Why Join Belmont Global Honors?
Global honors challenges you to think beyond the classroom and explore complex global issues through an interdisciplinary curriculum. Along the way you will build meaningful relationships with faculty and your classmates as you develop the knowledge, curiosity, and confidence to make a difference.
Belmont Global Honors offers unique opportunities to exceptionally talented, motivated undergraduates.
- Discover your purpose.
Write, research, lead and serve while asking bigger questions about your passions, values and how to live a meaningful life.
- See the world.
Study abroad with your honors peers, during your second year to gain new perspectives, and build connections that last a lifetime.
- Create, Lead, and Collaborate.
Tackle complex problems through the Honors Scholars Collaborative and turn ideas into action.
Learn your purpose. Find your people. Make your mark.
What makes Belmont Global Honors unique?
Problem Solving and Creativity
Big questions deserve bold ideas. You’ll write, speak and research in nearly all of your Global Honors courses. Explore global challenges and collaborate with fellow Honors students to turn your ideas into real-world projects through the Honors Scholars’ Collaborative.
Living, Learning and Studying Abroad
In your second year, you’ll study abroad with your Global Honors classmates, building friendships and gaining perspectives that will shape the rest of your Belmont experience Best of all, studying abroad costs no more than living and studying on Belmont’s campus.
Leadership
Find your voice and lead with purpose. Global Honors students are leaders in the classroom, across campus and throughout the Nashville community. Leadership skills are developed through courses, service, experiential learning and opportunities through the Belmont Office of Leadership Development (BOLD).
Belmont Global Honors Curriculum
The Honors Core replaces Belmont’s general education curriculum with immersive, discussion-driven courses designed to make you think, create, question and connect.
Through Honors seminars, you’ll explore ideas from multiple perspectives, all while completing the requirements of your major.
Expect smaller classes, deeper conversations, collaborative projects and courses that bring together ideas from across disciplines. All courses are taught by nominated Global Honors Faculty Fellows, Belmont’s best and most engaged faculty.
Belmont Global Honors Signature Courses
- HON 1110 (3 Hours): Honors Interdisciplinary Seminar (An Honorable Life) is a broadly themed, writing intensive introductory course designed to increase the recognition, appreciation and capacity to use multiple ways of justifying or defending claims to knowledge and answering eternal questions through study of the humanities such as art, literature, philosophy and history. Students will learn about different kinds of knowledge claims, how to construct knowledge and how to evaluate and answer the most difficult questions that have always plagued humankind. The seminar format of the course will prepare honors students to engage fully in the similarly formatted Honors Foundation sequence courses.
- HON 1120 (3 Hours): Engaging the Bible and Culture Seminar is a survey of the Judeo-Christian canon of scripture from the history of the Hebrew people through the growth of the New Testament church movement. The primary goal of this course is to increase a student's understanding of the Bible's relationship to culture through the exploration of patterns and themes within the biblical material.
Through the use of reading, discussion, research and on-campus events, Engaging the Bible and Culture will ask questions about faith, reason and culture. - HON 2950 (3 hours): Honors Global Writing Workshop is taken in conjunction with a study abroad experience, this course develops student mastery of written rhetoric and basic research skills by prompting engagement with and analysis of places, peoples, languages and cultures different from those of the United States. Through experience, observation, reflection, research and writing, students will not only increase their knowledge of the world around them but also learn to approach their own culture as an outsider. In this course, students also learn about Belmont's unique Lumos Travel Award.
Global Honors Foundations Courses
- HON 1130 (3 hours): Honors Oral Communication Seminar challenges students to refine their ability to construct and deliver effective messages, both informative and persuasive. The course emphasizes critical analysis of oral messages and research sources, leadership communication and the global/cultural context of public communication.
- HON 1140 (3 hours): Honors Social Science Seminar focuses on a topic or theme based in a social science discipline in a manner that engages students in interdisciplinary thinking, which values diversity and global awareness, fosters creativity and critical thinking and develops their skills as writers, researchers and leaders. Specific topic and course title will vary with each offering.
- HON 1150 (3 hours): Honors Wellness Seminar focuses on a wellness-based topic or theme in a manner that engages students in interdisciplinary thinking, which values diversity and global awareness, fosters creativity and critical thinking and develops their skills as writers, researchers and leaders. Specific topic and course title will vary with each offering.
- HON 2120 (3 hours): Honors Humanities Seminar focuses on a humanities-based topic or theme in a manner that engages students in interdisciplinary thinking, which values diversity and global awareness, fosters creativity and critical thinking and develops their skills as writers, researchers and leaders. Specific topic and course title will vary with each offering.
- HON 2130 (3 hours): Honors Fine Arts Seminar focuses on a fine arts-related topic or theme in a manner that engages students in interdisciplinary thinking, which values diversity and global awareness, fosters creativity, critical thinking and aesthetic perspective and develops their skills as writers, researchers, creators and leaders. Specific topic and course title will vary with each offering.
- HON 2340 (3 hours): Honors Mathematical Inquiry Seminar is an examination of the techniques of critical reasoning utilizing mathematical paradigms, with emphasis on the development of the art of such reasoning.
Living and Learning Community Abroad
Your second year takes you beyond Belmont to explore one of our partner institutions around the world. You’ll travel with a cohort of 20–25 Global Honors students, an experience abroad that you’ll share with the people who have become your Honors community.
During this experience you’ll earn 12–16 hours of credit, combining Belmont Honors coursework with classes at your international partner institution. Your courses can help fulfill core, major, and minor requirements, so you can explore the world without putting your degree on hold.
The semester abroad costs no more than a semester at Belmont. Belmont bills you directly, and your existing financial aid continues to apply.
Belmont Global Honors curriculum culminates in the Honors Scholars' Collaborative, two courses structured to support Belmont Global Honors students in the completion of their Honors project, from planning through execution.
- HON 3510 (3 Hours) Honors Project Planning and Preparation: This course will build on skills developed in HON 2950 by applying those skills to the specific disciplinary research contexts of their individual Honors projects. Utilizing team-based, problem-solving learning strategies coupled with individual research and application, students will produce a project prospectus, including a literature review and timeline for their paper or product. In preparation for producing the literature review and prospectus for their projects, students will be introduced to important topics such as time and project management, project funding, targeted primary and secondary research, leadership, advocacy and the importance of being able to communicate project value to external stakeholders.
- HON 3520 (3 Hours): Honors Project Research and Execution: In this course, students will execute the plan laid out in their prospectus, supported by class activities intended to increase those skills necessary for the completion of their projects. Specific sections of this course will be designed to implement a variety of research and production methodologies; students in majors which require extensive senior projects will be encouraged to use their honors project to extend the reach of those projects by providing the time for further and deeper research and/or production.
Belmont Global Honors Signature Course
- HON 3130 (3 Hours): Honors Religion and Culture is an interdisciplinary, problem-based, topical seminar that features a particular problem or issue and includes an experiential learning component. Using a substantial number of readings, primarily from one discipline, but also from two or three other complementary disciplines that relate to the problem under exploration, the course examines what might it look like to be both a responsible citizen of this nation and this world and a curious truth-seeker or person of faith. The course explores how our political leanings and our faith commitments mutually inform one another, as well as ways such commitments have taken shape and produced both conflict and harmony in the course of our nation's history.
- HON 4500 (3 Hours): Honors Senior Symposium: Students will present their projects first to their honors cohort as well as honors faculty, inviting question and critique, and later to the Belmont community as a whole; in connection with completing and presenting their projects, students will reflect on their project in the broader context of their honors education, especially ways in which it fostered in them a global ethical perspective, aesthetic appreciation, and skills as researchers, scholars, artists, advocates and leaders.
Global Honors Foundations Course
- HON 3340 (4 Hours): Honors Scientific Inquiry Seminar is an examination of the techniques of critical reasoning utilizing scientific paradigms, with emphasis on the development of the art of such reasoning. The course includes an experiential lab component.
Paris Berrian
Biochemistry & Microbiology | Global Honors
"I chose Belmont because it was the only institution I applied to that had a close community of students and faculty that would benefit me as I pursue my degree. I knew I would cherish the relationships I made with other students and my professors here, and I didn’t want my college experience to be devoid of connections with other students."
Isaac Wetzel
Emerging Media | Global Honors
"With the Honors Program, I knew I would be surrounded by like-minded peers and professors who not only shared my interests and academic goals, but also cared about my success. It's all about community for me, and that is what I saw at Belmont when I visited."
Marlies Otteman
Global Leadership Studies | Global Honors
"I love how Honors has an extremely interdisciplinary approach to all of its signature courses. I feel like I am really learning to think for myself and mold my own ideas and opinions rather than just learning material to pass tests."
Justin Leal
Nursing | Global Honors
"It was always a decision of mine to engage in challenging curriculum that made me think critically about issues. I have always been in honors classes, and I wanted to continue that trajectory by joining Belmont Global Honors. I felt like I would become a more well-rounded individual and broaden my horizon if I engaged in classes that had other people from different majors. I wanted to find a community that explored my interest in learning."
Apply to Belmont Global Honors
Global Honors is a selective, holistic experience for students who are ready to think deeply, lead boldly, and engage the world.
Every application is reviewed individually by the Global Honors Admissions Committee. We consider the full student—including high school GPA, the rigor of the curriculum available at their school, essay, activities and experiences, and the Global Honors statement submitted with the application. If you choose to submit test scores, those will also be considered.
There is no single formula for admission. Freshman applicants with a 3.5 GPA or higher are invited to apply, but admission is based on the strength of the overall application.
Global Honors is a four-year experience beginning in your first semester at Belmont. Transfer students interested in joining Global Honors should contact our office to learn more about available admission pathways.
- Apply to Belmont through the Belmont Application, Common Application or Apply Coalition with SCIOR.
Start Your Application -
Select the option indicating you would like to apply to Belmont Global Honors. You will then be asked to write a response of 500-750 words and submit as part of your application. Choose from one of the prompts below:
- Consider the five following individual identity descriptors: creator, doer, explorer, change agent, seeker. Choose one of these five descriptors that best encapsulates your core identity. Provide 2-3 concrete examples of how the descriptor you chose reflects your identity. How might this core identity translate into action as a scholar-global citizen at Belmont University? And how do you hope to develop your core identity during college? OR
- Reflect on a recent transformative learning experience. The learning experience can be something directly related to the classes you have taken or to experiences you’ve had outside the classroom. The experience does not need to be academic in nature, but it should demonstrate how you were transformed in the process. OR
- Belmont’s Global Honors Program is a community of students who hunger for knowledge. What’s a topic you haven’t had an opportunity to learn about in high school that you are excited to learn about in college? Why do you yearn to know more about this particular topic?
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Watch for communication regarding your application. Decisions will be communicated on a rolling basis with all decisions communicated by early February.
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Reserve your seat in Belmont Global Honors using the QR Code on your acceptance letter. You do not have to pay an enrollment deposit to reserve your seat.
Dec. 1 is the deadline to be considered for Belmont Global Honors as well as Belmont’s most competitive merit scholarship programs. Submit your COMPLETED application to Belmont University by the Dec. 1 priority deadline to be considered for Belmont Global Honors. Please contact your admissions counselor for questions regarding merit scholarships.
May 1 is the deadline to accept your seat in Belmont Global Honors.
Belmont’s Honors Program is a highly selective program. Successful applicants demonstrate exceptional academic performance as well as participation in co-curricular and community activities.
Complex social challenges in Nashville and around the world demand solutions that are only possible through collaboration and innovation. The Belmont Innovation Labs offers a unique opportunity for students in the Belmont Global Honors to engage deeply with social innovation through the prestigious Social Innovation Fellowship—an eight-semester cohort experience involving learning, research and travel.
Each year, a cohort of 10 Global Honors students is selected through the college admissions process to participate in the Fellowship. Students do not apply directly. Instead, potential candidates are identified during the review of their Belmont application and Global Honors essay. Those admitted to both Belmont and Global Honors may be invited to apply for the Fellowship.
Campus Visit
The absolute best way to get a feel for our beautiful campus is to come see us in person. More information about scheduling a campus visit can be found here.
When you register for the campus visit, you will select and choose an academic information session based on your intended major. If you would also like to learn more about Belmont Global Honors during your campus visit, you will be able to schedule a Belmont Global Honors information session on a Monday or Friday campus visit.
Preview Day
Preview Day is an all-day, high-energy event for prospective undergraduate freshmen that you can think of as an "open house" for the University. It covers everything from academics to student life, including a specific Belmont Global Honors session. Preview Days are also your chance to visit Belmont on a weekend. Learn more here and register for an upcoming Preview Day!
Stories from Belmont Global Honors
Leigh Hitchcock
Email: leigh.hitchcock@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 367
Antionedra Maupin
Email: antionedra.maupin@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 367
Mary Ellen Pethel
Email: maryellen.pethel@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 371
Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
Email: bonnie.smith@belmont.edu
Office Location: Janet Ayers Academic Center 3027
Faculty Fellows
Learn alongside accomplished faculty who bring diverse expertise and perspectives to the Honors experience. Representing every undergraduate college, Global Honors Faculty Fellows mentor students through meaningful dialogue and shared experiences. Along the way, they challenge students to think deeply, expand their perspective, and better understand the world and their place in it.
Sarah Blomeley
Email: sarah.blomeley@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 3030
David Curtis
Email: david.curtis@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 3024
Kimberlee Entsminger
Email: kimberlee.entsminger@belmont.edu
Office Location: Janet Ayers Academic Center 4007
Jennifer Wilgus Fowler
Email: jennifer.fowler@belmont.edu
Office Location: Barbara Massey Rogers Center 447
Laurie Gavilo-Lane
Email: laurie.gavilolane@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 439
Frecia Gonzalez
Office Location: JMC 450
Ryan Greenawalt
Email: ryan.greenawalt@belmont.edu
Office Location: Heron 109
Charmion Gustke
Email: charmion.gustke@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 3028
Darrell Gwaltney
Email: darrell.gwaltney@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2037
David Harkins
Email: david.harkins@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 433
Joel Hester
Email: joel.hester@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2133
Sally Holt
Email: sally.holt@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2009
Mona Ivey-Soto
Email: mona.iveysoto@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 5026
Thomm Jutz
Email: thomas.jutz@belmont.edu
Office Location: 34 Music Square East 308
Peter Kuryla
Email: peter.kuryla@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2120
Carla Lahey
Email: carla.lahey@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 318
Arpita Mandal
Email: arpita.mandal@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 3035
Robbie Matz
Email: robbie.matz@belmont.edu
Office Location: Curb Event Center Industry Suite 307
Donovan McAbee
Email: donovan.mcabee@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2024
Armon Means
Email: armon.means@belmont.edu
Office Location: Leu Center for the Visual Arts 118
Francesca Muccini
Email: francesca.muccini@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 3019
Amanda Nelms
Email: amanda.nelms@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 5027
Kristi Oshiro
Email: kristi.oshiro@belmont.edu
Office Location: Curb Event Center Industry Suite 306
Gideon Park
Email: gideon.park@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2033
Nadine Perrero
Email: nadine.perrero@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 346
J. Mark Phillips
Email: mark.phillips@belmont.edu
Office Location: Jack C. Massey Center 456
Anna Reddington
Office Location: Sport Science Center office #5
Beth Ritter-Conn
Email: beth.ritterconn@belmont.edu
Office Location: Ayers 2018
Adam Smiley
Email: adam.smiley@belmont.edu
Office Location: McWhorter 420
Kara Smith
Email: kara.smith@belmont.edu
Office Location: Barbara Massey Hall 349
Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
Email: bonnie.smith@belmont.edu
Office Location: Janet Ayers Academic Center 3027
Marieta Velikova
Email: marieta.velikova@belmont.edu
Office Location: Barbara Massey Rogers Center 319
Lucy Watson
Email: lucy.watson@belmont.edu
Office Location: Janet Ayers Academic Center 4029
Tom Williams
Office Location: Leu Center for the Visual Arts 114
Request Information
Contact Us
Global Honors Program
Leigh Hitchcock
Assistant Director
615.460.6472
Email Leigh