New Mercer Honors program prepares students to change the world

The new Mercer University Honors Program officially launches this fall following a major revamp of the curriculum that better positions high-achieving students for success. 

“The new Mercer Honors program is focused on the students’ four-year process of development,” said Dr. David Davis, director of the honors program and national fellowships and scholarships. The new curriculum complements the existing Engineering Honors Program. 

Surrounded by a community of success-oriented peers, Mercer Honors students will take courses in service and leadership, research and inquiry, and vocation and mission. Through these classes, students will define their purpose, develop the skills and experience needed to change the world, and build a lifelong path of achievement. 

“The first year we focus on how to thrive as a student in college. And their second year we focus on developing their sense of personal mission, answering the question, ‘How will they change the world?’” said Dr. Davis, professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “The third year, we’re focused on their research interests and curiosities. And the fourth year we focus on how they will transition to life after Mercer.” 

Mercer Honors students will learn in small classes from attentive faculty. They will cap off their experience by completing an honors pathway of undergraduate research, service learning, global education, internship or postgraduation fellowship. 

“Ours is a distinctive program that builds on Mercer’s existing strengths to enhance student development,” Dr. Davis said. 

Admission to the honors program begins with an undergraduate application to Mercer. A select number of high-achieving students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, College of Education, School of Music and College of Health Professions will be invited to the honors program with admission to Mercer. 

Non-honors students who demonstrate high academic performance during their freshman year will have an opportunity to apply to join the program going into their sophomore year. 

A pilot class for the new honors program was admitted in fall 2023. Those students took first-year honors courses last year, and they will complete the new curriculum as a cohort over the next three years.

Mercer Honors student Alex Marshall, a sophomore majoring in law and public policy, plans to attend graduate school, enrolling in a Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctor joint degree program. Ultimately, he wants to work in political law.  

Through the honors program, he has learned about services and resources on campus. In one of his honors classes, he wrote a personal statement and resume, and he started working on other documents he’ll need when he applies to graduate school. 

Marshall is looking forward to serving as a sophomore class senator in the Student Government Association and as a resident assistant in housing and residence life — two opportunities he learned about in his honors classes. He also is a member of the ROTC.

Rising sophomore Naya Patel, a Stamps Scholar who is double-majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology and Spanish, said she enjoyed her first year in the program. She liked being around students with a similar academic drive and learning about the University. 

“I feel like every week I learn something new about Mercer,” she said. “I think the honors program is a good way for me to make sure that I make my mark and have a good experience that will help me in the future.” 

Patel, who plans to attend medical school, said her participation in Mercer Honors gave her the confidence to take advantage of all the experiences the University has to offer. 

Over the summer, she traveled with Mercer On Mission to Vietnam, where she was part of a team that fit amputees with prosthetic legs and hands. In the fall, she will start a research position with Dr. John Stanga, assistant professor of biology. 

“Understanding that the opportunity is there, and you don’t have to be a certain age, you don’t have to be older, you just have to want to learn is a big part of what the honors classes are trying to teach you,” Patel said. “That’s allowed me to pursue all these opportunities.”