New Admissions Option Will Increase Honors Student Enrollment

Albert Dorman Honors College welcomed more than 70 additional students this year as part of a new program called Dean's Scholars, designed to allow for a more robust honors education across campus.

The program admits scholars from the College of Science and Liberal Arts, Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Martin Tuchman School of Management, Newark College of Engineering and Ying Wu College of Computing each year who desire the rigor of an honors education within their academic discipline.

Dean's Scholars pursue a minimum of three honors-only courses within their degree-granting college and participate in a speakers series and networking events every year. They also receive merit aid.

Although any NJIT student can register for individual honors courses, "We want to pull more students into honors education. So many of them are capable of it and capable of succeeding. This was a strategy to incorporate more of the applications and more of the students who have an interest in an honors education here at NJIT," Dean Louis Hamilton explained.

"It really came out of conversations with the other deans and with the provost after I arrived in 2017," Hamilton said. "We focused on trying to offer the most robust honors education we could across the different colleges as there are so many talented and worthy students at NJIT who were interested in it."

“While the Dorman Scholars pursue an interdisciplinary honors education with a larger course load, and engage in 60 hours of community service per year to develop their leadership skills and expand their horizons, Dean’s Scholars focus on an honors education within their disciplines and college. For Dorman and Dean’s scholars alike, this represents a great opportunity to deepen their education and connect with an incredibly talented and larger cohort of honors scholars at NJIT,” Hamilton added.

Beyond the honors courses, there are distinctive variations for Dean's Scholars between the NJIT colleges. For example, the College of Science and Liberal Arts offers leadership opportunities; Hillier College of Architecture and Design emphasizes connecting to their alumni network; and Newark College of Engineering encourages joining their Grand Challenges program.

James Pineda, a freshman computer science major from Hackettstown, is one of the first Dean's Scholars from Ying Wu College of Computing, where there are substantial undergraduate research opportunities.

"I'm using the opportunity to provide to me as much as I can," Pineda said. He is taking honors courses in chemistry and computing during his first semester as a Highlander, while attending remotely from home.

Pineda said a lineup of advanced placement and honors courses in high school prepared him well for the Dean's Scholars program. He noted that the pace of college courses takes some adjustment, but he is happy to be in the new program.

"I think it's a good program," he said. "It's one that I feel you can get good opportunities out of."