The Honors Program builds on the standard curriculum in two related ways.

First, it fosters the intellectual growth of honors students by expecting that they demonstrate both broad knowledge and deep understanding. Honors students demonstrate breadth of knowledge in a general way by maintaining a high level of success in all of their classes. In addition, they participate in academically challenging classes designed especially for the Honors Program which emphasize, by means of interdisciplinary presentation, the integral relatedness of all knowledge.

The Honors Program fosters a second area of growth in students, growth towards the maturity of character that serves others.

This area of growth involves, first, an awareness that human beings, in addition to being intellectual beings, are also social and cultural. The Honors Program enriches the social experience of students by encouraging honors students to recognize themselves as members of a community through making it possible for them to meet socially. In addition to such informal social events as picnics and study sessions, these social occasions include more formal cultural opportunities, such as together attending a Shakespeare play. These events are meant to be enjoyed, of course, but also to make students more aware that they are participants in a society, a culture, and a community involving others.