Summary
Discover your gifts and calling in Walsh University’s Honors Program, which emphasizes intellectual growth, service-minded leadership, and vocational development.Walking into an Honors seminar at Walsh University, you notice something immediately … the pace is different. The conversation is unhurried but serious. Students listen closely. They challenge one another respectfully. They aren’t trying to win an argument; they’re trying to understand something true.
That atmosphere doesn’t happen by accident. It reflects a shared belief that education is not merely preparation for a career, but preparation for a life well lived … a life oriented toward truth, service, and God.
Walsh Honors Program
Walsh University’s Honors Program is built on that conviction. Designed for students who want academic rigor grounded in faith and reason. “Our Honors students aren’t just asking what they want to do,” said Dr. Jennifer Clevinger, professor of biology and co-director of the program. “They’re asking who they’re meant to become.”
Honors students take small, discussion and lecture-based courses designed specifically for the program. These are modified core classes intentionally designed to encourage civil discourse, written expression, and critical thinking.
You begin with Walsh University, grounding your studies in the Catholic intellectual tradition, and continue into interdisciplinary courses that examine questions from multiple perspectives – scientific, philosophical, theological, and historical.
It is not unusual to see a scientist and a theologian co-teaching a seminar, modeling what it looks like to pursue truth without fear.
“Our students learn that faith and reason are not in competition,” said Dr. Cary W. Dabney, assistant professor of theology. “They learn how to hold complexity with humility.”
That intellectual formation is inseparable from moral and spiritual formation. Each year, Honors students complete service hours that complement classroom learning and address community needs.
Education and Knowledge are Tools
For Meklit Tofu, a computer science and cybersecurity major, those service experiences were formative. “Education and knowledge are tools,” she reflected, “but wisdom includes the character to use them for others.” One service experience, volunteering at Refuge of Hope Ministries, helped her see how learning can shape the heart as much as the mind.
At the center of the Honors experience is the four-semester thesis, which can take the form of a traditional research study or a creative project.
This extended project requires sustained focus, discipline, and independence, virtues already familiar to many students who have learned to take ownership of their education. With close faculty mentorship, students research, write, revise, and ultimately present work that reflects both rigor and purpose.
“We want the thesis to matter,” said Dr. Nina Rytwinski, assistant professor of psychology and co-director of the program. “It should serve your future, not just fulfill a requirement.”
Walsh Honors Program
For Michael Yarber, a biology major preparing for medical school, the thesis process clarified his vocational direction. Researching potential anti-cancer therapeutics affirmed both his love for science and his desire to serve others through medicine.
“It reinforced that pursuing what genuinely interests you matters,” he said—especially when that pursuit is oriented toward the good of others.
Community anchors the program. A dedicated Honors Study Lounge has become a gathering place for shared work, study sessions, and friendships rooted in common purpose. Students support one another not just academically, but spiritually and personally.
Discover Their Gifts
Directing the Honors Program, for Dr. Rytwinski and Dr. Clevinger, is itself a vocation. “Working with students as they discover their gifts and where God is calling them—that’s the joy of this work,” Dr. Rytwinski said.
In a culture that often measures success by speed and status, Walsh University’s Honors Program emphasizes intellectual growth, service-minded leadership, and vocational development.
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Walsh University’s Honors Program
