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Innovation Academy

Honors Program

You Should Know

As a member of the Innovation Academy, you will benefit from personal academic advising by highly qualified faculty, allowing you to customize your degree. You will be cared for as you prepare for a career and as you deepen your faith. We will feed your intellectual curiosity through the Innovation Academy.

Get a taste of the Innovation Academy in this video with current students who share their experience with the program.

  • Additional scholarships available
  • Customizable curriculum
  • Research partnerships with professors
  • Graduate school readiness
  • 30-40% of MNU honors students double major or select a minor to pair with their major.
  • If you are a high achiever, MNU’s Innovation Academy can make your college experience more challenging and fulfilling. Students often study abroad, complete internships and practicums and can build their professional network by connecting with students from other universities that are also members of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).

Innovation Academy Director Rion Taylor walks you through the details of the program in this video.

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Applicant Requirements

Honors students enjoy the freedom to customize approximately 15% of their coursework in ways that enable them to excel at reaching their academic and career goals. Honors students create space in their schedules to study abroad, pursue minors or double majors, conduct original research with faculty mentors, enjoy internships and practicums, or graduate early.

  • GPA of 3.5 or above (on a 4.0 scale)
  • Portfolio submission

Annual Scholarship Renewal

Scholarships are renewed yearly on the basis of the student’s good standing as measured by the following criteria:

  • Minimum 3.5 GPA
  • Full-time enrollment (12+ credit hours per semester)
  • Minimum grade of B in Honors coursework
  • Meeting once each semester with their Honors Advisor

 

The Honors Program opens the door to personal and professional enrichment through curiosity, caring, collaboration and creativity. It’s not more work, it’s different work.

Dr. Abby Hodges

Vice President for Academic Affairs

PhD; Organic Chemistry, Yale University 
MS; Organic Chemistry, Yale University 
BS; Chemistry, Denison University

Dr. Hodges began her career in higher education at Azusa Pacific University as a chemistry professor from 2008 to 2014. She then moved to MNU where she taught and in 2018 was appointed Chair of the Department of Natural, Health, and Mathematical Sciences. From 2022-2023, before accepting the Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Hodges was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Hodges’ career research has focused on protein folding and protein engineering, and she has mentored over twenty students in these research projects. She has also furthered the MNU first-year experience program and chaired the General Education committee for five years. Dr. Hodges was recognized as the MNU Faculty of the Year in 2021.

Dr. Hodges lives in Olathe with her husband Ryan and two boys.