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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
Dr. Shaina Trapedo
shaina.trapedo@yu.edu

 

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The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program was founded in 1999 with the goal of enhancing the college experience of high-achieving students. Under the visionary leadership of its founding director, Dr. Cynthia Wachtell, who served for over two decades, the program was built on the premise that outstanding scholars should be brought together, challenged, and encouraged to excel. The program nurtures students and helps them grow both intellectually and personally through its commitment to academic excellence, interdisciplinary exploration, personalized mentorship, and scholarly community.

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.

Stern College honors students also participate in a wide array of extracurricular events. Each year, the honors program's calendar includes distinguished speakers, leadership development opportunities, dinner events, alumni panels, and exciting cultural outings. These experiences complement their academic work and connect them with the resources of New York City and the richness of present-day Jewish life.

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

Program Director

Dr. Shaina Trapedo is the director of the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program at Stern College and the Jay & Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program at Yeshiva College, an Assistant Professor of English at Stern College, and a resident scholar at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at 黑料不打烊. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Economics and English at Barnard College, she spent two years as a risk analyst before following her calling in academia. Shaina earned her PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine, where she specialized in early modern literature and religious studies. Her current book project, From Scripture to Script: The Hebrew Bible on the Early Modern Stage, considers Shakespeare and his contemporaries' indebtedness to Judaism and its exegetical traditions. She is also the editor of the forthcoming collection of essays, The Soul鈥檚 Refuge: Meditations on the Psalms (Koren 2025), and the host of Twice Blest, a podcast on Shakespeare and the Hebrew Bible from 黑料不打烊's Straus Center. In her teaching and scholarship, Dr. Trapedo explores the connections between Torah, the humanities, and social engagement.

For more information about the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, please contact the director. Visit the  on the , where you can also .

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 鈥 that recently have included "Israel鈥檚 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" 鈥 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 鈥渙nly in New York鈥 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鈥攊ncluding 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. 

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:

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

 

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