Graduation with Latin honors

Writing and defending an Honors Thesis to be considered for Latin honors

The Arts and Sciences Honors Program, in coordination with departments within the College of Arts and Sciences, gives qualified undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences the opportunity to write and defend an honors thesis in an attempt to graduate with Latin honors: cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. Most students undertake a thesis project within their major (Departmental Honors), but there is also an interdisciplinary option (General Honors).

Students typically begin working on an honors thesis project in the junior year and defend their thesis in the senior year. Our thesis process is one of the most rigorous in the nation, which means that students who graduate with honors (between seven to eight percent of each graduating class) have successfully gone above and beyond their peers not only at CU Boulder but nationwide. Students who earn Latin honors are recognized at the Honors Convocation.

Please plan ahead  – you will need to register your thesis project with our office the semester prior to the one in which you plan to defend.  For more details on registering and defending your thesis, please click through the information below.

Learn more about the Honors Thesis journeyRead our Latin honors FAQ for answers to commonly-asked questionsGet info on our Convocation ceremonies
 
Convocation progam with medals

Departmental Honors

Interested in writing a thesis in your College of Arts and Sciences major? You'll start the process by contacting your department.
Learn your department's requirements

Latin honors medals lined up

General Honors

Is your thesis idea interdisciplinary? Consider writing a General Honors thesis.
Learn about the General Honors requirements and application process

Other Deadlines of Note

If you plan to do research involving human subjects, you will need to secure IRB approval. Click here to see if you will need IRB approval. If you do, be sure to visit their "Review timelines and meeting dates" for deadline information.
 

If you plan to apply for research (UROP) funding, please click here for details. UROP applications will reopen in Fall 2022 with a deadline on February 17, 2023—for proposals planned in Summer 2023 and/or Academic Year 2023-24.

Thesis Resources

Registering and Defending a Thesis

Registration and Deadlines

Once your department has approved your project, you will register online. Please be sure to complete the online registriation by the indicated deadline for the semester you intend to defend.  For detailed information on the thesis process, how to get started, and how to schedule your timelines, download the Honors Thesis - Getting Started handout.

When completing the online registration, you will be asked to upload a prospectus, planned timeline of your work, and a preliminary bibliography containing some initial sources. The formats of these are set by your department.

Our online registration process is not an application – your Honors Council representative's agreement to serve on your committee is the approval for your project.  We may contact you to verify, modify, or correct aspects of your registration as needed.

If you need to make changes to your committee after you've submitted your registration form, please email honors@colorado.edu and let us know.

       Registration Form and Deadlines Schedule

   For our Spring 2025 Latin honors candidates, view and download the Spring 2025 defense deadlines.

To register your project, please click here. If the registration form is closed, check back; we close the form for a short period each semester to process registrations.  Some things to note:

  • Please submit your online registration by 11:59pm on the day the registration period closes at the latest.  Early submissions are welcome!
  • Please be aware of the applicable deadlines; for example, the deadline to register for a Spring 2025 defense has passed, and we are not accepting late submissions.
  • Once you begin registering, as long as you use the same browser and do not clear your cache, you should be able to leave the form and go back to it without losing your place.
  • Once you submit your registration, you will receive an email confirmation at the email address you provided during the registration process.  There will be a link at the bottom of the email which will display your responses on a webpage if you'd like to review what you've submitted.  We recommend that you forward that email to your Honors Council Representative for their records.
  • Here is a sample registration form submission, and here is a sample registration packet.  Please keep in mind that different departments will have different requirements for style, length, etc. for your prospectus, timeline, and initial bibliography.  Please talk to your Honors Council Representative if you have questions about style or length.

Registering for a Fall 2025 defense:

  • The registration period to defend in Fall 2025 is now open, and will close at 11:59pm on April 29th! To register for a fall defense, please click here.
  • If you filled out an application within your major department to write and defend an Honors thesis, you will also need to register your project with the Honors Program - their internal application does not take the place of our registration process.
  • Please contact us with any questions or feedback at honors@colorado.edu or by calling 303-492-6617.  We will not accept registration packets submitted via email; you must use the online submission form. 

Current and future defense deadlines - view and download:

Thesis Committees

Thesis committees are typically composed of a thesis advisor from the student's major department, an Honors Council representative from the student's major department, and a third committee member from outside the major department in which the student is writing their thesis. Thesis committee makeup can vary, but committees must always include at least three eligible members of the CU Boulder faculty (see Thesis Committee Policy below) in the roles of thesis advisor, Honors Council representative, and outside/third reader.

Thesis Committee Eligibility Requirements

Thesis committees require at least three members of the CU Boulder faculty. To be eligible to serve on a thesis committee, one must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Be a regular full-time faculty member or a multi-year contract teaching professor involved in an instructional program at the University of Colorado Boulder.
  • Hold the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Associate Professor, or Teaching Assistant Professor.  Distinguished and professors of distinction ranks are also eligible.  
  • Hold a terminal degree in their field (usually a Ph.D.).
  • Should have experience teaching or mentoring undergraduate students.  
  • Graduate students and postdocs are not permitted to serve on thesis committees.

The Honors Program makes the final determination on the eligibility of faculty members to serve.  We have a list of approved faculty available; if you are considering someone who is not on the approved list, please email honors@colorado.edu with their name and we will check their eligibility for you.  Departmental approval of a committee will still require verification by the Honors Program.  For more information on building a thesis committee, please click here.

If you've been informed a faculty member is ineligible to serve and you'd like to request an exception, you can complete this exception request form.  Please CAREFULLY read the information first before completing the form, and if you're still sure you'd like to request an exception, forward the form link to the person you're requesting the exception for so they can fill it out.  Completing the form does not guarantee an exception.

 

Because there can be differences in department guidelines for scheduling and presenting a defense, your Honors Council Representative is the best source of information. That said, we have some notes:

  • Your committee will need time to read your defense copy prior to your defense day.  Please allow yourself enough time to complete your paper and send it to them for review beforehand.  Typically, you will need to get the version of the paper you intend to defend to your committee members a week before your defense, although this can vary within different departments.  Please check with your Honors Council Representative if you have questions about the timing.
  • You don't need to tell us when you're defending - that's between you and your committee.  Just make sure you've scheduled it on, or preferably before, the last day to defend.  Some departments require you to defend much earlier than the deadline defined by the Honors Program.  Be sure to check with your Honors Council Representative to see if that's the case for your major department.
  • It is up to you to schedule a date, time and location for your defense.  Start this process early - it can be difficult to find a time when all committee members are available to meet.  For assistance in reserving a room, please reach out to your Honors Council Representative.
  • Bring a current copy of your unofficial transcript to your defense.
  • You must submit your defense copy to the Honors Program via our Defense Copy submission form after defending.  Please see "The Defense Copy" tab for details.
  • If you decide not to defend your thesis, or want to defer your defense to another semester, please let us know. There are no penalties, and you'll get fewer emails from us.  Don't forget to notify your committee members as well.

Your defense committee is forbidden from sharing their decision with you at your defense. You will learn about any honors you earn via email after the Honors Council meets to officially confer honors designations. For exact dates, consult the deadlines sheet for the semester you defend.

Still have questions?  Please don't hesitate to ask - we are happy to help!  You can stop by Norlin M400M, email honors@colorado.edu, or call 303-492-6617.

Your defense copy is the last version that you gave your committee members prior to or at your defense. Most departments require that you send out a defense copy a week before you defend so that committee members have time to read your paper before your defense date.  Please factor this into your timeline so that you can complete your paper with enough time to provide it to your committee members early.  Your paper should be saved in PDF format and the filename should use the format “Lastname Firstname Defense Copy.pdf”. This is the version of your thesis that we will use for consideration of Latin honors, so make sure it is a finished work and not a draft. 

Please note the following requirements for the title page:

Title Page Requirements

Title pages must include your name, department, thesis title, and your defense date as well as the names and departments of each of the committee members, with the thesis advisor specified.  If you list the roles of the other committee members, please use the following titles:  Honors Council Representative, Outside Reader, Additional Committee Member.  
 

 

If you have a non-voting member on your committee that has been approved by the Honors Program, you are not required to list them on the title page.  If you choose to list them, you must append their name with "(ex-officio)".  You are not permitted to list anyone on the title page that is not an official committee member as approved by the Honors Program.  You are welcome to list non-committee members that supported you in your project on a separate Acknowledgements page.

Once you've defended, submit your defense copy using our submission form.  If you defend prior to the last day, please submit your defense copy using the submission form as soon as you defend.  As a reminder, your defense copy needs to be the last version that you gave your committee members prior to or at your defense.  Do not modify your defense copy after your defense.  If your committee suggests changes, you may make those (or other) changes if you wish and submit the updated version to CU Scholar as your final copy; however it is the defense copy that is used to determine Latin honors. 

Because the Honors Program coordinates Latin honors for so many departments and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, we do not set thesis format requirements outside of the title page; we know that theses from Theatre, Biochemistry, History, Physics or Anthropology will probably all look very different. Students should use the style manual or guide appropriate to their discipline. If you don't know the style guide your discipline uses, ask your Honors Council representative. You can also look at the Undergraduate Honors Theses repository on CU Scholar for examples.

This is the archival copy of your thesis.  During your defense, your committee might suggest changes to your thesis. You have until the "Final Copy" due date to make any changes you wish (do not make changes to the defense copy you submit to the defense copy submission form - see "The Defense Copy" tab for details). Any changes you make to your final copy will not be considered when determining your Latin honors designation.  The only piece that you cannot change on your final copy is your title page - that must be exactly the same as your defense copy's title page, unless the Honors Program has specifically asked you to make changes to the title page of your final copy. 

Once you've completed any changes, upload the final (archival) copy of your thesis to the Undergraduate Honors Theses Repository on CU Scholar by our final copy deadline.  If you are trying to publish your work and don't want your paper to be available until it's published elsewhere, you can set an embargo which prevents it from showing up in CU Scholar until the date you set.  For more information and step-by-step instructions on uploading your paper, please click on the "Undergraduate Honors Theses Repository on CU Scholar" link at the start of this paragraph.

CU Scholar has recently undergone a software upgrade.  Under the new system, If you need to make changes to your uploaded thesis, you either need to ask the CU Scholar administrator to make the changes, or resubmit your thesis.  In either case, please email honors@colorado.edu to facilitate it. Because of these changes, we suggest waiting to upload your thesis until you feel confident you've completed all changes.  Theses will be approved for posting to CU Scholar within four weeks after the deadline.  You will not receive a verification that the process is complete.  If there is an issue with your submission, we will contact you to get it resolved.

The Honors Council, a body of faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences, convenes for a two-day period in both April and November to confer honors designations. On the first day, theses and honors recommendations are discussed by a subcommittee of the Honors Council for the student's division (Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and General Honors). The second day involves further discussion, this time by the entire Honors Council, who then officially awards honors. Honors designations are later distributed to students via their CU Boulder email address. Any honors designations earned appear on a student's transcript and diploma. Please note that graduating with Latin honors is different than graduating with Distinction.  For more information, please see the "Academic Excellence" tab under the university's Undergraduate Policies and Requirements page.

Students who successfully complete the thesis process and earn Latin honors are recognized at our Honors Convocation ceremony. 

We hold two convocation ceremonies per year; one in the spring and one in the fall.  If you graduate in the summer or fall and plan to walk in the campus-wide Spring Commencement Ceremony, you are welcome to attend the Spring Honors Convocation ceremony that spring as well. 

Please be aware that some students experience scheduling conflicts between their major department events and our convocation ceremony, so keep that in mind when you're deciding which Honors ceremony you wish to attend.  You will be sent an invitation to RSVP about a week after you receive an email notifying you of your honors designation; please let us know at that time what your plans are.

If you choose not to attend any of the Honors convocation ceremonies, you are welcome to pick up your medal and certificate once that semester's convocation ceremony is complete.  Please contact the Honors Program office at 303-492-6617 or honors@colorado.edu for details.