quest for a breakthrough discovery.

Unparalleled Opportunities

In the honors program, you’ll still have time—and be encouraged—to explore high-impact opportunities like spending a year studying abroad at the prestigious Oxford University.

Flexibility Fit For You 

No matter which field of study you choose, as a Dominican Honors student, you’ll find the flexibility to build the path to discovery that’s right for you. 

Within your chosen major, you’ll be immersed in courses that are career-focused and designed to deliver the skills in highest demand by top employers in areas of most critical need. On top of that, Dominican has always been in the business of educating for a lifetime. 

The honors program will add unique depth to your education. You’ll become a versatile, well-rounded thinker and problem-solver, capable of crossing boundaries to find the most creative solutions and concepts. It’s the very best of the Dominican experience.

Your Honors Core Curriculum will include: 

  • Big Questions courses focused on reading, writing and discussion of complex texts
  • Exploration and Investigation seminars emphasizing research techniques
  • Time built in for internships, study abroad and signature research projects
  • Access to preeminent scholars and thinkers
  • A chance to study at the University of Oxford and other extraordinary opportunities
  • Intimate learning with the smallest class sizes of any on campus

My brain was constantly stimulated by the honors courses. In the honors program, learning never stops. This constant learning is what makes the Mazzuchelli Scholars a great representation of just a portion of the love and truth that is alive at Dominican.”

Kat Moreno
Dominican University ɬɬӰ

Thinkers. Professionals. Global Learners. 

As part of Dominican’s Mazzuchelli Scholars Honors Program, you’ll gain skills and perspectives that will shape your future success. Here’s how our program will prepare you for purpose.

Why wait until graduate school to do research or signature work with an inspiring scholar? As an Honors student, you’ll have the chance to spend two years teaming up with an experienced professor to conduct advanced research in your major. You also will get a unique chance to present your work at our annual student research expo. You will master research methods and develop your problem-solving and presentation skills. It is great preparation for graduate school and professional life.

Our Lund-Gill Chair brings some of the world’s most accomplished thinkers to campus for a semester of teaching and meeting with students. Past chair holders include Leon Lederman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and Christopher Kennedy, a business executive and philanthropist. This year's chair, Craig A. Ford, Jr. will teach an honors theology course on the liberative theologies of sex, gender and race within the Roman Catholic tradition. As an Honors student, you will enjoy unusual access to these thought leaders as you swap ideas in informal conversations. You may even come out of the experience with a great job offer (two recent Honors students did just that).

As an Honors student, you’ll have the rare opportunity to apply to study at the University of Oxford, one of the world’s great centers of higher learning. Dominican students win admittance to this prestigious program and go on to study at historic Blackfriars Hall, founded in 1221. Other Dominican students study in Latin America, Asia, Africa and throughout Europe. A term or two spent abroad can make a world of difference to you. You’ll expand your language skills, challenge your cultural assumptions and grow as a person.

A section of our newest residence hall, Murray Hall, is reserved for Honors students. The space is home to a diverse, tight-knit group that has much in common—including academic drive, a strong work ethic and a range of intellectual and professional interests. Murray Hall residents enjoy plenty of opportunities for campus involvement and positions of leadership. They also enjoy the benefits of membership in a community of individuals who engage, support and challenge one another every day.

Being in the Mazzuchelli Scholars Honors Program is really helpful for whatever you want to do after graduation. Having Dominican’s Honors Program on your resume is great for potential employers.”

Ryan Barnett
Dominican University ɬɬӰ

The Best Ideas Are Born of Dialogue 

Community and dialogue are central to Dominican scholarship. Our honors community is especially close. We come from so many different places. We have different experiences of the world. And, here, those differences are valued and celebrated. Discussions are spirited. Because when we challenge and support one another, we achieve true knowledge. 

What we all share is intellectual curiosity and an openness to creative challenges. We have a passion for seeking the truth and serving others. Our values are rooted in Dominican’s motto of Caritas et Veritas, or Love and Truth. 

A True Community 

Students in our Honors Program form an exceptionally tight-knit community within a community. They are bright, curious, committed students who hold a wide range of opinions, attitudes and experiences. They share everything from coffee to concerts, from pizza to poetry slams. Most of all, they share intellectual curiosity and an openness to creative challenges.

Small Classes, Big Ideas 

Have you ever taken a course that changed the way that you see the world? For many students, our Honors seminars do just that. In small classes, you will test theories, seek answers and challenge beliefs—face to face with talented professors. You will work to understand some really big ideas, like the nature of evil or the politics of gender. You will enjoy the kind of intellectual and personal mentorships that are available to relatively few college students.

This is a Lifelong Journey

In these rapidly changing times, graduates who have built a foundation in serious scholarship alongside their major are best prepared for whatever comes next. You will be able to compete for spots in top graduate schools, or move straight into the most promising careers.

Meet some of our graduates

Ready for your next steps?