The Muhlenberg Scholars curriculum is comprised of four courses, described below:
First-year Seminar
The Muhlenberg Scholars FYS explores topics of broad social, cultural, or humanistic concern, while honing students' analytical writing skills. Students practice techniques of observation, description, and interpretation and learn how to construct and evaluate an evidence-based thesis. The faculty member leading the seminar serves as the students’ first-year advisor. Recent first-year seminars include “Writing Mediation” and “Nurtured by Nature”, and “Decisions, Decisions.”
Foundations of Scholarship
Typically taken in sophomore year, students complete an individually chosen academic project developed in stages over the term. Projects are self-designed and tailored to the student's intellectual passions and interests. Students participate in monthly workshops, building core scholarship skills used widely across disciplines (e.g., evaluating and organizing sources, constructing a literature review, analyzing evidence, synthesizing multiple sources). Recent student projects include research on the health benefits of dance, the psychology of apathy, the art of voiceover, medical and cultural perspectives on cannabis sativa, and dance activism.
Integrative Seminar
Typically taken in junior year, students form integrative research teams, exploring diverse aspects of the seminar's main topic, theme, or controversy. Seminar topics vary year to year, but are broad-ranging and can be studied through a variety of lenses, including humanistic, scientific, or cultural. Student teams lead discussions, complete a group project, and present their findings to other classmates. The spring 2019 seminar is titled “Fairness: Theory in Practice.”
Senior Seminar
Students constructively engage with questions of enduring personal and social significance. The principal goal is to foster intellectual exploration in community through dialogue, critical analysis, and creative problem solving. Students complete group projects and then synthesize their work as a class to produce a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Topics vary from year to year but are be interdisciplinary in nature. Recent seminars titles include “World Cities,” “Decision Making in Personal and Professional Contexts,” and “Thinking, Rationality, and Intuition.”
GPA and Graduation Requirements
In order to maintain honors program scholarship, students must have a 2.5 cumulative G.P.A. at the end of their first year, and a 3.0 cumulative G.P.A at the end of their second year. In addition, students must continually meet standards of good campus citizenship and make progress towards participation requirements of the program.
To graduate with the “Muhlenberg Scholar” designation at graduation, Scholars students must have a 3.3 cumulative G.P.A., meet standards of good campus citizenship, and satisfy all curricular and participation requirements of the program.
