Augustana Civitas Program
The Civitas Program is designed to complement existing departmental honors programs, not to replace them. Students who complete the program will graduate with Civitas Honors.
The Civitas Student
Civitas seeks to recruit academically gifted, creative, and intellectually curious scholars who wish to fully explore a liberal arts education and the responsibilities of citizenship in a global community. This program is seeking independent students who desire to analyze, synthesize, and engage academic material in depth and in breadth.
Admission to Civitas
To encourage involvement of students not admitted in a Civitas cohort with the program, there are two tracks toward graduation with Civitas honors:
The initial cohort track:
The Civitas class is limited to 40 participants and is open to students from all disciplines. Priority will be given to entering students who possess a minimum ACT score of 27 and a 3.50 cumulative high school grade point average. Students meeting these requirements are invited to submit that which demonstrates their best work and provides insight into what they will contribute to the program. Submissions might include a piece of art, a written work (essay, poetry, etc), a science project, a musical composition, video, or any original work deemed appropriate.
The selection committee will work to ensure that students represent as broad a continuum of scholars as possible.
Later admission track:
In addition to the 40 students admitted annually to Civitas, a number of slots (dependent on the size of the freshman class) will be set aside for students who wish to join the program at a later date. Students who wish to enter after first semester(s) at Augustana or those that transfer in may apply to Civitas. Admission will be based on the following criteria:
- An essay that may be accompanied by a portfolio;
- A letter of recommendation from an Augustana faculty member (unless transfer student) addressing Civitas expectations in relation to the applicant's strengths and weaknesses;
- Augustana (or other college/university) academic records including GPA, ACT/SAT or other quantitative measures.
Graduation with Civitas Honors
Track 1 (cohort track): Completion of all six courses and the required individual learning experience with at least a 3.0 GPA in those courses.
Track 2 (later admission track): Completion of four courses, and the required individual learning experience with at least a 3.20 GPA in those courses.
A Civitas honor is separate from traditional honors categories at graduation (cum laude, etc.).
Academic Expectations
Students must maintain a 3.00 average in their general coursework to remain in the program. Students will be allowed a one-semester probationary period should their GPA drop below 3.00. Failure to maintain a 3.00 average after that period will result in dismissal from Civitas.
Substitutions
The four 200-level courses can be used to satisfy requirements of Augustana's SOPHIA Core Curriculum. For details on the relationship between Civitas and the core curriculum, please contact the Director.