University Honors Program

Marquette’s University Honors Program is designed for intellectually curious, academically engaged students who want to learn in a close-knit community of their peers at the heart of a vibrant research university. Its broadly based, interdisciplinary curriculum addresses our most pressing contemporary challenges with cutting-edge knowledge and research and the wisdom of centuries of Jesuit values and pedagogy. Our Honors values and goals emphasize curiosity and open-mindedness, active listening and dialogue, breadth of learning and experience, and a commitment to equity, justice, and human rights.

The UHP offers two ways to participate in Honors: Core Honors, in which students follow an Honors version of the Marquette Core Curriculum throughout their undergraduate career; and Disciplinary Honors, in which students do Honors work in their majors.  Students may participate in either program or both.  Core Honors is open to incoming first-year students, who apply after being accepted to Marquette; students apply to Disciplinary Honors programs in their sophomore year. For more information on both programs, view our values and goals page, browse our website, or contact us!

HONORS NEWS 


Honors students compete at Big East Research Symposium
Five teams of undergraduate researchers competed at the annual Big East Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium on Saturday, March 15, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Three Honors students competed -- Lennard Fredric Boholst, Sophia Halick, and Jasleen Kaur -- all Honors Undegraduate Research fellows. Boholst, an honors senior studying economics in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, won third place in the social sciences, humanities and business category. Read more here.

Honors Director Amelia Zurcher and CORE Director Mike Olson receive Way Klingler Teaching Enhancement Award 
Dr. Michael Olson, director of the Marquette Core Curriculum and teaching associate professor of philosophy, and Dr. Amelia Zurcher, director of the University Honors Program and professor of English, receive a $20,000 grant toward their project, “The Marquette Core Culminating Course as Citizens’ Assembly. More information.

Podcast “Breaking Barriers: How One Scholarship Changed a Life,” features  Kennedi Luckett
Honors student Kennedi Luckett, the first recipient of the Wade Scholarship, discusses her journey to higher education and why she chose Marquette. Listen here.

Congratulations to Honors Study Abroad Winners for Spring 2026
Elanor Dolak (Arts & Sciences, Economics): DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia – Denmark; spring 2026. Itzel Martin (Health Sciences, Speech Pathology & Audiology): Universidad Loyola Andalucia - Cordoba & Sevilla; spring 2026.
Margaret King (Arts & Sciences, Criminology and Law Studies and Family Studies): Philipps-Universitat Marburg, spring 2026.

2025 Honors Undergraduate
Research Fair
The Annual Research Fair includes a browsing session with posters and light refreshments. Here's a full listing of this year's recipients including their research titles and project mentors. 

HONORS EVENTS


Behind the Doors of the Honors Living Learning Community

honors videoCheck out this video to see a day in the life of an Honors LLC! Riley Condon is an Honors student with a minor in Digital Media. She created this video to give prospective students a snapshot into the day in the life of an Honors student at Marquette.

New Course Offerings in Fall 2026
Are you looking to broaden your college experience? Then check out the full fall 2026 Honors Course Schedule, including these new courses:
HOPR 3953H - Honors Seminar
How to Slay, and Other Life Lessons from Buffy
TTh 12:30-1:45pm, Lindsay Daigle, Honors
PHIL 3955H - Honors Readings in Philosophy 
Luisa Capetillo, A Nation of Women: An Early Feminist Speaks Out
M 1-1:50pm  Stephanie Rivera Berruz, Philosophy

Honors Leadership Council
In September, the University Honors Program welcomed nine alumni to campus with the goal of furthering the mission of the program and to support positive alumni relations. Check out the Honors Alumni Leadership Council.


 

honors logo

Honors Digest

Published Bi-Monthly
Read through the Honors Digest, a bi-monthly roundup for current students of various upcoming honors events, opportunities, research announcements and more!  Read the current issue.


student on bench

Prestigious Fellowships

Competitive fellowships and scholarships offer unique opportunities, both nationally and internationally, to expand your horizons and deepen your understanding. See more news!
Learn more about prestigious fellowships.


Catholic and Jesuit

Student Highlights


Ryan Smith was featured in Marquette Today for receiving the Fulbright Summer fellowship to study film and cinema at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom for a three-week film program. Read the full article here. 

Natalia Beans received the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship to aid in furthering her STEM endeavors. Read the full story here.

Madelyn Filer was featured in Marquette Today for winning the 2025 Student Employee of the Year award for her position as an undergraduate research assistant with the Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center Outreach Lab. Read the full story here.

Sophia Halick was accepted to the Wistar Institute on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus this past  summer. She worked in the Wistar labs doing genetics research with a focus on cancer research.

Sidor Clare, a first-year Biological Sciences major participated in a summer program in data analytics at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University.


Student News Archives, Fall 2025