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Disciplinary Honors
- On This Page:
- - Admission to the
Disciplinary Honors Program - - Graduation with Disciplinary Honors
- - Graduation with Full University Honors
- - Requirements for Specific Majors
- - The Senior Honors Project
Admission to the
Disciplinary Honors Program
Admission to Disciplinary Honors requires a minimum UNCG GPA of 3.3.
The Disciplinary Honors Program enhances study in the University's majors as well as in a special interdisciplinary studies option. Completing the Disciplinary Honors Program will help you hone your analytical skills and complete a research project in your major that will help prepare you to enter graduate or professional school or embark on a career.
Graduation with Disciplinary Honors
Students who have completed all requirements for Disciplinary Honors by graduation shall be awarded Disciplinary Honors.
Graduation with Full University Honors
Students who complete both the Disciplinary Honors Program and the International Honors Program are awarded Full University Honors for their sustained Honors work throughout their time as undergraduate students.
In the Disciplinary Honors Program you work one-on-one with professors in your major, study topics in depth, and do original, sophisticated research, scholarly work, and creative projects. The requirements for the Disciplinary Honors Program vary by major. You are responsible for verifying your department's individual departmental requirements. The default, minimum requirements are:
- A minimum UNCG GPA of 3.3 in order to be admitted to the Disciplinary Honors Program,
- UNCG GPA of 3.3 or higher at graduation,
- At least 12 semester hours of Honors courses with grades of B (3.0) or higher as follows:
- 6-9 semester hours of Honors course work in the major,
- 0-3 semester hours of other Honors courses, and
- 3 semester hours in the form of HSS 490: Senior Honors Project.
Students in any major may choose to pursue Disciplinary Honors in Interdisciplinary Studies. For those students who wish to do so, the requirements are:
- UNCG GPA of 3.3 or higher at graduation,
- 12 semester hours of Honors and advanced courses with grades of B (3.0) or higher as follows:
- 9 semester hours of Honors course work, including at least 6 semester hours of upper division work (300 level or above), and
- 3 semester hours in the form of HSS 490: Senior Honors Project.
Classes used to satisfy the International Honors Program cannot be used to satisfy requirements in the Disciplinary Honors Program. You may petition to fulfill the Senior Honors Project requirement through alternative courses (such as a departmental course numbered 493) or through the support of an Undergraduate Research Assistantship.
Disciplinary Honors: Requirements for Specific Majors
The requirements for the Disciplinary Honors Program vary by major. For specific information about a particular major, click on your major below. This information is taken from the 2008-2009 UNCG Bulletin published by the University Registrar's Office. Each academic department at UNCG has a faculty Honors Liaison who is knowledgeable about both his or her programs and International Honors. You are encouraged to get to know the Liaison in your department, especially by the time you are a junior and fully in your major.
The Senior Honors Project
The Senior Honors Projects can take a variety of forms — a paper, a performance, a scientific experiment, a demonstration, a product. Whatever its form, the Project should have a written component, it should employ scholarship, and it should make a significant contribution to a body of knowledge.
Topics, methods of investigation, and modes of presentation vary from discipline to discipline. Typically, students announce a problem that they wish to solve, survey background information to define and explain the problem, and present evidence and reasoning in support of a thesis or hypothesis. The student's work culminates in an original essay, an annotated creative work or performance, a scientific experiment or report, or a product.
The length of Projects depends on the topic and discipline. A project in the humanities could be a paper of 30 to 50 pages, whereas the written part of a Project in the sciences or performing arts could be considerably shorter. The Project can focus on any topic of the student's choosing. Senior Honors Projects must be supervised and approved by a UNCG faculty member from a department in which the subject under consideration is taught.
Examples of Senior Honors Projects
Lloyd International Honors College maintains a file of Senior Honors Projects. Previous students have said that reading through examples of previous years' projects helped them immensely. We would be happy to talk with you about your Senior Honors Project. Here are a few examples of past Senior Honors Projects.
- "Multi-Culturalism in the Choral Music of Dave Brubeck" (Music)
- "Factors Affecting the Postpartum Mother's Decision Regarding Rooming-in with the Infant" (Nursing)
- "Othello's Desdemona: An Exploration of the Actor's Approach to Shakespearean Performance" (Theater)
- "Effects of Nonpharmacologic Pain Relief in Acutely Ill Children" (Nursing)
- "Jesse Daniel Ames and the Women of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching" (History)
- "U. S. Foreign Aid Policy: Change or Continuity in the Post-Cold War Era" (Political Science)
- "German Romantic Historians: Interpreting the Past through Science and Faith" (History)
- "Vinylogous Cope Rearrangement in a Barbaralyl System" (Chemistry)
- "The Mystique of Perfect Love: Father-Daughter Conflict in Verdi's Operas" (English)
- "BVRI Photometry of Supernovae (SNe) 1999 dq, 1999 el, and 1999 eb" (Astronomy)
- "Teaching Clarinet Through the Theory of Multiple Intelligences" (Music)
For Senior Honors Project Guidelines, the Proposal Form and the Notice of Completion Forms, here is the LIHC Senior Honors Project Bundle (*PDF).