O’Malley School of Business Begins Honors Program
The Honors Program offers seminar-style core classes, a capstone research project and career-related networking activities.
Manhattan College’s O’Malley School of Business has started an Honors Program, beginning this semester.
“Our Honors Program is designed to provide students an experience that develops rigorous and cutting-edge business skills, select experiences with top business leaders and mentors, and exposure to and lived experience with Lasallian values,” said Donald Gibson, Ph.D., dean of the O’Malley School of Business. “We want this to be an impactful experience for our talented, highly qualified and highly motivated business students.”
Students who are accepted into the Honors Program will join a community of students who are focused on academic and leadership achievement. They enter a curriculum designed to enhance their business and interpersonal skills through seminar-style core classes, major courses, and a senior capstone research experience.
The Honors Program offers additional career-related networking activities. The first semester of the program features luncheon seminars to introduce students to the program. Other benefits include special business field trips, enhanced mentoring opportunities, a dedicated honors adviser and a designation on the student’s official transcript.
Preparing Students for Their Next Steps
Sebahattin Demirkan, Ph.D., associate professor of accounting, CIS, business analytics and law, is teaching the Honors 201 accounting course this fall, which most of the cohort are taking together. “They’re a very hard-working group,” he says. “It’s a privilege to teach them.”
Maura McCarthy ’23, a management major, expects the Honors program curriculum will help propel her toward her goal of joining the Peace Corps and eventually working in the nonprofit sector. This fall, the Maryland native plans to attend an event at the 92nd Street Y featuring investor and philanthropist Charles Schwab in conversation with Glenn Fuhrman, co-founder of MSD Capital.
A member of the College’s rowing team, McCarthy enjoys the “community feel” among the Honors students in her accounting class. “Dr. Demirkan is always bringing in real-world examples of accounting principles and updates us on his research,” she says, concluding, “I’ve already learned a lot.”
About the Honors Program
Accepted first-year students to the O’Malley School of Business are invited based on criteria that combines high school academic performance, involvement in extracurricular activities and potential for leadership and scholarship.
Students are invited to apply and are asked to write a short essay of intent and a discussion of their leadership potential. Applications are reviewed by the associate dean in the O’Malley School of Business. Up to 25 students will be accepted.
Honors contracts are also allowed in the program. An honors contract is an agreement between a student and a faculty member that the student will do an enriched version of a non-honors course and be eligible to have that course count toward the O’Malley Honors Program requirements. All Honors students must maintain a 3.5 grade point average to remain in the program.
For more information about the O’Malley School of Business Honors Program, contact associate dean Janet Rovenpor, Ph.D., at janet.rovenpor@manhattan.edu or (718) 862-6391.