EDGAR!FELLOWS!REQUIREMENTSStudents who join the Edgar Fellows Program as incom-ing first-year students will complete 22 credits of special HONR courses during their time at Geneseo. Many of these courses will allow students to satisfy portions of Geneseo’s General Education requirements in unique ways. Class sizes are very small and faculty are selected to teach in the Program on the basis of a proven track record of excellence in the classroom. For information on program requirements visit the website at http://www.geneseo.edu/edgarfellows/courses.

SOME!RECENT!COURSESHONR 203: Parents vs. ZombiesHONR 204: Shakespeare on FilmHONR 205: Big DataHONR 206: Ancient Greek Perspectives on Laughter & Moral PsychologyHONR 207: Culture & Mind

“For me, the value of the Edgar Fellows Honors Program lies

in the freedom it gives you to take courses centered on critical

reasoning. Through the program, you will choose a collection

of courses that are not focused on a specific topic or discipline but, instead, are focused around the important practice of

inquiry. It is not a minor in a specific discipline; it is a minor in ‘thinking.’ As a double major in economics and mathemat-

ics, Honors at Geneseo allows me to pair the disciplines I love

with a program that keeps the joy of ‘thought’ at the forefront

of my mind.”

— Stephanie Allen, Class of 2017

Majors: Economics and Mathematics

THE!CENTER!FOR!INQUIRY"!DISCOVERY!AND! DEVELOPMENTThe Edgar Fellows Program is one of the high-impact programs affiliated with Geneseo’s Center for Inquiry, Discovery and Development (CIDD). The heart of the CIDD is to create and foster defining experiences that build on Geneseo’s transformational academic and extracurricular programs through exploration of new avenues of learning and personal developments. Students will have lasting impact and leave a legacy through their projects from which we can all benefit.

CONTACT!INFORMATIONCo-directors:

Dr. David Levy, Department of Philosophy Dr. Lisa Meyer, Department of Sociology

www.geneseo.edu/edgarfellowsedgarfellows@geneseo.edu

(585) 245-6001

The Edgar Fellows Program Office is housed in the CIDD in 303 Doty Hall

EDGAR!FELLOWS!PROGRAM

PROGRAM!HISTORY!AND!MISSIONSince its founding nearly 30 years ago, Geneseo’s College Honors Program has enriched the undergraduate education of a select number of especially dedicated and accomplished students. The program seeks to enhance habits of critical thought and expression—skills equally vital to success in one’s career, one’s private life and one’s participation as a citizen in public life. Named for its founder and longtime director, William J. Edgar, the Edgar Fellows Program offers specially designed seminar courses, research opportunities, close collaboration with program advisers and rich co-curricular activities.

“The Edgar Fellows Program’s courses are often interdisci-

plinary or experimental; they transcend regular departmen-

tal offerings or are on the forefront of scholarship. Recent

honors seminars, for instance, have impelled students to

thread together the fragmented narratives surrounding the

2007 Housing Crisis or to manage and analyze an array of

Big Data sets. It is often those courses that don’t fit in an easy-to-wrap package or check a box on a list which are the

most edifying.”

— Greg Palermo, Class of 2014

Majors: English and Physics

ELECTION!TO!THE!EDGAR!FELLOWS!PROGRAMApplication to the Edgar Fellows Program is by invitation only. Students are invited to apply based on evidence of excellent academic achievement and lively dedication to inquiry. Over the most recent five-year period, the average high school GPA of students entering the program is 97, the average SAT Verbal/Math Score is 1449 and the average ACT score is 32. Edgar Fellows receive a $1,000 per semester scholar-ship, renewable for up to eight semesters. DANTE!HOUSEAll new students who join Geneseo as an Edgar Fellow are housed in Dante House, one of Geneseo’s Residen-tial College Houses. Students assigned to Dante House are guaranteed not to live in a triple room. Program-ming within Dante House focuses on global service and citizenship.

Dante House is unique in several ways:• It is a close-knit community—with only about 100

students.• It is a First-Year Experience Residence Hall restricted

to first-year students only.• It is highly personal, with house dinners featuring visits

from Faculty Fellows and members of the College’s staff.

For more information on Dante House, visit http://www.geneseo.edu/residence_life/dante_house.

“Dante House is a small community where friends are easy to

make, and the environment of learning is contagious. It provides

for everything I ever wanted in a freshman experience—a

close-knit and diverse group of friends, support for a rigorous

education and a stimulating environment for the mind.”

— Gurnaina Chawla, Class of 2016

Major: Accounting, Spanish Minor

THE!CAPSTONE!EXPERIENCEThe culminating experience for Edgar Fellows is the year-long Capstone Project. It may be a traditional honors thesis, but it can also be a project of the student’s own design—artistic, experimental, service. Students work throughout the year with a faculty mentor of the student’s choosing.

SOME!RECENT!CAPSTONE!PROJECTS• Grassroots Female Empowerment as a Strategy for Sustainable Development• Modeling Pneumococcal Pneumonia Dynamics• Perfectionism, Social Support, and Social Anxiety in College Students• Talking Coffee: How 18th Century It-Narratives Can Repair Fair Trade Marketing• Iroquois Healing Methods• An Immunological Perspective for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

“My Edgar Fellows Capstone has allowed me to successfully

wrap up my experience at Geneseo. I have continued a research

project that I had worked on throughout the previous two years.

Having had the opportunity to pursue a project with a mentor

of my choosing gave me the motivation and support to sustain a

project of deep meaning and value to me.”

— Carsen Sulzer, Class of 2015

Major: Biology, Mathematics Minor

OUTCOMES!!(Over the most recent five-year period)Phi Beta Kappa

Approximately 60% of Edgar Fellows have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, America’s oldest and most widely recognized collegiate honor society. Fewer than ten percent of America’s colleges and universities have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Average GPA: 3.77

Graduation Honors

Summa Cum Laude: 51.8%Magna Cum Laude: 29.2%Cum Laude: 12.4%Total: 93.4%

“The interdisciplinary

approach of the Edgar Fel-

lows program fostered my

love of exploring the places

in academia where our

disciplines either become

porous or fuse together

into something new and

rare. The unique Honors

classes I took, with peers

who were highly motivated

and professors who created

extraordinary classroom

experiences, helped me

think critically about my

majors. I never would have

had the skills, or the confidence, to attempt my most ambitious projects - a Phi Beta Kappa Writing Internship, studying abroad,

becoming president of my sorority - without these classes devel-

oping my sense of self in and out of the classroom, all within a

positive, intellectually powerful environment..”

— Meghan Barrett, Class of 2016

Majors: Biology and English/Creative Writing