Honors Program

Graduation with Honors 

 
Honors in sociology is granted if in addition to fulfilling all requirements for the major, the student:
• maintained a GPA of 3.5 or above in SOC courses;
• maintained an overall GPA of 3.25 or above;
• completed SOC 0140 or 0150 and SOC 0230 prior to completing a three-credit SOC 1002 honors seminar; and
• completed a three-credit SOC honors thesis, written under the direction of a faculty mentor.
 
Students complete an honors thesis by enrolling in Sociology Honors Seminar (SOC 1002) in the fall semester and Directed Research (SOC 1903) in the spring semester, typically in their senior year.  A description of SOC 1002 is below:

Sociology Honors Seminar (SOC 1002) is the first of a two semester sequence (SOC 1903, taken in the Spring semester, is the second) designed to facilitate students’ independent research toward the completion of an honors thesis, a requirement for graduating with honors. The seminar affords students the opportunity to utilize the skills they have acquired as sociology majors, apply their sociological imaginations, dive deep into a topic that is important to them, and produce a work of original scholarly research. Each student will formulate a research problem, identify a faculty member who will serve as their advisor, design a research strategy, locate an appropriate research setting, and begin collecting data. By the end of the Fall semester, students will be well positioned to continue the remaining work on their theses in the Spring semester under Directed Research (SOC 1903) with their thesis advisors.

The honors thesis may replace the capstone course (SOC 1500) and three of the 15 required elective credits. Students pursuing the honors major are required to complete the same number of credits that are required for the standard major. For additional details, students are encouraged to consult with the undergraduate advisor.

 

For more information about the Honors Program, contact the Sociology Department's undergraduate advisor, Nancy Fultz