Graduation with Honors

Through the Honors Program, students can ultimately graduate from the university with honors: summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude. Our requirements for graduating with honors are among the most rigorous—and we think most rewarding—in the country.

Graduating with honors is a process that usually begins sometime in a student’s junior year. Students may graduate with departmental or general honors. In either case, the student must write a thesis of original research or creative work, work closely with a faculty advisor, and pass an oral defense of their thesis before a faculty committee. Students aiming to graduate with General Honors must take a minimum number of honors courses and complete an interdisciplinary thesis. The Honors Council, comprised of faculty from each department in the College of Arts and Sciences, bestows final honors designations based on the quality of the research, scholarship or creative work, the written thesis, the oral defense and overall academic record.

Students interested in graduating with honors may download the guidelines and applications materials from the links below. Feel free to stop by the Honors Program office if you have questions. Consult with the departmental honors council representative in your major for departmental requirements. Students doing honors research, scholarship or creative work are eligible to apply for funding from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Consult with them about funding opportunities. They are especially interested in receiving more applications from students in the humanities and social sciences.

The following are downloadable documents in Adobe PDF format:
Guidelines and Requirements for Graduation With Honors
Guidelines for Writing a General Honors Thesis
Graduation with Honors Deadlines – Fall 2007
Graduation with Honors Deadlines – Spring 2008
Graduation with Honors Deadlines – Fall 2008
Graduation with Honors Deadlines – Spring 2009
Application Packet for Graduation with Honors