Honors and Honor Societies

The College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program presents a variety of opportunities for motivated undergraduate students. In order to graduate with Latin honors, juniors and seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences can choose to write an honors thesis. Also, honors-qualified students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher are eligible - but not required - to take Honors Program courses and attend Honors Community events. Students can also choose to apply to live in the Honors Residential Academic Program.

Requirements

  • Major in Chinese or Japanese
  • Overall GPA of 3.0
  • Chinese or Japanese Major GPA of 3.5
  • Junior or senior class standing

* This does not guarantee that you will be able to register for a thesis; it is simply a qualifying condition.

Next Steps

  1. Meet with the ALC Honors advisor to discuss your interest in pursuing an Honors Thesis project. Discuss the steps you will need to take, outlined below, to successfully register for a thesis.
  2. Check the Honors Council website for deadlines and the required information to register for your thesis, which must be filed the semester before you intend to defend your thesis and graduate.
  3. Meet with tenured or tenure-track (assistant professors and above) faculty members in ALC and discuss whether they can be your thesis advisor. It is good to have a project idea already so your potential advisor can decide if this is a project that they can help with or not.
  4. Once you have an advisor, begin working with them on your thesis prospectus, bibliography, and timeline. In addition to the ALC Honors advisor and your thesis advisor, you will need the agreement of one more committee member from outside the ALC department. Discuss some options with your ALC advisors and approach your possible outside readers early in the process!
  5. Complete all the necessary steps to register for the thesis. This includes the registration form which you and your ALC advisors need to sign, a thesis prospectus of 1-2 pages, a bibliography of at least 10 sources you are likely to consult in your research, and a proposed timeline for completing the project by the thesis defense deadline in the following semester. Submit this directly to the Honors Council office, and email copies of the prospectus, bibliography, timeline, and signed form to the ALC Honors advisor and dalc@colorado.edu for their internal records.

  Review ALC's Latin Honors Guidelines

Questions?

Contact Prof. Katherine Alexander

Spring 2021

Isabella Stephens
summa cum laude
"Finding Hope in Narrative Chaos: Yuying baojuan and Women’s Redemption"

Elizabeth Palmer
magna cum laude
"Tibetan Folktales for Chinese Children: Issues of Children's Literature, Translation, and Cultural Authenticity"

Spring 2019

Makenna Zoglmann
magna cum laude
"Xi Jinping and Confucianism: Legitimacy and a National Moral Identify"

Fall 2017

Noah McAllister
cum laude
"Drag and Female Impersonation in Japan and the United States"

Fall 2012

Evan Correy
summa cum laude
"Hikikomori"

Spring 2012

Amanda Palmer
cum laude
"A Culture of Environmentalism: The Implications of Indigenous Religions on Ecological Thought in Modern China"

Spring 2011

Leela Greenberg
magna cum laude
"Cloud Fishing: Studying cloud shadows across the landscape of Tsai Mingliang's The Wayward Cloud"

Fall 2010

Hyeseung Lee
cum Laude
"Recognition Process of Kanji from Recent Neurolinguistic Perspectives"

The National Chinese Honor Society College Chapter, sponsored by the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA (CLTA), is founded to recognize the outstanding academic achievement of college students in learning Chinese as a second language, to encourage them to continue to study Chinese after they graduate from college, and to promote the study of Chinese language, literature, and culture in the United States.

To be inducted into the National Chinese Honor Society College Chapter and receive its certificate, students must meet the following qualifications.

  • Must be a full-time student who has successfully completed five semesters or eight quarters of Chinese language courses at the college undergraduate level, or have been placed in the third year Chinese after the placement test.
  • Must have enrolled in the sixth semester or the ninth quarter of the Chinese course
  • Must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4-point scale in Chinese language courses and have an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale for all college level courses taken
  • Must demonstrate strong evidences of engagement and commitment to Chinese language and culture related in school or community activities.
  • Must preserve an excellent record of behavior in and out of school.

The deadline for submitting the application form to the CLTA Honor Society Committee is March 1. $20 USD per candidate for the membership and the cost for certificate shipping and handling will be collected when candidates submit their application. Upon receiving the applicant information and the payment, the National Chinese Honor Society College Chapter will verify and approve the application. Certificates for accepted students will be mailed to the department/university, and the name of each accepted student will be listed on the webpage for the National Chinese Honor Society College Chapter at the CLTA website.

If you are interested in applying for National Chinese Honor Society College Chapter, please contact Yingjie Li, who is available to help you with your questions or application to CLTA.

The Japanese National Honor Society – College Chapter (JNHS–CC) recognizes and encourages scholastic achievement and excellence in the study of the Japanese language. University of Colorado chapter is set up to recognize our outstanding students, to maintain high standards in Japanese language education, and to promote activities that give students ways to use their language skills on their campuses and in their communities. Students who are nominated for membership receive Certificates of Excellence and are recognized on the ATJ website and in its newsletter.

Criteria for student membership in JNHS–CC are as follows:

  • Completion of 5 semester- or 7 quarter-courses of Japanese language study (or their equivalent) at the college undergraduate level. These courses must be either language study taken for a grade (as opposed to audit or pass-fail) or content courses taught in Japanese. Transfer credits from post-secondary institutions other than the institution from which the student will receive the undergraduate degree may count toward these credit requirements up to a maximum of 2 semester courses or 3 quarter courses (or their equivalent);
  • A GPA of 3.5 in Japanese language courses; and
  • An overall GPA of 3.0.

Please contact dalc@colorado.edu if you are interested in being nominated.