The Honors in the Major program allows students the opportunity to develop their own project and become intimately involved in the process of research and authorship. Completing a thesis is demanding, but the experience can be extremely rewarding. Students gain experience planning and developing a project; they develop technical skills in their field, learn how to read relevant literature, and gain invaluable experience communicating their results with oral and written reports. Students who complete theses are more competitive at gaining admission to quality graduate and professional programs and are better prepared to succeed in these programs. Employers are also generally impressed by students who have the initiative to complete independent research. Finally, some students have the satisfaction of publishing their results and thus contributing to the scholarship enterprise by enhancing our knowledge of those fields.
Upon completion of 60 hours, a student may be nominated by faculty or may request to pursue recognition in the HIM program. To be eligible, a student must have at least a 3.25 overall GPA, a 3.50 in at least 12 hours of courses required by their major, and have support from the department. A student must complete any appropriate departmental course (or equivalent activity), and submit written evidence of the research paper, project, performance, or presentation no later than the last day of instruction for the semester in which the student will graduate. Individual departments may establish additional or more rigorous requirements at their discretion. Before the end of the third full week of the semester in which the student intends to graduate, the student must submit a completed Honors in the Majors form to the Registrar.
