Special Degree Programs

The Honors Degree Program

Rollins offers a special program in the liberal arts for students with exceptional abilities. The Honors Degree Program admits students with a superior record of academic achievement and leads to a distinct and separate undergraduate degree – Artium Baccalaureus Honoris – the Honors Bachelor of Arts Degree. Honors students complete a core sequence of interdisciplinary courses designed to provide an integrated understanding of the liberal arts. A series of four team-taught seminars during their first and second years introduce students to the various methods of inquiry in the liberal arts. These courses substitute for some of the general education requirements of the regular bachelor’s degree program and are designed to: (1) teach students to think and write critically across a broad range of disciplines and (2) encourage and prepare students to be independent thinkers. 

HONORS STUDENTS
Most Honors students are admitted to the program prior to their first year at Rollins. With regard to academic and social permissions, they enter the College with sophomore status. Attending small, interactive seminars together for four years, Honors students get to know each other and form a community of learners based on shared experiences, collaborative projects, and lively discussions. This sense of community begins during their first days on campus with the Honors Conference Seminar and culminates with the Darrah Honors Synoptic Seminar, in which students will be presented with a series of contemporary problems and will demonstrate how each discipline would contribute to an understanding and a solution to these problems. Special Honors Dinners and other Honors activities further enhance this sense of community. Students find that the challenge and excitement of learning is not dependent solely on faculty members, but arises freely and spontaneously within this community of peers.

Adventurous students are encouraged to spend a semester away from the campus (usually in the junior year) pursuing experiential learning, study abroad, or some other exceptional educational opportunity.

ADMISSION
Entering first-year students are eligible for the Honors Degree Program if their high school record shows evidence of special scholastic attitude and aptitude. Honors students normally constitute the top 10-percent of the entering class. The Honors Program Supervisory Board, together with the Office of Admissions, reviews the files of the most promising entering students in order to identify and select candidates for the Program.

Transfer students with forty (40) or fewer semester hours may also be selected for admission. In addition, each year a small number of Rollins’ sophomore students are also admitted to the Honors Degree Program based on their academic performance, the rigor of their schedules as first-year students, and recommendations from their professors.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS 

I. COURSES AND CREDITS
(See Courses of Instruction, Honors Degree Program for course descriptions.)

A. Seminars

• HON 201 and HON 202
• HON 301 and HON 302
• HON 490

• Honors Degree Program students must complete a two-semester Honors-in-the-Major-Field project (total of eight [8] semester hours) approved and supervised by the student's major department. One member of the student's committee must be a faculty member from the Honors Degree Supervisory Board or a faculty member approved by the Board. In addition, each student must make a presentation in the fall semester to his/her committee about the nature of the project and work that has been completed to that point, and make a detailed defense of the project to his/her committee and a more general public presentation of his/her work at the end of the spring semester. The eight (8) semester hours for the Honors-in-the-Major-Field project may count toward requirements credit in the student's major at the discretion of the student's major department.

• Knowledge of Other Cultures (C)
• Decision Making and Valuation (V)
• Foreign Language (F)
• Lab Science (O or P, and N)
• Quantitative (Q)

• Complete courses required for major (48-64 semester hours)

• Includes an optional minor of six to eight courses (32-48 semester hours)

For the sake of providing flexibility in their academic scheduling, Honors students are required to complete only two physical education courses:

• one Basic Physical Education (BPE) and
• one Physical Education Activity (PEA).

Students must fulfill the above academic requirements in no less than 140 semester hours. 

II. GRADES AND EXAMINATIONS
Candidates for the Honors B.A. Degree must maintain a minimum cumulative average of 3.33 to continue in the program and earn the degree. They must also earn a grade of 'B' or better for their Honors-in-the-Major-Field project. Latin honors at graduation (Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude) are awarded in the Honors Program on the basis of cumulative GPA, with the same numerical criteria as in the rest of the College (see the Curriculum and Academic Policies section of this Catalogue).

THE HONORS DEGREE SUPERVISORY BOARD
The policies and procedures of the Honors Program are monitored by the Honors Degree Supervisory Board. The Board consists of the Dean of the Faculty (or designate), the Director of the Honors Degree Program (a faculty member), the Dean of Admission (or designate), a representative from the Office of Student Records, three other faculty members, and four student representatives. Faculty members of the Board are appointed annually, and the student members are chosen annually by the Honors Degree candidates of the four respective classes. These representatives may call meetings of the honors students during the year to discuss the program and make suggestions.

For further information, contact Dr. R. Barry Levis, Program Coordinator, (407) 646-2158.

Combined and Cooperative Degree Programs

The College offers three combined and/or cooperative degree programs:

ACCELERATED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (A.B./M.B.A.)
Outstanding Rollins students have an opportunity to obtain both the College’s Artium Baccalaureus (AB) degree and the Master of Business of Administration (MBA) degree in five (5) years through the College’s Accelerated Management Program (AMP). The first three years of study are completed in the College of Arts and Sciences; the second two years are completed in the Crummer Graduate School of Business through the Early Advantage MBA program.

As part of the structure required by the Accelerated Management Program, students agree to adhere to specific academic and experiential requirements listed below. Acceptance into the Early Advantage MBA program is conditional upon the student’s satisfactory completion of these requirements:

• Term grade point averages of 3.2 or better while participating in the program and a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or better by the end of the third year.
• Attendance at all scheduled AMP seminars during the first three (3) years.
• Completion of all general education curriculum, major, and minor (if declared) requirements prior to the end of the third year.
• Completion of at least one (1) internship prior to the end of the third year.
• Completion of at least 108 earned semester hours by the end of the third year.
• Completion of graduation petition and graduation compliance audit forms (general education, major, and minor) in spring term of the third year.
• A score of at least 600 on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) by the end of the fall term of the third year.
• Preparation of an accepted resume and videotaped mock interview prior to the end of the third year.
• A personal interview with the Director of Admissions, Crummer Graduate School of Business.

PRE-ENGINEERING PROGRAM (A.B./B.S.)
Rollins College cooperates with Auburn University, Columbia University, and Washington University (St. Louis) in combined programs designed for students who wish to become professional engineers. Students attend Rollins for three years in a program of liberal arts and science before transferring to the engineering school. Students receive an A.B. degree from Rollins and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree from the engineering school.

In order to receive the A.B. degree from Rollins College with a major in pre-engineering, students must complete a set of core requirements in the sciences and mathematics, must satisfy all general education requirements of the College, must complete an approved area of concentration within one of the established majors offered by the College, must successfully complete at least 105 semester hours of study at Rollins, and must complete at least 35 semester hours of study leading to the B.S. in engineering at one of the cooperative engineering schools.

Fields of study include chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, industrial, and computer engineering. Other fields are biomedical engineering, aerospace engineering, materials science and engineering, and systems science and engineering.

The basic first- and second-year requirements at Rollins for all of these programs include.

• MAT 111-112 Calculus I and II
• MAT 211 Multivariable Calculus
• MAT 230 Linear Algebra
• MAT 305 Ordinary Differential Equations
• CHM 120 Chemistry
• CHM 305 Physical Chemistry
• PHY 130 Principles of Physics I
• PHY 131 Principles of Physics II
• PHY 230 Modern Physics
• CMS 167A/167B Introduction to Computing
• Courses in the General Education Curriculum, including Physical Education

For further information, contact Dr. Thomas Moore, Program Coordinator, (407) 646-2349.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (A.B./M.E.M. or M.F.)
This cooperative program offers an excellent opportunity to combine liberal arts with a graduate degree in environmental management or forestry from the Duke University School of the Environment. Duke's graduate program in these areas is one of the best in the country. Students spend three years at Rollins followed by four terms at Duke and receive the Rollins A.B. degree, and the Master of Environmental Management (M.E.M) or the Master of Forestry (M.F.) from Duke. The M.E.M. degree offers majors in resource ecology, water and air resources, or resource economics and policy. The M.F. degree represents a major in forest resource management. Concurrent graduate degrees in business administration, environmental law, or public policy are also available with two additional terms at Duke.

For further information, contact Dr. Lee Lines, Program Coordinator, (407) 628-6377.