RSU Honors Program To Begin This Fall

Outstanding scholars will soon find additional academic opportunities available at Rogers State University through its newly established Honors Program.

Beginning this fall, the RSU Honors Program will provide unique opportunities for students who have demonstrated high academic performance, as well as offer qualifying students a generous scholarship package.

“As the university continues to grow and attract a broader range of students, our students, faculty and administration felt the time was appropriate to provide an academic honors program that would offer additional challenges and opportunities for RSU’s best and brightest students,” said RSU President Dr. Joe Wiley. “We strongly believe the addition of the honors program will further increase RSU’s attractiveness to high-achieving scholars.”

Dr. Jim Ford, assistant professor in the Department of Communications and Fine Arts, has been named the honors program director.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the area’s finest students to maximize their college experience,” Ford said. “The RSU Honors Program will be a learning environment that both challenges and rewards the best students, setting the stage for their future successes.”

The RSU Honors Program offers a scholarship package that fully covers tuition, fees, books, on-campus housing and a $500 annual stipend. Scholarships and awards from other sources may affect the total scholarship package, and all actual amounts will be determined in conjunction with a student’s federal aid package.

Other unique benefits include priority enrollment and specialized honors classes with curriculum geared for students desiring additional academic challenges. Opportunities also exist for faculty/student joint research projects and other involvement within the student’s area of academic interest.

The honors program will have a strong “service learning” emphasis that will allow students to engage in service with government agencies, social service agencies, or non-commercial entities. Such service learning projects will be “real world” experience that directly relates to the student’s areas of academic or professional interests.

The competitive application process for the RSU Honors Program requires an ACT Composite score of at least 25, a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.3 and three letters of recommendation, including two from academic sources. University officials will schedule on-campus interviews with qualified candidates later this spring.

A March 1 priority application deadline has been set for completed materials to be delivered to the university.

For an application or more information, contact Dr. Ford at (918) 343-7749 or [email protected].