About the Honors Program
Students in the International Affairs Program have the opportunity to graduate with departmental honors with three grades: cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude. Honors are awarded by the University Honors Council on the basis of: overall academic record, performance in the writing of an honors thesis, and performance in an oral exam. Candidates for honors in International Affairs must have achieved at least a 3.3 overall grade point average and a 3.4 grade point average in International Affairs courses. Students must have 90 or more credits and should apply one academic year before they will be graduating. That is, students graduating in Spring 2024 should apply in March 2023 to be part of the Fall 23-Sp24 cohort. Please refer to our IAFS honors standards for more information.
Each candidate for International Affairs departmental honors must complete an honors thesis written in close consultation with a faculty member whose serves as the thesis advisor. A one-hour oral exam is also administered by a three member faculty committee consisting of: 1) IAFS Honors Program Director; 2) primary thesis advisor; 3) at least one other CU professor. We encourage you to select a primary advisor from the IAFS Faculty Committee. If not your primary advisor, a member of the IAFS Faculty Committee should still be on your thesis committee. Graduate students are not permitted to serve on a thesis faculty committee. More information about determining an advisor is below in the Resources for Honors Students section below.
Students pursuing honors in International Affairs are required to complete the honors in International Affairs seminar IAFS 4800 in the fall semester and thesis writing class IAFS 4810 in the spring semester. IAFS 4810 may count towards your geographic concentration or functional area if the thesis topic is relevant. To review IAFS 4800 syllabi for examples of what the course entails, visit the IAFS Syllabi page.
The Honors Program Director is Dr. Robert Wyrod, please email Dr. Wyrod or IAFS@colorado.edu with any questions about the IAFS Honors Program.
Why Should I do an Honors Thesis?
Graduating with Honors and writing a thesis can help you stand out from other job applicants, can get you published, is incredibly beneficial if you are considering graduate school, and the research can be practical and life changing.
Elle (Schlageter) Haley (IAFS ’22) completed the research for her Honors Thesis on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea as she helped rescue refugee migrants with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – also known as Doctors Without Borders). You can read her paper here. After Elle graduated from CU Boulder, she returned to the Mediterranean Sea with MSF where she continues to assist in refugee rescues.
How to Apply
The deadline to submit your application for the Fall 2023 Honors Program is Friday, March 3, 2023 at 5:00pm MST.
To apply for the honors class IAFS 4800 in the Fall:
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Please complete the IAFS Honors Application Form.
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When completing the PowerForm, you will need to attach a Word document with answers to the application questions (available here).
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You will also need to attach an unofficial CU Boulder transcript (available here).
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This worksheet helps calculate IAFS GPA (required for honors application).
IAFS Honors Theses
IAFS Thesis Defense
During the Spring semester, when you are approaching the time when you will be presenting and defending your IAFS Honors Thesis, please complete the IAFS Thesis Defense Worksheet at least 72 hours before your schdeduled defense.
Outstanding IAFS Honors Theses
Every year, IAFS honors program undergraduate students present phenomenal, high-level research theses. Below, we have some of our most outstanding IAFS honors theses. You are welcome to browse through and read one, and be in touch if you'd like more information on these topics or their authors.
IAFS Honors Thesis Database
IAFS is proud of all the Honors Thesis submitted and defended. To see the wide range of topics and research completed by all IAFS honors students, you can visit the CU Library database of IAFS Honors Thesis.