The Honors Program is a vital part of Franciscan University of Steubenville's dedication to the Western, and particularly Catholic, tradition of education. The Program offers an exciting intellectual challenge and a classic liberal arts education that may be pursued along with any University major. The purpose of the Honors Program is to provide a familiarity with great works that have been gradually disappearing from much of American higher education. Since exposure to great works alone does not guarantee understanding, such works must be seen in the context from which they came and made alive by vigorous discussion.
Historical context is provided by the chronological order of the seminars.
Each seminar covers a successive period in Western intellectual history, so that in the course of four years, students can apprehend the development of the great ideas of our culture. Vigorous discussion encourages thought about the larger and ultimate questions of life. Indeed, one of the most important elements of the honors seminar class is the community of scholars formed through the love of learning. Through the seminar method, students can learn the art of analysis and discussion by discerning the primary assumptions behind an author's arguments and how to support observations about a text from the text itself. Finally, through the vigorous discussion of these great works of Western Civilization, it is hoped that each student can come to a deeper understanding of reality itself and of his own nature, place, and purpose before, God, the world, and the human community.