Honors Program
Students who have completed at least 48 points of graded work in the College of Arts and Science and have at least a 3.65 GPA may be awarded degrees with "departmental honors" by successfully completing the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (SCA) honors sequence. SCA offers majors in Africana Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Latino Studies, Metropolitan Studies, and Social and Cultural Analysis.
Honors work consists of successful completion of two courses with honors designation during senior year. The honors thesis is a year-long research project. Students enroll in the honors section of an appropriate Senior Seminar in the fall term during which they will choose a faculty research supervisor. The spring term will consist of independent research under the supervision of this faculty member, who will also be the primary reader for the thesis. The fall instructor will normally be the second reader. Honors theses are expected to be works of substantial original research in primary sources, as well as give evidence of familiarity with relevant literature. They will normally range from 55 –75 pages in length.
Honors students will present and defend their completed research before a committee of SCA faculty (usually the supervisor and second reader). The committee will award acceptable work a grade of Honors, High Honors or Highest Honors. The department may drop from an honors program any student whose work does not meet departmental standards. Additionally, it is important to remember that graduating with honors is not automatic--the thesis needs to be of honors quality in order for a student to be awarded honors. Students must also maintain at least a 3.65 GPA and receive a grade of no less than A- in each of their honors courses.
Requirements
GPA: Students must graduate with an average of 3.65 overall and in SCA course work.
Enrollment: During the fall semester of their senior year, students with a 3.65 GPA should enroll in an honors section of one of the Senior Seminars.
Honors Sequence Deadlines
Junior Year
April: Enroll in honors section of appropriate Senior Seminar for the fall
Senior Year
Fall: Complete first half of honors thesis in Senor Seminar
Spring: Complete second half of honors thesis
March 15: Submit complete draft of thesis and schedule defense
April 1: Full thesis with revisions due
April 10 - 15: Defense
