Senior Honors Program General Information

The H&SS Senior Honors Program was begun in 1982 as an opportunity for the college's most accomplished and promising seniors to work independently, with the close guidance of a faculty member, in the design and completion of a year-long scholarly or creative project. The "Honors Program experience" was conceived as an integrative and particularly fulfilling capstone for student participants, as well as a vehicle for creating a distinguished scholarly and creative undergraduate student community. In addition to the experiences that this provides for senior participants, the program also provides an attractive academic goal for H&SS "sub-seniors." 

Project topics have included traditional research studies, analytical syntheses of research trends in a discipline, or such creative works as poetry or essay collections centered on one or more themes, and full-length novels. The steady increase in the program's size to its current level (approximately 40 or more students per year) and the broad diversity of topics pursued by Honors participants across all H&SS departments testify to the program's popularity and impact in the college. 

Eligibility to enter the program is based on the following criteria: 

Any interested student meeting the above criteria is encouraged to submit an application (see application deadline discussion below). Applications require a one-paragraph description of the area of research or creative activity that the applicant intends to pursue and, if known, what the actual thesis topic would be. Applicants must discuss this proposed project with the faculty member who would act as thesis advisor, and obtain his/her approval on the application form. Successful applicants are then urged to begin work immediately with faculty advisors to develop a project bibliography, reading list, and any other related activities that might help "jump start" their projects.

Those students approved for the program will be registered in a two-semester Honors Program course sequence (66-501/502). This course is 9 units per semester, for a total of 18 units.

Most projects begin in the fall semester and end in the spring. However, it is possible to begin in the spring semester or summer session, if necessary. Students will be asked to select a project timeline when they apply to the program. The deadlines for application submission depend upon the project timeline selected, and are as follows:

A number of events are affiliated with the Honors Program. In the fall, H&SS hosts a reception for Senior Honors students and their advisors. In late spring, Honors Program students are required to fulfill a presentation requirement by participating in the university's Undergraduate Research Symposium. And each year, the H&SS Honors Convocation is held Saturday morning of Commencement weekend.

A word about topics: while most students choose a topic within their major, it is also acceptable to propose a topic that falls outside one's major. Students should be aware that faculty who agree to supervise these projects hold their students to very high standards, and would assume that (regardless of major) students have a sufficiently extensive background to pursue the topic proposed. Therefore, students proposing a topic outside of their major should be prepared to demonstrate the extent of that background when approaching prospective faculty advisors.

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