Honors & Leadership Programs

For students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Honors Program is designed for talented, imaginative students who want small, discussion-oriented classes and courses on interdisciplinary and topical issues. It provides students with special opportunities and challenges to enhance their undergraduate experience and to contribute to the intellectual and cultural life of the university. Life in the Honors Program extends outside the classroom with its own freshman residential floor in Swanson Hall. The Honors Program also offers eligible students the opportunity to pursue a course of study that complements her or his major.

The goal of the Honors Program is to foster a community committed to the ongoing education of students and faculty members as fellow seekers of truth.

The Waite Leadership Scholars Program is a four-year program that offers undergraduate students in the College of Business Administration the opportunity to study leadership and practice being leaders in the college setting. Waite Leadership Scholars participate in a series of extra-curricular activities that explore the philosophies and actions of leaders in many circumstances. These activities develop the values and skills needed to effectively lead in a socially responsible environment.

In its inaugural year, first-year students in the Markoe Leadership Program will participate in the following educational opportunities:

• Opening Fall Overnight Retreat (for freshmen and sophomores in the program)
• Three group seminars per semester (two during the fall semester due to the opening retreat)
• Six individual coaching sessions, three per semester

Creighton University President Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., said of Fr. Markoe:
“The Jesuits in Omaha have historically been trailblazers in the area of racial harmony and racial integration. Fr. Markoe was well before his time. He was in the advance guard of the civil rights movement in the 1930s and 1940s, long before the cause gained popular support and visibility. He worked actively with a group of Creighton University students and helped organize the DePorres Club for the purpose of promoting civil rights for blacks. They pioneered the sit-in technique later used throughout the country in the 1960s.”

 

The Freshman Leadership Program is a nationally-recognized program which provides an alternative to regular residence hall life at Creighton University. In addition to living in a community with each other on the 9th floor of Kiewit Hall, the Freshman Leadership Program members hear speakers, do community service, and attend other leadership-based events to become tomorrow's leaders.

The Cortina Community is a communal, co-ed, service-learning program for selected sophomore students based on four distinct values: community, service, faith, and justice. The 28 women & 28 men living on 5th floor McGloin Hall engage in weekly service, service-learning courses, and reflection in a communal setting. The Cortina Community is named after the Rev. Jon Cortina, S.J., who in his life was a member of the Jesuit community, and is inspired by the words of Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, to "educate the whole person of solidarity for the real world."