The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program

Students in the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program enroll in honor courses, enjoy faculty mentoring, and complete a major research project. In addition, they participate in exciting extracurricular events - outstanding speakers, cultural outings to top NYC destinations, and leadership workshops.

For more information please contact:

Director
Cynthia Wachtell
wachtell@yu.edu
646.592.4157
215 Lexington Ave, Room 616

About

The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program was founded in 1999 with the goal of enhancing the college experience of high-achieving students.

Built on the premise that outstanding scholars should be brought together, challenged and encouraged to excel, the program nurtures students as it helps them to grow both intellectually and personally. There are both academic and extracurricular components to the Honors Program.

The academic program stresses writing and critical analysis, research and individual mentoring. Students select honors courses from offerings in the humanities, Jewish studies, natural sciences and social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary seminars. In their final three semesters, honor students each complete a senior project under the individual guidance of a faculty mentor.

Students completing the honors program will have the Honors distinction noted on their transcripts and their diplomas.

Stern College honors students also participate in a wide array of extracurricular events. Each semester the honors program's calendar includes a special honors dinner event and wonderful speaker events and leadership workshops. First year students also participate in exciting outings to explore NYC's unique cultural offerings.

Program Director

Dr. Cynthia Wachtell is the founding director of the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program at Stern College. She earned her PhD in the history of American civilization and an AM in English at Harvard University. She jointly earned an MA and a BA, summa cum laude, from Yale University in American studies. Her academic field of expertise is American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to teaching at Yeshiva University, she has taught at Harvard University, the New School for Social Research and Fordham University. She is the author of War No More: The Antiwar Impulse in American Literature, 1861-1914 (2010) and editor of The Backwash of War: An Extraordinary American Nurse in World War I (2019) for which she wrote the first biography of Ellen N. La Motte. She also has published numerous articles in books, journals, and and other publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Huffington Post.

For more information about the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, please contact Dr. Wachtell at wachtell@yu.edu and visit the program's pages on the Office of Admissions site, where you can also apply.

Program Information

Honors Courses

Students must complete a minimum of five honors courses. These courses may be used toward general liberal arts or major requirements. Examples of recent offerings include Introduction to Quantum Mechanics; Philosophy of Rav Soloveitchik; The New York Skyscraper; History of Halakha; Modern Poetry; and Mind, Language, Consciousness. Summer travel courses have included Marine Biology (New York/Maine); Art History in Florence; Literary London; Global Health (New York/India); and Archeological Fieldwork in Israel.

Honors students are expected to maintain a 3.6 cumulative GPA.

Senior Project

At the end of her junior year, each honor student designs a project that involves intensive work under the supervision of a faculty mentor. During her senior year, each student then completes her senior project, which represents the culmination of her academic career at Stern.

Mentors

During her second year on campus, each student is matched with a faculty mentor in her field of interest. The mentor provides ongoing guidance for the honors student throughout her time at Stern and serves as the faculty supervisor for the student's senior project.

Extracurriculars

Fall Alumnae Panel / Dinner

Each fall semester all honors students share a festive dinner and then hear from a panel of accomplished Honors Program alumnae, who span a range of professional fields and years of graduation. In a lively conversation, the alumnae discuss their careers, reflect on how they balance personal and professional goals, and offer advice for making the most of one's time at Stern.

Spring Senior Project Presentations / Dinner

At the end of each spring semester all honors students gather again for a celebratory dinner, after which each senior briefly presents her Senior Project. With a wide range of topics – that recently have included "Israel’s Relationship with Iran," "Elective Cesarean Section and Halacha," "AI Solutions for Detecting Deeepfakes," "Characterizing a Novel Chimeric Photoprotein," and "A Survey of the Lithuanian Yeshiva Movement" – the evening is always fascinating, fast-paced, and lots of fun!

Cultural Events for First Year Students

First year honors students are introduced to NYC and one another through participating in specially planned cultural activities. These can take the form of engaging in a historical walking tour; traveling to see a notable play, classic ballet, or modern dance performance; or visiting such “only in New York” destinations as the American Museum of Natural History or United Nations.

Speakers & Leadership Workshops

Each semester honors students attend a range of interesting and thought-provoking speaker events featuring renowned scholars, leading experts, and prominent opinion-makers from a broad array of fields—including politics, science, the arts and commerce. Honors students also participate in a variety of leadership workshops, focusing on areas such as time management, interview skills, and financial literacy.

To be eligible for honors courses, a student must have Deans List status or, in the case of first-year students, have a minimum high school average of 90 and a minimum SAT score of 1200. In general, honors courses are more rigorous and/or advanced than regular courses and have the following characteristics:

Involve a critical investigation of primary sources
Make use of and/or demonstrate current methods of field inquiry
Entail a heavy writing component (not merely summary thinking)
Stress analysis and original thinking
Require students to revise and re-write essays and/or other major assignments
Emphasize library and lab work
Deal with and/or encompass relevant theoretical issues
Require students to engage in independent research work

To see the current semester's honors course offerings, please visit www.yu.edu/schedules:

First, select the current semester
Then in the top box, labelled "Campus/College," scroll down to select "Stern Full Term"
Next, in the box labelled "Attribute Requirement," type "Honors Course"
Finally, click "Search" beneath all of the boxes
You should now see the current semester's honors course offerings.

Sample Semester

ARTS 1635H - The New York Skyscraper
ARTS 1975H - Topics: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts
BIBL 1087H - Biblical Exegetes I
BIBL 3307H - Job
BIOL 3521H - Molecular Biology
CHEM 1046H - General Chemistry II
COMP 4930H - Topics: Natural Language Processing
ENGL 1200H - Freshman Honors Seminar
ENGL 2924H - Topics: Female Friendship
JHIS 4934H - Topics: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts
JHIS 4935H - Topics: History of Halakhah
JPHI 4933H - Tps: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts
JUDS 1591H - Topics in Jewish Civil Law
JUDS 1846H - Advanced Talmud II
JUDS 1848H - Advanced Talmud
JUDS 4932H - Topics: Compar American & Talmudic Law
POLI 2198H - Topics: Compar Am. & Talmudic Law
POLI 2494H - Topics: Zionist Political Thought
PSYC 3128H - Seminar in Moral Psychology
PSYC 3815H - Cognitive Neuroscience

Dean Rebecca Cypess
The Mordecai D. Katz and Dr. Monique C. Katz Dean
of the Undergraduate Arts and Sciences
Ethel Orlian
Associate Dean
Cynthia Wachtell
Director of the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program
Joshua Bacon
Associate Professor of Psychology
David Glaser
Professor of Music
Ephraim Kanarfogel
Professor of Jewish History

Jill Katz
Clinical Professor of Archaeology
Chaya Rapp
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Alyssa Schuck
Clinical Professor of Biology
David Shatz
Ronald P. Stanton Professor of Philosophy, Ethics, and Religious Thought

Marnin Young
Associate Professor of Art History