Thesis Information for Faculty

To be eligible to serve on a thesis committee one must be a regular full-time faculty member or a multi-year contract instructor involved in an instructional program at the University of Colorado Boulder. In terms of rank, this means Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Associate Professor (Senior Instructor), or Teaching Assistant Professor (Instructor). Additionally, faculty must hold a terminal degree in their field (usually a Ph.D.), and should have experience teaching or mentoring undergraduate students.  Graduate students are not allowed to serve on thesis committees.

The honors thesis advisor is very much like a graduate thesis advisor. The presumption is that the advisor's scholarship or interest will be close to the student’s topic. Thesis advisors should also be willing and able to meet with the student on a regular basis - the most common factor in a failed thesis attempt is a breakdown in communication between the advisor and the student.

In those cases where the thesis advisor is a member of the Honors Council and is serving as both thesis advisor and as Honors Council representative, we recommend that one of the other committee members also be a member of the Honors Council.

The Honors Council Representative is the liaison between the Honors Program and the student's major department.  They are responsible for making sure students follow the policies, procedures, and deadlines set forth by the Honors Program, and any additional policies and procedures the department has enacted.  The Honors Council Representative (HCR) is designated by each department, and may serve for a specific period of time or indefinitely, depending on the policies of a particular department.  Some departments have only one HCR, while the larger ones may have multiple faculty serving.  For the larger departments, such as Psychology and Neurosciences, they may have numerous representatives, but only a couple of their members attend the full Council meetings and vote on designations, so that the representation of Council members at the meetings is even across the larger and smaller departments.  

Honors Council Representatives are expected to attend both the subcommittee meeting and the full Council meeting each semester if possible.  If your department has multiple HCRs, the voting members should attend both meetings at a minimum.  If other HCRs are on committees that semester, they are welcome to attend the subcommittee meetings as well to discuss their students.  In the subcommittee/divisional meetings, Honors Council members in each division discuss theses in detail along with the committee recommendations for Latin honors, and in the full Council meeting the following day, the subcommittee recommendations are considered and brought to a vote.  If you have a student who is being considered for Latin honors, it is important for you to attend both meetings so that you can discuss their projects and associated recommendations.  For more details, please refer to your Honors Council Handbook.  

If you plan to serve on a student's committee as an Honors Council Representative, you should first review their project idea, prospectus, proposed committee members, timeline, and initial bibliography to ensure that it meets the standards of your department.  Once you've approved the project on behalf of the department and agreed to serve, the student can register their project with the Honors Program through our online registration form.  Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the student and faculty deadlines; you'll want to look at the document associated with the semester the student plans to defend.  The student will always need to register the semester prior to the one in which they intend to defend.  For a fall defense, that registration deadline is two days before the last day of spring classes, and for a spring defense, it is always the first Tuesday in October.  To see more about the registration form and deadlines, please click here:  https://www.colorado.edu/honors/graduation#registration_and_deadlines-104

This role is less defined, and often varies. The Outside Reader's primary role is to make sure that a student’s thesis is held to the same high standards as other departments, and thus must be from outside the student's major department.  The Outside Reader can offer a different perspective to students and be a key member in the student's research and writing process, or their participation can be more limited.  Whether or not the student or the committee feel the need for regular meetings can be negotiated. At the least, the Outside Reader should be prepared to read and give feedback on drafts of the thesis, attend the student's defense, and vote on the Latin honors recommendation.

In the case where a student's Thesis Advisor is outside the student's major department (which may or may not be allowed, depending on the policies of the individual department), it is possible for the Thesis Advisor to fulfil the role as Outside Reader as well.  In those cases, the student will still need a third committee member, and that member would be referred to as the additional committee member.

To submit a request for someone to serve that may not meet the eligibility requirements, either you or the student should email honors@colorado.edu with the following:

• A list of the rest of the committee members
• A brief description of why they want this person to serve
• Attach a copy of the person's CV
• If the student hasn’t registered already, include the student’s prospectus

We will submit the request to the director to see if they are willing to consider an exception.  If the person is approved, there are two options for serving:  They may be approved as a full committee member, or they may be approved in a non-voting capacity.  If approved as a non-voting member, they would be listed as an ex-officio member of the committee on the student's defense copy title page.  They would not be allowed to vote on the Latin honors designation, and therefore not included on the faculty defense form, but could participate in all other facets including attending the defense and discussing it afterwards.  We'll respond via email to relay the results, and we will indicate whether they've been approved as voting or non-voting.

If possible, Honors Council Representatives are expected to attend both the subcommittee meeting and the full Council meeting each semester.  In the subcommittee/divisional meetings, Honors Council members in each division discuss theses in detail along with the committee recommendations for Latin honors, and in the full Council meeting the following day, the subcommittee recommendations are considered and brought to a vote.  If you have a student who is being considered for Latin honors, it is important for you to attend both meetings so that you can discuss their projects and associated recommendations.  For more details, please refer to your Honors Council Handbook, or reach out to us at 303-492-6617 or honors@colorado.edu - we are happy to help!

The deadline to defend is always the same day that the defense copy is due to the Honors Program via email.  Students must submit the copy of the paper presented at their defense, and are not permitted to make changes to their defense copy once the defense is complete.  In the same vein, the committee must base their Latin honors recommendation and supporting documentation on the student's project and paper at the time of their defense; they cannot take into consideration work that is done after the defense is complete.  Therefore, it is very important to advise the student to complete their project and paper before defending.  The student is allowed to make changes to the final copy of their paper, which is submitted to CU Scholar, but it is the defense copy that is considered for the purposes of Latin honors recommendations.

The honors thesis defense format is similar to a graduate thesis defense, and in most departments scheduling a time and place is the student’s responsibility. Many departments also ask the student to bring an unofficial copy of their transcript to the defense. The Honors Program doesn’t need to know when the defense will take place – that’s between the student and their committee.

Do encourage your student to schedule their defense as soon as possible and, ideally, not on the last day to defend. Colorado’s weather can be unpredictable, and there’s no room in the thesis timeline for extensions. In addition, if the thesis requires revisions for the final copy, the more time your student has to complete them after the defense the better.

One critical note: there is one area where the honors thesis defense diverges from the defense of a graduate thesis. Whereas graduate students are typically told whether they passed or failed following their defense, this is absolutely not the case for the honors thesis. The student MUST NOT be told any details regarding what the committee recommended, including whether the student passed or failed. The Honors Council’s honors recommendation can in some circumstances differ from the committee’s.

While GPA is only one part of the equation, there are guidelines:

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.300 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, cum laude;

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.500 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, magna cum laude;

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.800 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, summa cum laude.

While these guidelines qualify a student for consideration for a given level of honors, any honors earned are also based on the quality of the thesis and thesis defense. Depending on the quality of the thesis and thesis defense, a defense committee may recommend an honors designation other than what the guidelines suggest.  When considering GPA, the Honors Program does not allow for rounding; you must use the full GPA to the thousandths place.

Here are the steps to fill out the new Faculty Defense Results form:

1. Select your student from the list, which is alphabetical by last name.
2. Type in your student's cumulative GPA, out to 3 decimal places.  The only GPA that should be shortened is a 4.0.  So, if your student's GPA is 3.450, please do NOT shorten it to 3.45.
3. You may optionally enter your student's major GPA if your department takes that into consideration.  It is not a required field.
4. Type out where the defense was conducted.  Think of it as if you were finishing this sentence, "The defense was held in...".  So, you might type "Hellems N170 and via Zoom."
5. In the Date field, enter the day of the week, the month, the date, and the year.  For example, Friday, March 27, 2026. In the Time field, enter the time range the defense was held in.  For example, 5:00-6:15pm.
6. Select the student's thesis advisor from the list.  This list was populated using the thesis advisors from our master spreadsheet, so you should see the faculty member's name, but if you don't, select "other" and you'll be prompted to type it in.
7. Select the Honors Council Representative from the list.  The list was populated using the Honors Council Representatives from our master spreadsheet, so everyone's name should be there.
8. Select the Outside Reader or 3rd committee member from the list.  This list was also populated from the master spreadsheet.
9. Select the 4th committee member, if the student had one.
10. Type in additional committee members, if the student had them.  Please don't list any members that were designated as non-voting members by the Honors Program; they are not eligible to vote on the Latin honors designation.  They are, however, permitted to be a part of the discussion as to what level of honors should be awarded, if the other committee members all agree.
11. Please enter the number of votes for each of the designation options.  So, if your committee had a split vote with 2 voting for summa cum laude and 1 voting for magna, you'd list a "2" for summa, a "1" for magna, and zeroes in each of the other boxes.  The total number of votes should equal the number of voting members of the committee.
12. Indicate whether the committee voted unanimously or submitted a split vote (different committee members voted for different designations).
13. Click the "next" button to submit the form.

Remember that the student must not be told any details regarding what the committee has recommended, including whether the student passed or failed.  

Additionally, committees must determine their recommended level of Latin honors based on the state of the student's project AS IT WAS PRESENTED at the time of the defense.  Any changes that a student might make to their defense after they've defended CANNOT be taken into consideration when determining a Latin honors recommendation.

These are the steps you'll need to complete to fill out the Letter of Recommendation form:

1. Choose the name of your student from the list.
2. Please type out the committee members' names that attended the defense and voted.  If there are additional committee members that could not attend or vote, you can list them here as well, but indicate they only participated in the thesis process, not the defense.  Additionally, if the student had committee member(s) that were designated as non-voting members by the Honors Program, list them but append their names with "ex-officio".
3. Enter the title of your student's thesis.  You may be able to copy/paste it from their Defense Copy title page.
4. Please choose the range that your student's cumulative GPA falls into.  We'll collect your student's exact GPA as part of the Faculty Defense Results form.  The answer to this question will be used along with the level of Latin honors recommended to provide specific instructions on what statements need to be included in the narrative in questions below, and how many letters of recommendation the committee will need to submit.
5. Please choose which option accurately reflects the committee's recommendation for Latin honors.  If you choose the last option (split vote), you will be prompted to provide further details on the split vote.  If you receive this prompt, please provide the requested details in complete sentences, as it will be merged to become part of the letter of recommendation.
6. Please provide the committee's rationale for the quality of the written thesis.  If you'd like to see examples of what to type, you can visit our Sample Excerpts from Previous Letters webpage.  Remember to use full sentences; this will become a paragraph of the letter of recommendation.
7. Now, provide the rationale for the quality of the oral defense.  Click on the link in step 6 to see examples.
8. This is an optional opportunity to provide additional context to support the committee's recommendation.  You can also provide more information about the project itself, the student's background and accomplishments/difficulties, or anything else you want the Honors Council to consider when evaluating the student for Latin honors.
9. Please provide a closing statement for the letter.  This is a summary of the information you've provided in questions 6-8 above, and will be the last paragraph of the letter.  Be sure to include the statement(s) listed when you completed step 5; this might be that the committee is recommending two steps up, or that the recommendation is in line with the student's GPA, etc.  It must also include the level of Latin honors the committee is recommending, and whether the vote was unanimous or not.
10. If your student's GPA is a 3.800 or higher and they are being recommended for summa cum laude, select "yes".  Otherwise, select "no".  If you select yes, you will be shown additional information about the outstanding undergraduate nomination process.
11. Type in your name as you would like it to appear at the bottom of the letter of recommendation.  This will serve as your signature.
12. Type in your department as you'd like it to appear underneath your signature.  For example, "Department of Psychology and Neuroscience".  When you click "next" it will submit the form for our review.

Questions?  Please reach out anytime!  Our email is honors@colorado.edu, or you can reach us individually at janelle.henderson@colorado.edu or kim.quinonez@colorado.edu.  Janelle and Kim are also available on Microsoft Teams.

As far as the Honors Program is concerned, all they need to do is let us know. We simply remove them from our list of candidates if they are withdrawing from the process entirely. If the student wishes to defer their thesis defense to a later semester, we're happy to provide them information on what their next steps should be. There is no penalty for withdrawal or deferral.

If the student is taking a class in association with the thesis process, it is up to the department as to how any grades are handled.

First, they must register online where they will also upload their prospectus, preliminary bibliography, and timeline. Eventually they they will have to submit their unmodified defense copy of their thesis via our submission form, before uploading their final copy to the Undergraduate Honors Theses Repository on CU Scholar.

The defense copy of the thesis is just that - the same version of the thesis that was defended before the committee. This is the copy of the thesis that an honors recommendation is based on. The final, or archival, copy can incorporate changes suggested by the committee, but any changes made cannot change the level of honors the student may earn.

Title pages must include the student’s name, department, thesis title, and defense date as well as the names and departments of each of the committee members, with the thesis advisor specified. Most format requirements are set by individual departments. As long as our requirements are met, the title page format can vary.

In rare cases, the Director may approve a faculty member who otherwise does not meet the eligibility requirements to serve in a non-voting capacity.  In those cases, you'll see them indicated by an (NVM) designation appended to their name in any spreadsheet information we send out.  In a more official capacity, such as students' defense copies, we use the term "ex-officio" to indicate they are a non-voting member.  Ex-officios are not eligible to vote on a student’s designation, but they are welcome to attend their defense. Students are not required to list an approved non-voting member on their defense copy’s title page; however, if they'd like to do so, it would need to look like this:

Member’s Name (ex-officio)

Since ex-officio (NVM) members cannot vote, they should not be listed on the faculty defense results form.

Students from all disciplines can apply for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program grants.

Yes. All departments and programs who participate in the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program have the ability to give students thesis credit through the department. Only General Honors students can receive thesis credit through the Honors Program.

The easiest thing to do is direct your students to the Writing Center. The Writing Center also recommends the Purdue OWL for writing tips and resources.

If your student has a semester or two before they defend, you can suggest they take HONR 3220: Advanced Honors Writing. HONR 3220 is designed for students from any discipline who will be defending a thesis at least one semester after taking the course. This course also satisfies the upper-division writing requirement; juniors and seniors are welcome.  The Honors Program also offers EBIO 4940 in collaboration with the EBIO department; this course is open to Honors students doing science-based theses.  To learn about these options, please visit our Courses page and click on the appropriate semester.

The Scholarly Communications page on the Libraries' website is a good place to start. They also point to the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University, where there are a number of tools that can help you navigate what is and is not fair use.

In Spring 2014, the Honors Program joined CU Scholar, the institutional research repository for the University of Colorado Boulder. All thesis students are required to upload the final copy of their thesis to the Undergraduate Honors Theses repository. Individual departments or programs may still require printed copies, but the Honors Program does not.

Theses defended before Spring 2014 are now housed in the University Archives. Members of the community wishing to access specific theses from the archive will need the thesis title, author’s name, and the semester the thesis was defended.

Theses with confidential data can be embargoed, which means that the thesis will not be publicly visible until the date the student sets when requesting the embargo. CU Scholar maintains records of embargoed theses, including student information, committee information and the abstract. While there is also a a download link visible, the theses themselves are not accessible. Anyone attempting to download an embargoed thesis will receive this notification: "NOTE: The full-text of this Thesis/Dissertation is currently under embargo. It will be available for download on [date embargo expires]."  To change an embargo date, students should email cuscholaradmin@colorado.edu.

Of course! It’s called the Honors Convocation, and you are welcome to attend. The Honors Convocation includes speeches by the Director of the Honors Program, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Outstanding Undergraduate of the College. Students who have earned Latin honors are then invited on stage to receive their honors medal. A catered reception follows.

Latin honors are included on the diploma and as part of the graduation data in the Degrees, Certificates and Licensure section of the transcript (only available after degrees are posted).  Latin honors awarded to a departmental thesis will have the level of honors attached to the student's major.  Latin honors awarded to a General Honors thesis will say, for example, "summa cum laude in General Honors" and is not attached to any major.

It’s a good idea to do so. Unlike many universities, who award Latin honors to undergraduates based solely on GPA, the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder requires the successful writing and defense of an honors thesis in order to earn Latin honors. As our thesis process is one of the most rigorous in the nation, students who complete this process - an average of 7% of the A&S graduating class each year - have chosen to go above and beyond many of their peers not only at CU Boulder but nationwide. That process and how the student navigated it are well worth talking about.