Pell Honors Program

Director: William P. Leeman, Ph.D.

Established in 2001 and named in honor of Claiborne Pell, who represented Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997, the Pell Honors Program aims to realize Senator Pell’s vision of a liberal arts education as the route to informed and engaged citizenship. The program seeks to provide students with a lively community of highly motivated peers and faculty mentors drawn from many departments and disciplines, united by a passion for and dedication to academic excellence, artistic creativity, and intellectual curiosity.

Through the Pell Honors Program, students develop their analytical and communication skills by entering into respectful but critical debates on topics such as politics, international affairs, human nature, ethics, religion, and society and culture. They also explore in an academic setting Salve Regina University’s Mercy Tradition, which seeks to develop students who work to create a world that is harmonious, just, and merciful. 

The Pell Honors Program is highly selective, but is open to students in any academic discipline. Students who demonstrate the strong potential for academic excellence, exhibiting both intellectual curiosity and a passion for learning, are identified during the admissions process. These students are invited to apply for acceptance into the program.

The honors program extends through the traditional four years of baccalaureate study but can be completed in three years. The program consists of the following main components:

1. Specially-designed honors sections of the University Seminars and core courses in history and the social sciences.
2. Advanced Pell Honors seminar-style courses.
3. An experiential learning requirement such as a study-abroad experience, an academic internship, undergraduate research with a faculty member, and professional fieldwork (nursing, education, and social work majors only).
4. Participation in a variety of co-curricular opportunities such as lectures, field trips, reading groups, and workshops.

Pell Honors students must maintain a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average to remain in the program.

Pell Honors Four-Year Plan of Study

First Year

Students are required to complete Pell Honors sections of the following courses:

• UNV-101 University Seminar
• UNV-102 University Seminar II
• Students are also required to take Pell Honors sections of courses in two of the following disciplines: History, Political Science, Economics, Psychology, and Sociology/Anthropology.

These courses help the student to fulfill the social science and history core requirements. Additional Pell designated courses in the social sciences and history may also be offered when available.

Second Year

Pell Honors students in their second year begin taking advanced Pell Honors seminar-style courses. A total of two of these courses is required. The offerings will vary each semester.

Third and Fourth Year  

Pell Honors students complete any remaining required honors courses and their experiential learning requirement.