Academic Opportunities

The Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University is the nation’s only university-affiliated, free-standing honors college. Located in Jupiter, FL on the John D. MacArthur campus, this close-knit, residential, highly selective liberal arts and sciences college offers a distinctive all-honors curriculum. Students benefit from unparalleled access to research internships at the world-renowned scientific institutes on campus, including the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, and Scripps Research Institute.

The University Honors Program complements the excitement of a dynamic campus environment with the academic enrichment of special seminars during their first two years. Located on Florida Atlantic University’s main campus, the University Honors program is designed to provide students with exceptional and rewarding learning opportunities through special Honors Courses, small class sizes, close contact with many of the University’s top ranked faculty, and special advising/registration.

Honors in the Major Programs are open to all qualified upper-division students. Offered in select departments within each of the colleges, these honors programs are designed to help students to discover the wonders of their discipline by working with faculty members on a research, creative, or scholarly project.

National Merit Scholars have preferred admission to the FAU Max Planck Honors Program, a 2-year program typically beginning during their junior year. Offered on the Jupiter campus, the program provides honors students with exclusive enrichment opportunities, including courses taught or co-taught with Max Planck scientists. The program empowers students to work with world-class faculty researchers through a summer research program, directed independent research, and an honors thesis with program faculty. Cutting-edge neuroscience training courses include technologies such as 2-photon imaging, super resolution microscopy, electron microscopy, electrophysiology and optogenetic technology.

Scholars can imagine, build, grow, expand, and thrive with Florida Atlantic’s Innovation and Business Development Programs. With connections all across South Florida’s business landscape, these programs offer students opportunities for entrepreneurship, global partnerships, and social innovation. For example, in the FAU Business Pitch Competition,students, faculty, and recent graduates can pitch a game-changing idea for a chance to fund their new ventures – and win up to $10,000 in prize money.

The Leon Charney Diplomacy Program, winner of five national titles and the top-ranked academic diplomacy program in the country, invites students interested in international affairs to compete in diplomatic simulations across the U.S. As the champion of the National Model United Nations competition, the program helps students enhance skills like speech writing, public speaking, negotiation, dispute resolution, and research.

The School of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS) is a partnership between the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), which will coordinate and animate the University’s work on pressing environmental topics facing South Florida and the world. ECOS serves as an umbrella for numerous academic offerings in departments and interdisciplinary program areas that provide advanced bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and certificate programs.